Today we had a chance to relax, take in some beautiful architecture and meet some great people!

First, we spent the morning with acclaimed local architect Alan Grinsfelder, the founder of Grinsfelder Associates Architects. He took the time to provide us with tours of local buildings, including the History Center, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and a special behind the scenes look of the Allen County Courthouse.

After a quick lunch we completed our Firm Foundations Tour of local firms. Each firm had only 20 minutes to present their work and provide a brief tour of their space. Thanks to Design Collaborative, Grinsfelder Associates Architects, Hoch Associates, MKM, and MSKTD, for hosting us!

The kids loved it and some even asked questions about possible internships, I think we may have a few future architects on our hands. ;)

Today was the big day we had been waiting for!

The kids got to present their full-scale prototype to the community and show them what they have been doing the past 5 weeks! In the midst of all the commotion, the stage turned out amazing! We had  great  turn out, and a news reporter came out to come interview some of the campers and staff.

Each of our campers received certificates of completion along with along with awards to recognize each of their strengths, including: 

• A Golden Glove - for the best Helper
• A Golden Scale - for the most prolific drawer and model builder
• A Golden Tie- for the most professional speaker
• A Golden Triangle- for the most accomplished technical drawer
• Golden Pencils and markers - for the most creative

What's even cooler is that the prototype build is just 1/2 of the final design for the stage and one small portion of the overall concept. 

Design Counselor, Kristoffer helped to pull each of our campers' ideas into a single cohesive design concept with a planted retaining wall and ramp on the North and West... and a stage  with integral mural on the south. The center area will be occupied with move-able seating and tables. We plan to work with the city of Fort Wayne to begin the process of ironing out the details to see how we could make our campers' vision a reality.

The following components from each camper's concepts were integrated into the final design

• mural wall
• undulating tire/ pallet wall
• stage
• shading device/ trellis
• seating/ community gathering area. 

No time to type, to busy building this awesome stage!

This morning we continue the work on the stage potion of section C. All hands were on deck and we were able to finish C and begin on the last section of our prototype. We made a few adjustments from our drawings, to make the design more interesting, but the kids are stocked. We ended up finishing most of C today so we can work on finishing touches tomorrow.