There is an artist who lives in New York City who believes he can draw all of the buildings in New York City! Wow. Now that is a goal in your life, right? It is a great book about architecture for kids and can be used for storytelling or for some simple math skills too […]
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Tsumiki and the Triangle
Tsumiki is the Japanese word for “wooden blocks”. How convenient that a Japanese architect, Kengo Kuma, has designed a set of wooden blocks in triangular shapes. They look so beautiful and made of cedar wood (approved from the forest conservation organization, More Trees.) They are only available in Japan right now and we look forward to […]
Got the Winter Blues? Build a Cardboard House!
You don’t need much to build a cardboard house and if you are stuck inside this winter, you might build something really interesting! (To see a world famous architect who uses cardboard/paper to make structures in the world, read about architect Shigeru Ban. A couple of the houses are from kits, but generally you can […]
Dump The Trump Tower
Donald Trump. A name that is in the news all of the time nowadays. Come to Chicago and cross the Michigan Avenue Bridge over the Chicago River and see the Trump Tower, a huge skyscraper, shaped like a bottle in reflective bluish glass with elegant and graceful curves. It WAS a beautiful building. And then Donald Trump decided to put […]
A Real Dutch Erector Set
This new city building in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, is built like a toy erector set.The Timmerhuis is a series of steel posts and beams that are constructed next to an old city hall building, with a museum, 80+ apartments, shops, and office spaces too. It looks interesting and better yet, it can be altered and changed, added […]
Modernist or Fake?
Is it real or is it Lego? Recently we saw some cool Modernist houses in Palm Springs, California. They were built in the 1940’s, 1950’s and the 1960’s in a slick, horizontal kind of way, with large roof overhangs offering shade and creating beautiful shadows too. In the hot desert world of Palm Springs, these […]
History in a Glass Box
In World War II, Jewish people and others were gathered and sent off to concentration camps from all of over Europe by the Nazis. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Government built a camp to accept Jewish refugees who were fleeing from Nazi Germany in 1939, but in 1940 the Germans took over the camp and […]
Anything is Architecture
Crumpled paper. A small empty box. Some tangled wire. An acorn. A roll of tape. Sou Fujimoto, a Japanese architect, thinks that any of these items might be considered architecture and he has placed these and MANY other items on small pedestals in the Chicago Cultural Center in an exhibit titled, “Architecture is Everywhere.” Putting […]
10times10: The Power of Ten
Starting out as a view of a man on a picnic blanket that is one meter wide, the camera pulls back into the sky away from the blanket. Soon you see the whole park, then the whole city lakefront, then the whole of Lake Michigan, the whole earth, into the galaxy and on and on, as […]
Sleep with Architecture
Hey Kids! There is a sleep over at the Chicago Cultural Center for kids who are interested in architecture and YOU are invited! Friday, November 20, at 6pm through Saturday, November 21 at 8am in downtown Chicago. What could be better? Create, build, and design at the best slumber party ever! and remember to RSVP!