Alberti Program returns for summer 2025
2025-01-23 • Sam Fox School
The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will continue its longstanding summer program, the Alberti Program: Architecture for Young People, in partnership with PGAV Destinations, AIA STL, and HOK. The program takes place on WashU’s Danforth campus in June 2025, offering elementary and middle school students a hands-on exploration of architecture and design.
During the four-week program students learn from WashU faculty and current WashU students in a day camp environment.
Assistant Professor Kelley Van Dyck Murphy will lead the program, and current graduate and undergraduate students will help teach. Youth participants will develop a variety of skills and perspectives, including 3D-modeling techniques; an understanding of scale, spatial order, landscape, and climate in the design process; and an ability to develop design concepts. Site visits to architecturally significant sites in St. Louis and a visit to longtime program partner PGAV Destinations, a downtown firm that designs tourist attractions, complements hands-on teaching.
To showcase their new skills, students present their work at a final exhibition in one of the Sam Fox School’s gallery spaces. Family, friends, and community partners can get a close-up view of the architectural drawings and models youth participants created during the program.
The Alberti Program is coordinated by the school’s Office for Socially Engaged Practice. “We really see this as a program to get students from a variety of backgrounds interested in architecture, design, and higher education,” said Emily Coffman, curriculum and outreach coordinator for the office. “For some of these students, it’s the first time they’re interacting with a university campus, the first time they’re really considering college as a possible path.”
The program, which has been operating since 2007, welcomes students from across the region, emphasizing the need to broaden the diversity of designers. In 2024, approximately 70% of participants were accepted with a need-based tuition waiver.
Registration is open through March 1, 2025, for students entering grades 4-9 in fall 2025. The program takes place on WashU’s Danforth campus and runs Monday-Friday, June 2-27.