Category Archives: Drawing

Creative, curious and conscious citizens for the future

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Little Architect-016-Betty Layward

Little Architect Project in Betty Layward School. Hackney.

To create good architecture there are two necessary ingredients: good architects and good clients. Our mission or responsibility as architects is not just to design or to teach others to be architects, it is also to bring architecture to society and to create an awareness about architecture with the people who use it. This is why, in a similar way to how the AA Public Programme makes architectural education accessible to adults, we ( at the AA Visiting School) have decided to start teaching architecture to children. 

Little Architect, is a move towards an aim of raising committed citizens with knowledge about contemporary architecture and an appreciation for design, which, in turn, will naturally generate more good clients for the future. When the magnificent opportunity of designing a new project comes along for any architect, having an interested, engaged and knowledgable client means that the discussion would be egalitarian and productive. By making architecture accessible to clients to make them interested and informed, the terrain for making architecture will no longer be a battlefield but a place for negotiation, agreement, understanding and especially a place for making dreams a reality. If we could just have a generation of children who were educated in contemporary architecture, it suddenly would be really easy to find support for campaigns such as the one led by the Twentieth Century Society and Richard Rogers to save Robin Hood Gardens from demolition.

Another powerful reason to push for this programme to grow is because even today children´s literacy, toys and many movies are sending them the wrong message regarding the ideal house. For most of our children, in an overpopulated urban environment like London, it will be nearly impossible to afford a “lovely house with a garden and a garage,” which is hardly even a reasonable sustainable model to foster. We have to change their expectations or at least give them other valuable options. It is serious stuff! If we don’t improve the way architecture is being perceived by children today, and if we don’t talk to them positively about vertical architecture, communal areas and communities, shared spaces, etc, we are betraying them by setting them up for a future of disappointment and unfulfilled dreams.

Little architect 015-Kate DaviesThis is why as an architect with my fair share of grey hair already, I decided to start teaching children to admire, enjoy and embrace contemporary architecture, utopian projects, new materials and shapes although always with an eye towards our cities’ heritage. They need to learn about the tangible and the intangible, the built environment and the beautiful net of human relationships and interactions – which are all equally important to creating good design.

Architecture will not develop itself further, if clients tend to fear any deviations from the norm as well as the architects who propose to do so. 

I’ve largely designed buildings during my career, but my expertise lies in urbanism. For this reason I know how important it is to have good politicians to plan the future of our cities. Educating children about architecture is not only about creating good clients, it is also about informing the next generation of decision-makers. Some of our kids today will be the politicians and public servants of tomorrow, and our future cities will need them to have a certain amount of knowledge or at least curiosity for contemporary architecture. We need sensible urbanism and sustainable actions, and the seeds for all of this needs to be sown in schools. Primary and secondary school education is an experience nearly all of us share. Primary Education is the most relevant of all the educational stages since it is the one which shapes our society, whereas subsequent education shapes professionals.

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Childhood is the moment where our bodies and minds are thirsty for novelty, our curiosity is intact and our creativity is immense. This is when we need to learn that architecture is an art with infinite capabilities and that we have to learn to enjoy place – our towns and cities, as much as we love our countryside. Clients, consumers and users should admire the future and the present, not just the past! The past had glorious moments but the future is ours.

The mission of Little Architect is to instil this feeling of ownership and responsibility for our built environment in children from a young age, because we need more creative, curious and conscious citizens for the future. Little Architect is a form of architectural outreach on behalf of the AA, and my humble contribution to a more committed and critical future for London’s built environment and society.

Dolores Victoria Ruiz Garrido-May 2016

Video St Clement Danes Final Assembly.

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School closing assembly of a whole school wonderful project! 

St. Clements Danes Primary School, in Drury Lane, opted to have every class year, from year 1 to Year 6 inclusive, participate in Little Architect workshops. As such, we were afforded the unique opportunity to present our work and ourselves to the entire school, in a tailor made assembly presentation. We showed all the varied work, which we would be doing throughout the different years of the school, and also introduced them to some of the main concepts which drives our work with students. While we were able to start the project at St. Clements Danes with a workshop, we were also lucky in that we were able to also conclude it with a school wide assembly.

