As a part of Atlanta's High Museum of Art's touring exhibit Celebrate Architecture! Renzo Piano & Building Workshop, the College of Architecture partnered with the High to sponsor a day of design activities at the museum for the whole family. Director of Architecture, Ellen Dunham-Jones pulled in twenty architecture students to share their passion for architecture by leading several hands-on workshops and serve as volunteers for the day. The workshops, along with a digitally manufactured installation created by Georgia Tech Instructor Tristan Al-Haddad, were part of a program developed by Hope Cohn, freelance curator for the High.

"This was one of the best family days we've ever had at the museum and we have the collaboration with the College of Architecture and the student volunteers to thank for that," said Cohn. "The children participating in the workshops related well to the Architecture students. And the installation was architectural, bright, vibrant, dynamic and playful. You knew something exciting was happening when you walked in the door and saw it."

The packed event introduced hundreds of eight to twelve years olds and their parents to the fascinating world of architecture. In workshops, held in the High Museum's Green Family Education Center, participants created architectural art, built models, built bricks and drew drawings that were then projected and dimensionalized through the use of a Computer Aided Design program.

"artnering with the High not only gives us a tremendous opportunity to showcase our talented students, but to share with the High in demonstrating the value that we both believe great architecture contributes to communities," said Dunham-Jones. "Plus, I think we inspired some of the members of the next generation to join us and have an enormous amount of fun."

Architecture students Matt Lewis and Kara Cristaldi organized and led the "Inside out: The Art of Architecture" workshop where participants built their own architectural study mini-museum model to highlight and display their selection of art works from the permanent collection.

Students Steve Georgalis, Brandon Clifford and Jason Mabry organized and led the "Cool Tools and Materials Demonstration" workshop where participants learned all about the math and science skills architects use in their work as they watched demonstrations of the tools of the trade used to design and create an architectural plan for a building.

Students Matt Swartz and Shawn Kinsey organized and led the "Designing Computer Automated Drafting Demonstration" workshop where participants viewed a special demonstration of the new computer design technologies that help architects do their work. 

Al-Haddad also designed, built and installed "Space Index," a 12-foot digitally-manufactured catanoid structure that was displayed in the atrium of the High as a way to highlight the use of advance digital modeling for construction. Al-Haddad designed Space Index using a computer aided design program and fabricated using the computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines in the College's Advanced Wood Products Lab. He also spent the day in the atrium discussing the development of Space Index.