A team of architects from CambridgeSeven is spending (virtual) time with a crew of motivated and curious teens enrolled in YouthBuild Boston’s Designery, an after-school and summer practical design program for high school students. Through workshops and real design projects for non-profit clients, the students are developing fundamental graphic, modeling, and design-thinking skills.

Interactive presentations that offer a “day-in-the-life” snapshot of the design professions have included Douglas Flandro, LEED AP, BD+C, providing an insider’s view of graphic design and the opportunities and related career paths. Students were surprised and encouraged to learn about Douglas’ circuitous path from set and costume design through interior architecture to exhibit and then graphic design.

Kevin Mowatt, AIA, and Stephanie Herring, Assoc. AIA, used a blend of personal experience, humor and compelling local examples to walk the group through the rewards and challenges of being an architect. They were especially struck by the students’ already keen sense of design and meaningful architecture, and they led a lively discussion of how powerfully our humanity informs building design and, in turn, lifts society.

Subsequently, Douglas, Kevin and Chris Muskopf, AIA, served as mid-term review critics for the student projects: an animal habitat at Franklin Park and landscape design at Haley House farm in Roxbury.

While our team wishes they could step out of their zoom grid and join the students in their fieldwork– planning, sketching and building—they are encouraged by the bright and creative minds who are tackling real design challenges right in their own communities. We can’t wait to see what they do next.