The educational mentorship program spearheaded by Morphosis principal and co-founder Thom Mayne headed into its third semester this year. For sixth graders at Hall Elementary School in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the Thom Mayne Young Architects program was a chance to receive an architectural education and access to design software via after-school classes led by Pratt Institute architecture students. Tonight, Mayne himself will host a closing reception of their final projects from last semester at Pratt Institute’s Higgins Hall, beginning at 6pm.
Founded in 2017, the Thom Mayne Young Architects program was spurred by Mayne’s participation in President Barack Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Mayne partnered with TurnAround Arts, a 2012 program launched by Michelle Obama and the president’s committee to bring arts education to the bottom five percent performing public schools, which includes Hall Elementary.
The sixth grade students have been working on a site close to home–their own classrooms. Their design prompt is to create a “beautification proposal” for their classrooms. In the course of the 12-week program, students learn about design thinking, architectural design fundamentals and computer design, aided by the donation of Pixelbook laptops loaded with design software by Google. Beyond design skills, the program also includes lessons about photo editing, branding, marketing, and budgeting.
The exhibit, which opened on February 12, closes on Saturday, February 17.
