Open House launches kids’ architecture club

Open House will officially launch a Web-based architecture club for children on Saturday (11 August). The ArchiKids website was designed in-house by Jason Badrock, in collaboration with freelance designer Kirsty Fry.

Fry has created three on-line characters for the website, representing the Millenium Dome, the Swiss Re building – known as the ‘erotic gherkin’ – and Wembley football stadium.

‘We wanted to create some characters that were relatively timeless and that had a relationship with London architecture,’ explains Open House head of learning Heather Whitely. ‘We also had to animate them, because animation is an important tool for feeding children’s imaginations.’

The website is part of Open House’s learning programme and is intended to encourage 7- to 12-year-olds to explore cities and think about buildings. The website, www.archikids.org.uk, went live two weeks ago.