A Closer Look at YouthBuild Boston's Designery Program

To close out the third week of Careers in Construction Month, we're taking a closer look at our Designery Program and the many careers Designery students are exposed to during their time with us.

The Designery is our after-school, summer, and in-school program for high schoolers interested in Architecture and Design. The program operates 3 sessions per year at our commercial studio space on Washington Street, and has expanded in recent years to an in-school model with BPS partners including Fenway High School and Boston Latin Academy. Designery participants earn a weekly stipend as they acquire and develop fundamental graphic, modeling, and design-thinking skills through real design projects for non-profit and community clients across the city. When applicable, the course concludes with a “build-out”, where the students physically construct and make a prototype or installation for their project.

This project-based learning model encourages collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity, while providing opportunities for meaningful learning in a variety of topics. The inherently STEAM-based approach to learning enables students to inquire, converse, take risks, and problem solve through a creative process that sparks learning in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics. Additionally, many of our community-based projects focus on topics such as affordable housing, equitable access to basic needs like food, healthcare and transportation, environmental sustainability, Universal Design, urban farming, gentrification, etc. These opportunities allow students to develop deep content knowledge and a passion for meaningful work that extends well beyond the program. Because of this unique learning experience, many students return to the Designery time and time again. We offer an adapted curriculum for 'Track 2' returning students, and 'Track 3' returning students who have demonstrated a high level of maturity, professionalism, and technical skills, so that they are employed in the industry for 7 weeks as paid interns with a local architecture or design firm.

All students participate in career exploration and professional development activities throughout the program, and many continue on to study Architecture, Design, or a related field. Students gain transferrable skills and experience that prepares them for any career, but especially those related to Architecture and Design, such as Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, Urban Planning, Engineering, Construction, Project Management, Drafting, or Surveying, among others.

The demographics of the Architecture and Design profession is shifting from a largely Caucasian and male dominated industry to include more women and people of color, and there is a strong consensus and desire within the profession to enrich our industry with diversity in order to better represent the communities we serve through design. One of the ways to achieve this goal is to diversify and increase access to the profession for young people. The Designery program addresses this exact desire; to educate the teen population about architecture and design, while equipping them with fundamental technical skills in order to excel and flourish within this profession should they choose to pursue this practice. Of the 475 teens we have served since our inception, 46% of Designery participants identify as female, 57% identify as Black, 21% Hispanic, and 11% Asian.

Learn more about this unique program or ways to get involved by contacting us today. Be sure to also check out the video below, created by our friends at Boston Architectural College!