Join us for a free day of fun and hands-on activities inspired by architecture books for children and young people. Bring the whole family along for adventures in reading, writing, making, building and drawing, in celebration of World Book Day and RIBA’s Reading Architecture project.
Programme of activities
Pop-up city
Join artist Daniel Wallis to make a brightly coloured pop-up city. Make a page from a giant pop-up architectural book. Cut, fold, and stick to fill it with a colourful cityscape using paper engineering techniques. Combine your pages with someone else to begin creating a city of books for all to enjoy.
Softbuild
Explore different structures inspired by illustrations from ‘A History of Architecture’ by Sir Banister Fletcher then build them using large soft blocks. Will you build a tower, dome, arch or column?
A window onto the world
Imagine the story of your own made-up building or the goings-on within a famous structure from the RIBA’s world-class collections, then use techniques inspired by the book ‘Step Inside: Homes Through History’ (Reading Architecture, Students Choice, 8-11 years, category winner) to create your own mini masterpiece.
Off the page - No. 7 Evergreen Street
Join Julia Patton author of No.7 Evergreen Street to populate the apartments of the street with colourful characters from your imagination. This activity will run 12pm to 2pm.
Set the scene
Set the scene with a land of LEGO. Build an evolving environment where stories can unfold and be added to as the day goes on.
Drag Queen Story Hour UK
Join the marvellous Aida-H-Dee to round off Architecture Book Day with performances of children’s favourite architecture books and much more. This event will run from 3pm to 4pm, first come first served, limited capacity.
More activities to be announced and elements of the day may be subject to change.
Booking is essential, please book a timeslot below.
Covid safety measures
We are excited to welcome you back to join us for in-person events again, we will be asking you to follow a few extra requirements to attend:
- all attendees over the age of 16 will be asked to complete a test, and track and trace before attending. A link will be emailed to you before the event
- please do not attend if you test positive for COVID-19 or feel unwell
- all staff will be wearing a mask or visor and we ask that adults wear a mask (unless exempt), while moving around the building
- please utilise the hand sanitiser stations available in the building
- we may check your temperature on entering the building
- we will be keeping the spaces well ventilated, so do bring a jumper
