ArchiKids_CityDreamers
ArchiKids_CityDreamers is a family festival focusing on architecture, visual culture, and environmental education, initiated by KÉK – Contemporary Architecture Centre, based on the model of the Open City ARCHIKIDS festival in London. The programme primarily targets children and young people but provides a complex experience for the entire family. The aim of the festival is to introduce children to the functioning of the built environment in a playful, experiential way, and to enhance their spatial awareness, urban consciousness, and the joy of creation.
The central venue of the programme is KÉK, which serves as a starting point for interactive city tours, creative workshops, and outdoor activities. Moreover, the festival's events extend to the streets, public spaces, studios, and unusual urban locations of the capital. Activities and locations within the festival are selected through an open call, with submissions evaluated by a professional jury.
Participating children and their families can engage in a variety of architecture and city-related activities, including:
urban walks and exploration paths
creative workshops
model-making sessions
studio visits
competitions and fun challenges
The implementation of the programmes involves architects, engineers, designers, museum educators, students, and volunteers.
ArchiKids_CityDreamers pays special attention to enabling children to become true partners in shaping the urban environment. During the festival, participants can observe and interpret their immediate living environment, discover new structures and spatial connections, and deepen their sensitivity towards urban spaces.
The festival raises questions and invites collective reflection: how can children be treated as partners in shaping urban spaces? How can we encourage them to consciously observe and interpret their own environment? Through what spatial structures and model constructions can we deepen their existing spatial perception?
The programme offers answers based on a collective search for these questions. For children, building is not only a game but also a form of thinking. KÉK believes that building, as a fundamental human need, should not disappear from the world of children's play and thought. Engaging creatively with space helps them become more sensitive, socially conscious, and responsible towards their environment—active city dwellers who engage with the potential of shaping the city from a young age.
