Who knew learning about design charrettes could be so much fun? Presenters Lucas Branham and Pepe Izquierdo, architects with Studio Meng Strazzara, walked us through a hands-on charrette at our February 19 business practice dinner. We broke into teams, trying to design and build the tallest marshmallow structure using only 20 strands of spaghetti, one marshmallow, a length of masking tape, and an even shorter piece of string.

In Round 1, three teams finished with structures reaching 17 and 1/4-inches tall, 11 inches tall, and the third team, well, their structure fell over before it could even be measured.

In Round 2, we split into two teams. Using lessons learned from the first round (the concept of charrettes . . . talk things through, try alternatives, come back with something that works for everyone), the two teams were successful in keeping their marshmallow towers standing upright.

The winning team’s structure measured 23.5 inches, and the second place team’s structure measured 21.5 inches. Impressive collaboration all around!

Check out this short clip of the winning team, toward the end of their charrette, just before the final measuring began.

Design-builders: Kathy on the left, Shannon in the middle, and Carrie’s hands in front/on the right.