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Westcott hosting teen summer design camp

Students in the exclusive program will design a Habitat for Humanity house

An architecture and design camp for high school students at the Westcott House (pictured) will take inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright for a local Habitat for Humanity house.

Staff photo by Barbara J. Perenic An architecture and design camp for high school students at the Westcott House (pictured) will take inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright for a local Habitat for Humanity house.

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By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer Updated 3:28 PM Friday, May 22, 2009

SPRINGFIELD — A free house is a free house — then again, Habitat for Humanity has never been under the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright.

For a second year, the Westcott House will host an architecture and design camp June 15 to July 3 for high school students in which they’ll design a house for the local chapter of Habitat.

In other words, someone will get a seriously cool tract house out of this.

That is, if the students can be rewired to think like Wright — out of the box.

“They don’t really have an idea of what contemporary architecture can be,” said Marta Wojcik, curator of interpretation at the Wright-designed Westcott.

First held two years ago to national acclaim, the Building Brighter Futures camp is limited to just eight students with an interest in art, design and architecture. Tuition is $250.

To apply, send a letter of interest to Wojcik at  mwojcik@westcotthouse .org. For more information, call (937) 327-9291.

“Our hope is that we can share this model with other communities,” Wojcik said. “It could be applied anywhere in the United States. That would be our dream, really.”

Think of it as a three-week crash course in design and architecture — from lessons in architectural software to road trips to construction sites, universities and Wright homes.

“There’s a void in the school system,” Wojcik said. “But at the same time, there are many teachers locally who are interested in the Westcott House.”

The students catch on. Quickly.

The first camp designed a house for Habitat, and it’s now under construction at the corner of Western and Grand avenues, Wojcik said.

“They were dreaming big in the beginning,” she said.

But in order to keep costs low, they had to compromise.

The house does, however, boast radiant heating — a hallmark of Wright’s middle-class Usonian homes.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.

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