What? This House Cleans Itself!
From the collection of wacky and brilliant ideas in the world, we present the Self Cleaning House! Yes, an inventor and artist, named Frances Gabe, came up with this idea because she wanted to be free from the mundane task of cleaning her home. She had this idea and she spent years building out her …
ZIPPY Architecture
This building might come as a surprise to you. You can ZIP it up. Literally zip it with a VERY LARGE zipper! It appears to be able to be zipped, however it is a visual play for us to think about architecture and the built environment differently and with some fun. Artist Alex Chinneck zips …
Googletecture
You know how Google always has a doodle on the home page for search? Fortunately someone collected all of the architecture, or built-environment doodles in one place for us to review and reminisce. See how many times Google focused our attention on architecture and smile a bit at each one for its distinct look and …
BuildIT! Exhibit For YOU!
We have a wonderful exhibit for kids of all ages to introduce concepts about the built environment. It is the BuildIT! exhibit. With nine 2′ x 2′ modules, it can fit into any space in a library, museum, community center, or special event venue. Each module has a different activity associated with it and something …
Sweet Book about “A Few Blocks” for Little Kids
Cybèle Young created this book about a sister and brother who help each other through their imaginations to travel around. The illustrations are lovely drawings that are colored and then cut out and used in collage with drop shadows. It is a playful and creative story. And it is a pleasure to see siblings who …
Gray Scale
Born in Ireland on August 9 1878, Eileen Gray lived in England and France most of her life. Gray started as a painter and lacquerist (a person who specializes in applying lacquer.) She made art, designed buildings and also furniture. Some of her furniture became iconic – meaning that if you see it you know …
December 28 at the Chicago Architecture Biennial – Fun with archKIDecture for KIDS
archKIDecture is hosting a drop-in day for kids, families, and adults too on December 28, 2019 at the Chicago Cultural Center. Come on over to downtown Chicago to enjoy some coloring huge floorplans and building with our Feltiles and learn about architecture and the built environment in the exhibit throughout the building. Here is more …
Mexican Houses in 3D!
Many people in the world are looking for solutions to the global housing crisis. What can be done to end homelessness for so many people all over the world? Some solutions include housing made of shipping containers, or housing made of pre-built parts, like a house made of Lego kit. In this case, three organizations …
A Clean Water Building
Clean water is a huge concern in the world. Many places do not have clean water that is accessible and available. There are places with access to salt water, but not clean drinking water. Fortunately, there are people all over the world looking into solutions to these problems and one group, called GivePower is using …
Sugimoto: Architecture Photos to Love
Hiroshi Sugimoto is an architect but archKIDecture learned of him from his beautiful photos of architecture. Always blurry, these large scale photos show off such beautiful buildings that you might know, and others that might be new to you. Either way, they make you feel sort of dreamy about the human built environment. Born in …
Saturdays at the Chicago Cultural Center with Kids, the Chicago Architecture Biennial and archKIDecture
Here is a reminder of the dates for playing and working together at the Chicago Cultural Center on the occasion of the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019. The dates are: Saturday November 16 – 11am – 3pm Saturday November 23 – 11am – 3pm Saturday November 30 – 11am – 3pm Saturday December 14 – 11am …
Color in the Chicago Cultural Center
archKIDecture will be doing a few weekend open workshops as part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. As part of the fun, we will be coloring the floor plans of the Cultural Center itself. Come and hang out on the floor of the Chicago Cultural Center and color the picture of the floor plan. We are …
A Building Like a Lobster
There is a new hotel in Macao, an autonomous region on the south coast of China across from Hong Kong. This Morpheus Hotel is lobster-like because it has a kind of exoskeleton wrapped around the towers. The basic shape of the towers was predetermined because the hotel is built on the foundation of an abandoned …
Town Map Coloring
Draw a local map on canvas and join together to color it while talking about the built environment of your town. SUPPLIES! Large piece of canvas (any size will do but you want many people to color simultaneously, so make it at least 6′ x 6′ (although bigger is definitely more fun!) Purchase at an art …
Kohoku House: Concrete and Light
A Japanese architecture firm designed a small house for a small family in a small town in Japan. The house looks like a kind of plant, but instead of green and soft, it is concrete grey and hard. It almost looks like a fortress, but there are a few windows and fortunately a few skylights …
Chicago Architecture Biennial is Coming Back!!
Last time was 2017, and since Biennial’s come around every two years, there will be another one in Chicago this fall. And exciting news for us is that archKIDecture will be involved! We will be doing some programs with young kids at the Chicago Cultural Center so you can have fun and your parents/grownups/adults too! …
Reading all aROUND
For those of us who like books, who like to read, who like to look at pictures in books, well we have a place for you to go round. It is in Glasgow Scotland, and it is a round “Reading Room” (a kind of library space) that makes you feel good just to sit in. …
Wrapping up a Building
Artist Christo is going to wrap another huge structure in fabric. This time it will be the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. And it will take A LOT of fabric. And A LOT of rope. Specifically, it will take 270,000 square feet of a polypropylene fabric and 22,965 feet of red rope. It will be …
1000 Phone Face
In the Galaxy phone headquarter store in Shibuya, Japan, Samsung used 1000 phones to create a lighted facade, or building face. Tokyujin Yoshioka is the designer of the facade and the idea was to program each phone so that it would blink and light up and create a kind of light show. The phones extend …
Got Milk? Or a Milk Crate Shelter?
