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By Brent Brotine, Education Guide, Exhibit Host
Photos by Lisa Ciota unless noted

Should an architect include a swimming pool inside an underwater hotel, or would that be a superfluous touch? According to some budding architects CAC recently met at Chicago Park District’s Spring Break Camps ‑  kindergarteners through fifth‑ graders ‑  the answer is a resounding yes (and don’t forget the arcade games either!)

Building imaginary structures like these with LEGO® bricks was one of the highlights of this new version of CAC’s field trip workshops. Aimed at kindergarteners through fifth‑graders, two inaugural ninety‑minute workshops were held at Douglass Park and Franklin Park on Tuesday March 26th. Josefina Barron and Uche Ezejiofor represented the CAC Education Staff, and Lisa Ciota and Brent Brotine served as Education Guides.

Each session began with the CAC team introducing themselves to the audience of twelve to sixteen eager faces, sitting at tables of four. Lisa and Brent opened the program by explaining what architecture is, why it is both an art and a science, and how architects work. Then they launched into a slide presentation of the seven basic structures in architecture. While even the youngest campers were familiar with columns, arches and domes, the new word of the day was definitely “cantilever.” After demonstrating the principle by having everyone stand up and extend their right arms, Lisa and Brent encouraged everyone to use the word when home for dinner that evening.

It was then time for everyone to put their coats on and take a short walk around their respective fieldhouse building. The group was asked to look for examples of the seven structures, what building materials they saw being used, and whether they considered the building and its neighbors to be plain or fancy. Many of the campers proved to have eagle eyes, noticing small details and inscribed words on the many relief carvings decorating the Douglass Park fieldhouse.

In fact, each fieldhouse provided a very different visual experience for the campers. Douglass Park, originally named for Illinois U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, is a regional historic site designed by William Le Baron Jenney and formally opened in 1879. The elaborate fieldhouse was constructed in 1928, designed by architects Michaelsen and Rognstad who were also responsible for such notable buildings as the Garfield Park Gold Done Building and the On Leong Chinese Merchant’s Association Building in Chinatown. With its grand ballroom replete with terrazzo floors and intricately-designed plaster ceilings, along with an auditorium, two gymnasiums and more, it is a popular setting for receptions and meetings. Through community efforts, the park was renamed in 2020 to honor abolitionists Fredrick and Anna Douglass.

On the other hand, the Franklin Park fieldhouse is distinctly more modern, constructed in 1972. It replaced the original structure first designed by Jens Jensen in 1914 and expanded in 1926, but proving too small to meet community demands for indoor recreation. So while the campers were not able to see arches, vaults and domes up close, they did experience the very visible columns and beams of both their home base and the adjacent mid-century modern Hughes Elementary School. The park is named for Benjamin Franklin.

Cold weather kept the outside time short, so the campers returned to their seats for their LEGO adventures to begin. Josefina and Uche introduced everyone to the stages of design; how designers such as building architects plan their projects, test them and refine them, making improvements along the way. Then they announced everyone was going to try this process using LEGOs, but not the kind they were used to. Each table received its own large box of architectural LEGO bricks, which are white and transparent only to keep the constructor’s focus on shape and structure.

Everyone was given a small square base for building their first project – a duck. The campers had just two minutes to do so, without any guidance. Most quickly found triangle- and wedge-shaped bricks inside their boxes, which let them quickly assemble a body, head and beak with just a few pieces. Time was called, and campers were asked to share their creations.

Next, each camper had three minutes to improve their duck, leaving the original build as is but adding new elements or amplifying the original design. Some chose to make their duck larger or to give their duck superpowers, and some chose to add a pond or other amenity for their duck to enjoy. Again, when time was up campers were invited to show their progress.

Lastly, each camper was given four minutes to change their duck creation into a store, adding on to the original pieces. Besides creating the obvious ‑  duck stores – we saw other types of retail establishments that either had a duck shopping inside, or just happened to use a duck as their outside sign.

The duck stores were moved to the side of each table, and larger square base plates were handed to each camper for the final assignment. Their mission was to now build their choice of one of four projects. An underwater hotel. A skyscraper. A theme park. Or a space station. The timer was set for four minutes, and everyone eagerly began to dig for the bricks needed to build their masterworks.

While the final projects were being worked on, Lisa, Brent, Josefina, and Uche circulated between the tables, helping campers with their projects. Some needed reminders to include doors or windows into their structures, and some benefitted from being shown how to build columns by stacking the smallest square bricks one on top of the other. Interestingly, although the campers did not know architects’ names, many instinctively created Frank Lloyd Wright-style open floor plans and/or Mies-inspired rectilinear shapes.

The hour-and-a-half flew by quickly, and the campers left energized and enthusiastic. Perhaps a little bit too energized, as while packing up one of the big LEGO boxes was accidentally spilled, showering over a thousand tiny bricks all across the Franklin Park arts and crafts room. With a little “help” from the kids, the mess was quickly cleaned up and the CAC team left feeling great about how day number one went. More of these “Mini” LEGO workshops are already in the pipeline.

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