During Modernism Week there’s another way to tour the iconic midcentury modern buildings that dot the desert landscape, inside a classroom at St. Theresa’s Catholic School in Palm Springs.

Sixth-grade students spend months planning and creating replicas of the most recognizable buildings in the valley.

Eleven-year-old Sadie Paiz says she was drawn to the Saguaro Palm Springs Hotel, “I chose the saguaro because it has lots of colors and I think that’s awesome because a lot of the buildings they’re very just like brown and tan and I love the pop of color and I loved how I guess detailed it is.”

Isabella Martinez says she chose her project because it was better suited to the to technology she used to create it, “We were going to 3-D print it so we wanted something that wasn’t as like complicated … so we decided to do Palm Springs City Hall because we liked the shape and we liked how it looked,” adding it took a lot of math, trial and error to finally get the printed parts to fit perfectly, “Because if it was like an inch off or a centimeter off then the whole project was off and it was ruined but when we got it, it was like, ‘yes!'”

Visitors touring their mini buildings were impressed.

“It was overwhelming to see when we walked in here to see the level of detail and the level of research that was done by these students … and as soon as you would see it you would recognize which buildings they were they were so well done,” said Lee Anne Doyle, who is visiting the valley for Modernism Week.

Robert Imber, a local architectural historian and one of the founders of modernism week says this event matters because it ensures future generations preserve and value buildings many take for granted, “These kids are now learning that architecture in their community which is now important in the world, is important in their lives.”

Students Take on Modernism Week