Terreform ONE’s unique high school summer program at the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard.
At Climate & Capital, we focus on people who think differently to solve climate change. Two of our favorites are the founders of Terreform ONE (for Open Network Ecology), a CLIMAthink tank based in the new design and innovation labs at the old Brooklyn Navy Yards. The firm has a modest ambition: “Combat the extinction of planetary species (including humans) through pioneering acts of design.”
Co-Founder Terra is a climate visionary, architect, urban designer, academic, entrepreneur and Fullbright Scholar. His design work appeared in New York’s Museum of Art. His partner Maria Aiolova is also an architect, curator, educator and entrepreneur. She holds 18 technology patents, won the World Economic Forum Woman of the Decade in Science and Design Leadership in 2020, and has been exhibited in the Venice Biennale and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Together, they have built a community of like-minded environmental professionals working on innovations and techniques to scale and build smarter, more climate-resilient cities.
The key to their mission is education. Each summer, they bring together high school students for a series of two-week integrated summer pre-college education programs ONE Lab Summer Studio. What makes it so special is that students, in carefully selected groups, learn and rub shoulders with Joachim and Ailova’s remarkable network of accomplished innovators, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, artists and industry experts focused on architecture, bioengineering, sustainable fashion and design.
Climate & Capital is excited to support the summer program because we believe Terra ONE’s extraordinary community and interdisciplinary programs allow it to stand heads above other summer pre-college programs such as those at Columbia, Harvard, Oxford, MIT and Brown. “Our mission is to cultivate the next generation of young sustainable designers and social entrepreneurs and introduce them to career paths they never thought existed,” says Director Julie Bleha. Classes run over three, two-week sessions this June and July, and are a combination of in-class and studio work ending in a final presentation.
“Our mission is to cultivate the next generation of young sustainable designers and social entrepreneurs and introduce them to career paths they never thought existed.”
There is also the added benefit for those attending in-person to experience one of the most amazing workspaces in New York. High tech entrepreneurs now work where welders used to forge American warships in World War II.
Bleha says they are also determined not to let tuition be a barrier to inclusion in the program. Last year, the program’s sponsors were able to offer full scholarships to 27% of the class.
Click here for more information or attend info sessions on Sunday and Monday nights.
And be on the lookout for our Climate & Capital podcast next week with Terreform founder Mitch Joachim.
