Design like you mean it, kids!

Design competitions and charrettes are regular occurrences for architects, urban planners, engineers, and other design professionals. Creating something with a team in a finite time period to solve a challenge is a right of passage that begins in university and continues throughout the career trajectory. My architect friends tell me it is a powerful learning experience – intense and grueling, but powerful nonetheless.  To fully engage in this type of experience, one has to utilize numerous intelligences, apply a variety of information, arrive with an open mind and employ a focused and sustained vision to create something innovative and exceptional that addresses the challenge at hand.

Design challenges are typically offered to grown-ups. However, every June, the Salvadori Center holds an all-day design challenge for children. This year we held our 14th annual Charrette at the World Financial Center Winter Garden in New York City for 100 city schoolkids and their teachers, all of whom had had experienced Salvadori in their classrooms earlier in the year.

Unlike some other design challenges, ours is not a competitive event - we focus more on collaboration and presentation…but nonetheless, the experience is intense and rigorous and well, exhausting.  Arriving early in the morning, the Salvadori kids were split into small teams and assigned a working station full of sketching, measuring and model making materials. There they met their mentors – all architects, engineers or contractors from the some of the city’s leading firms, and dove right into the work.

This year, we challenged the students to create a monument and park that honored those lost in the devastating earthquake in Haiti. They produced inviting and diverse designs that mirrored the rich culture of the island nation. Themes of hope and support, change and tenacity, were found in their models. Kids spoke of wanting to see “a new sun shine on Haiti”.  We were blessed this year to have five Haitian architects and engineers join us – their mentees were able to hear first hand how much this project meant to them and the land they call home.  At the height of the event, the Palm Court was buzzing with kids sketching, building, decorating, debating, compromising, and laughing.

At 2:00 each team presented their designs to the group: children and adults alike admired one another’s work, asked questions, and took photos.  By 3:30, the Winter Garden was empty, yet the air remained filled with excitement and satisfaction. Throughout the years, I have heard over and over from former participants how charrette was a highlight of their entire school career. Students cite the excitement of working side by side with design professionals who help them realize their ideas, the opportunity to meet and collaborate with students from other schools, and the beauty of the landmark space where the charrette takes place. They recall the pressure and intensity – and the pizza. For Salvadori, it means another school year has successfully closed and we can head into summer knowing that we did our part to enrich those childrens’ lives.