The Saint Joseph Museums will present a hands-on experience for budding architects during Christmas break.
The workshop called, ArchKIDtecture for students in kindergarten through 6th grades will be held at the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion and feature two architects from around the area.
Saint Joseph Museums Director Sara Wilson said the ArchKIDtecture workshop will be a hands-on learning experience.
“We really want them to appreciate the architecture at the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion, so we’re going to take them around and let them look at the mansion, each of the kids is going to get to pick out a feature of the mansion that they think is particularly spectacular,” Wilson said. “They’re going to learn about the importance of shape, the importance of material, the importance of colors, landscapes, all of these different things to think about architecture but also the St. Joseph architecture in particular.”
The two architects at the workshop will be Max Guenther who is from the area and is now an architect in Hawaii and Sara Markt, an architect with River Bluff Architects in St. Joseph. Markt said she enjoys speaking to students and sharing her passion for architecture with them.
“Sometimes I’m directed by a particular teacher, they may want me to talk about how it relates to a particular subject, math or science or art, but that’s the great thing about architecture, is it ties in with all of those subjects,” Markt said. “I try to help them start to learn about what architects do… I usually walk them through one of our projects that we did at River Bluff which was Carden Park Elementary School. Ultimately, we want them to start to appreciate the architecture in St. Joe, by learning what architecture is and how it goes together and the different styles and they can start to drive around and say, ‘Oh, well that’s that type of building,’ and start to realize, really, the gems that we have in St. Joe.”
Wilson said parents are welcome to stay with their children during the event if they would like to learn about architecture as well.
The ArchKIDtecture workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, December 28, at the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion. The cost is $25 per student.
For more information, click here or call (816) 232-8471.