Bindner Spencer Partners Host Discussion About Design of Schools

 

 Last month, Matt Bindner and Jack Spencer of the design firm Bindner Spencer Partners (BSP), hosted a conversation alongside Publicolor with the Department of Education on "the design of schools".  Publicolor is a nonprofit that works to fight poverty by addressing the alarming dropout rate and low levels of educational attainment and youth employment in New York City.

The panel included BSP's founder Matt Bindner, Publicolor's Founder + President Ruth Lande Shuman, Executive Superintendent for Renewal Schools Aimee Horowitz, and Dattner's Daniel Heuberger. The four panelists examined their take on designing spaces. The event was held in AYR SoHo's flagship at 199 Lafayette Street, which BSP designed.

Ruth Lande Shuman also explained Publicolor's Summer Design Studio (SDS), a 7-week program in which students will re-design educational spaces such as classrooms, libraries and cafeterias. Shuman told the audience "This summer, Publicolor will be challenging students to redesign spaces in their school – notably classrooms, cafeterias and hallways. By engaging students in critical thinking and creative problem solving, it encourages collaboration and positive attitudes. This is an example of how we immerse our students for seven weeks in the summer in literacy and math through product design. Thereby resulting in a highly effective antidote to summer learning loss, which is the greatest contributor to the education gap between high and low-income students." 

 Matt Bindner concluded the panel discussion.  "Our youth are filled with creativity." he said "so it's important for them to understand their agency to change their environment through design. By teaching the children of today a way to see the world through the lens of design, we will have a more exciting world tomorrow".  Afterwards, guests mingled over wine donated by Conorníu Raventós and shopped the AYR clothing collection.