Featured Story
designLab Recreates St. Luke’s History
This summer, St. Luke’s School recreated a piece of the building’s historical architecture — a lattice design known as the perforated parapet –that frames the roofline.
Julia Gabriele, St. Luke’s Associate Head of School & Chief Financial Officer, has a passion for history and a love for restoring old buildings. She came across a photo of St. Luke’s from the 1930s and noticed that our school’s roofline once contained beautifully detailed latticework. Another photo from the 1950s shows a criss-cross design that remained through the mid-1960s but had since rotted away. That’s when Julia had the idea to leverage the talent and tools found in the designLab.
“I wanted this project to capture the hard work , loyalty, and devotion it takes to restore older buildings. To bring some of the glory back to our original school house pays homage to tradition and to all the students and faculty who came before” shared Julia.
designLab Director, Michael Mitchell, finds it fun to explore new projects, especially projects that allow him to use the equipment in the designLab. Using the CAD modeling program, Onshape, he designed what the latticework would look like. Then, he used a CNC router — a computer-controlled cutting machine — to etch out the design from large sheets.
Julia Gabriele, St. Luke’s Associate Head of School & Chief Financial Officer, has a passion for history and a love for restoring old buildings. She came across a photo of St. Luke’s from the 1930s and noticed that our school’s roofline once contained beautifully detailed latticework. Another photo from the 1950s shows a criss-cross design that remained through the mid-1960s but had since rotted away. That’s when Julia had the idea to leverage the talent and tools found in the designLab.
“I wanted this project to capture the hard work , loyalty, and devotion it takes to restore older buildings. To bring some of the glory back to our original school house pays homage to tradition and to all the students and faculty who came before” shared Julia.
designLab Director, Michael Mitchell, finds it fun to explore new projects, especially projects that allow him to use the equipment in the designLab. Using the CAD modeling program, Onshape, he designed what the latticework would look like. Then, he used a CNC router — a computer-controlled cutting machine — to etch out the design from large sheets.
With the lattice created, John Tita and Rich Kaechele, facilities technicians at St. Luke’s, took to the top of the building to install the beautiful new lattice on the roof.
St. Luke’s designLab is a hub for design-thinking, hands-on learning and exploration, engineering and computer courses, and home to our 3.500 square foot, fully equipped fabrication lab. As part of our Center for Leadership, the designLab helps guide students through the creative problem-solving process — a critical leadership skill. Any student can take class in the designLab without prior experience.
Students can choose designLab as an elective, participate in after-school activities, or join in the MS Makers summer camp.
The designLab’s tagline is Make It Better, which aptly describes the lattice project. Now each time someone approaches the Be Kind Plaza at St. Luke’s and glances toward the sky, they see a little piece of St. Luke’s history, brought back to life.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 35 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 Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
