ARTICLE COLLATERAL CREATION
DOWNSTREAM EXPOSURE
A CONVERSATION WITH DONNA SINK
O
ver the past twelve months, the editorial topics of CONNECTION have had a general focus on the future of the profession. We’ve discussed retaining employees through culture, providing access to 21st century skills, and the long term trend of Resilience, to name a few. But most of that talk has been towards professionals who have already entered the industry in some form. Our final issue of the year turns to those who have yet to make that decision or still have time to switch majors. We’re here to convince them they should stay the course. This is especially true since one of the long term focuses for the profession is how we can maintain a supply of architects that will meet the future demands of the built environment. Data currently suggests that the incoming population will be able to replace the retiring generation - for a period. But what happens when the sheer numbers of retirees outpaces graduates? Remember that big gap between 2007 and 2011 who didn’t really have a chance or the WSJ articles that declared a degree in architecture as worthless? While we’d love to tackle the topic of attrition of architectural students and professionals on the backend, our focus is to highlight ways to keep a solid pipeline coming up through K-12. It’s become an increasingly hot topic on the AIA’s radar and a major source of pride for many architects. CONNECTION, along with YAF colleague Kurt Neiswender, caught up with one AIA member who has been at the forefront of this effort. Our guest is Donna Sink, AIA, an architect and educator who for a period served as the Co-Chair of the Architecture Discipline at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA). We kicked off the discussion with some of Donna’s previous experience. DS: I previously taught in Kentucky for seven years in a summer residential program sponsored by the Governor’s office and the State legislature that focused on high school youth with an interest in pursuing a career in the arts. Every summer approximately 16 states offer a Governor’s School program. In Kentucky, the program is comprised of nine disciplines ranging from Creative Writing to Filmmaking. I specifically taught a program in architecture and design along with two co-teachers and practicing architects, Steven Ward and Jeff Rawlins. The format of the program consisted of a three week residential camp that was an intensive and immersive experience for students. Studios usually ran from 10 am to 10 pm. The potential students had to submit portfolios with their application to participate in the program. The design studio was open to juniors and seniors who primarily had an interest in art and design beyond the standard high school
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CONNECTION
THE ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN JOURNAL OF THE YOUNG ARCHITECTS FORUM
curriculum. The mission of the program was broadly design based, beginning with compositional projects and scaling up to end with an architecture design project. We also conducted walking tours to teach the students how to read a city by asking questions about the reasons for certain physical outcomes. For example, we looked beyond the bricks and mortar of the actual structure to discuss the why and how buildings get built, the economics and cultural pressures that affect the built world, and how built spaces either enhance or damage the community’s
We conducted walking tours to teach students why and how buildings get built and the economics and cultural pressures that affect the built world, and how those built spaces then either enhance or damage the community’s social experience. social experience. My intent was to teach these students to be good, knowledgeable consumers of architecture, whether they decided to pursue architecture as a career or not. Because this is a State-sponsored Governor’s program, the students that successfully completed the intensive program were granted scholarships to any state school in Kentucky. The Governor’s initiative was to stop the “brain drain” of talented and smart students moving away out of state for school and beyond. Of the 12-20 architecture students each summer, approximately 30-50% went on to the University of Kentucky - School of Architecture, with many also choosing affiliated design careers such as interior design and civil engineering. For obvious reasons the matriculation rate was very high, but many of those who I maintain relationships with have graduated from college and are still within design related professional fields. It was interesting to hear that for a program about arts and design almost half went directly into architecture school. We followed up more about the conversion rate of students after the intensive program.