This past summer, the nonprofit design practice, PennPraxis, in partnership with The Fresh Air Fund, piloted a new program, Virtual Design Studio, that sparked the imaginations of nearly 150 students to show how design has the power to change the built environment. Their courses, which were taught by University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design graduate students, generated multiple designs for a nature center operated by The Fresh Air Fund and public spaces in New York City and offered children an introduction to explore future careers in design that could have a lasting impact on their communities and the design professions for years to come. Over the course of seven weeks, these students committed over 150 hours to the program while also receiving a stipend.
Through two hands-on projects, Virtual Design Studio introduced students to design thinking and created community conversations with design leaders and their peers. Students first designed a new nature center on Sharpe Reservation, The Fresh Air Fund’s property on more than 2,000 acres in Fishkill, NY—a project that The Fresh Air Fund may take on in the near future. The second project was closer to home with the design of a “breathing room” in their own boroughs in New York City as their subject. The concepts for the breathing room included outdoor spaces for social activity and exercise, ways to improve air quality, and installations that generate conversation about space and race.
