Michael Pope

Combining architecture, education, and human-centered design.

Since I was in 6th grade, when I worked with a local architect to redesign my school’s entryway, I have been exploring the intersection of design and education. I fostered this passion throughout my undergraduate experience at Washington University in St. Louis, graduating in 2011 with a BA in Architecture and a minor in Children’s Studies.

In 2013, I earned a master’s degree in Learning, Design, and Technology from the Stanford Graduate School of Education, where I co-created two tangible learning tools: RoyoBlocks, a RFID-enhanced reading toy; and Hüga Forts, a construction kit that fosters children’s physical and social agency. I then spent two years working as an environments designer for VITAL, an architecture and strategy firm in San Francisco, California, leading the renovation of the Smithsonian Visitor Center and the Wikimedia Foundation’s office expansion.

Feeling the pull towards the world of education and the draw back east, I returned to Barre, Vermont, my hometown, to develop and implement the Barre Town Middle & Elementary School Design Lab, a project-based design program and makerspace in our local public school. As the director of this new initiative, I work daily with students in grades 5-8, helping them discover their creative capacities and grow as makers, designers, and problem solvers.