Open City Architecture in Schools: Primary

Open City delivers educational programmes designed to engage young audiences and teachers with architecture and urban design. The Architecture in Schools: Primary programme facilitates pupils visiting a piece of exemplary London architecture with professional architects to inspire design work back in the classroom. 2014’s project brief was for pupils to design a city home for bees, birds, bugs and bats.

In May 2014, Year 5 pupils from St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Wandsworth and St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School, Tower Hamlets visited the Horniman and were given educational tours by architects from bpr architects and Allies and Morrison respectively. The pupils became ‘architectives’, looking for, and carrying out activities related to, different features of the buildings concerning structure, shape, light and materials. They went away full of ideas for designing a bee, bird, bug or bat home for their school grounds.

Their urban designs were revealed at the project awards ceremony later in the year.