by Tim Hayduk
As the dreams of summer drift away and the gravity felt in going back to school or work takes hold, we are reminded of the incredible work that took place here at the Center for Architecture in 15 workshops for K-12 children over nine summer weeks. About 277 students called the Center for Architecture home over the summer, as they spent hours drawing, sketching, taking photographs, and building elaborate models of their own designs. They visited places as diverse as backstage at BAM; the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum; the Knoll showroom; the Hudson Yards site and showroom; and the architectural offices of Grimshaw and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. We were glad to welcome Molly Hughes, production designer for the Harry Potter movies, and Roderick Romero, a “Treehouse Master,” to share their work with students at the Center. Many others, both young and old, shared their interest in architecture, design, and the city, and the students found a forum for sharing their own design ideas with each other, both in class and during their final presentations at the end of each week. Through all of the hard work, the students also had a lot of fun making things.
There are so many people that we want to thank for making this summer so special. Our Design Educators worked hard to make the students’ experience relevant, and provide adequate time and space for discovery. This involved great orchestration on their part, with the help of our incredible Summer Assistant, Rose Martinez. Our tireless cadre of volunteers donated countless hours of time, enthusiasm, one-on-one mentoring, and model-making expertise. We would also like to thank our amazing partners who, during their busy workdays, were able to carve out time to give our student audience a peek into the professional world of architecture and design: Jessica Scaperotti and Michael Samuelin of Related; Alex Attanasio of Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum; Brooke Gassaway and Kendall Baldwin of Grimshaw Architects; David Allin and Charles Curran of Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Roderick Romero of Roderick Romero Studios; Josh Rosen of Knoll; Molly Hughes, Production Designer; Mark Kushner of Kushner Studios; Nancy Mercado of Apple Bank; Adam Rubin of Landmark West!; Robyn Shapiro, Dan Barash, James Ramsey, Marquise Stillwell, and Zachary LeMel of The Lowline; and Evelyn Chang, Laura Grady, Jonathan Jones, Louie Fleck, and Darryl Halickman of Brooklyn Academy of Music. We are truly grateful to everyone who gave of their time and expertise to make our Summer@theCenter programs successful.
Please join us on Friday 11.14.14 from 6 – 8 pm at the Center for the opening of “Building Connections 2014,” our annual exhibition of student design work. There will be select projects from the summer as well as projects from our LearningByDesign:NY residency programs, which took place in classrooms citywide during the 2013-2014 school year.