When we started our chapter nearly three years ago, one of the goals that we knew we wanted to achieve was to bring Project Pipeline to the city of Baltimore. Project Pipeline is NOMA’s signature summer architecture camp for youth from underrepresented communities in the profession. The camp is often the first introduction that middle and high school students have to the field of architecture, and we knew that our mission as a chapter would be unfulfilled unless we met this task.
Ironically, it was during the SMPS + Bmore NOMA Networking in the New Year event (which you can read about here) that we were presented with the opportunity to partner with the Baltimore chapter of NAWIC. The National Association of Women in Construction hosts a career exposure camp every year for young women from communities surrounding Mondawmin Mall in West Baltimore. In partnership with BGE, Whiting Turner, the Baltimore National Aquarium, and Morgan State University, Camp NAWIC introduces girls to various professions in the STEAM fields. Bmore NOMA was invited to close the program with a ½ day Project Pipeline Workshop, where we introduced the girls to the basic concepts of architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture. Girls learned that any design can come from a small conceptual idea and be developed through programming diagrams, floor plans, and model building. By the end of the workshop, the girls produced more than twenty different designs for a retail store inspired by their favorite musical or visual artist. We even took a moment to go live via Instagram to Chicago, the city of endless iconic architecture, through our Communications Director Beresford Pratt! We look forward to co-hosting this event next year, perhaps with an entire day!
Special thanks to our sponsor, Pella Mid-Atlantic, for their overwhelming support for this initiative through financial sponsorship, in-kind donations, and volunteer hours!
In addition, special thanks to our volunteers - Kathleen Sherrill, Robert Grooms, Lubna Chaudry, Beresford Pratt, and Fallon Williams!
Written By:
Melanie Ray
AIA, NOMA, NCARB, LEED Green Assoc.
