UC Berkeley's embARC Summer Design Academy

embARC Summer Design Academy is a four-week summer design intensive at UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design that brings together high school students from diverse backgrounds to explore architecture, urban design and sustainable city planning through five components: an Architecture + Urban Design Studio, a Sustainable City Planning Workshop, a Digital Design Workshop, an Environmental Design Conversation Series and a Materials Exploration Workshop.

ARCHITECTURE + URBAN DESIGN STUDIO - Instruction in freehand sketching, drafting, model building and digital representation teaches students how to conceptualize and communicate two and three-dimensional design ideas.

SUSTAINABLE CITY PLANNING WORKSHOP - Students engage as genuine stakeholders and participants in a community change process through site observations, research and the development of an authentic urban planning question.

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN CONVERSATION SERIES - Presentations and talks by invited professional practitioners and CED-based guest lecturers provide a framework for the ideas and methods that support the theory and practice of environmental design. Students are given the opportunity to engage in the discourses of the discipline in guided discussion groups.

DIGITAL DESIGN WORKSHOP - Building skills in digital representation, this series of focused workshops prepares students for technology-driven college-level design curricula, while also introducing participants to the latest software and digital tools available in the profession.

MATERIALS EXPLORATION WORKSHOP - Students explore how a full building physically comes together – from foundation to finishes – through multiple precedent studies and drafting exercises. Students learn how to represent and decipher details, think critically about how materials come together, and ultimately design their own tiny house.

embARC enables students to:

• explore architecture, urban design and city planning as possible college majors and careers
• hone and develop skills through college-level coursework
• immerse themselves in design studio culture and the college campus experience
• work in a team environment with peers who have similar interests
• build a design portfolio to use when applying to college
• be exposed to actual public policy issues and make a real impact in your world
• earn a certificate of completion and 1 unit of credit on an official UC Berkeley transcript