Some of the 51ÁÔÆæ community\u2019s youngest members are also some of its most creative.<\/p>\n
Children from the 51ÁÔÆæ Children\u2019s Center visited the School of Architecture and Urban Planning in late January and saw a variety of concept chairs designed by undergraduate students enrolled in ARCH 100. After seeing the college students\u2019 chairs, the children put their imaginations to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we returned to the (Children\u2019s Center) Owl Room, the children began drawing plans and designing their own chairs,\u201d said Sarah Mesa, lead teacher of the Owl Room.<\/p>\n
The Owl Room students turned recyclable materials into building materials and made their ideas a reality. Their creations were modeled after the undergraduates\u2019 designs \u2013 some chairs were small replicas, others were full-sized and functional, at least for children.<\/p>\n
In February, the children presented their chairs to the students who inspired their creativity in an exhibition \u2013 \u201cTake a Seat, Make a Seat: The Owl Room Chair Review.\u201d The event gave the children a chance to present their creations, and the students a chance to assume the expert role and provide feedback and comments to the children.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really awesome how they took an idea in their classrooms and turned them into chairs they actually use,\u201d said Brett Van Dyck, a junior architecture student. \u201cThe kids\u2019 aspect (of design) is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six-year-old Madeleine Erickson-Bell constructed a chair with a custom-made seat for her dolls and a lid that flipped closed over the chair, but neither was her favorite part of her creation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the wheel (on the side) the best. It has my name in different colors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Functionality aside, each of the children had a favorite design element to his or her chair. Aseel Alkhushayni and Hudson Casanova, 5-year-old best friends, designed a chair together. Aseel liked the built-in pillow that their chair had, but Hudson liked that it was glittery. Seven-year-old Wesam Alkhushayni emphasized waste management, equipping his chair with a garbage container and<\/em> a bigger garbage container for larger items.<\/p>\n The experience also prompted some children to consider their future.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a piece of art,\u201d said 5-year-old Vivienne Parente da Costa about her Rainbow Chair, \u201cbut I don\u2019t want to be an artist. No way. I want to be a scientist.\u201d<\/p>\n Other children, such as 11-year-old Amea Williams, found a passion for architecture and design from the exhibition. She said that she wants to get good grades through high school to eventually become a 51ÁÔÆæ architecture student herself.<\/p>\n \u201cSarah (Mesa) told us that we should make the chair that inspires us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n That sentiment was held not just by the children of the center, but at least one 51ÁÔÆæ student as well.<\/p>\n \u201cSarah is an awesome mentor. It\u2019s really awesome having a lead teacher that you can go to with anything and have your ideas heard and accepted,\u201d said Lucy Seger, primary caregiver in the Owl Room.<\/p>\n The Owl Room is an after-school and summer classroom for children from kindergarten through second grade. However, children from other ages and classrooms, such as the Lynx Room, were involved in the exhibition, too.<\/p>\n The exhibition carries a deeper lesson for the children and 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Children\u2019s Center as a whole. Working with the environment is a fundamental learning principle at the center. Whether that means working with recyclable materials, such as the chair exhibition, or developing a hands-on relationship with nature, the Children\u2019s Center believes it is important for children to be conscientious and respectful of the world\u2019s natural resources. The School of Architecture and Urban Planning is one of the center\u2019s strongest allies in that learning goal, too.<\/p>\n \u201cThe School of Architecture and Urban Planning provides lots of extra, recyclable materials we can use in the classroom,\u201d Mesa said. \u201cWe really get a lot of support for sustainability and conservation from the community.\u201d<\/p>\n The exhibition wasn\u2019t the first time children have had their imagination sparked on 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s campus. Over the course of her 15-year tenure with the Children\u2019s Center, Mesa has watched children draw inspiration for projects after making trips to Downer Woods, the Kids\u2019 Chemistry lab and other locations across 51ÁÔÆæ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just like architecture students, kids from the 51ÁÔÆæ Children’s Center built conceptual models of chairs. And just like the students, the children had their work critiqued – by the architecture students. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13597,"featured_media":57347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[249,250],"section":[258,127],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167,344,144],"class_list":["post-57342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-community-engagement","tag-student-success","section-architecture","section-arts-humanities","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-arts-architecture","uwmnews-feed-architecture-urban-planning"],"yoast_head":"\n