In 1994, following traditional paths in the architecture and design professions, and with a young child in tow,Sharon and Peter Exley noted a lack of advocacy for architecture with children in mind. Presented with a hands-on learning commission at the prestigious Chicago Children's Museum, they elected to craft their professional ambitions toward making meaningful, interactive places and spaces for families. They looked to elevate the standards of design for learning environments through the construction of new paradigms in pedagogy, play,and participatory experience through the simple implementation of good ideas.

In 1994, following traditional paths in the architecture and design professions, and with a young child in tow,Sharon and Peter Exley noted a lack of advocacy for architecture with children in mind. Presented with a hands-on learning commission at the prestigious Chicago Children's Museum, they elected to craft their professional ambitions toward making meaningful, interactive places and spaces for families. They looked to elevate the standards of design for learning environments through the construction of new paradigms in pedagogy, play,and participatory experience through the simple implementation of good ideas.

Their firm, architectureisfun, develops architecture,interiors, exhibits, and learning resources for vislonaries interested in sensorial experiences as part of daily life.Through this practice, they nurture a consciousness of design as a lifelong expectation and pursuit.Through architecture, teaching, writing, and consulting,architectureisfun creates special places that hold meaning and memory for children of all ages.

In this first compendium of the work of architectureisfun,Inc. Sharon and Peter Exley share their remarkable educative design philosophy and demonstrate its application in an enchanting variety of projects designed specificaLLy for children. These multi-layered, flexible,kinetic environments inspire intuitive and unpredictable interaction, and harness the power of play through architecture of complexity, familiarity, beauty, and richness.

Enjoy this work! Integrate play into your Life! Architecture truly can be fun.

Foreword by Daniet I. Vieyra, Ph.D., AIA

Introduction

Play with Architecture

A r ehitectural

 Dupage Children's Museum

 Exploration Station Children's Museum and Community Center

 Kidscommons

 The Children's Grove

  Eastern Maine Children's Museum

 Mid-Michigan Children's Museum

 The Children's Museum

Out-of-do ors

 Rediscovering Nature: Kids Can Dig It

 Ogden Park Regional Playground

 Winnetka Public Schoo[ Nursery Outdoor Learning Environment

  Bonner Heritage Farm

 Texas A&M Math and Science Education Center at Corpus Christi

Experiential

  Ptaymaze

 The Stinking Truth About Garbage

  Medieval Castle

  KidZone

  My Museum

 Adventure With Babar, King of the Elephants

 Mice in Wonderland Play Space

  InfoTiger's Musical Treasure Hunt

Exploratorg

  Go Green!

  Carlson Inquiry Center

  Engineering Kids

 Wind and Water

 Get FIT!

 Co[orforms: It's Time to PlayTM

Public

 The Pritzker Fatuity Children's Zoo

 South Pond Nature Center

 Evanston Public Library Children's Library and Teen Center

 Kids on the Fly

 Children's Midway, Garden in a City

Cultural

 Children's Museum of Brownsville

 Alliance Franqaise Chez Kids Academy

 Song of Korea

 /Vyumbo Home Ptace

Spiritual

  Granger Community Church Children's Ministry

  Crosstown Children's Ministry

  Promiseland and Adventure Club

 Turnpoint Apostolic Church Children's Ministry

Multi -generational

  Cybercafe

 Architecture for Children Ga[[ery

  Faces of Time

 A Force of Nature: The Life and Work of Jens Jensen

  Pear Design, Inc.

Informants for design: teaching, reflection, and inquiry

Building the dream

Product information

Project credits

Acknowledgments