 Every architect, engineer or artistic person I know started in their youth with some type of toy building material / medium. My brother and I were LEGO fanatics which advanced to the more complex LEGO Technic build-able systems. We also ventured into others sets like K'nex sets and hot wheels ramp & track sets configured to circle throughout our childhood home. We graduated to dissembling small appliances which no longer functioned. There was something satisfying about using the pieces to construct things. What started as following the directions precisely morphed into a free for all.. a free-style mixing and matching of sets to complete uniquely imaginative creations. Figures that my brother would become a mechanic/automotive professional and I'd become an Architect. What do Architects do? See a related post Architects are more than...  As I graduated high school, my quest to continue building expanded to abstract models made of Plaster of Paris, wood, chip board, foam-core and Plexiglas. This was fundamental design. These materials are familiar to any architecture school students, past and present. As a child I built from my imagination with only a small idea of what the finished product would look like. Within architecture school we are taught to translate a set of programmatic requirements (lists of spaces/rooms) coupled with a site (specific location) resulting in some spacial problems which had to be solved. Ultimately solution resulted in a tangible structure. The Arckit A90 is that tangible structure. With no set instruction it looks like a creative outlet for any young designer or seasoned professional. As a licensed architect, you can say I've EXPERTLY CHOSEN this building set. With the holiday season here, I couldn't think of a better gift. I've now passed down the building tradition to my two children. As my educator wife would say, they are well aquainted with small building blocks and pieces thus improving their fine motar skills. Aside from my daily architect tasks in the office and on construction sites, in future when time permits I hope to continue cultivating my passion through woodworking, even occassionally loosing myself in an architecture building kit much like the Arckits. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jared W. Smith For more information and details on the Arckit A90 giveaway, go to the giveaway page HERE. If you enjoyed with post, please visit the Blog main page and read on: Architect OWL Blog As part of the Arckit giveaway, I've brought some fellow architects together to blog on their childhood experiences with building toys also. Please be sure to check out their post below: Lora Teagarden of L^2 Design: Link forthcoming Samantha Raburn of The Aspiring Architect: From making toy villages to designing real buildings Michael Lavalley of Evolving Architect: An Architect's Childhood of Creative Making Adam Denais of Defragging Architecture: Building Blocks: Toys and Architecture Architect OWL, this giveaway or blog has no affliation and is not endorsed by Arckit (MBM Building System Ltd.), LEGO (The LEGO Group), or K'NEX (K'NEX Industries Inc.)
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BLOGJared W. SmithMy life as an architect, photographer and family man trying to stay positive in a negative world. Archives
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