by Heather Livingston

With names like “Perigeum,” “Tree House,” “Toy Blocks,” and “Excelsior,” eight student-conceived and -constructed “learning modules” soared to the rafters of the Montclair Art Museum (MAM) last fall in an exhibition entitled “Room for Thought.” In a nine-session crash course on architecture, sponsored by MAM and taught by Montclair, N.J., architect Barry Yanku, eight area high-school students learned the nuts and bolts of design from idea formation through construction and parlayed that experience into a public exhibition. Envisaged as an introduction to architecture, “design thinking,” and studio culture, the course offered insight into both the rigors and joys of design.

Recognizing that few students have the satisfaction of working on a design problem from beginning to end, Yanku wanted to give these students the opportunity to design and build the room of their dreams that “support[s] all the comforts and provisions of their individual learning styles.” Beginning by sketching their own personal space—their bedrooms—the students learned to look at design as it relates to functionality. Next, they were instructed to imagine how their room would look if they were given complete control over the space and could create their vision of the ideal personal learning space. Finally, students employed their mathematical, analytical, and creative abilities to build their visions with shipping boxes donated by Federal Express.

Each project was given an equally sized space within which to work, with students occasionally bartering deals that allowed encroachment into neighboring space. With designs as varied as each individual, the projects impressively filled MAM’s Leir Hall with towers of white, orange, and purple FedEx boxes.

Apparently, these kids learned fast. Jacob Kiernan, creator of “Perigeum,” said of his project, “Integrating elements of classical design with Taoist simplicity, the Perigeum takes the form of an elegant ellipse. Spectators are lured in like those pulled into a Gothic church, only to be transferred to a sphere of tranquility.” Emma Larkin’s “Tree House” “almost contradicts itself, representing chaos and order, nature and civilization. The boxes on the outside of the structure are placed at random with no organization or planning, representing chaos. Yet on the inside, every box conforms to a specific pattern, creating order to complement the chaos.”

This summer, Yanku will again offer an introduction to architecture for high-school juniors and seniors, this time at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. In intensive two-day sessions, his students will again tackle a design problem, explore the studio culture, and erect their creations.

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