ArchKIDS.HelpKIDS_community outreach programme by Quazi Zaman

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Architecture for KIDS

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Arch.KIDS originates with the idea of letting our future generation to know about our environment and the architecture that occupies this environment. Children are our future leaders, entrepreneurs, clients and professionals; and they are the most vulnerable group of the present day undesirable practice in terms of environmental management, urban development and architectural creations. We need to give the future generation a chance to have a better living environment with a basic knowledge of how we should manage our city. It is also important to let them know about what architecture is all about; and that all buildings do not posses the qualities of good architecture. Arch.KIDS is a one-day workshop for children of 6 to 8 years of age. The workshop has two sessions; the first will consist of slide shows informing children about examples of good and bad environment and architecture, while the second session will focus on a design exercise participated by the children, objective of which is to explore the levels of creativity through designing spaces for them. Coordinator: Dr. Q M Mahtab-uz-Zaman, Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture Patron: Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, Vice-Chancellor, BRAC University Advisors: Professor Fuad Hassan Mallick, Chairperson, Department of Architecture Dr. Zanaib Faruqui Ali, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture Administrators: Mr Mahmood Hasan, Registrar Ms Shreyasee Sarma Pati, Deputy Registrar Ms Shamsun Nahar Rahman, Assistant Director, Relationship Management Office Mr Md Lutfor Rahman, DCO Architecture Mr Obaidullah Al Zakir, Public Relations Officer Workshop Assistants: Mr. Ruhul Amin & Mr. Mizan

12/06/2012 10:18

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Volume 5 Issue 105 | July 28, 2006 | Letters Voicebox Chintito Newsnotes Cover Story View from the Bottom Straight Talk Event In Retrospect Film Review Common Cold Tribute Musings Heritage Dhaka Diary Sci-tech Health Book Review Books Jokes SWM Home

Event

Faria Tasnin

Mahatma Gandhi was a man of simple vision. He began his political life with the statement, “What can I do?” In reality,

things just don't happen by themselves; one must take the initiative to do it. One of the biggest challenges of today is to keep our cities clean. It needs a healthy living environment, one that every one of us can be benefitted by. But in order to fulfill such an endeavour, actions must be taken. Large corporations have undertaken the beautification of our cities, be it by taking care of road dividers keeping the beaches at Cox's Bazar clean. But in order to involve people at the individual level, the ideas and urge must come from within. To bring out this urge in children, a recent workshop was held for the child members of Kendriya Kachi Kanchar Mela in their own premises .The workshop was conducted by ArchKids (Architecture for Kids)- an outreach programme of BRAC University. Here, a group of 30 children were given the theme “My Dream City” and were told to elaborate from their perspective. The objective of the session was to join Kachi Kanchar Mela's cultural aspects with ArchKids environmental and architectural awareness. The end result was to introduce a fresh impetus to accelerate the process of grooming the children. It also triggered their intellect on issues that surround their everyday lives. This was the third eventful workshop by ArchKids and like previous sessions, slideshows and discussions were held on environmental issues. The children were asked to discuss the problems surrounding Dhaka city's cleanliness. “What can you do about it?” The group was quick to dish out suggestions. One of the children suggested a signboard stating, “Do not litter.” Another suggested collecting toll money to buy a trash can for his apartment complex. Others suggested the same for their <>moholla<>. There are times when the children can provoke adults to think. With ideas like these, a wave is already set in motion. Kachi Kanchar Mela and ArchKids collectively want to create such a wave by reaching out to all the members of over 300 Kendriya Kachi Kanchar Mela branches in Bangladesh. They have taken on the challenge of thinking of ways to change their environment and stimulating the minds of others to do the same. The children participating in such workshops automatically become members of ArchKids, which has acted as a catalyst to bind together the thoughts and words of these young ones. Whatever professions they go to in the future, this learning will stay with them. Symbiotically, simply caring for one's environment eventually will act as a way to teaching accountability to the children -- the question of accountability for his or her actions when they grow up and take the lead for urban management. If the children take part in the community, there is a special bond being developed. It may be a tree which they have planted or (even the fact that someone is using) a trash-can which they have helped to buy.

