Jesuit Academy students learn through building design program

Balance, function, form, and symmetry are all things that the sixth grade math class at Jesuit Academy is learning about, courtesy of an architectural project facilitated by Jesuit Academy teacher Mr. Dan Kennedy, nSJ.  Jesuit Academy students have been designing a building, working on everything from the first sketches, creating a blueprint, and organizing a budget sheet for the project.  The new Jesuit Academy building on the Boys and Girls Clubs campground in Council Bluffs inspired the project.  

As the school was going through the design phase for a new building, students in teams of two learned how to think like architects to design a building for a client.  Not only did students draw out their layout with fine detail, they also worked to calculate the perimeter and square footage for each room to assemble a construction budget.  The final phase of the project was for teams to present their designs to a selection team to choose the best design.  

In the midst of the building design competition, the sixth grade class visited Creighton Prep’s architecture lab, facilitated by Mrs. Candace Thompson.  In addition to Mrs. Thompson, two Creighton Prep students currently enrolled in classes in the architecture program assisted the Jesuit Academy students in designing an exterior structure utilizing the architecture software used at Creighton Prep.  This software is the same software used in architecture firms around the world.  

Jesuit Academy students had the opportunity to build a structure that included doors, walls, windows, and exterior features.  The software used by Creighton Prep includes both 2-D and 3-D features, which allows the students to see their designs from multiple angles and adjust when necessary.  Combined with a tour of Creighton Prep, the visit to the architecture lab offered another perspective to Jesuit Academy students about possible career options, something Jesuit Academy is committed to ensuring is available for all students.

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