KCCT hosted 25 summer camp junior high students and high school counselors from the One Way Leadership (OWL) Camp earlier this summer. OWL Camp provides a one-week opportunity for students to explore different occupations through hands-on creative experiences. The students spent a morning visiting the KCCT offices in Washington, D.C., where they received an introduction to architecture and a tour of the KCCT offices followed by a design charrette where they worked in teams to develop plans and models for a new Community Center.

KCCT served as a “mock client” for the week by providing a basic “program of requirements” for the Community Center. Students viewed examples of other community centers, learned about architectural drawings, and practiced how to use a scale. With guidance, students developed floor plan and elevation drawings. The charrette concluded with a demonstration of modeling techniques.

Students returned to camp in Mitchellville, MD, where teams developed and constructed their designs out of modeling clay, foam board, and Lego bricks throughout the week. At the end of camp, KCCT employees served as “subject matter experts” for student presentations of the work.

“The planning and execution could not have stimulated the students more and the care delivered to them was phenomenal,” said OWL Camp Director Kent Ballard, Jr. “The expertise the students were exposed to was priceless.” 

Firm History

Washington DC based KCCT is a multi-disciplinary design firm focused on planning, architecture, and interior design in urban environments. The firm’s unique practice features a regional portfolio of prominent new development, renovations and infrastructure in Washington’s Federal Core, and an international component including fourteen new US Diplomatic facilities and worldwide projects in more than 160 cities.