Each of these houses is about the size of a shoe box.	About our Project Co-op City is an architectural project I started with seven students in 1992. At the time, we were drawing ¼" scale blueprints of different rooms in our school and homes. It soon included creative plans of entire homes and businesses. We then started constructing the houses in ¼" scale out of cardboard using our blueprints. We soon realized we had enough buildings for a small town, so we decided to put our plans together and start our own city. We named the city "Co-op City" because of all of the cooperating we now do each year among students and classrooms in my district.
	This scene is a about nine inches wide.
We laid out our city in a 50-scale, where one-inch equals fifty feet. We painted the roads on sheets of plywood and glued the buildings and scenery on them. The students decided as a group where each section of the city would be. Beginning in 1993, I have involved over two hundred students each year in Co-op City. As many as twelve classes in our district get a piece of land. All of the students learn about ¼" scale drawings and blueprints from their teacher and me as part of an architectural and design unit in their math class.
	These houses are about one inch wide.
Working in groups or individually, the students design a complete house in ¼" scale. The class votes on their favorite design and we place a 50-scale version of that house on our plywood city, using small blocks of wood cut to the correct size and shape. We add shrubbery, driveways, swimming pools, etc., for additional realism. We have started using CAD (Computer Aided Design) programs, which introduce our students to state of the art architecture and design using computers.
This view is 12 feet top to bottom of picture.	Home Page Comments About Our City Teacher's Guide Teacher's Guide Order Form Recommended Reading