So many of us at Strada can trace back to the moment we wanted to become architects and designers. Whether it was a character in a book, a renovation in their childhood home, or seeing it happening live from their classroom seat, the story is the same: design found us early and stuck around.
Three of our Stradistas relived these moments through the lens of 7th graders with DesignPhiladelphia’s Design Education (DE) program, which is dedicated to significantly increasing access to design education for K-12 students in Philadelphia. This program places design professionals into the curriculum itself. In the Spring of 2024, Strada took over the 7th grade math & science classes at Bregy Elementary over the course of five sessions.
Architect Megan McGee, Designer TJ Burghart, and Designer Sara Sterchak went back to basics, working with Mr. Owen, a Bregy Elementary educator, to create digestible and intentional chunks of information surrounding design that had accessible comparisons.
DesignPhiladelphia interviewed Megan, TJ, and Sara about their experience. Dig in with them here!
The Strada team covered the basics of design, moving students up through the concepts of space planning, environmental design, public spaces, and landscape design. Students’ interests were immediately piqued when their hands were immersed in the process as much as their minds with activities like Space Planning Tetris.
During each session, the Strada team layered on more information building on the previous class concepts. The learning culminated with the Pocket Park project, giving students the opportunity to maximize small spaces with all they had learned about landscape, the interplay between light and shade, circulation, and environmental design. Students learned to create spaces while also learning how to share ideas.
Michael Spain, Director of Design Education, had big praise for the Strada team. “Throughout the development of our K-12 program, the dedication and commitment of Strada’s members have been truly impactful,” said Spain. “This is evident in the outstanding work produced in the classrooms at Bregy and how fully the students have embraced them as part of their community.”
For students, the change of pace alone was invigorating, and the content met the excitement head on. Declarations of “I think I’m a Landscape Architect!” and “I want to be an Architect now!” punctuated moments of design thinking and collaboration.
Want to see the pocket parks in person? The DE Designing Futures Exhibition 2024 is August 21! Register here.
