Design Matters
The Design Matters Summer camp is a week-long experience where high school students have the opportunity to be a part of the Tennessee architecture program and see what it’s like to live on a college campus. This summer the camp was taught by professors Matt Hall and Jennifer Akerman and assisted by myself and recent graduate Lauren Mullane. The program was divided into three charrette-type exercises with each exploring a different scale and typology of the design process. For the first two days, we began by taking a trip out to Turkey Creek and introduced the students to problems associated with urban design and asked them to identify issues of place.
In studio, the students worked with aerial photos to redesign the area. Our focus was to get them thinking about issues of scale and to create a space with positive social identity, as opposed to the current expansive series of parking lots. From there we delved into the scale of a building. Working with their site, the students began to design one of the buildings from their master plan using only a predetermined number of pieces. This activity challenged them to define space in new ways and allowed them to step away from the notion that a building is simply four walls and a roof. From there, we went to an even smaller scale and spent a day discussing industrial design and had students explore the nature of the object.
Before heading back to the dorms, each evening was spent with either a movie or presentation furthering the day’s discussion. Another important component of the week was daily trips. The students explored Haley Farm, the site of two Maya Lin buildings, went on a walking tour of downtown Knoxville with professor Schimmenti, and visited the firm of Sanders Pace. The camp culminated with a design review on the morning of the last day. The students were able to participate in their first pin-up and presented their work as they would if they were in an actual college studio. submitted by Lewis Williams