The haudenschildGarage collaborated with The Periscope Project on the 2011 SummerUrban Laboratories providing scholarships for high school students from the Monarch School.
The SummerUrban Laboratories program is the second formal educational project at The Periscope Project, and the first working directly with students.
In the summer of 2010, a design / build studio was conducted through the New School of Architecture and Design as a formalization of the methods by which The Periscope Project was constructed in the first place: much of the project's embodied labor is attributable to the tireless and enthusiastic contributions of students. Recognizing the appeal of The Periscope Projects to students as such, it has become a supplemental micro-institution. In such a space, the hierarchies of traditional educational systems can be bracketed, allowing students to develop for themselves a greater sense of ownership, connection, and tangible engagement.
During July 2011, resident artists and educators at The Periscope Project worked with small groups of high school students in focused workshops that engaged the urban territory surrounding The Periscope Project’s facilities. Opening up this space as a classroom, the programs introduced students to intensive visual / analytical / collaborative practice, and fostered a deeper understanding of the symbols, structures and ecologies that form San Diego's urban public realm.
Session 1, Representing Urban Issues & Drawings from the "City," led by James Enos and Andrea Ngan. This group of four students focused on mediating ground-level experience of the urban environment (begun with day long walks) via photography, drawing, and collaborative collage. http://theperiscopeproject.org/sessions.html
Session 2, Introduction to Public Login & Urban Green Technologies, led by Keith Muller and David Kim. This group of seven students were introduced to the varied meanings of urban space, as they explored the signs that designate public and private realms, and DIY techniques for responding to these situations: from street furniture to water-bottle hydroponics.
