embARC Summer Design Academy
Rising high school juniors and seniors
JULY 5 – JULY 29, 2022 // DATE FOR 2023 TBD
embARC is an immersive summer design program at UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design that brings together high school students from diverse backgrounds to explore architecture, urban design and sustainable city planning through integrated components: an architecture + urban design studio, a sustainable city planning workshop, a digital design workshop, an environmental design conversation series and a materials exploration workshop. No prior experience in environmental design is necessary.
Students will be able to develop their portfolio for their college applications in any area of environmental design - architecture, city planning, and landscape architecture. Classes include ample studio time, one-on-one critiques and “live” gallery showcases. Students will also go on field trips, and design and build a project for a local non-profit organization. Students who fulfill the course requirements receive credit on an official UC Berkeley transcript upon course completion.
Benefits of Attending
- Explore architecture, urban design and city planning as possible college majors and careers
- Develop technical and time-management skills through college-level coursework
- Work with peers who have similar interests
- Build a design portfolio to use when applying to college
- Be exposed to actual public policy issues and make a real impact on your world
- Earn a certificate of completion and credit on an official UC Berkeley transcript
“embARC really taught me how to widen how I thought about things. It showed me very many different aspects of what really goes into architecture design.
It also gave me a feel for what it would be like to take studio in college and what that atmosphere is like. Also the GSI’s were always encouraging and would help push students to new levels. That way we spent time improving and learning…”
-embARC student
CURRICULUM
embARC students work on real design projects and engage as genuine participants in a process to develop solutions to authentic urban planning questions. The program's multi-disciplinary approach provides a comprehensive framework for "placemaking."
ARCHITECTURE + URBAN DESIGN STUDIO
Instruction in freehand sketching, drafting, model building and digital representation teaches students how to conceptualize and communicate two and three-dimensional design ideas.
SUSTAINABLE CITY PLANNING WORKSHOP
Students engage as genuine stakeholders and participants in a community change process through site observations, research and the development of an authentic urban planning question.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN CONVERSATION SERIES
Presentations and talks by invited professional practitioners and CED-based guest lecturers provide a framework for the ideas and methods that support the theory and practice of environmental design. Students are given the opportunity to engage in the discourses of the discipline in guided discussion groups.
DIGITAL DESIGN WORKSHOP
Building skills in digital representation, this series of focused workshops prepares students for technology-driven college-level design curricula, while also introducing participants to the latest software and digital tools available in the profession.
MATERIALS EXPLORATION WORKSHOP
Students will explore how a full building physically comes together - from foundation to finishes - through multiple precedent studies and drafting exercises.Students will learn how to represent and decipher details, think critically about how materials come together, and ultimately design their own tiny house.
Faculty
Ever since joining PYATOK in 2010, Kim Suczynski Smith has been lending her holistic, multidisciplinary perspective and interest in education to our most complex projects – whether neighborhood and campus planning, multi-building affordable housing communities, sensitive mixed-use infill, or engaging in building types new to the firm.
Kim enjoys working directly with communities, across large stakeholder groups, and with high school and university students learning about design in the built environment. She guides PYATOK’s equity and community outreach programs, including our Diversity Fellowship through UC Berkeley. Also at UC Berkeley, Kim teaches an urban planning studio – examining how Bay Area cities, and particularly Oakland, plan for change – and conducts the embARC Summer Design Academy for high school students. Her academic and volunteer work emphasize hands-on, design-build learning, promoting design advocacy, and removing barriers to the profession for disadvantaged communities.
Kim’s recent project contributions include the Balboa Reservoir Master Plan and Blocks C and D in San Francisco, the multi-phase Paradise Creek affordable housing project in National City, and Jones Berkeley Market-Rate TOD on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley. She is currently overseeing the construction in Santa Rosa, California, of the Caritas Village Navigation Center, an innovative, three-story health services hub for people experiencing homelessness. The Caritas Center is by far PYATOK’s largest such project to date, and was realized under Kim’s leadership through a highly-collaborative development process involving numerous stakeholders and funding sources.
The application deadline has passed for the summer of 2022. We will open the application for next year in mid-December 2022. To receive a reminder, please add yourself to our mailing list