PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

KidsBuild! - Boston Society of Architects

As part of the 1992 AIA Convention held in Boston, the Youth Visions committee of the Boston Society of Architects (BSA), which aims to educate children about the built environment, decided to provide an event that participants with children could attend. Thus the birth of KidsBuild!

In 1992, the BSA partnered with the Museum of Science and held the KidsBuild! event at the Museum of Science again in 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2004. Over the course of these years, the program evolved from a one day event to a three day event and was attended by almost 3,000 children each year. The BSA was approached by The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) about forming a partnership to host KidsBuild! as part of their “Play Dates” series with the opening of their new building at Fan Pier. This new partnership began in 2007 with a one day event.

The 2009 event took place on May 29th and 30th. The first day was open to school groups and community groups, and was a huge success and attendance exceeded BSA’s expectations. The children had fun, were amazingly creative and the teachers were thrilled with the event. One principal wrote to the ICA after the event to say that their school had no art program and that most of the students had probably never seen the inside of a museum. Comments like this are the most rewarding for Andrea Kerr, Project Architect at TRO|Jung Brannen, and who has been active with the Youth Visions Committee at the BSA and with KidsBuild! since 1994.

So what is KidsBuild!? Through a series of four steps, the children are given the opportunity to build a kid-sized building out of boxes and really cool materials. The four steps are as follows;

1. Obtain a building permit. The children are asked to consider building one of the four building types; commercial, public, industrial and residential. They select a specific building type (malls and sports stadiums were rather popular this year), and they select a site for their building within "ICA city" (I see a city!). BSA color coordinates the city by zones for the different types of buildings. Once they select their site, participants are issued a building permit with a site number. The building permit has height limitations and students are restricted to build within their site plot only. One site per family, or on school group day, one site to a group of 4-5 students, is issued. This ensures the need for teamwork and collaboration.

2. Survey the site. Students and families then take their permit and meet with a city guide to survey their site, which helps in understanding the context of where they are building. This also allows the groups to take measurements and gives them the opportunity to sketch out what they want to build on a sketch portion of their permit book.

3. Construct the building. The groups are then ushered to the building materials area where they are given the opportunity to select from thousands of materials that are donated from local architecture firms’ sample libraries. Everything from paint chips, plastic laminate, ceramic tiles and Astroturf is available for participants to use in creating their buildings.

4. Obtain a Certificate of Occupancy. Once the buildings are complete, participants are given the opportunity to take a photograph of their model so they will have a memory of what they built. They then place their building on their site and get an inspection by an inspector. At this time, the dialogue that participants engage in really becomes the driving force, and participants are asked to touch upon their permit restrictions, general architectural principals etc. This step of the process really gives the children an opportunity to express themselves through their creativity. Once the inspection is complete, the inspector signs the building permit and participants proceed to the Building Department and get a Certificate of Occupancy Seal on their permit book.

The event is really fun and engaging on many levels, both for participants (children and parents) and volunteers that run the event. The majority of materials are donated. The interaction with the children every step of the way is a chance for the children to learn and think about architecture and the built environment. Having the event at the ICA, which is housed in a fantastic building, really makes for an amazing backdrop and experience for the children in and of itself.

The event is typically held every two years. The biggest challenge the planning committee faces, particularly this year, is getting donations from companies. Approximately 20 people make up the committee to pull the event together, meeting monthly over the course of a year to plan the event. About 100 architects from all over Boston volunteer over the course of the event, help with everything from set-up to acting as building inspectors.

The Youth Visions Committee feels a lot of pride in the program, and they know that the program is having a definite impact on the participants. KidsBuild! opens the door to the world of art and architecture for many Boston area families, and the BSA hopes to keep providing the opportunity for many years to come.

To learn more about BSA, be sure to visit them on the web.
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