History

In 1976, Columbia University Professor Mario Salvadori (1907-1997) took up a challenge from the New York Academy of Sciences to improve the teaching of math and science in our middle schools.

He taught a course based on his book, Why Buildings Stand Up,  at a Harlem middle school, engaging students in "real world" design and construction activities. His pupils were so responsive and their teachers and administrators so impressed that in 1987 he founded the Salvadori Educational Center on the Built Environment, now the Salvadori Center.