May 10, 2011

Popular architecture camps return this summer

by Nicole Trainor

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Youths from all over the world can return to Southern Illinois University Carbondale's popular architecture camps this summer.

The Division of Continuing Education, along with the Architectural Studies program, is offering architecture camps for those in grades 4-12. Camp participants will develop an understanding of why buildings look the way they do and how they stand up, what architects and interior designers do, how people design, construct, use and reuse a building and so much more. Activities include historic architecture field trips, sketching and rendering, visiting construction sites, casting concrete, model building, a field trip to view architecture in St. Louis or other sites, computer graphics and computer-aided design (CAD).

Jon Davey, architecture professor and distinguished faculty member in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts’ School of Architecture, is the camp director. In his 29th year of teaching architecture and design, Davey is a five-time winner of department teacher of the year and has twice won honors as the college teacher of the year, scholar of the year and winner of the distinguished faculty award. He has a particular interest with the understanding young people have of design and their development of three-dimensional spatial skills.

Davey’s camps have claimed awards as well, including the prestigious American Architectural Foundation’s Letter of Merit twice, along with a number of other regional, state and national awards.

There will be two weeklong sessions of Kid Architecture again this summer in addition to the popular middle school and high school architecture camps. Session I of Kid Architecture will be June 27-July 1 while Session II is July 25-29.

Registration is $175, and includes lunches (Monday-Friday), transportation for the St. Louis field trip, camp supplies and materials, limited accident medical coverage, an architecture camp T-shirt, and instruction. Parents or guardians should drop off campers between 8 and 8:30 a.m. and pick them up between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. On Friday the tour bus will leave campus at 8 a.m. and will return to Quigley Hall between 5:30 and 6 p.m., depending upon traffic conditions.

Middle School Architecture Camp will be July 10-15 with High School Architecture Camp set for July 17-22. Registration is $350 for commuters or $499 for residential campers. The $499 resident fee includes all dinners (Sunday-Thursday), lunches (Monday-Friday), breakfasts (Monday-Friday), five nights lodging at an air-conditioned SIUC residence hall (Sunday-Thursday), educational supplies and materials, transportation for the St. Louis field trip, camp supplies and materials, limited accident medical insurance coverage, camp T-shirt, and instruction. The $350 commuter fee includes all of the above, with the exception of breakfasts and lodging.

Check-in for all campers is from 3 to 4 p.m. on Sunday. All campers and their parents/guardians are to meet the camp director at 4 pm. Commuter campers are welcome to stay for dinners (Sunday-Thursday) and the evening activities that will wrap up about 8:30 p.m.

Enrollment is limited so DCE recommends registering early. To register, or for more information, contact the Division of Continuing Education at 618/536-7751 or visit the website at https://www.dce.siu.edu.