University News Last updated 07 April 2011
Design students from Birmingham City University have been predicting the future of one of London’s most famous tourist attractions.
The final year students on the Theatre, Performance and Event Design course at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design were set a project by Merlin Entertainments, owners of Madame Tussauds, to create a vision of what the visitor attraction may look like in the future.
The brief was to research new and future technology, and taking the essence of the current Madame Tussauds attractions, with the most original and exciting students design winning a work experience placement with the company.
Merlin Creative Director, Paul Williams, said: “the students’ work in response to their brief was fantastic. We chose Lily-Ann Bedder as the winner. Her proposed design included a restaurant on the roof of the Madame Tussauds building in London, which incorporated living architecture, interactive interiors with electronic textiles, and celebrity chefs.”
Lily-Ann added: "I found the whole experience of the Tussauds project very exciting. I think it's great that my course has these amazing opportunities that give the students a real taste of working for the industry. I enjoy visiting Merlin attractions so I feel very fortunate to be given the chance to be involved in their futures projects as part of my placement this summer."
Birmingham Institute of Art and Design is an international centre for excellence in art, design and subjects supporting the creative industries. One of the largest institutes for art, architecture and design in the country – the largest outside London – its students, graduates and staff practitioners form a substantial creative community. Impressive links with industry include Cartier, Betty Jackson, Burberry, Goldsmiths, Harvey Nichols, Marks and Spencer, TBWA and Saatchi and Saatchi. With a global reputation for research, ranked 10th in the UK, it is the UK’s most successful recruiter for art and design in China and Malaysia.
Birmingham City University will be running a major awareness campaign in the Midlands to demonstrate how it is upgrading the future of individuals and companies. From Monday 11 April you will be able to find out more at www.bcu.ac.uk