Mentors raise funds through Tower 2000 school program

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 19, 1994

What do you get when you pair 20 of New York City's top architects and engineers with junior high school students and ask them to design a structure for the 21st century'?. A vision of the future called Tower 2000.

Recently, a reception and silent auction of architectural drawings and models produced as a part of the Tower 2000 project was held. Lehrer MeGovern Bovis hosted the unusual fundraising event on behalf of the Salvadori Educational Center on the Built Environment (SECBE), an educational organization dedicated to improving math and science education through exploration of the urban environment. The exhibit will be on display at LMB through March 31.

During November and December, middle school students from New York City Public Schools in The Bronx, "--Brooklyn and Queens met for an afternoon with some of New York City's top architects and engineers to explore the political, social and visual implications of their built environment. From these explorations, the students developed their own concept for a tower of the future which the professionals transformed into a completed drawing or model. The drawings and models will be displayed at the gallery at Lehrer McGovern Bovis and sold to raise funds for SECBE's future educational programs.

Professional participants include: Frederick Bland, Max Bond, Paul Broches, Giorgio Cavaglieri. Robert Evans, Bruce Fowle, Paul Haigh, Hugh Hardy, Wendy Evans Joseph, Theodore Liebman, Alan Melting, Edward Mills, William Pedersen, Donald Porter, Les Robertson, Donald E. Ross, Marilyn Taylor, Billie Tsien, Karen Van Lengen Bartholomew Voorsanger, and Tod Williams.

The Salvadori Educational Center on the Built Environment was formally established in 1987 by Mario Salvadori, renowned mathematical physicist, engineer and university professor of architecture and engineering. At the core of the Salvadori educational philosophy is the belief that all children-- regardless of their ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic circumstances - are capable of absorbing and applying even the most abstract mathematical and scientific concepts.

SECBE's method is simple yet effective: first children are engaged by designing or building something and then they are guided to understand the mathematical and scientific principles that underlie what they have created. SECBE provides teacher training in the Salvadori methods and activities and acts as a source of books, videotapes and instructional materials which are now being used by teachers throughout the city and around the world.