In this closing assembly, watch the video below! we showed the work produced by the different classes, and even brought some of the classes together to demonstrate their work alongside their younger and older piers. For example, year six was asked to present a series of plays, which they had written to compliment a series of drawings of the future, which they had made, alongside drawings of the past and present, which other years had made. The theatre itself had been made by us, Little Architect, prior to the beginning of the project, and was left with the school as a present to further use. Similarly, the work of year five was brought together in a large collage, which we also presented in the assembly. Again, we felt that this is an important aspect of creative design and thinking, as students to see a very large and, in our opinion very beautiful piece of work, which came from their own work, in a relatively short period of time. We concluded the assembly by asking what students felt they had learned about architecture and the city. The full potential of running such an extensive workshop really became apparent in this final assembly as students asked question and commented about not only their own work, but also the work of other years. It was a terrific experience! Thanks St Clements and specially  CAPCO ( Capital and Counties) for funding all the lessons and the following exhibition at the Building Centre.

Christopher Hatton Future Local Area- Mount Pleasant- London

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Date: 23rd September 2014
School: Christopher Hatton Primary School
Sessions: 1 x 1.5hr – Year 2; 30 Students
LA Tutors: Lola (Dolores Victoria Ruiz Garrido)
Supporting Local Teacher: Sophie Klimt

“The children were very motivated to draw their future local area buildings, and one boy who is usually off task got really stuck in, even bringing in another building he had drawn at home to show me! The children enjoyed looking at the photographs of buildings, as did I. It definitely enhanced our understanding.We were very creative during this day and I think this objective was definitely met! Thank you for a lovely session” Sophie Klimt. Year 2. Teacher 


Your Local Area
CH-Future local area 3

Objectives for the children:
Know your local area. Observe its present and imagine the future of it. The main idea is empowering the children to have aspirations to improve and engage with their built environment. Fostering observation. Fostering creative thinking.

How: Drawing and collaging our local area in both the present and the future.

Theoretical section: Children sitting on the carpet.

1-What is a collage?
To explain the concept of collaging we showed a halfway done collage of the present local area to be finished with the children in the classroom. The collage was made with the assistance of the teacher Sophie Klimt in the previous days to the workshop, including, not only pictures of the immediate area, but also pictures of the students in the class itself. This particular addition brings the idea of belonging to a place. Students in KS1 gets very enthusiastic with the idea of themselves being part of the process and the outcome in a very obvious way. The idea is to teach that they are relevant figures to the present of the city.

2-Observation:
A 30 min Keynote presentation was designed to discuss the local area main aspects. We discussed the importance of observation of and participation and within the local area. In the presentation and through pictures took from their local area, we analyzed hidden details in windows and roofs that could have passed unnoticed if we did not pay attention. We offered tools and guided these children to be more observant in a playful way
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In the following part of the presentation we turned to discuss what we would like our future cities to look like. Firstly we played a game naming different types of buildings ie: offices, museums, houses, theatres…We presented several examples of contemporary buildings and introduced students to the importance of clean energy, encouraging the coexistence of other species with humans and buildings (urban ecosystems) we talked about the concept of urban farming, extensions etc. little architect 014
4-Hands on section (individual activity, creative thinking): Each student was given on A4 paper and asked to draw a building that they would like to see in their future local area. It is important to us to encourage students to create fun, creative and colorful designs. We forbid rulers, and encourage students to draw freehand and be playful. During this time, we make sure to take some time with each student, to discuss what they are drawing, and to encourage them to be as creative as they like. We foster the hyphotetical thinking and the abstract thinking encouraging children to think of themselves in the future.

Last section (team work activity): Once the drawings were finished, we then provided the class with two A1 sheets, on which students made a collage of their future local area. While the earlier tasks of drawing were individual and fostered individual creative skills, this last exercise was a group work, and students had to work together, to bring their individual drawings into a coherent and unified group collage – fostering teamwork, discussion and agreement between peers.
CH-Future local area 10

Let´s start…

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Peter Pan Bedford

Today, 21st January 2014, we are launching this site!

Little architect, is aimed to be a place where we will be posting and sharing with you our activities in London primary schools.

In this site we will be gathering everything related with architecture and children education that, under our point of view, is interesting or challenging.

This first step is very special for us! We are willing to start sharing ideas about architecture with  you as teachers, parents, students or children. In this site we want to create a sense of community  around architecture and children education, as we feel now ourselves part of the big early years education family.

Let´s start fostering creativity, observation and imagiantion to improve our children creativity and global awareness.

 

Photo: Peter and Wendy. Author JM Barrie. Illustrated by Francis Donkin Bedford. 1911.