Spectrum - Volume 21 Issue 04 September 17, 1998 - CAUS organizes program for high-school students

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CAUS organizes program for high-school students

By Sandy Broughton

Spectrum Volume 21 Issue 04 - September 17, 1998

The Department of Architecture in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies has organized a successful summer program for high-school students interested in architecture.
Inside Architecture: Summer Studio is a week-long session that gives rising ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders intense exposure into ways in which the architect thinks and works.
Organized by Associate Professor Pia Sarpeneva and Associate Dean Robert J. Dunay, 1998 was the second summer Virginia Tech has hosted Inside Architecture. Sarpaneva says it gives young people a chance to explore the discipline of architecture while at the same time exposing them to university life. Students work with educators and practitioners on exercises designed to stimulate discussion and discovery of architecture as a line of study. No previous course or subject experience is necessary, according to Sarpaneva, "just initiative to break the bounds of conventional modes of thinking."
Participants' assessments of the program indicate an enthusiastic response. "I learned of the many ways one project can be interpreted and completed, all correctly and beautifully. This is one of the beauties of architecture," wrote one student. "The visits to the houses showed me how little things and architect does can have a huge effect on the feel of the place. For instance, light, materials, and texture have a large effect."