PROJECTS

The Virtual Studio: Designing for D.C. Stormwater expands how students of color are educated and engaged by making stormwater relevant to urban communities through a series of 5 masterclass-style learning modules. The learning modules are focused on teaching design-thinking to 16+-year-old high school students so they can learn to design for stormwater solutions in their own city. The learning modules expose D.C. students to national experts and emerging professionals in urban design. The modules also introduce critical environmental justice issues of stormwater design in local D.C. neighborhoods. While the modules utilize a virtual platform, the project site located at 4951 East Capitol St. NE, uses an existing D.C. site in the Anacostia watershed as an opportunity to redesign with stormwater best management practices. Our modules demonstrate and expose students to the beginning processes of site analysis and concept design, encouraging students to consider landscape architecture as a possible career and understand how the built environment impacts their own daily experience. The advanced modules connect themes of climate change and the built environment and demonstrate how students can transform their concepts into a built design.