Category: Learning by Design

At the Center for Architecture Foundation, we are halfway through our popular Summer@theCenter architecture-themed day camps. With topics such as “My Dream House,” “Drawing Architecture,” and “Up on a Roof,” students explore the built environment and create their own sketches and models over the course of one week.

The success of our Summer@theCenter programs is due in no small part to the incredible time, energy, and enthusiasm of our volunteers, many of whom are currently pursuing a course of study in the field of architecture. We asked two of our skilled volunteers, Holly Kang and Mark Zlotsky, architecture students at Syracuse University, to reflect on their experiences so far.

Continue reading ““How I spent my summer”: CFAF Summer@theCenter Volunteers Reflect on Their Experiences”

Over the course of four Saturdays in June, 11 adults took part in the Center for Architecture Foundation’s “Sketching the City” workshop. Led by architect and educator Eli King, students were introduced to freehand drawing techniques in a friendly and casual atmosphere using the lively 19th-century architecture of Greenwich Village as the object of their studies. The classes began with introductory lessons on techniques at the Center, then moved outside to a shady spot to sit and sketch. Participants came from an interesting mix of backgrounds: from students to young professionals to retirees, and even included a couple of working architects looking to reconnect with and improve their hand drawing skills. Continue reading “CFAF Launches Architectural Sketching Course”

The Center for Architecture Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 CFA Design Scholarship, and the Women’s Auxiliary Eleanor Allwork Scholarship. For both awards, students are nominated by the dean or department chair of their respective school. With a record number of applications, this year’s field proved extremely competitive. Ultimately the scholarship committee selected four outstanding students: Hyatt Tortorella, CFA Design Scholarship; Anthony Giron, Jenna Steinbeck and David Martinez-Delgado, Eleanor Allwork Scholarship. Continue reading “The Center for Architecture Foundation Announces 2013 Scholarship Recipients”

The school year might be winding down, but the Center for Architecture Foundation’s partnership with the Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction (UASDC) is in full swing. CFAF staff, volunteers, and Board Members served as jurors for the 9-11th-grade students’ final design reviews at the school in Hell’s Kitchen on 05.30.13. The next day, a select group of these students presented their semester-long projects at the Center for Architecture. Continue reading “Learning by Design teams up with Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction”

On 05.21.13, the Center for Architecture Foundation held its annual Guess-A-Sketch drawing competition and benefit. This non-traditional cocktail party featured an architecture-themed, Pictionary-style game as its centerpiece. Continue reading “Center for Architecture Foundation Hosts Second Annual Guess-A-Sketch Benefit”

Each May, 7th-grade students from IS 220 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, make their way to the Center for Architecture to present models and drawings they’ve created in a three-month school design program conducted in partnership with the Center for Architecture Foundation. For most students, these are the first architectural drawings and models they have ever made, and for all of them, their first visit to the Center. Having the opportunity to present their designs to a jury of professional architects in this setting elevates an ordinary school project into something with an extra sense of excitement and importance. Continue reading “Design Expo Returns to the Center”

A diverse group gathered at the Center for Architecture on Wednesday 4.24.13 for a crash course on landscape architecture, culminating in their own designs for a new Memorial Park for Fiorella LaGuardia across the street from the Center. The program, Urban Parks & Plazas, was the first in a series of new public programs offered by the Center for Architecture Foundation. Called Design Insider, the series aims to nurture public understanding and appreciation of architecture and design in the city. Continue reading “Landscape Design 101”

The Center for Architecture Foundation conducted a series of vacation camps this spring, providing elementary and middle school students with a chance to explore how bridges and treehouses are designed and built. The season started off in February with a one day Bridges program. Students explored a variety of bridge types, drew up their own designs, and made their own bridge models. Continue reading “Bridges and Treehouses”

The Center for Architecture Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 Arnold W. Brunner Grant: Susannah Drake, AIA, ASLA, and Yutaka Sho. The two recipients were selected based on the timeliness of their projects, which use the tools of architecture in developing significant solutions to economic and ecologic challenges on both local and global scales. The Arnold W. Brunner grant is given to an advanced study in any area of architectural investigation that will effectively contribute to the knowledge, teaching, or practice of the art and science of architecture. Continue reading “Susannah Drake, AIA, ASLA, and Yutaka Sho Win the 2013 Arnold W. Brunner Grant”

The Center for Architecture Foundation (CFAF) opened its doors Saturday, 03.09.13, for our March FamilyDay@theCenter program on Skyscrapers. 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the Woolworth Building. To coincide with this momentous occasion families enjoyed a brief and interactive history of the skyscraper – from its early iterations in New York City and ending with the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which currently holds the title of tallest building in the world. Participants learned what makes a building a skyscraper – from the structural components needed to ensure the building stands up, to the forces that act on it, as well as the new and developing technologies allowing for bigger and taller structures. Continue reading “How to Build a Skyscraper – The Center for Architecture Foundation’s March Family Day”