Our Japanese friend, Masako, sent us some great photos of a new buddhist temple under construction and she included this photo of wooden planks, inscribed with various Japanese characters. We wondered what these were and found out that they are called Munafuda. As the temple building is being constructed, these wooden pieces will be placed […]
Paper Neighborhood is a great stamping kit that comes in a can. You can build a typical apartment building with 21 stamps of windows, columns and doors in the Italianate style. The set was designed by people named the Cincinnati Society of Rubber Architects. It might be fun to stamp on paper bags and place […]
Ever wonder about traveling to the moon? We think it is interesting that there are companies that are already trying to figure out how to build hotels on the moon. They are preparing for a time when travel is easy, like jumping on an airplane to another city, except you will jump on a shuttle […]
Blair Kamin has an interesting job. He is an architecture critic. That means that he knows a lot about architecture and then he applies what he knows to give opinions about the built environment which he writes up in books and newspapers, magazines and on the web. So he is NOT an architect, but rather […]
Building a geodesic dome is not simple. Ask Bucky Fuller. There is math involved and measurements, there is assembly of the parts and construction. But once you figure it out, it is really a series of circles that intersect to make triangles that fit together snugly to make an efficient and useful space. The geodesic […]
When we think of ice houses and structures, we usually conjure up images of igloos, the half domes with an entrance that we see in cartoons and perhaps a photo of a real one from some old social studies book. In China, there are ice structures at a different level – 600,000 square meters of […]
So many of us carry a brown paper bag to school each day, with our peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some peeled carrots, pita chips, perhaps a couple of chocolate chip cookies. But did you ever consider that ordinary bag outside of the confines of lunch? Did you ever think about it as a structure? […]
Doll Houses are miniature worlds. Built to scale, they can be pretty dreamy and fantastic, perfect for a doll, or a mouse. In the UK, many architects were asked to design and build dollhouses and to put them up for auction to benefit kids. The results are spectacular. Some of the doll houses would be […]
Have you seen this beautiful wooden New York City, every night on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon? You can see the Chrysler Building, the Empire State, The Trump Building, The Woolworth Building and so many more. The buildings on the set were designed by Eugene Lee. He is a set designer for plays and […]
Want to visit Chicago and learn about skyscrapers? If you are a teacher, come on down to Chicago for a week long workshop offered through the Chicago Architecture Foundation. From July 6-12, 2014 or July 20-26, 2014 you will explore how to incorporate architecture into your classroom teaching. And we at archKIDecture can tell you […]