Summertime STEM Fun!

Each summer TLCD Architecture welcomes incoming 9th grade students from the Mike Hauser Academy (MHA) to our office for one week to participate in a STEM related project. This county-wide program is a partnership between the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber, the Healdsburg, Rohnert Park and Sebastopol Chambers and exposes students to opportunities in professional, technology and engineering occupations.

 

This year our team used the international Park(ing) Day event as the basis for the project they planned for the Santa Rosa City Schools students. The week began with a walk over to the newly completed Courthouse Square to experience the square and select the parking spaces that would become the installation location for their design concepts.

The students, lead by Instructor Jesse Hauch, split into teams to develop their concept for a pop-up urban oasis that would transform each parking space for one day. Students were encouraged to consider the audience for their concept and provide an inspiring retreat with amenities to entice tourists and the people of Santa Rosa alike. They came back to the office and worked on sketch plan diagrams in teams and then built 1/2 scale models of their space. We then had the kids take Avatar pictures against a green screen so that they would be able to place themselves in their 3D model later in the week.

From the physical models, the students worked in Revit to create 3D models of their parking space. They especially enjoyed seeing their Avatars in the model and then experiencing their space using VR goggles. The students presented their concepts to their peers and a group of TLCD professionals on the last day – and all were invited to come back and see TLCD’s realized parklet experience on the actual Park(ing) Day this September!

Links to the student’s renderings in Autodesk 360 Panorama:

Team 2 AM

Team A2DX

Team RAT

Team CAOZ

Summertime STEM Education and Architecture

 

By Carl Servais AIA, NCARB, LEED AP

The Mike Hauser Academy is a summertime program through the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce that focuses on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. The program provides students entering 9th grade with hands-on experience from STEM related employers in the area. TLCD Architecture hosted the class the week of June 20th and I had an opportunity to work with fellow designers, Nick Diggins and Stacey Walker to shape the curriculum for the week.

We had a lot of fun leading the students through the process of measuring an existing space, creating scale drawings by hand, developing a design based on a functional program, and finally modeling their design in 3D. The students did an amazing job working together throughout the week, which culminated in a presentation of their design to the group, complete with floor plans and a 3D rendering that could be viewed with Google Cardboard viewers. They particularly enjoyed seeing their own pictures as scale figures within the renderings. Check out these stereo panoramic renderings of the students inhabiting their designs:

green screen, avatars, mike hauser academy, santa rosa chamber of commerce, tlcd architecture, 3d model, STEM, science, technology, engineering, math

Lucas and Ginger

http://pano.autodesk.com/pano.html?url=jpgs/736133b5-4d1f-4157-9609-ffea6be8b99c

Dorian and Janai

http://pano.autodesk.com/pano.html?url=jpgs/4c793c80-ec79-4125-b49d-709875031e62

Jerry and Montse

http://pano.autodesk.com/pano.html?url=jpgs/6fba6e88-9cab-42c4-981b-e570b20bc6ba