Session: Young Women’s Design + Building Institute, summer 2024
Builders: 30 high school students
Materials: 12″ square concrete pavers, colorful mosaic tiles, thin-set mortar, grout, grout additive, 5-gallon buckets, rags, silicon spatulas
Description: In this summer’s YWDBI program, our students designed and created 32 mosaic cement pavers for La Tercera Community Garden, one of the gardens run by our nonprofit client Petaluma Bounty. Each student was assigned a letter in the phrase “WELCOME TO LA TERCERA COMMUNITY GARDEN,” and they brainstormed the colorways of each word, prioritizing legibility over all else. For instance, it was decided that for the first word—”Welcome”—the letter itself would be blue and the background tiles warm, like yellow or orange. This color contrast made it easier to decipher what the mosaics spelled out. Each student worked diligently on their own letter, using a variety of shapes and colors for their mosaic design.