Author: Catherine Teegarden

Event: Studio@theCenter — City Design; 3-D Digital Design with Google Sketch-Up
Location: Center for Architecture, 2.16.10-2.18.10
Educators: Catherine Teegarden; Erik Ratkowski

Does growing up in an urban setting give kids insights into city planning? One would think so, judging from the work of the 17 young people who took part in the Center for Architecture Foundation’s Studio@theCenter program, “City Design,” during the public school vacation week last month. Over the course of three days, these budding designers in 2nd-5th grade created their own 3-D model of an ideal city. As inspiration, the group looked at plans of cities and visited the Panorama Model of NYC at the Queens Museum of Art. Once the group had determined the features, layout, scale, and buildings to include in their city, they got to work. They created mixed-use zoning so residents wouldn’t have to go across town to get to services and places used every day, a feature they appreciated about NYC. Each student developed his or her own block and collaborated with others to create city-wide elements, like a riverside park, a beach front, sky trams, subways, and elevated trains. The developers toured their parents through CFA City at the end of the session and took their little pieces of it home to roost.

Meanwhile, students in 6th-12th grade were creating their own skyscraper designs in the IBEX Learning Center, the Center for Architecture’s computer lab, using Google Sketch-Up. They learned the basics of the program and created 3-D renderings of their skyscrapers’ exteriors, as well as close-up views of interior spaces. They made cardboard models of famous skyscrapers and structural models using toothpicks and marshmallows. Parents were treated to a PowerPoint presentation of their projects at the end of the three-day session.

The Center for Architecture Foundation is offering two more Studio@theCenter sessions this spring. During 03.23-25.10, the independent schools’ break, students can choose to design The House of the Future (2-5 grades) or to learn 3-D drafting and design in our Digital Design class (6-12 grades). Theater Design (2-5 grades) and our final Digital Design class (6-12 grades) will be offered 03.30-04.01.10, during public and private school vacations. The 3-day programs run 9 AM-4 PM at the Center for Architecture.

The Center for Architecture Foundation’s innovative programming continues over the summer with Summer@theCenter workshops for 3rd-12th graders. Programs include a two-week architectural design studio for high school students and week-long programs focusing on the design of Waterfront Parks, Bridges, Playgrounds, and A Room of One’s Own for elementary and middle school students. Details and registration forms for all programs are at www.cfafoundation.org.

During a week-long, intensive summer studio (07.27-31.09), high school students designed and built their own full-sized corrugated cardboard chairs. The week began with a visit to the Museum of Modern Art’s galleries to study and draw important examples of 20th-century chair designs. Then, students worked in teams to make small cardboard models of some of these chairs, gaining insight into chair construction as well as the possibilities and limits of cardboard as a building material. Studio instructor Eric Ratkowski assigned additional design exercises focusing on design issues such as ergonomics, and instructed students to visit local furniture stores, where the students sketched and gathered new ideas and inspiration.

Ultimately, each student developed and designed his or her own full-sized cardboard chair. Working from their drawings, sketch models, and measurements, the students charretted during the final two days, cutting and gluing cardboard to create a chair that was strong enough to support their own weight — and had some style. The shouts of joy and wide grins that accompanied the students’ first successful seating in their chairs showed they had even surprised themselves with their accomplishments. Several of the chairs will be on display in the Center for Architecture’s “Building Connections 2009” exhibition (See On View: At the Center for Architecture), which showcases student work from the Center for Architecture Foundation’s 2008-09 programs. The exhibition opens on 09.17.09 from 4-6 PM, and runs through 01.09.10.

Catherine Teegarden is the director of Programs@theCenter at the Center for Architecture Foundation.

Remember the excitement you felt when you first started noticing design in the world around you? At the Center for Architecture this summer, young people have a chance to discover this at an early age through the Center for Architecture Foundation’s summer studios. Offered as one-week sessions for 3rd-12th graders, Summer@theCenter studios immerse young people in hands-on architecture projects that introduce them to the process of design and help them see the important role architecture plays in shaping our environment.

Programs take place at the Center and throughout the city on site visits, museum trips, and walking tours. These trips provide inspiration and information for students’ own art and design projects during the week. Each studio investigates a different topic in architecture and targets a particular age group. This summer, elementary and middle school students will explore NYC’s “Secret Places” and create their own guide to these hidden treasures, incorporating photography, drawing, pop-up techniques, and writing. Middle school students can also develop a cell phone walking tour guide to SoHo, to be enjoyed by others throughout the year, and will be included in the Center’s Context/Contrast: New Buildings in Historic Districts 1965-2009 exhibition this fall. Elementary students will also have the opportunity to create Pop Art-influenced buildings in a range of media as they consider the work of Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenberg, and others on trips to MoMA and the Whitney Museum. High school students can create a piece for their portfolios in our “Design/Build: Chairs” studio, in which students will construct a piece of functional furniture from corrugated cardboard.

Learning shouldn’t come to a stop in the summer, but it needs to include fun, friends, fresh air, and lots of creative exploration. Help your child discover their own design sensibilities in a Summer@theCenter studio. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis and space is limited. Full program descriptions, registration and tuition information are at www.cfafoundation.org.

Catherine Teegarden is the director of Programs@theCenter at the Center for Architecture Foundation.