COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Since it’s inception, PAPER AIRPLANE is interested in community engagement and community-based design initiatives. We feel responsible to utilize the practice of design/build, along with our infrastructure, to improve our community and to help underserved communities worldwide. We are interested in forging new relationships with collaborators and cultivating partnerships to advance this aspect of our company’s mission.
Please, contact us if you are interested in developing or implementing new programs, or if your organization could benefit from working with us. Below are are examples of ways we’ve implemented this philosophy in our practice.
SHELTERS, SHACKS AND SHANTIES
In 2017, PAPER AIRPLANE partnered with Denver-based independent arts and crafts school THE CRAFTSMAN & THE APPRENTICE to develop a week long summer camp that draws inspiration from the 1914 book, SHELTERS, SHACKS AND SHANTIES written by cofounder of the Boy Scouts of America, D.C. Beard.
The program provides young adults a unique opportunity to spend a week working in PA’s workshop to design and prototype their structures. Then those plans are implemented onsite at property owned by PA Principal Noah Manos, near Mt. Pisgah, west of the Central City, Colorado. The participants, aged 10-13 years, work there designing and building shelters and other structures inspired by Beard's illustrations from materials easily acquired at the site. Part of the week's activities will also include touring nearby architectural remnants from the 1858 Gold Rush and learning about local ecology in the Arapahoe National Forest.
The program is tailored to introduce basic design/build principles and practices to young adults, along with giving the participants an opportunity to forge a connection with the natural environment.
