Committee on Architecture for Education

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ALBION DISTRICT LIBRARY BY PERKINS + WILL IS A 2018 COTE TOP TEN RECIPIENT. IMAGE: DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

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The Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) is a Knowledge Community of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). We are a large and active group of over 10,000 architects and allied professionals concerned with the quality and design of all types of educational, cultural, and recreational facilities that promote lifelong learning in safe, welcoming and equitable environments. The CAE’s mission is to foster innovative and collaborative design of educational facilities and to heighten public awareness on the importance of learning environments.

  

CAE Detroit: Hope + Hard Work = Rejuvenation

By Smith Gardner Clute AIA posted 04-21-2015 10:44 AM

  

I think most architects want to improve humanity. This impulse seems even stronger amongst school designers. After 4 days in contemplating, discussing, and visiting schools in Detroit it is clear there are a lot of opportunities available. On the other hand it is also clear that at the confluence of hope and hard work there is recovery.

It may not be surprising that with a title like Rejuvenation & Reinvention my take away from the Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) Spring Conference would be more sociopolitical than architectural.

I suspect most of what you have heard about Detroit is superficially accurate. The signs of decline are conspicuous, but the hope is left unspoken. Educators, developers, students, business owners, and even my taxi driver all believe that with continued hard work the city can be made whole again.

The most impactful moment of the conference for me was the time a small group of us spent with the principal at the James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Julia Putnam. We were sitting in the hoop house outside her school. The school is surrounded by run down frequently boarded up houses and empty lots. The building wasn’t designed to be a school. It is old and cramped. Many of the students receive breakfast, lunch, and dinner at school. Yet Julia is making a difference with what she has and telling us, “It’s time to be solutionary not visionary. We need to push beyond what is not just what can be.”

The schools mission of place based education is to “nurture critical thinkers who contribute to the well-being of their community.” For many students the measure of success has been receiving an education that allows them to move out of Detroit. Now the mindset is shifting. The goal is to raise students that achieve success in school so they can stay in Detroit and make a difference in their community.

We heard similar messages from many of the people we visited; the principals at the Detroit School of Arts and the Henry Ford Academy: Schools for Creative Studies. The leadership from Shinola a watch, bike, and clothing design firm. The 5 panelists and the round table discussion that closed the conference. The message we heard over and over is Detroit is coming back.

I wasn’t sure what to expect coming into a conference in Detroit, but I assure you the opportunity exceeded all my expectations. The conference was a humbling and inspiring experience. If we can all take a just a little of what we heard back to our practices we will make a difference. The hope and hard work I saw is reinventing Detroit and will lead to rejuvenation.  



Gardner Clute

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