Through young[er] eyes

I took a trip to Washington, DC with a group of high school band kids. (thanks for the sympathy but really they were a great group)

One observation I made watching them is that teenagers seem to hardly notice the architecture or design of a building and city. (Ouch, it hurt to see them not interested in "that detail right there", I guess we can't ALL love design)

But more seriously, I think we need to approach our school systems with a program/plan for educating our students about architecture. Whether that's a guest speaker a few times a year, a one month cross-curricular study of a city or building, or an optional class. Their knowledge and appreciation enables the future of design.

They go to a city and are wow'd by what they see. Amazing structures, beautiful pieces of art, thousands of people, etc. Part of their excitement is simply because they aren't sitting in class and the other part is because they are in a city they've seen and heard so much about. Obviously, it isn't the right outlet for them to take time to focus on scale, detail, and experience...what with 30+ other friends, the packed three day schedule, and all the fun to be having. But I hope after that trip to the Holocaust Museum one of them, at least just one, noticed how the architecture of the building made the experience, gave life to the building, and was "really cool." The opening from dark to light space, the high ceilings and lower ceilings, the soft material versus hard material, and I only wish I had been there a week before (in a classroom where their attention span was greater than 20 seconds) to explain the design, the decisions the architects made, and the collaboration with exhibit designers, then they really would have had something to be excited about.