For students in Moody Advanced Professional Studies (MAPS) Environmental Architecture class, Blueprints are finally coming off the page and into the real world. This year, students are transforming the legacy of a 1935 Charles Dilbeck home into a custom-built playhouse. These finished structures will be featured in the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Parade of Playhouses, a fundraiser dedicated to providing advocacy services for children in foster care.
Before designing, students study the historic house. This year, the home is 4201 Shenandoah in University Park. The goal is for the playhouse to be put into Northpark Mall at the start of summer. The Scots are the only high school team invited to participate in the event. All the other playhouses on display are designed and donated by professional architecture firms.
“We take a historic house in University Park or Highland Park, and students base their design for a playhouse off it,” MAPS Architecture Teacher Yvette Hightower said. ”So then, in pairs, every student learns the computer program SketchUp, and they design their playhouse per the CASA requirements.”
This project is modeled on how a real architecture firm works. In the real world, designers don’t build anything alone. By working in pairs, these students get a head start on how to manage professional relationships.
Senior Julia Kerr and Junior Hailey Hunt worked together on the playhouse design and were selected as the Best Playhouse design winners by panels of architects, builders, and CASA representatives.
“It was really exciting and fun,” Hunt said. “We worked together really well. We had a good balance of doing our job. I did the majority of the things from the interior, and she did most of the exterior.”
During the initial planning phase, student pairs were tasked with developing a design concept that balanced aesthetic appeal with functional play space.
“We decided to come up with arts and studios because we felt like it was super mutual for positioning, and you want to learn and enjoy it,” Hunt said. “There are also some activities inside to do, not just one simple thing that could be simple.”
The winning designs are chosen with guidance from professionals, including contractor David Espedal, who serves on the judging panel and helps pick the best design.
“He is a contractor, and he knows how to build it,” Hightower said. “He teaches the students how to build and how to make it real, how to make it waterproof.”
Once a design is selected, the project moves into construction. The playhouse is built below the stadium, where student groups rotate to help with the process under the supervision of a contractor. Materials and construction costs are sponsored by Preservation Park Cities.
“They get to see it through the whole process; they see it from the design all the way through construction,” Hightower said. “It’s a full understanding of what an architect does from predesign through construction.”
To develop their designs, students use AutoCAD, a software program that creates 2D and 3D drawings, blueprints, and models. This digital construction drawing of the historic home is based on the original one from when the home was built. Students take a field trip to visit the home in person, where they can walk through the space and better understand the layout.
“I recruit our speakers and community liaisons. They bring in the professional experiences, the projects that one might find in the workplace that are comparable to what a first-year hire might learn,” MAPS Professional Engagement Administrator Polly McKeithan said. “These are kind of the lessons that we create.”
The project is modeled after a real architecture firm, emphasizing collaboration and communication.
“It helps them decide whether or not architecture is something they really want to do,” McKeithan said. “It creates an opportunity for there to be group work, as well as a higher degree of communication.”
