Goals

One of the primary goals of the book is to introduce design and architecture to young children in a fun and appealing way through the adventures of Kid Architect. Many children do not have personal interactions with an architect, so Kid Architect serves to help them learn and understand what an architect and other design professionals do. An additional goal of the book is to make the design and architecture professionals accessible to everyone, and as a result; Kid Architect is not a specific gender, race, color or creed, and is not any ethnicity. The book - and Kid Architect - are designed so the reader can see themselves as the narrator during the exploration and adventure of architecture and public art and see the world around them in a new light.

children's book series

An insightful and unique children's book about design and architecture has recently been authored by AIA Fellow Gary Vance, FAIA. The first in a planned series, "Kid Architect Goes to Columbus, Indiana", is a hardcover book oriented to children from ages 5 to 95. The content provides exploration, critical thinking and S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Architecture and Mathematics) concepts in a fun and casual format for school-aged children from kindergarten through high school. Future books will follow the fictional character "Kid Architect" around cities, states, places, buildings, universities and public art in locations throughout the United States (and possibly beyond!).

STEAM activities

The S.T.E.A.M. pages and activities have been written by a former elementary school teacher and take the content of the book a step further by providing thoughtful hands-on challenges that illuminate the text. Using ordinary everyday objects, children are presented with open-ended challenges directly related to the topics in the book to inspire their creative problem-solving skills and teach design thinking.