What

Orchids! is the second installment in the Building the Next Engineers US adaptation of the Next Generation Design design-build workshop projects, an exciting new New York-based learning activity to introduce young people to engineering and architecture through hands on designing and building of a real-life structure. The project is split into three parts:

• Workshop (1 days) – High school students working in teams to develop concept design for a pavilion, and learn about engineering and architecture.
• Design and procurement (2 months) – A design team of young professionals develop the winning concept design from the workshop into a construction-ready kit-of-parts. (ONGOING!)
• Construction (1 day) – Volunteer team construct the designed pavilion on site in the Queens Botanical Garden

The free workshops took place over one full Saturday from 09:30am to 5pm at Queens Botanical Gardens. The workshops were a mix of short talks from young professionals about architecture and engineering, and design workshop sessions where participants could put what they have learnt into action to design the pavilion that will later built in the gardens in August.

Participating students worked in teams of 3-4 to design the pavilion with a given set of model making and drawing materials. Each team worked with a rotating cast of Architect, Engineering and Construction (AEC) professionals to create concept sketches and maquettes, showing fundamental engineering views of the pavilion and explaining how it could be built! During the afternoon each team presented their design to a panel of friendly architects, engineers and staff from the garden.

The winning student team members’ design will be developed by a design team of young professionals for construction in August.

When

Concept Design Workshops!
Saturday May 18, 2024

Construction
Sunday August 4, 2024

Deconstruction
Monday Aug 12, 2024

Where

Who

Participating students were part of the Bloomberg Arts Internship program in NYC, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, and organized by the Studio Institute. Participants were:

• Interested in learning more about engineering, and the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry in general
• Committed to spending a weekend doing a new and fun free workshop!

If you are a teacher or organizer interested in signing up your students for future projects, or otherwise would like to hear more about the project, please contact dan@scalerule.org

Why

The workshops are a fantastic opportunity for interested student participants to:

• to develop an understanding of what architects and engineers do
• to consider new careers and career paths
• to gain experiences for job and college applications
• to have a fun and creative weekend!

The workshops also provide an excellent opportunity for the organizing young professionals and college students to:

• teach others about the fundamentals of their studies and careers
• develop hands-on teaching, designing and construction skills
• meet other like-minded designers
• help the built environment industry become more representative

Team

The Building the Next Engineers – Orchids! project was organized by Dan Bergsagel (Director and co-founder of Scale Rule), Lola Sheppard and Mehnaj Tabassum (Grimshaw) and Wei Du (Queens Botanical Gardens)

The concept design workshops were supported with the ever-capable assistance of:
Jeffrey Moser, Rudi Starossek, Chris Obayda, Emma Jurczynski, Eve Tobey, Niharika Shekhawat, Maddie Symons, Ranitri Weerasuriya, Michael Ramirez, and Catalina John-Melendez.

The design development was led by Jeffrey Moser, with support from Lola Sheppard, Mehnaj Tabassum and Dan Bergsagel.

The construction day was led by Jeffrey Moser and Dan Bergsagel, with volunteer support from: Rudi Starossek, John Archilla, Emma Jurczynski, Haozhou Yang, Charleen Chae, Niharika Shekhawat, Matt Carsello, and Michael Ramirez. The construction is greatly indebted to the ability of Queens Botanical Gardens to provide us with 6 (six!) ladders.

Building the Next Engineers is an adaptation of the Next Generation Design design-build workshops that Scale Rule have successfully organized and executed in the United Kingdom since 2015.

Support

Building the Next Engineers – Orchids! was supported by the Queens Botanical Gardens and the Studio Institute.