Teens Learn Fundamentals of Design in Summer Academy at Fay Jones School of Architecture

Teenage girls learned the basic elements of design.

The group explored campus looking for design elements in buildings and landscapes.

Sarah Geurtz works with Bianca Acosta on a shading exercise.

In quick draw, a participant sketches part of Vol Walker Hall.

Using a vanishing point and horizon, a student sketches the trees next to Old Main.

Kayla Hudson traces a landscape and shades the light and dark areas.

Instructor Katie Zweig talks to Amy Espinosa about light and shading.

Shannia Blackwell adds her shaded landscape to the wall.

Alissa Hunnicutt sketches the entry to the home where Fay Jones lived.

Camp participants sit in the shade of a tree to sketch bamboo bordering a driveway.

Wood, paper and glue come together to build the model of a house.

Light plays on a finished house model.

Laura Witte uses symbols to signify the use of space in a program drawing.

The girls add dark and light colors copies of sketches they’d drawn earlier.

Each girl created a 3-D version of one square using modeling clay, wood and paper.

Sophia Scalise shows off her house model after adding some finishing touches.

Instructor Katie Zweig discusses drawings with the Young Women’s Experiencing Design Academy.

Instructor Alison Turner talks to the participants about the elements of an urban setting.

Participants use their hands to frame the scene they intend to sketch.

On the last day of camp, the girls sketch Old Main as it rises above the cityscape.

Photo Submitted

Laura Witte uses symbols to signify the use of space in a program diagram during the recent Young Women’s Experiencing Design Academy. The Fay Jones School of Architecture held the summer camp, which targeted girls going into ninth grade.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Equipped with drawing pencils, sketchbooks and an interest in design, 29 teenage girls recently spent a week learning about architecture and landscape architecture.

The girls, coming from schools in Rogers, Springdale, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Prairie Grove and Lowell, participated in the Young Women’s Experiencing Design Academy the week of June 21-25 at the University of Arkansas. This is the third year the Fay Jones School of Architecture has offered a summer design camp. This half-day camp targeted girls going into ninth grade.

Alison Turner, adjunct professor of architecture, and Katie Zweig, adjunct professor of landscape architecture, led the academy with the help of Ramona Freeman, a Springdale teacher, and four student teaching assistants from the architecture school. After introducing the girls to the elements of design, the instructors and assistants took the girls in groups on a scavenger hunt to identify those elements in buildings and landscapes on campus.

They learned about the professions of architecture and landscape architecture and the tools of both professions. They later put those into practice through sketching scenes, diagramming programs and building models.

After learning about the techniques used in perspective drawing, they did quick sketches around campus, often combining the buildings and the landscape. They also took a tour of the urban areas near campus and sketched what they found.

They also imagined a landscape with various elements — including savannah, forest, caves, lake and volcano. They divided the landscape topography drawing into squares, and each girl built a square section using modeling clay, wood pieces and paper.

They watched Sacred Spaces: The Architecture of Fay Jones and then toured the home in which Jones lived. Turner and Zweig also discussed projects they’ve done in their professional architectural and landscape architectural careers.

Zweig said that, for her, the most important aspect of the camp was teaching the girls the basic elements of design.

“These elements are the building blocks of all design educations and hopefully are words the girls will recognize later if they enter one,” she said. “We introduced a design language to the girls through drawing and model making. I think they were impressed with their own abilities individually and as a group to produce these drawings and models.”

“And they really had fun,” she added. “I also know that all of them made new friends.”

Turner said she enjoyed being able to introduce the girls to design, particularly architecture and landscape architecture, and to expose them to images and ideas that were new to them.

“I especially enjoyed seeing their reactions and enthusiasm during the activities and field trips,” she said. “We had great conversations with them on our field trips, particularly at Fay Jones’ house, where they found its architecture very different from their idea of what a house is supposed to be.”

The camp was funded by a grant from the University of Arkansas Women’s Giving Circle, which was secured by Mark Boyer, head of the landscape architecture department.

“We genuinely appreciate this gift from the Women’s Giving Circle, which has enhanced our recruitment of young women into the Fay Jones School of Architecture,” Boyer said. “The camp illustrated the value of reaching out to these young girls so that they start thinking now about the potential of a design education.”