Čeština
Playful Architect was literally born at Prague Castle, and it has grown to become an interesting and respected international project.
As a non-profit association, Playful Architect has a mission to educate and enlighten children of very different levels and backgrounds -elementary, secondary, art schools, universities, orphanages, interest groups and different capacity institutions- in the areas of architecture, urban planning, design and art.
We organize an international program including lectures, discussions, architectural walks, art activities and workshops all aiming to increase the children’s awareness towards the built environment and the spaces we live in, inviting them to actively participate in their creation. Part of this activity is to coordinate exhibitions and presentations of the children’s artistic output.
The artistic-architectural project was created in 2013, and at the beginning it was part of the festival Architecture Week Prague, becoming a self-sustained entity in subsequent years. It has grown into a unique project that helps children acquaint themselves with architecture in an unobtrusive and playful way. The methodology consists on inviting guest architects, art historians or teachers to give a series of lectures to the students in their own schools so they can later draw and paint the local architecture according to the topic of the year. This normally includes taking the whole classroom for field visits so they can experience architecture directly, being totally free to use their imagination to share their vision of architecture, often, with incredible originality.
Playful Architect, then, becomes an entertaining bridge between children and their cities and communities, with the hope that they will appreciate and feel proud about the place they live in, and eventually to make them feel responsible about them. We spread this ideology abroad as well: the project was conceived since the beginning as an international venture. By asking local architects and professionals to engage with the children we foster a sense of community and help the children realize that architecture is an integral part of our lives.
Every year we have the participation of several countries in the project: Slovakia, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Mexico, Peru, the USA, Hungary, China, Turkey and many others are added with each new edition. We have enjoyed the partnership of UNESCO and have twice organized an exhibition at their headquarters in Paris, a trend that we plan to continue in the next years.
