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EDUCATION Helman students learn architecture from professionals through Architects in Schools program Helman students learn architecture from the professionals through Architects in Schools program Comment By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Follow @@ADTsports DailyTidings.com By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Follow @@ADTsports Posted Mar. 8, 2016 at 8:34 PM Updated Mar 8, 2016 at 9:03 PM By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Follow @@ADTsports Posted Mar. 8, 2016 at 8:34 PM Updated Mar 8, 2016 at 9:03 PM » Social News Most architects would likely have little trouble recalling their first client, the project’s idiosyncrasies, maybe even some numbers or calculations associated with it. One’s first toe-dip into their chosen profession is usually at least worth a mental marker. But it’s doubtful that many architects working today have endured a baptism of fire as severe as the one recently thrust upon Helman Elementary third-grader Alexa Lee, whose first client was a dragon named Tom whose eccentric tastes and exotic requests would make Frank Lloyd Wright’s ghost run for cover. Some of the highlights of Tom’s lair: a stage that makes up roughly a quarter of the massive estate, basketball and tennis courts, a gold room, a flying room and a crying room adjacent to a TV room as long and skinny as a big bowling lane. Oh, and good luck sneaking that dungeon past inspectors. “I decided to put different rooms in here and then squish them together,” said Lee, 8, as she sketched in a few tweaks Monday afternoon. “Its name is ‘House.’ I tried to draw (Tom) but I can’t so I just put a smiley face there.” Lee’s house was only one of four that her group has designed for Tom. “We have the same client but we each have different houses,” Lee explained. “He has brothers and sisters. I guess.” Lee’s group, along with the others in Helman’s third-grade classes, taught by Kelly Martin, Matt Damon and Camille Siders, were hard at work Monday putting the finishing touches on their designs, which are products of the school’s partnership with the Architecture Foundation of Oregon (AFO). Designed for third-through-fifth-graders, the AFO’s Architects in Schools program enlists working architects and other design professionals to visit elementary schools and lead a six-week training workshop, culminating in final projects like the one Lee was working on Monday. According to its website, the program serves more than 3,700 students annually from Portland to Ashland, and its updated curriculum guide supports Oregon’s learning goals and includes environmental sustainability content. The program’s stated goal is to develop awareness and understanding of the designed and built environment and “our responsibility for it.” In Damon’s class on Monday, Ashland Design Studio interior designer and AFO volunteer Athena Lorenz got started by explaining what each student needed to do in order to complete the final version of their project. Using an overhead projector, Lorenz demonstrated how they would transfer their rough designs from graph paper to a single, smaller project sheet. The process required students to carefully count squares and reduce accordingly in order to scale down their blueprints. Students who excel in math would likely breeze through this final step, Damon said, while those who don’t may need a little help, which may be why the first two questions asked of Lorenz were, “Can you do this with your whole group?” and “Can one of us help one of the kids and then another of us help the others?” (The answer to both questions was yes.) After Lorenz’s demonstration, which lasted only a few minutes, the students broke out their pencils and got to work while Lorenz and local engineer Brian Dunagan, another volunteer, went around the room to check their work and answer questions. Lorenz saw a flyer advertising the Architects in Schools program and, as a woman who was once a girl who loved to rearrange rooms to “look nice,” was immediately drawn to it. “It just sounded like a really great way to give back to the community and teach young people about architecture. We just get that little bug in their head that they get to know about what it is, give them an idea and maybe that’s something that’s a career path they choose later on down the road. And if not, then it’s just a fun activity. Everyone gets to be creative and explore and build their dream home for their client. It’s a fun thing.” Every design is a one-of-a-kind, custom floor plan with its own unique theme. Alder Hodesson’s building includes a prison, an arena, a graveyard “for his relatives” and several other rooms, many of which included rounded corners that make transferring the specifications particularly challenging. But when asked if, given a second chance, whether he’d employ a simpler, squared-off design, Hodesson declined. “No,” he said. “Like I said, (I like) the designs and stuff.” Jojo Harrower designed a home for a client named Caden who, according to Harrower’s official description “likes to sing and dance.” Harrower was already more than halfway done with his final project 30 minutes into class Monday, having successfully calculated the dimensions, the area and the perimeter for six of his client’s 11 spaces, including the football field, the gym, the aquarium room and the hot tub room. When asked if he enjoyed the project, Harrower didn’t hesitate. “Oh, I love it,” he said. “It’s just fun to measure stuff and do equations. It was pretty hard, but it wasn’t that hard. You just have to find the certain amount of squares.” Has the architecture class made him want to be an architect when he grows up? “That’d be fun,” he said. Wesley Clark was equally enthusiastic. His client, Bob the penguin, likely will enjoy his ice skating rink, which was included “because he asked me for a little breeze room,” Clark said. There’s also a movie theater, an art room and a pecking room. “It’s like boxing, except they have beaks.” Damon, who said the Architects in Schools partnership kicked off in January, walked around the room and helped students who were struggling. For some, the work came naturally and for others, not so much. But all seemed to enjoy the project. “It’s really exciting to have an experienced adult in the room who has this certain expertise,” he said. “They might not raise their hands and say, ‘Let’s get some architects in here,’ but once you talk about what is architecture and these are the experts, they get really excited and they love that someone else from the outside community is coming to them to share what they do and love.” Joe Zavala is a reporter for the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach him at 541-821-0829 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @Joe_Zavala99. By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Follow @@ADTsports DailyTidings.com By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Follow @@ADTsports Posted Mar. 8, 2016 at 8:34 PM Updated Mar 8, 2016 at 9:03 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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