There is a wonderful children's book written by Chis Van Dusen called If I Built a House, in which the character Jack embarks on designing the house of his dreams. In the opening pages, Jack announces that "[his] house will be different. It can't be the norm./[He'll] think about traffic flow, function, and form./Oh, it may include shapes like a tower or dome./But [he'll] focus on what makes a building a home."
Like the character Jack, children in general can make great architects. While architects often focus on how they can create spaces—like schools and playgrounds—for children, the less explored question is what can children offer the architect. With their unabashed imagination, young adults have a lot to offer design, which is itself a childlike kind of process that allows you to engage with something in a more immediate kind of way. To this process, children bring fresh perspectives and an uninhibited curiosity, they are spontaneous, honest and have further been found to concentrate much more than adults on experiencing and exploring space—all things we could learn from.
Engaging in an architectural experiment of their own, the UK-based furniture start-up MADE recently asked a group of children to draw what homes might look like in the future. They then had a 3D Illustrator bring those ideas to life and the results are a colorful and whimsical look into what happens when we allow kids to become the designer. Take a look at some of the architectural outcomes below!
Antoni's (age 10) eco-friendly pyramid-shaped home is equipped with solar panels, a port for your hover car and a viewing point to take in the local landscape. It also benefits from a sliding front door.
Tilda, age 7, designed a sugar-coated home made out of custard cream. There are cherry flavored bricks on the edges of the home, candy windows and a bubble gum door. To top it all off, strawberry juice coats the roof of this delicious house.
Kya's (age 12) home is located next to a beach and features a glass panel roof and is made out of fine wood. According to her drawings, beyond the decorated entrance, what really sets this house apart is its ability to camouflage at night time.
Alannah, age 7, designed a home that features fluffy carpet walls, and its windows are made out of melted strawberry lollipops. The giant slide is made out of jelly, which makes it extra slippery and bouncy, and enables inhabitants easy access to the outside play area that hosts swings, a trampoline and a swimming pool.
Another sustainable design, Isla's (age 10) home powers itself thanks to the solar panels covering the exterior walls and roof and features an interior which boasts a library, games room, music studio and gym.
You can check out more of their speculative design work here!
6 Comments
have these kids never read vitruvius?
all cynicism aside, this is the best news in architecture i've read all week. love it!
Seconded. Go, kids!
looks like they read Venturi
I wouldn't hire any of those professionals-but I like some of the kid's ideas. Too bad they interpreted everything so literally. I've had sketches worse than those come up beautifully.
Is this the latest work from Bureau Spectacular?
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