High School Summer Program: Architecture and Urban Design

Over the course of two weeks, high school students proposed ideas for increasing foot traffic to the Union Square area based on a critique of current zoning. They then created a board game to compare different urban design strategies such as urban rooms, active street walls, mid-block alleys.

In the Architecture and the City class, students learned about Urban Design concepts and principles through field trips, role plays, videos, and lectures. Through discussions, the class incorporated Urban Design strategies into the board game rules.

In the Architecture Maker Lab class, students fabricated the game pieces using wire cutters, band saws, sanders, and laser printers. Through subtractive model making methods, students explored different ways to create Urban Rooms.

“Urban voids were also an interesting topic in this class. I never thought about taking away to create something. Realizing that negative space is just as important as building helped me think of new designs for my game piece, like cutting into the wood to make space.” – Alissa