NEW YORK CITY – In fall 2015, the CTBUH Young Professionals Chapter (YPC) kicked off their educational outreach initiative with a mentorship program at Pratt Institute. The initiative – directed by a small group of design professionals within New York’s CTBUH YPC and lead by Dave Freedman, Architectural Assistant, Foster + Partners – aims to promote the collaborative spirit of the CTBUH and teach students to unlock synergistic potential within their designs.
The first venture with Pratt Institute began by bridging the professional knowledge and enthusiastic participation of CTBUH YPC members to support students’ explorations into sociological, psychological, and ecological issues related to their “High-Rise Design Studio” – a full year course, with the Fall term focused on research, and the Spring term utilized to develop student high-rise projects.
During the first mentorship session at Pratt, CTBUH YPC members joined Professor Michael Trencher and Kathy Dunne’s studio to discuss students’ projects on one-on-one basis. Beginning with introductions from each CTBUH YPC member, their experiences with tall buildings highlighted academic questions still on their minds and created a dialogue aligned with the students’ research interests. The Pratt students described their projects before being paired up to delve deeper into specific architectural, structural, and mechanical issues on their projects’ horizons. Given the early stage of the projects, there was much to be discussed on how best to visualize the research gathered to date.
With the use of a digital group, CTBUH YPC members continued conversations online throughout the Fall term. The collaboration culminated with Pratt’s end-of-term review, where CTBUH YPC members were invited to be part of the jury.
For the Spring term, CTBUH YPC members have already began to assist with developing Pratt students’ projects as part of the pre-midterm jury. In the coming weeks, a multi-disciplinary workshop will aim to highlight the issues (whether architectural, structural, mechanical, acoustic, etc.) facing students’ projects in advance of their final end-of-year review.
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