Wow. Someone sure must have liked drinking milk. A LOT of MILK! A few years ago, a group of LAU (Lebanese American University) students used ordinary milk crates and zip ties to build an emergency shelter. These milk cartons are the same ones you can find anywhere in the world. Why milk crates? Milk crates …
A Minty Tiny House Project
Sometimes you might want to build a project about space that is small and simple. In this case, if you can get your hands on a bunch of mint tins or candy tins, you can create some sweet little spaces. For instructions on making a teeny tiny doll house out of a metal mint tin, …
Who Moved My House?
A few years ago, in Wilmette, a suburb of Chicago, lived a house that was designed by John Van Bergen, a colleague of Frank Lloyd Wright. The house in in the design of the Prairie School, a style that you can identify by an emphasis on horizontal lines, large overhanging eaves on the roof and …
Point me to This Building
Artist Steve Messam enjoys making sculptures that live in buildings. Often, he takes structures that are falling down or in ruins and adds inflatable pieces to them to create quirky and unusual art/architecture works. This “Pointed House” is located in Mellerstain House, Gordon, Berwickshire. Scotland He describes this work with the pointed roof here: ” …
Color Geometry on Buildings
Sometimes you see a mural or painting on a building that makes the difference between a drab or uninteresting structure and something worth remembering. Spanish artist, Okuda San Miguel, uses geometric shapes and bright colors to create huge murals to bring buildings to life. Okuda is from Spain and has painted murals around the world, …
Notre Dame in Paris: Sadness in Flames and Hope in Spire Competition
The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris suffered terrible damage in a fire this week. The entire roof, much of the interior, and the elegant spire were all lost. With over 13 million visitors per year, so many people around the world have memories of the building and were touched by the images of the flames …
Newhouse Competition for High Schoolers!
The Chicago Architecture Center invites Chicago area high school students to participate in the 2019 Newhouse Architecture + Design Competition. The deadline for registration is Thursday, April 25th! Areas to apply to include graphic design, photography, model making, advanced architecture and fine arts. This is a well-known competition. It is an excellent opportunity to learn …
We Love Louis!
Louis Sullivan (1856 – 1924) was a genius. There is so much to say about him as an influential American architect, a father of the skyscraper and as an inspiration to the Prairie School of architecture – which included most notably, Frank Lloyd Wright. In fact, Wright started his career in the office of Louis Sullivan. Sullivan …
Draw an Arch with a Piece of String
With some found-around-the-house tools and some patience, you can draw perfect archs – just like an architect! This architect, Reza Asgaripour, has some fantastic videos and instagram posts that show you how to draw. See how to draw an arch here on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BXxSCNTBbXF/?taken-by=architectdrw On this YouTube video, you can use string and pushpins to …
People in Plastic Houses Should Not Throw Stones…
We just happened upon these portable Geodesic Dome structures on a plaza today, in Evanston Illinois. It looks like Springtime inside of the plastic domes, with summer furniture and a simple electric heater. All you need to do is to enter through the Velcro door and bask in the sun and warmth inside, while being …
A 3D Printed Bridge – WOW!
In Shanghai China, inventive designers and engineers created a bridge that was built by a 3D printer. Usually we think of 3D printers using plastic material as it makes layer upon layer to create the 3 dimensional object. In this case, CONCRETE was used to create the layers. A robotic arm moved back and forth …
Rolling Bridges Don’t Fall Down
Rather than design a single rigid element that fractures to allow river traffic through, Heatherwick Studio’s Rolling Bridge opens by slowly and smoothly curling until it transforms from a conventional pedestrian platform into a circular sculpture which sits on the bank of the canal. This bridge was part of a huge development at Paddington Basin …
Tulips and Pickles in London
For a number of years, one of the most interesting skyscrapers in London was the all-glass structure designed by Foster + Partners, which is lovingly called “The Gherkin” (which in American English, is simply translated as “The Pickle”. The same architecture firm now is proposing a new skyscraper that is being referred to as “The …
About Perspective Mural is BIG
We installed a large mural in Evanston Illinois for the summer. It is a giant blackboard with some white geometric shapes on it and it is begging for YOU to come and draw on it. We want you to learn all ABOUT PERSPECTIVE. Two point perspective to be exact! How do you learn how to …
Summer Architecture Workshops – ArchforKids in NY
Lucky kids who live in New Rochelle will be able to attend a workshop series about architecture called ArchforKids Programming will take place on July 16, 17, 19, and 20, 2018 and also on August 20, 21, 23 and 24, from 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm for kids aged 7-12 years old. Two four-day “Draw It, …
Building up to the Pritzker Prize
In the world of architecture, the Pritzker Prize is a huge award. Architect and designer, Andrea Stinga, built these models and made this video. What we really like about the video is how the basic form of each structure is visible. This way we can see what makes these winners. Each one is so unique …
2018 Hip Hop Architecture Camp in St. Louis
Summer is back! And so is Hip Hop Architecture camp. St. Louis County Library’s Natural Bridge Branch is hosting this summer camp from July 30 – August 3. Camp is free and lunch is included. Kids have to be 11-14 years old and they will have a great time learning about the built environment and meeting …