Workshop Details
- 2-week residential workshop
- Dates: July 12-24, 2026
- Cost: $1500
- For high school juniors & seniors
Location
- Ball State Campus, Muncie, IN
High school students will experience a variety of design fields such as architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. Attendees will work closely with both faculty and current college students, who take an active role in the learning process and engage individual students to teach the basics of structural and environmental design. Design projects will test the participants' creative problem-solving skills
Each day is different. Students might be in a studio, they might be on a site visit, maybe they are sketching on campus, or working on a project. Students will spend most of their time in the studio learning design. Design principles are not a set series of facts and figures, and discussions could and should take off in a multitude of directions. You will work, you will explore, you will have fun too.
Benefits
The academy is open to junior or senior high school students of all backgrounds and professional interests.
- Three credit hours of a program elective course will be waived, if the student decides to enroll at Ball State for their undergraduate degree
- Many design-based college programs request the submission of a graphic portfolio. The academy will provide projects for participants to include in their application portfolios.
- Participants will gain knowledge of the design thinking process used in the professions of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning.
Here is a tentative schedule we expect to follow during the workshop. The nature and duration of activities will vary from hour to hour and day to day, but the students will be busy doing something fun and memorable every day!
First Day (Sunday):
- 3:00 pm - Check-in
- 4:00 pm - Welcome and Information/Families say goodbye/Campus walking tour for participants
- 5:30 pm - Dinner
First Week (MTWRF):
- 7:00 am - Breakfast in the dining hall
- 8:00 am - Fun individual & group activities focused on design thinking, sketching, making, sharing, learning, etc.
- NOON - Lunch in dining hall
- 1:00 pm - More fun individual & group activities focused on design thinking, sketching, making, sharing, learning, etc.
- 5:30 pm - Dinner in dining hall
- 7:00 pm - Various activities (continue design exploration and application in the studio, prepare for next day, and enjoy time in dorms getting to know classmates etc.)
Friday:
8:00 am - All day field trip to Columbus, IN – explore the designed and built environment! If time allows possibly a stop in Indianapolis, IN.
Saturday:
- Various activities (continue design exploration and application in the studio, and enjoy time getting to know classmates etc.)
Sunday is a Fun Day:
- Morning free
- 1:00 pm - BBQ/Social/Fun and Games
Second Week (MTWR):
- 7:00 am - Breakfast in the dining hall
- 8:00 am - Engage team and individual work on a defined environmental design project (design explorations, modeling, drawing, sketching, pin-ups, presentations, critiques, learning, laughing, growing, etc.)
- NOON - Lunch in the dining hall
- 1:00 pm - Continue engaging team and individual work on a defined environmental design project (design explorations/iterations, modeling, drawing, pin-ups, presentations, critiques, learning, etc.)
- 5:30 pm - Dinner in the dining hall
- 7:00 pm - Various activities (continue design exploration and application in the studio, prepare for next day, and enjoy time in dorms socializing with classmates etc.)
Friday (last day):
- 7:00 am - Breakfast in the dining hall
- 8:30 am - Finalize project design drawings/models
- 10:00 am - Display final designs for family, classmates, instructors
- 11:00 am - Closing remarks, Q&A session about CAP first-year and beyond
- NOON - Farewell
Columbus is a mecca of mid-century modern building design and according to the American Institute of Architects, the sixth most architecturally-important city in the U.S. and the site of the global headquarters for Cummins Inc, a manufacturer of diesel engines.
Academy Dates
- Sunday, July 12 - Friday, July 24, 2026
Registration
Thank you for your interest in DesignWorks, registration for summer 2026 is at capacity and is closed for registration.
Payment
The cost of the academy covers housing accommodations in the campus residence hall, meals, supplies, transportation, and field trip registration fees.
- Registration Deposit: $100
- Final payment is due June 19, 2026
Pay Online
Scholarship Opportunity
The Paul and Leslie Strohm Scholarship provides full awards to high school students.
Questions?
If you want to learn more about the DesignWorks Summer Academy or the scholarship contact Claire Sims-Jones.
About the Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning
The college provides instruction in environmental design and planning segmented into independent professional disciplines including: