Explore the stacked houses of Cinque Terre, Italy where five fishing villages are connected through mountain trails, the interconnected apartment buildings known as the “Monster Building” in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong and the “City in the Sky” – a Tibetan city that’s home to 40,000 monks and nuns.

We will build stacked houses of our own inspired by a client of your choice. 

In this workshop, you will design a habitat for the Moon Bird, the subject of Shel Silverstein's poem Where the Sidewalk Ends. Students are introduced to the Poetry Foundation building in Chicago and how architects used layered systems to encourage repeat visits. The building is designed to reveal itself slowly over time like a poem that invites multiple readings.

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Design for spaces on the move! We will look at the history of the RV and design our own “mobile” home as we explore space planning for tiny spaces. Learn about the Tiny House movement (the original one is here in Austin!), furniture planning and placement and what it takes to design the most lavish interiors of airstream campers for celebrities. We will talk about how to read, draw and render floor plans using standard templates and our imagination.

Join us as we explore the world of perspective. From the oldest three-dimensional forced perspective at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy to the simplified nuts and bolts of perspective drawing for kids, we will play with the illusionary perception of space through models, drawings, theatrical silhouettes, shadows and photography.

In this project, we take a close look at robotic architecture and how architects use nature and animals to guide design innovation.  From algae infused clay tiles that filter toxic chemicals, drones that weave buildings and a pavilion that takes its structure from beetle wings, we will see how robotically fabricated structures using materials from apples, trees, insect exoskeletons and bones can become inspiration for buildings.

Join us as we reimagine space through the power of illusion in architecture. We will explore optical illusions that fool the eye through color or pattern and spatial illusions that fool the mind by distorting size, distance and time. You will learn several ways to create your own illusions through shadow & light, color and pattern. We will make our own box of illusion using the Op Art Lenticular technique to imagine a gigantic building facade. This project requires downloading and printing 6 images.

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We will serve up a hearty slice of architecture as we learn about the “section”, the magical cut-through view that exposes what’s inside and outside at the same time. We will learn about section drawings and make a section model that slices right through the building. We will explore how section models lend themselves to role play and miniatures, opening the door to the design and crafting of all things tiny.

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In this workshop, we take infinity to another level by creating a trajectory house based on the architectural ideas of views, perspective, illusion, light and color. We’ll look at the work of Mexican architect Luis Barragan and be inspired by a series of “sky spaces” built inside an extinct volcano in Arizona. This project was extracted from Upside Down World Camp due to popular demand - we are now offering it as a stand alone workshop!

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