Summary

This Design School project was formed in collaboration with architect Jordan Silver (MArch) and inspired by a first year university architecture unit. The aim of the project was for students to design public use buildings with a social purpose for real sites in their home city of Sydney. Two sites were chosen, the Royal Botanic Gardens and Coogee Bay Reserve. Over 8 weeks the students were introduced to concepts such as 'place-space-person', balancing the freedom of the heart with the precision of the head and asked to consider the kinds of social impact that their buildings might make. They used contemporary methods of building design including Frank Gehry's folded paper method.

As part of the project the students built model topographical landscapes of the actual sites and scale models of their own building designs. All of their work was exhibited at a showcase at the end of the term, attended by parents, teachers and members of the community.

About Design School

Design School is a co-curricular creative arts program for students from years 3 to 6. It was launched in 2016 at Wenona School. Each term groups of 15 students embark on open ended process driven creative arts projects designed to nurture their artistry and self expression. Other examples include Light & Shadow and Street Art