Most people give me a funny look when I say I want to teach architecture to kids. The answer to that "Huh, why?" is almost banal—the youth is the future, and the future is brighter when equipped to adequately understand and criticize the built environment.
With the architectural profession so removed from the general public and with the typical educational curriculum not featuring any insight into it, we can find ourselves lost for words and tools to describe or have a say in the world that we live in. Empowering everyone—and especially children—to tune into their spatial sensibilities advances our relationship with architecture and carries the potential to increase public participation in it. The first step in improving your space is getting comfortable looking at and talking about it.
While receiving my bachelor's, I realized that the architecture I enjoyed—and my basic curiosity towards it—didn't really change. What changed was simply my confidence in interacting with it. Ironically, when nurtured by ever-expanding libraries of thought and design exercises, I've come to firmly believe that everyone knows and feels quality design without guiding hands. And that formal training can be as much of a help as an obstacle in trusting your instincts. After all, the line between complexity and convolution blurs quickly when you're in a bubble of academia or professionalism. Popping this bubble, setting its jargon free, letting go of the unhelpful seriousness adds joy and dimension to the everyday experience. It engages our minds and hearts, awakening them to architecture's might—from our bedrooms' lighting to our local parks' curb cuts. This might begs to be emphasized and begs to be repeated again and again. Learning about the aesthetics and the workings of the built environment can (and should) be accessible, fun. And who is to understand that better than the kids?
Follow @youthartsclub on Instagram or email info@youthartsclub.com for the upcoming class schedule.