Flautists went to band camp, editors went to yearbook camp, and some architects, at least, went to design camp. Making that third scenario more of a reality are several young-architect summer programs, including Summer of Discovery at University of Houston’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, Discover Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Career Discovery at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
This summer, the new design-camp kid on the block was Project Pipeline, courtesy of the Louisiana Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA LA) and the Tulane School of Architecture, in New Orleans, which hosted the camp. More than 25 high school students from New Orleans attended, Bustler reports, “most of whom had never met an architect.”
Though it's a first for Louisiana, Project Pipeline has worked in cities across the country since 2006. Its goal is to expose the field of architecture to minority students, according to its website:
Project Pipeline is starting to erode one of the biggest issues for African American students not entering the architecture profession, which is not having an early exposure to the field of architectural design. Currently African American architects make up only 1.5% of all licensed architects.
Each student had the chance to design a house, be part of a team that designed a neighborhood, and then investigate how neighborhoods connect to form cities. The students’ work, as well as photos and film of the camp, will be exhibited at the New Orleans African American Museum today through Sept. 5.
Put it on your calendar for your aesthetically inclined nieces and nephews next summer, but also don’t miss Project Pipeline’s proposed biweekly workshop series next January.
