The CT Chapter of The American Institute of Architects recently put together an educational video series called “Architecture in Our Community” which highlights five local projects led by local architectural firms. Throughout the series, our 7th Grade students learned the ins and outs of the various phases of design and development by listening to local architects and completing hands-on challenges.

Following the video series, students were divided into “firms” and given a specific project brief — each firm needed to design a new building structure to meet the needs of our school campus. The structures are based on the HiveHaus design concept which uses hexagonal modules inspired by honeybees. Students created 3D renderings of their designs using Tinkercad and prototypes were printed on our school’s 3D printers.

Our 7th Grade firms had some great ideas, including spaces for art, music, greenhouses, study rooms, snack areas, mini gyms and social areas for recess.  Today they presented their designs to their classmates.