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Finding da Vinci at St. Luke's School
A most interesting design thinking experience...
“I was a biologist and now I’m an architect,” Fred Noyes told the auditorium filled with St. Luke’s Middle School students. “It’s all the same. Everything is design.”
Noyes was raised in New Canaan and studied the work of great modern architects such as Marcel Breuer, Philip Johnson, and his own father, Eliot Noyes. He spoke with St. Luke’s students as a part of the school’s Finding da Vinci: A Design Thinking Experience.
Joining Noyes as presenters and mentors for the da Vinci program were artist Fritz Horstman, Philip Johnson Glass House Curator Irene Mei Zhi Shum, environmental graphics designer and Creative Director of ARK Projects Ryan Kundrat, and architect Marianne Shin. The designers shared their personal stories and advice with students. “Be messy and try lots of ideas,” exhorted Horstman. “That’s how you’ll see the potential in a project.”
St. Luke’s designLab Director Michael Mitchell explained the Finding da Vinci concept: “This program is intended to spark our students’ imaginations. We wanted to expose them to the thinking of great designers and then let them unleash their own creativity. We gave them a real project—create a sculpture for our Science Wing lobby that represents the intersection of art and science. It’s not just an exercise, we will really pick one of the concepts and build it.”
Soon St. Luke’s Upper School will get in on the action. Embracing the iterative nature of design, students will build upon the ideas of their younger peers. Amanda Martocchio of New Canaan’s Amanda Martocchio Architecture + Design is a trustee at St. Luke’s and an organizer of Finding da Vinci. According to Martocchio: “The Upper School challenge will be to honor the core ideas conceived by the Middle School teams while expanding upon their potential, and deepening their impact.”
Once concepts have been fleshed out, the St. Luke’s community will vote for the design that best represents the convergence of art and science. That concept will be shared with a team of professional fabricators, builders, and architects who will help guide the design from concept to reality. The final creation will be installed near the Science Wing’s wall of windows where it will be visible to people inside and outside the building.
“We have no idea what this creation will be,” said Mitchell. “It’s still percolating in the minds of our students.”
Mentor Marianne Shin shared with students an Einstein quote that captures the spirit of this design thinking experience: “Logic will get you from A to Z. Imagination will get you everywhere.”
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 40 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Leading with Humanity curriculum builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
