Julia Baggini ’25 | Victoria Lynn ’25 | Milla Manheim ’25
EA’s Art and Math departments spike the interest of some students to learn more about the field of architecture.
Mia Filipovski ’23, a talented senior interested in expanding her knowledge of architecture in college, explains, “[Architecture is] a combination of all different forms of the arts as well as maths and sciences.” In addition to understanding 2D and 3D arts, Filipovski explains, “Geometry and physics are needed for architecture.”
Sam Olshin ’78, an EA alum and current Principal at Atkin Olshin Schade Architects details his preparations for a career in Architecture while still at EA. Olshin explains, “I took physics, calculus, and art history as well as literature classes [since] architecture is really a synthesis of those disciplines.” David Sigel, Upper School Art Department Chair, adds, “Architects should be studying or doing really well in math and thinking about physics.”
Despite the EA curriculum not offering an architecture-specific course, Sigel, among other art teachers, prepares students well to pursue all their art interests. He explains that the arts at EA try to include, “all mediums and try to support all students in their pursuits of what they’d like to do.” Sigel’s main goal for his students is to “teach how to draw really well from observation… from there, how to use that tool to clearly demonstrate and share your vision through what you’ve created.”
As a senior in the process of college applications, Filipovski explains, “for an architecture major they like to see in your portfolio, and a lot of technical skill. It can be any kind of medium but [colleges] want to make sure that you understand how things in the real world work.”
Olshin, a Design of the Environment (DOE) major at the University of Pennsylvania, emphasizes the importance of good grades and extracurricular activities. During his time at EA, he explains that he he participated in “Scholium, Tabula, and Epolitan, as well as cross country and track.” Similarly, Sigel explains that it is equally as important to do things on your own outside of your school art classes. He argues, “[it’s] passion and drive that’s going to keep you sustained and fulfilled as you go through your college career and be successful.”
Rob Maier, Upper School AP Art History Teacher, informs that there are numerous alumni who have been successful architects, such as Sean Toner ’09, Robert Venturi ’44, and Olshin. Sigel recalls Toner from early on in his tenure here, commenting, “Toner took a lot of art classes…now he is currently working and he does a lot of design builds down at the shore.”
Maier highlights Robert Venturi, Pritzker Prize winer, and designer of the Class of 1944 Chapel. He says, “[Venturi] was at the forefront of developing a new style of architecture called postmodern architecture, and he’s in all of our art history textbooks. He designed our chapel and is a world-renowned architect. He won the Pritzker Prize, which is the highest prize you could win in architecture.”
Photo courtesy of Gianna Trala ’23
Olshin’s accomplishments are not forgotten either, Maier points out, “Olshin did a bunch of buildings on this campus too. He did the tennis pavilion, Dr. Locke’s house, Father Tim’s house, and did some work in the Lower School.” Olshin’s expertise expands outside the field of recreational buildings. Maier continues, “[He has] done some projects such as the ‘52nd Street Revitalization Project’ which looked at infilling and revitalizing spaces along this West Philadelphia route challenged by riots in the late 1960s, white flight, and civil unrest after the death of George Floyd.”
In addition to that, Olshin has designed a new Rec Center in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of Philadelphia. Projects as these provide for the general and art communities alike, as a result, they are intensive work. Olshin reflects that “these types of projects require many meetings and presentations with neighborhood groups to solicit feedback and build consensus.”