In a later part of the event, the children were told to paint together their dream city. When they started working on it, it became a jigsaw puzzle of individual dreams, united together to form a perfect city. There is always some expectation from one's city and if the city doesn't accommodate the needs and aspirations of our future generations, then discontent towards our environment will set in. During the discussion session, one of the girls said that when she is in her room, she is surrounded by darkness and discomfort, and feels a terrible urge to get out of it, which is sign of a sick building syndrome. At the city scale, spaces between buildings are as important as the building form to ensure appropriate levels of air movement, daylight and social access. One child suggested that they would have no option but to simply leave Dhaka city and go abroad. Readymade cities are already present to live in. Hearing this, other children pounced on him. This showed that most of them have some kind of pride in their city, they possess hopes and vigour for rebuilding their cites. Our younger generation is being lulled by the image of magnificent cities, which they see on the television. They see the eye-catching skyscrapers, the wide clean traffic-free roads, the flashy cars, and the natural surroundings, all that can be quite appealing. Iconic buildings have become trademarks for recognising cities. Say from the music video by Ronan Keating on the Burj Al Arab Hotel, one can quickly know that it's in Dubai. These man-made landmarks also radiate a positive image of a country's economic status. In the latest Mission Impossible movie, some of the movie shots are done in Pudong, an

12/06/2012 10:39

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instant city just built in a decade. While there are traditional cites like Calcutta, which has grown out of a long process of human intervention, and has its own appeal. Hence, there is no logical basis to comparing these two. So what are the benchmarks for a good city? What appeals to one person may not be rationally acceptable to another. The children carry with them magnificent dreams that have the potential to turn our city into a more sustainable living environment and, if given appropriate guidance, can stitch together fragments of hope for making a beautiful Bangladesh.

Photograph: Nafisur Rahman, BRAC University Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2006

12/06/2012 10:39

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Architecture

Faria Tasnin On a sultry afternoon of September 3, which happened to be a Saturday, twenty eager children gathered on the premises of Sunbeams School on Road 27, Dhanmondi. The children, all from Classes Four and Five, were the pupils of Sunnydale and Sunbeams School. They were taking part in Arch.Kids' (Architecture for Kids) latest workshop themed "My Dream Street". The name was befitting, as both the schools happened to be located on Road 27, a street that is a perfect example of Dhanmondi's on-going commercialisation. In a later part of the event, the same road was presented to the children as a model segmented into three parts, which they were told to rearrange and make into their dream street. They had the option of making all the changes that they felt were necessary for a healthy and safe environment.

Children working on the model of Toad 27, Dhanmondi

The workshop was initiated by Lecturer Huraera Jabeen with the assistance of volunteers from the Architecture Department, BRAC University. Arch.Kids is an ongoing project of the department, which has always been strongly supported by the Vice Chancellor of the university, that aims to sensitise children about environmental issues related to an urban setting.

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Like the previous workshop held in February, this programme started off with slide shows on environmental issues such as managing garbage, recycling, planting trees, pedestrian crossings and general road safety. The children enthusiastically responded to the questions asked and made interesting suggestions. One such observation was the lack of trees and zebra crossings for the pedestrians. This was followed by a session dedicated to Model Re-arranging on "My Dream Street." Road 27 is full of schools, universities and shopping centres and there are people moving to and from one part of the street to the other. There are traffic sergeants to control traffic but they can do little when it comes to jaywalking. There are now traffic lights that read green and red but the information on following traffic rules and regulations is not taught in schools. Despite that, most of the children seemed well aware of the traffic laws, as some had traveled abroad. One slide show featured the growing congestion in Dhaka, to which one student of class five said we should de-centralise. After the slide show and model re-arranging session, the children were bursting with ideas on how to improve Road 27, and make it their "Dream Street." They vented their ideas by writing suggestions on postcards addressed to the mayor. As more children become members of Arch. Kids, there will be enough to organise community-based programmes, such as planting trees in certain areas or streets and their maintenance. Since the children themselves will be the ones working, eventually this will create environmental awareness among adults as well. Initiating such community programmes can go a long way to change people's attitudes and develop civic pride and the demand for a cleaner city. Arch.Kids' next project is to work on children who falls in the lower middle class strata of our society. "Since those children are frequent user of roads, we want to concentrate on that group now," said Dr. Q M Mahtab-uz-Zaman, an Associate Professor of Architecture, BRAC University and the founder of Arch.Kids. "Actually they are the ones, who are larger in number and in the future, will contribute to our economy in many ways. Many of them will enter the political scene, so even rudimentary knowledge given to them about our environment is the beginning of an answer to a well-managed city."

