May 08, 2012

University offering summer architecture camps

by Michelle Winkler

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Youths come from all over the world to build friendships and learn about buildings and design at Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s summer architecture camps.

The Division of Continuing Education and the School of Architecture are again offering the popular camp series this summer for those in grades four through 12.  Camp participants will develop an understanding of various aspects of the built environment including why buildings look the way they do, what architects and interior designers do, how a building is designed, constructed, used and reused, and much more.  Activities include taking historic architecture field trips to St. Louis and other locales, sketching and rendering, visiting construction sites, casting concrete, building models, and working with computer graphics and computer-aided drafting (CAD).

Jon Davey, architecture professor, interior designer and E.J. and Mary C. Simon Distinguished Faculty, is the project director for the architecture camps.  He’s kicking off his 30th year of teaching and is a five-time winner of the architecture department’s Teacher of the Year award.  He also is the recipient of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts Teacher of the Year twice, Distinguished Faculty Award twice, and college scholar of the year award.  He has a special interest in young peoples’ ideas of design, particularly their development of three-dimensional spatial skills.

There are three 2012 architecture camps:  Kid Architecture Camp, Middle School Architecture Camp and High School Architecture Camp. 

Kid Architecture is set for June 4 to 8.  Registration is $180 and includes all lunches, snacks, supplies, materials, field trip transportation, limited accident medical insurance, T-shirt and quality instruction. Campers should arrive between 8 and 8:30 a.m. and depart between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.  On Friday the tour bus will leave at 8 a.m. and return to Quigley Hall around 6:30 p.m. depending upon traffic conditions.

 Middle School Architecture Camp will be July 15-20, followed by High School Architecture from July 22- 27.  Registration is $360 for commuters and $510 for residential campers for each session. The resident camper fee includes all dinners (Sunday-Thursday), lunches (Monday-Friday), breakfasts (Monday-Friday), five nights of lodging at an air-conditioned SIU Carbondale residence hall (Sunday-Thursday), educational supplies and materials, transportation for the St. Louis field trip, camp supplies and materials, limited accident medical insurance coverage, architecture camp T-shirt and quality instruction.

The $360 commuter fee includes all of the above, with the exception of breakfasts and lodging. Check-in for all campers will be from 3 to 4 p.m. on Sunday. All campers and their guardians are to meet with the camp director at 4 p.m.  Commuter campers are welcome to stay for dinners (Sunday-Thursday) and all evening activities until 8:30 p.m.

Information about summer camp offerings is updated daily on the Division of Continuing Education’s website.  Enrollment is limited for all three camps, so officials highly recommend early registration.

To register, or for more information, contact the Division of Continuing Education at 618/536-7751 or visit https://www.dce.siu.edu/