Students help design the city of the future

Real Estate Weekly, March 2, 1994

TOWER-2000, a formal exhibition of architectural drawings of futuristic skyscrapers as envisioned by junior high school students, was.-recently sponsored by Lehrer McGoVern Bovis. A silent-auction of these 18 unique drawings raised money for the Salvadori Educational Center on the Built Environment (SECBE), an educational organization which promotes the use of the urban.environment to teach math. science and other subjects.

Through a project of SECBE, junior high school students in inner city schools collaborated with some of the most illustrious members of New York City's architectural/engineering community to design models of neighborhoods, community centers and work environments ,that they believe could improve the quality of urban life in the 2 1st century.

Attending the exhibition were students from Middle School 158. in Bayside, Queens. Danielle Galanaugh and her team members, Dani Newman and Warren Gottlieb, worked with Robert Stevenson at Leslie E. Robertson Associates to design "Community Place," a facility for the homeless and economically disadvantaged.

"Our design was inspired by the homeless," explained Danielle. "We wanted to create something socially worthwhile." All of the design models reflected the children's concerns for community. Again and again they envisioned places where people could live, work and find recreation in the same building.

"Nurturing young lives by bringing out their innate talent, creativity and enthusiasm - this is what Mario Salvadori is all about," said Jim D'Agostino, president of Lehrer McGovern Bovis. "LMB is guided by this philosophy in our efforts at mentoring young people and fostering volunteerism among our employees."

Dr. Mario Salvadori, founder of SECBE and professor of architecture at Columbia University for 50 years, visits classrooms throughout the city and engages students in hands-on projects based on the urban environment they know. Using methods such as interactive demonstrations and model-building, Dr. Salvadori encourages students to discover basic scientific and mathematical principles that answer such questions as: How do buildings stay up? Why do buildings fail down?

Dr. Salvadori, who rounded SECBE in 1975 in one classroom at one schooi in East Harlem, maintains a firm faith in the potential of our educational system, despite its existing failures. "When you teach a class and you see a child discover 'a solution to a difficult question, you 'never dream of giving up," said Dr. Salvadori. 'The key is to let students discover things for themselves, then talk about the principles afterwards."

Students participating in the TOWER' 2000 project worked directly with some of the city's leading architectural and engineering firms, including Beyer Blinder Belle; Pei, Cobb, Freed and Partners; Giorgio Cavaglieri; Evans Heintges; Mitchell/Giurgola, Architects; Fox. & Fowle; Haigh Space; Leslie E. Robertson Associates; John M. Johansen; Theodore Liebman; Edward Mills; Kohn Pedersen Fox; Philip Johnson Architects; Ronnette Riley Architects; Jaros, Baum and Boiles; Karen Van Lengen; Voorsanger & Associates; and Tod Williams-Billie Tsien & Associates.

Other sponsors of TOWER 2000 included Citywide Corporate Transportation, Darby Printing Co., Escort Corporation, Wendy Evans Joseph, Remi Restaurant and Shea & Gould.

The Salvadori Educational Center on the Built Environment is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to helping inner city youth understand science and mathematics through the hands-on study of their urban environment. SECBE seeks to improve middle school math and science instruction through specific training and the development of a support network of educators, pre-professionals and professionals from the academic, architecture. design and engineering communities.