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CE Club Update

Architects from Corgan

Rebekah Broadfoot, Ashley Snead, and Janah St. Luce came to the CE Club to share their experiences working in the Education Studio at Corgan. They began by asking the students for their definitions of “architecture”. This brought out a variety of responses including: building design, interior space design, and landscaping. The three architects then gave their own personal definitions of architecture which included: incorporating the human element into spaces and coordination between owners and consultants to produce a built environment. The main point that they wanted to make is that architecture is not something can be put into a box or even restricted to a single definition. It is an art form and profession that is constantly evolving with the different thoughts, influences, and passions of the people involved in architecture.

Janah then went into detail as to how the Education Studio at Corgan functions when it comes to designing a school. Usually, a school district will present the needs of the community, the students, and the district when it comes to the education system and the facilities. The architects will then go through a series of iterations to meet the owner’s (in this case the school board’s) needs. Consultants are then brought in to assist in the structural, mechanical, and civil design. Janah stressed at this point the need for architects and engineers to have effective communication skills due to all the coordination that occurs during the design and construction process.

The students were then shown a video rendering of the new Parkland Hospital before it was built as well as some drone footage of a CTE high school that was recently completed by Corgan. Students really liked seeing the video rendering since they will soon be learning how to create similar renderings using Revit.

Finally, the students were given the opportunity to flip through a set of architectural drawings and ask questions to the architects. Students asked questions about the order of the construction documents, how long projects typically take to complete, how school boards fund the construction of new schools, and how architects help in the order of construction.