Volunteering to Teach Kid's About Architecture

Design and Construction for Flint Kids

On a Saturday in February I volunteered some time to talk to local Flint kids about the profession of architecture. The event was hosted by Megan at The Porch Project. It was organized with a bit of a presentation by myself and fellow AIA Flint member Bailey Ramirez, followed by some floor plan sketching, and then physical model building in teams. It was so much fun to see the students think through their ideas and then translate them into buildings. See the attached pictures to see what they created.

I was pleasantly surprised by the energy of the youngsters that ranged from elementary school up to high school. The students were divided into three groups of about six to eight and we each led a team through the design process from sketches to model making. It was very rewarding to watch them think through different design options for their floor plans (we decided to design a house) and weigh out what move they wanted to make next.

Model Making

When it came time to develop a model from their designs the students decided to vote for the design to build, and in my group they unanimously chose one design from Malcolm, and I did notice Malcolm had a great understanding of scale and proportion. The next two hours was very interactive and I was able to get everyone engaged in building different aspects of the design with some working on walls, some working on roof, and by the end of the session we had almost an entire house built at 1/4” = 1’-0” scale.

It was rewarding to be able to share my knowledge with some local Flint kids. There are plans for another event and I definitely plan to be there!

Shout Outs

Thank you Megan at the The Porch Project, the Neighborhood Engagement Hub for hosting the event, and to all of the students who showed interest in architecture. I saw a lot of future architects in that room!

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