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Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design

Redefining Career & Technical Education in New York City Since 2009

You are here: Home / The Column / Freshmen Fundamentals of Architecture and Design Class

Freshmen Fundamentals of Architecture and Design Class

April 29, 2021 By Mahalia Saint Eloi

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Mr. Rodriguez
Mr. Geringer

This article is an overview of the Architecture and Design class for freshmen. Below teachers, Mr. Geringer and Mr. Rodriguez talk about what the class will be like for incoming freshmen and what to expect.

Who are you?

My name is Ira Geringer, and I am one of the freshmen architecture & design teachers at WHSAD. After a long career as a professional in the graphic design industry, I became a CTE teacher and aim to develop the design skills and creative thinking process of all of our students.

My name is Abraham Rodriguez. I am a career and technical educator with a strong passion for design, technology, and sustainability. Through computer-aided design and work-based learning, I facilitate students’ learning experiences to foster collaboration, design thinking, and environmental stewardship. I seek to develop instructional and digital learning design skills to support the study of sustainable urban systems and their advanced technology integration.

What’s the Curriculum like? (Pre-Quarantine and Post-Quarantine).

We begin with teaching the fundamental building blocks of design: Elements and principles.
We also teach perspective drawing, observational drawing, architects and architecture research presentations, model making, and computer assisted design (CAD).

What are students doing online and how does it differ from when we were in person?

If we were doing in-person teaching, we would be working with various art and design making materials, to develop design skills that each student should have. We would also be utilizing laptop computers to teach AutoCad and various other design & architecture programs.

Now, we rely on students creating their art in sketchbooks, taking snapshots of them and applying them to Google Slides and a whiteboard called Miro. The Miro environment allows students to collaborate, add their own art or art from the internet, videos and website articles. We also like Miro because it allows students to create statements and comment on the work of other students using sticky notes and comment cards. 

What projects do you have and what programs do you use in class?

  • The first semester is hands-on sketching and developing drawing skills
  • Elements of art – perspective drawing – observational drawing – evolution of a design
  • Model making – with wood sticks, balsa wood, chipboard
  • FloorPlanner, TinkerCAD

What programs do you generally offer for freshman students?

  • Makerspace studio
  • Opportunities to submit to Pratt Young Scholars
  • WHSAD Art Club

We work with a non-profit organization called Powerhouse. They find opportunities to bring on student interns and arrange workshops for students interested in areas like woodworking, textiles (including screen printing), ceramics.

Examples of student artwork:

Jaylen Blas, Tool (observational drawing unit)
Alan Munoz

Nataly Hurtado, Plant (observational drawing unit)


Filed Under: The Column

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About Mahalia Saint Eloi

Hi, my name is Mahalia Saint Eloi. I am currently a High School Junior at WHSAD. One of the things I love to do is make others happy. I take pride in making someone feel special or making their day. I aspire to become a pediatrician so that i can improve the lives of young children. Two of my favorite hobbies are drawing and writing. I write stories or blogs on Medium and Wattpad then publish them to see what people think. That's why I joined the newspaper club, so I can write more stories for people to love.

Click here to read more articles written by Mahalia Saint Eloi.

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