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 Update August 12, 2005 Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction Greetings from the very quiet halls of the Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction. We wanted to share some of the progress we've made this summer. Students: - Our students ended the year with a bang, in two highly successful student performances. Thank you to Lesley Doyel at the Skyscraper Museum, Illya Azaroff and Rosalie Byard for cheering on our budding thespians. (See attached photos.) And, a big thanks to Andrew Bogucki at Corebrand for assisting us with the invitations and playbills. Soon after the end of school, our student leaders enjoyed a catered lunch while brainstorming ideas for next year. A drama club was quickly added to the list, joining soccer, baseball, girlsÇ basketball, a music club and student government. - Nine of our rising sophomores have spent their summers in design-related programs and internships. Thanks to Andrew Caracciolo, the Center for Architecture Foundation, and Daniel Frankfurt, P.C. for hosting interns. Five of our students have explored other aspects of design such as painting and photography through the Parsons School of Design Pre-College Academy. We are grateful to Anne Gaines and Parsons for providing the scholarships that enable our students to participate. Partners: - Tom Duffy at Hardesty & Hanover, Tony Vacchione at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, and Mike Della Rocca at STV, Inc. graciously opened up their conference space for our summer planning sessions with teachers. The quiet, air-conditioned space is much more conducive to productivity than the school building, which is under renovation. - Thanks to Nate Huyler at STV, and Kristopher Takacs and Earl Jackson from SOM for critiquing student work at the last presentation of the year in June. These critiques raise the bar for the students, and we will send the dates for the 2005-2006 presentations shortly. - Nearly every one of our partner organizations took the time to meet with us to recap the first year and look ahead to the next. Building off of these discussions, we have developed a number of programs that integrate the themes of architecture and engineering into the classroom, send the students out into the city, and introduce them to the professional world. Stay tuned; we will reach out to you in the next few weeks with specific areas of involvement. A quick preview: • Design course for ninth grade, focusing on structures such as bridges and skyscrapers; • Design course for tenth grade, where students will study the neighborhoods along Broadway and embark on two large-scale design projects; • Advisory curriculum entitled "Issues in Architecture," which will create opportunity for debate and discussion; • A College Day, similar to our Career Day from November of 2004, capping off our month-long college preparatory unit in advisory class; • The Studio @ the Center for Architecture program, where students will solve a design challenge related to waterfront development in New York; • A consortium developed with Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; a mentoring program piloted by the Department of Design and Construction; and a series of office visits to engineering firms during Engineering Week in February; and • Field trips in the spring to major sites, including bridges, skyscrapers, transportation systems, stadiums and colleges. In other exciting news, UASDC moves to the fourth floor of Park West this year. Also, we have secured a fantastic team of teachers and support staff for this year. WeÇre looking forward to introducing you to these new teachers and to our incoming ninth graders. Thank you for voicing your commitment and ideas this summer. It has been wonderful to catch up with all of you. You have helped us to create a school, and as we move into Year 2, we feel fortunate to have you all on board. Until September, Genna Weinstein
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