Photos: Nafisur Rahman Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2005

11/06/2012 19:08

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Linking Young Minds Together Volume 1 Issue 4 | August 27, 2006 |

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Khondaker Hasibul Kabir One of the key thinkers on environment, Dwijen Sarma, says that we must sow the seeds of environment awareness in the hearts of our kids. He thinks that kids must learn to appreciate environment from a non-anthropocentric point of view. The beautiful earth is not only for people but also for other living creatures and non-living matters. Keeping this in mind Arch.KIDS (an outreach program of Department of Archiecture, BRAC University) and BRAC University Environment Awareness Forum (BUEAF) with the support of ShaDa (Shamajik Daibodhota) went to Amdala Govt. Primary School located by the river Ichamoti in Manikganj to initiate a school garden which will be designed and maintained by the school kids themselves. This was the fourth workshop of Arch.KIDS.

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and insects among kids

Slide shows creating awareness on plants

A school garden needs at least four things appropriate space, support of administration, source of money and a dedicated teacher. The garden will not sustain without any of these. It is not difficult to get kids' participation in the garden. Kids can do their best when they get a sense of ownership. The main objective of a school garden is education. A creative teacher can teach almost all subjects in a garden. Kids like to have edible fruit trees preferably small fruits so that many kids can eat. Kids can learn about colours of different season from flowering plants. A school garden may have plants which invite birds, butterflies and other creatures. Bangladesh is rich for its natural landscape and plant diversity. A school garden can prioritise locally native plant species to host a wide range of biodiversity. Kids love to nurture plants which will provide them a quick return of their effort such as seasonal vegetables and flowers. It may provide them all the year round interest. Twenty kids from class two to five participated in this one-day workshop. The facilitator team was comprised of teachers from the Department of Architecture and Students of BRAC University. A presentation and discussion session was facilitated by K H Kabir and Huraera Jabeen on purpose of a school garden, plants' benefits, types, habitat, associated biodiversity, plant care and garden design. It was a rewarding experience for the facilitators that the kids not only know plants by names but also know their respective benefits. In the next session the kids were divided into four groups facilitated by two University-students and one schoolteacher. The task of groups was to design a dream school-garden. Each group presented their dreams and provided reasons behind their ideas. In the end the groups carried out a plantation session. Within half an hour they planted sixty plants. Each plant had tags containing plant's name and the name of the kid's who planted. Kids own those plants and it is mainly their responsibility to take care of those. Group discussion for a suitable tree planting plan in the school premise Kids of rural areas know better how to take care of plants. Teachers of the primary school were worried about protecting newly planted plants from goats and cows. Hearing their teachers' concern the kids said that they would bring bamboo from their homes to make fences. Tree planting and giving ownership to maintain by children The facilitating team from BRAC University went there with an intention to sow seed of environment awareness in the hearts of kids but in the end the team found them very fortunate that the kids could implant the seed of 'commitment for our kids' in the hearts of adults. Founder and coordinator of Arch.KIDS Dr. Q M Mahtabuz-Zaman has similar hopes that through this series of workshops we would be able to touch upon the minds of many children who desperately needs to engage themselves and to learn how to manage their own environment with the support from adults. After the workshop, a kid of class two softly hold a university student's hand and took her to a newly planted tree and said, “Apu, see …. this is my plant.” This is the beginning of a school garden owned by the school kids themselves. Photograph: Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Nafisur Rahman and Farah Naz Parvin, BRAC University

11/06/2012 19:10

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11/06/2012 19:10

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3rd workshop of Architecture for KIDS (Arch.KIDS) was held in Kendriya Kachi Kanchar Mela premise on 15th July 2006. The theme was: "My Dream City". Attached is the news appeared in the Daily Star Magazine on 28 July 2006. Arch.KIDS is an outreach programme catered mainly for children of Bangladesh to create awareness about our environemnt and architecture, coordinated by the Department of Architecture, BRAC University. Details can be found in the link: http://www.bracuniversity.ac.bd/academics /dept/misc.php?code=ARCHKIDS

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Architecture for KIDS at BRAC University 3rd workshop of Architecture for KIDS (Arch.KIDS) was held in Kendriya Kachi Kanchar Mela premise on 15th July 2006. The theme was: "My Dream City". Attached...

