“The Sustainable Living Project” on Display at Masterworks

We are thrilled to display the The Sustainable Living Project made by students at The Berkeley Institute. This house is part of a long tradition of creative renderings of Bermuda houses, many examples of which can be found in Masterworks’ Permanent Collection. The project, which is on view in our Members’ Lounge, also shows how art and science – along with a healthy dose of curiosity and innovation – can come together to pioneer more sustainable living solutions for the future.

Students in Ms. Diamond Outerbridge Learning Support Classes at The Berkeley Institute have participated in The Sustainable Living Project, which builds on previous projects which have centered around two classroom themes; futurism and sustainability. These themes have taken the classes from creating pamphlets on local medicinal & edible plants, to designing and publishing a website that connects the community to all local food and gardening resources (www.bermudalunchbox.com) to building their own model of an eco-friendly, passive-energy Bermuda home that celebrates Bermudian culture and sustainability. Each of these projects, designed by Ms. Outerbridge, to be cross-curricular involving math, science, history, art, and architecture to demonstrate how real-world problems require skills in many subjects, along with critical thinking, to solve.

For this project, after 6 weeks of intensive learning, about 20 students ranging from S1 to S3 competed against each other to create the floorplan that would be used to build the model. They voted as a group, and Alla-Shae Burgess, S3 stood out as the winner. Her floor plan was neat, creative, well-labeled, eco-conscious, and even included a bay window. The building of the model was a collaborative effort from all students but most impressive was the landscaping done by Jahziah Butterfield, S3.

The construction of the roof proved to be a challenge, thus enlisting the help of Carpentry teachers Mr. Turner and Mr. Phillips who worked hard to help us cut and secure the pieces precisely. In the end, the students were very proud of the finished product. One student has since been offered an apprenticeship and others have begun researching colleges in pursuit of a career in architecture.

Scroll through below for images of the project, available to view with admission to Masterworks until August 28.