Front Door Project

Abstract

Design Education in schools has tended to concentrate on product and graphic design, and has neglected the built environment. In recent years, geographers have given a good deal of attention to environmental education, but they have not, naturally enough, emphasised the visual and design aspects. Developing child centred approaches to the complex study of cities is difficult since few teachers have available the necessary experience of planning and architecture. The aim of the Front Door Project has been to improve on this situation by taking the initial steps in the development of a course of design and architectural studies based on an investigation of the urban environment, bringing together teachers, as educational experts and architects, as environmental experts, in a working partnership to devise such a course. It was set up in September 1974 by the Inner London Education Authority Art Inspectorate as a two year experiment involving teachers from Pimlico School, architects from the Greater London Council Department of Architecture and Civil Design and Ken Baynes from the Royal College of Art 'Design in Education' Research Team.