Students Present Models Showing New Uses for a Historic Building

We have gone the whole nine yards. We built a model that we messed up on countless times. It took hard work, patience, high order thinking, and drive to complete this model. We have put much effort into the project, trying to find the final result that would make us content. We have gone through many steps to complete the process. ––The Nerds

Eight teams of sixth-grade students from Eden Hall Upper Elementary School participated in PHLF’s third annual Architectural Design Challenge for the Pine Richland School District on April 24. Their challenge was to transform the Morledge House Garage on Chatham University’s Eden Hall campus into a place where people from the community could come to learn about the Eden Hall campus and interact with each other.

Each team developed a sustainable and meaningful program and spoke convincingly about their ideas to create:

• a black-box theater and museum highlighting Chatham’s history;
• a technologically advanced museum about Chatham and sustainability;
• a laser tag arena (by expanding the building underground). Players would win by answering questions about Chatham and sustainability.
• an activity center for sustainability, where everyone would make model cars using reusable materials that they would bring from home;
• an escape room where participants would find their way out of the woods, and a learning center with information about native plants and aquaponics;
• an escape room where people would use sustainable practices to solve missions to save the world;
• an art studio, with photographs, exhibits, and paintings highlighting Chatham’s history; and
• a woodworking workshop (recalling the original use of the building) and lounge.

The award recipients on April 24 were:

• First Place: The Lasarchitects
• Second Place and Student Award: Axolotl Army
• Third Place: Raspberry Architects
• Honorable Mention: Crafty Crusaders
• Penguin Award (most important lesson learned from taking a risk): RB2 Architects

We thank the following architects and educators for volunteering their time to comment on and judge the student projects: Cat Adams, architect; Kelley Folts (Canon Design); Roger Hartung (IKM); Nicole Kubas, urban designer; Paul Tellers, architect; and Samantha Weaver (CMU School of Architecture). PHLF is able to host this Architectural Design Challenge, and many other place-based educational programs, thanks to generous funding support from the McSwigan Family Foundation.