Mar 28, 2019

Graduate students from Associate Professor Dawn Finley's ARCH 503 studio recently had the chance to hear from a group of architecture critics typically left out of the conversation: third grade students. Poe Elementary students from Ms. Ashley Freeman's class visited Anderson Hall on Friday morning both to participate in a workshop focused on the design of elementary schools and, in turn, to workshop the designs for schools proposed by Rice students. The workshop included guided tours of Rice Architecture's studios and fabrication lab, a lesson on the prinicpal types of drawings used by architects, a gallery walk where the Poe studetns critiqued Rice students' work, and an opportunity for the visitors to design their own plans for an elementary school. 

This past fall, Professor Finley's studio created their own designs for an elementary school, which they had the chance to show students during Friday's workshop. As part of the initial research process last semester, they had met with Ms. Freeman to learn about the importance of designing creative and engaging learning environments that are practical for kids. Ms. Freeman also emphasized the importance of movement in the classroom, a theme which several Rice students explored in their final designs. Gradudate student Kayla Bien also used her previous work experiences as an elementary school teacher to inform her final project. As Bien explained, her time spent teaching "challenged her to consider the programmatic boundaries of the 'school' and way of re-envisioning the spatial implications of a prescribed elementary school typology." 

Bien was joined by fellow Rice graduate architecture students Claire Wagner, Alexandra Oetzl, Ashley Whitesides, and Matthew Ragazzo, who helped develop the workshop curriculum alongside their professor. Friday's workshop included a lesson on the importance of communicating ideas visually through a drawing lesson on the imortance of communicating ideas visually through a drawing lesson led by Bien and Wagner, who was a special education teacher before starting her graduate studies at Rice. Third-grade students Dariana, Lauren, and Ellie each expressed their love of math and art after the guided drawing lesson, where they learned to think like architects and draw plans, sections, and elevations. Following the drawing lesson, Ms. Freeman's class analyzed the graduate students' drawings and models, discussed the work as a group in the architecture school's Farish Gallery, and asked the designers about their work. For the Rice students involved, it was a rewarding experience to help cultivate an interest in architecture for the next generation of young designers. 

To learn more about the students'visit to Rice Architecture, click here.

Siobhan Finlay
 

 

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