by Mary Lib Schmidt
The Center for Architecture was happy to once again host our Archtober FamilyDay@theCenter as part of Open House New York Weekend. At this free drop-in program on 10.14.17, more than 150 adults and children worked together to create a model city. Families learned about different types of buildings and spaces that make up a city. Each participant selected what type of building or space they wanted to create and pinned it on our inspiration wall in categories such as residential, public, commercial, open space, and infrastructure.
Once the structures were complete, they were added to our empty city grid. The final city was well balanced and included apartments, markets, museums, playgrounds, subway stations, electric plants, and even the Statue of Liberty! Adults and children worked together on their individual models, but also thought about how their structures fit into the city as a whole. One participant even decided that instead of creating a building to add to the city, he was going to create trees to scatter throughout the map. Much like New York City, ours evolved as the day went on and families added models and took their projects home.
We were happy to see many familiar faces from our past programs and also to welcome many new families who discovered the Center for Architecture through Open House New York. The Center for Architecture was proud to participate in our 15th Open House New York Weekend, which makes us one of only 10 venues to have participated every year since the program began in 2003.