Skill Up Visits: Stories of the City with the Migration Museum and NLA

Skill Up Visits: Stories of the City with the Migration Museum and NLA

Tuesday 31st March 2026, 10:30am to 12:30pm

Expand your knowledge of London’s architectural history through learning about the people, communities and stories that shaped it. Starting at New London Architecture, we’ll explore the city at multiple scales – first understanding it through their large-scale architectural model, before exploring the same streets by foot with the Migration Museum.

Beginning with the Roman settling of Londinium, we’ll travel through time visiting the 15th century Guildhall, John Soane’s 1833 Bank of England and the post-war Mercers’ Hall, amongst others. These places of commerce and trade have seen thousands of people and goods pass through – from Jewish and French financiers to Italian merchants and Dutch craftspeople. We’ll think about how architecture and the city is shaped by the people that have lived and worked there.

Workshop Information

We will be sketching along the way. Materials will be provided, but please bring your own sketchbook and drawing equipment if you have them.

This event will take place predominantly outside, so please wear or bring weather-appropriate clothing and footwear.

This workshop is free, please register. If you can no longer attend, please contact [email protected] or cancel your ticket through Eventbrite to ensure others who want to attend will be able to.

Skill Up Visits

Skill Up Visits invites young people with an interest in architecture and design to explore buildings, institutions and exhibitions, thinking critically and responding creatively to what they see. From learning how to work to an architectural brief, developing drawing skills, exploring different creative outputs and architectural languages, these 16 to18 year-olds work both collaboratively and independently to within workshop activities and briefs. Expanding the understanding of architecture as just bricks and mortar.

Migration Museum

The Migration Museum is the only museum in the UK dedicated to collecting and sharing stories of migration. The museum explores how the movement of people to and from the UK across the ages has shaped who we are – as individuals, as communities, and as nations. The Migration Museum will be opening a new permanent museum in the City of London in 2028 – until then they continue to offer community and learning programmes, events and walking tours, and work on collecting another 5000 migration stories.

New London Architecture at The London Centre

New London Architecture is the membership organisation for London’s built environment sector, acting locally and collaborating globally to build relationships and develop skills across the industry.

The London Centre is New London Architecture’s free-to-access gallery space highlighting the vital people, places and buildings of our city. It’s home to the NLA’s 1:2000 scale model of London. Measuring in at 16.5 metres long, and stretching from King’s Cross down to Lewisham, and Wembley across to Barking and Dagenham, there’s 21 boroughs captured and recorded in model-form.

Accessibility

The entrance to the London Centre is up three steps with a handrail on either side, or via a platform lift. An accessible toilet is located on the lower ground floor, accessed via stairs or a lift and with Radar Key available from the reception.

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