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Stanley Middle school students in Lafayette spent a full week immersed in classical architectural history through lessons, discussion, model making, sketching and drawing through a New Heights immersion program from the Northern California chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA), a national, non-profit organization committed to promoting and preserving the practice, understanding, and appreciation of classical design. Stanley Middle School is the first public school to participate in the program as part of their 7th grade Renaissance history curriculum. The students are introduced to fundamental concepts of building, design, and architectural language to help them begin to observe their own environment in a creative and critical way.
The curriculum includes comparisons of their own community’s design to that of ancient cities. The students engaged in discussions about how architecture impacts everyday life. During one of the lessons, Michael Romero, architect and curriculum developer, led the class in a lively discussion of some of their favorite vacations, encouraging the students to think about how culture, food and design impacted their experiences.
The last day of the 5-day program, the students went on a field trip to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco to see classical design preserved in our region. “This allowed students to capture their experience in their sketchbooks and share their impressions of how a building can inspire and relay visual meaning to the public.” wrote Nancy O’Connor, director of the Northern California Chapter.