The Chippindale Venture - A Unique Environmental Education Project - TrustNews March 10
Frank Chippindale was a former head of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Leeds who retired to Winchester where he established an urban studies group. He believed that it was important for children to develop their understanding and appreciation of the urban environment, ideally to be studied in school during the formative years of their education.
Following his death, the Trust set up a venture in 1987 in his memory specifically designed to involve young people and teachers in schools. Teams of primary and secondary children worked with local architects, planners and landscape architects in primary and secondary schools. The aim was to develop and foster not only an increased and informed knowledge and awareness of the built environment, but also the processes and forces that shape it. The practical task for each school team was a hypothetical environmental design exercise with an actual site. Each venture was designed to be closely allied to the original version of the National Curriculum.
The venture was managed by an organising committee in four stages over two terms in each school. It was financed by generous local funding, private donations, sponsorship and grants. HCC provided a considerable degree of support and goodwill.
There were five separate ventures over several years, each with a specific brief from the organising committee, a clear starting point for children and professionals alike. Five primary schools, two secondary schools , a private school and numerous children were involved.
There were distinct benefits from the professionals working with teachers and children. Their purpose was to enable the children to learn how to coherently develop and express their ideas, to stimulate and facilitate design possibilities and bring them to final presentation. As role models, their influence on the thinking of young people about how to look at and possibly design the built environment was crucial to the content, process and outcome of each venture.
Preliminary work is now being undertaken to see if the Trust can resurrect the venture whilst sustaining the original objectives. It will be necessary to see whether it will fit the current National Curriculum. It will explore the willingness and current capacity of professional partnerships and the goodwill of schools to participate in a potentially challenging and exciting project.