Education

Bringing Our Knowledge to Young People

The National Building Arts Center long has worked to bring our knowledge and resources to students across the region. In September 2006, we launched a new educational program with 120 students from O’Fallon High School (O’Fallon, Illinois). Using plans, photographs and drawings from our collection, students spent a semester working on art and math-related projects exploring seven selected buildings. We led bus tours and identified speakers to meet with the students and discuss historic preservation, architecture, and careers in related fields. We hosted an exhibit and reception at St. Louis City Hall where the teenagers displayed their scale models, works of art, and their new knowledge.

Activites at the Conservatory

Educational activities have included organizing a bus tour of Sauget’s industrial history for the Society for Industrial Archaeology (2006) and tours of our conservatory for the American Institute of Architects St. Louis Chapter (2008), University of Missouri – St. Louis Museum Studies program (2009) and the Illinois Statewide Historic Preservation Conference (2011). We also collaborated with the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Earthways Center to develop a summer course on building materials for elementary aged students (2011).

Above Left: Earthways Center students visit the conservatory (2011)

Above Right: O’Fallon Township High School students display their work (2006)