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Aug 3, 2006 6:28 pm

12/06/2012 10:38

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12/06/2012 10:38

Re: Education related NEWS and updates : Bangladesh Did you know? The Dream School of Tomorrow Adiba Rahman

'Amra Shobai Raja amader ei Rajar Rajottey…' Yes indeed, children are the rulers of their own kingdom. The ARCHKids-- Architecture for Kids 2010 was arranged by the Department of Architecture, Brac University. It commenced with the afore mentioned song as 25 youngsters between the ages of 5-12 years sang to their hearts' content with the guidance of the renowned singer Sadi Mohammad, the Special Guest at the occasion. The theme of this year's ARCHKids was “Dream School”. The children selected were from different schools and their ideas, integrated as one, was to come up with a school of their dreams. At first, the children watched parts of an animated film UP with their parents. The volunteers then handed out t-shirts, helped put them on along with their badges before taking them on a tour of the department where the senior students' work were exhibited. Some wondered what the drawings represented, a few inquired about the models while the others silently observed in amazement. In due time, the tour ended and the children were taken to a room where they had to sit facing each other and introduce themselves. The participants were students from Nalonda (Chayanaut), Auronee Biddalaya, T&T Ideal Girls' High School, South Breeze School, Cherry Blossom School, Play Pen School, Australian International School and The City School International.

We all take time getting acquainted with one another and so do children. The feeling of insecurity exists among us all. To break the ice, the children were asked to hold each others' hands and were handed out candies on the basis of which they were put into groups. There were 5 groups in total each consisting of 5 children with 2 volunteers and a teacher's assistant for guidance. While they enjoyed their candies, the children participated in the mask-making activity. They were handed out masks that they could paint however they liked. In the process dozens of artful masks were produced. Some kids were not confident with their artistic skills but observing their peers, inevitably gave into the flow of creativity. Everyone put their masks on as soon as they were finished (including the teachers and volunteers) and the room turned into a crowd attending a masquerade party! Each group was then handed out a blank base of 30”X20”, some trees of different sizes (toothpicks with cotton) and a set of 14 white blocks 10 in bigger modules (to represent classrooms) and 4 smaller ones (a principal's room, teachers' room, caf&#233; and library) and of course a set of colours to design the school of their dreams. Their countless questions were answered by the volunteers and teachers' assistant who were always on the vigilant. And so, the flurry of actions began. The children were asked to think about things that their own school lacked. What is it that they thought was vital to a school? What would make their institution more to their liking? What elements would make them love their school more and encourage them to look forward to it more than they already do? Young minds whirred as some already took felt tips to draw windows on the classrooms and picked up paintbrushes to give life to the trees. Out of the five dream schools that were designed, each had some common features. Every child wanted a huge playfield that took up most of the base. Some segregated the grounds to form a basketball court, cricket pitch and football field. Some even declared that since this was a “dream school” anything is possible and so the final World Cup match between Spain and Netherlands would take place here! Swimming pools was another common feature. The once white base was soon filled with an array of green, yellow and blue. The trees were not limited to just green. There were red trees (Krishnachura?) and some multi-coloured ones too. Some formed a single building with a few stories, others were individual blocks with a tree beside each block but they were all together, clustered to one end of the base while the outdoor spaces were arranged in the other parts. I have to admit, their level of perception is remarkable. Besides the trees, the building blocks were also multicoloured an orange building with purple glass. And why not? It is a dream school after all. One group decided not to have a principal's room. “We don't have a principal in our dream school”. Instead they had 2 cafes, one closer to the building blocks and the other closer to the fields. When asked how that would be accessed, one of the kids answered, “It's a dream school, you can fly there!” At the end of their designing activity, each group presented their work in front of everyone. A speaker among the group explained the designs. Each school was given a name. There was 'A Green School', 'Greenland', 'Wonderland', 'Dream School' and 'Colour School'. People were drawn on the fields. Some designed their school gate while others drew huge butterflies fluttering throughout the school. They all had messages to share as well. They all wanted open spaces, be it fields or swimming pools. They realise that harmony can be achieved with a blend of both indoor and outdoor spaces.

