by Annie Wu Center for Architecture Foundation
Center for Architecture Foundation summer camp students with educator Eric Ratkowski.
Catherine Teegarden
This week’s summer camp students joined educator Eric Ratkowski, Center for Architecture Foundation (CFAF) volunteer Anna Kostreva and CFAF camp counselor Alicia Salmon on a journey around SoHo. Students explored many of the neighborhood’s buildings to learn about the architecture, history, and present-day life. They documented interesting details, such as distinctive staircases and metalwork, with cameras and journals. As the group visited restaurants, clothing stores, and book stores, they used magnets to test which buildings were made of cast iron, observed how spaces are used (i.e., as a store or residence), interviewed managers about their buildings’ histories, and noted interior and exterior layouts. Each student chose particular buildings to focus on and returned to the workshop to do additional online research. Ultimately, they created an audio walking tour guide to SoHo that can be accessed via cell phone. Click here to download the students’ guide.