FutureBuilders.
2011
Architecture boot camp for kids
  • Everyone has something to say about architecture. Whether it is a house, a school, a big skyscraper, or a grand museum, one does not have to be trained in architecture to have the eye and sense of what they do and do not like.
     
    So why are young people not involved in this field? What are the barriers to engaging young people in the discipline of architecture? 

    Held every July, FutureBuilders is an architectural “boot camp” for youth in grades 6 to 9, that focuses on engaging the future stewards of our built environment in the theory, history, buildings, architects, importance, process, contemporary issues in, and experience of architecture.
     
    Architecture has traditionally been an elite professional discipline that has been closed off to the public, who is its greatest consumer.  This introductory course lays the foundation for students in architectural theory, basic architectural principles, great movements in, and notable architects and architecture.  Explored through various mediums, including drawing, model building, field trips, film and images, the FutureBuilders will develop a portfolio of their own architectural inspirations and creations, as well as a personal manifesto to articulate the world of architecture that they feel most akin to.  

    By exposing these young people to ideas beyond community and urban planning— to the spaces that define the landscape— we are providing them with an opportunity to engage in a discipline generally left out of realm of children, while engraining an appreciation and critical eye for architecture, and an ability to define it.
     
    For more information, contact our Program Director.