Each group's work was appreciated by the on-lookers. Sadi Mohammad awarded each child with a certificate while photo shoots ensued in full swing. Prof. Zainab F. Ali thanked the parents for encouraging their children to participate. At the end of it all, the children were asked what were missing. A child declared 'food'! The handing of food to each kid brought about the happy ending. Before joining their waiting parents they exchanged hugs and goodbyes with all the volunteers and teachers. ARCHKids is an outreach programme of the Department of Architecture, BRAC University. It began in 2005 and has had a number of events where either school children were invited to the department or faculty and students from the department went out to various schools. The objective of this programme is to encourage creativity in kids and open their minds to architecture and their surroundings. It is a fun event for not only the kids but grown-ups too; who are involved in arranging the programme where an idea as perceived by a child is portrayed. Every child has a dream which he or she wishes to turn to reality. Of course their imagination may run wild (with multi-coloured trees and blocks and intentions to fly) but there definitely is a way to fulfill their more practical wishes. After all, the kingdom is theirs and so is the future. (The writer is a student of BRAC University)

Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2010 Source: http://www.defence.pk/forums/bangladesh-defence/63895-education-related-newsupdates-bangladesh-5.html#ixzz1xZRfRg6J

Scott Sutherland School of Architecture & Built Environment at Robert Gordon University launches community engagement project: HELP.KIDS© (Healthy Environment & Life Planning for Kids©) HELP.KIDS© stems from the urban theorist in the USA- Kevin Lynch’s ‘Growing Up in Cities’. This is an outreach programme launched in Asia since 2002 in the name of ARCH.KIDS© at BRAC University (established by one of the largest NGO in the globe) with the objectives of creating awareness and methods of engaging children into day-to-day environmental and life quality issues. Since then this stands now as an iconic programme stretching wider country-wide activities allowing children to learn about their cities and environment, and about how to stay proactive in maintaining the quality of life. This has long-term effects in preparing the childhood into a more sensible and participatory citizen knowing the fact that these same children will be part of a wider stakeholders and decision makers in the near future.

Photos of ARCH.KIDS (Architecture & Environment for KIDS) – an on-going outreach programme in Bangladesh, and currently expanding to other ASIAN countries (Nepal and Vietnam), and in EU countries (Austria and Spain) (Photo courtesy: Dr. Quazi Mohd. Mahtab-uz-Zaman, Lecturer, Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, Robert Gordon University)

With this ideology, research coordinator and founder of Arch.KIDS© in BRAC University and HELP.KIDS©, Dr. Quazi Mohd. Mahtab-uz-Zaman (architect and urban designer) – a lecturer in Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, believes that City and Shire children need to be taken into a level

that could allow their thought processes to be matured on their cities; and engaging them systematically into vital issues on health and environment, which is something we should help and encourage to expand and their horizon of experience and knowledge to uplift besides their ‘curriculum for excellence’ framework within the schools’ pedagogical tools. Moreover, it is based on the believe and research findings that due to many inappropriate urban attributes, children are victim of ‘sedentary effects’ leading to unhealthy conditions (psychological, physical and social), which could otherwise be assessed and mitigated by community engagement process. Arch.KIDS© and HELP.KIDS© follow methodological process of research and action oriented outreach programme, based on KEVIN LYNCH’s ‘GROWING UP IN CITIES’, and systematically bringing issues from health, safety, environment, pollutions, green habitat, recycling, energy savings tips, and much more, encapsulating ‘healthy city agenda’. Also, effort has been made to bring down essential information from NHS, City & Shire Council, Grampian Police, Carbon Trust, and many others who have information on healthy and safer city, scaling down the critical information into easy and convenient language understandable by Primary 7 school children. Moreover, hands-on tasks would allow them to believe and engage in capturing messages, such as, understanding on how to read, assess, write and draw about cities and environment; and moreover how to think creatively about solving negative attributes in our city. The first outreach programme has been launched in St. Josephs School in Aberdeen for 36 primary 7 students, with the sub-theme ‘Cities by Children’ - a six weeks (1 hour/week) programme with the aim and methods that would systematically teach them to the basics of learning, recognising, reading, exercising, registering and hands-on tasks on their city, community, neighbourhood – focusing on healthy city agenda. Ms. Tominey, Head Teacher of St. Josephs School believes that higher education institutions have a lot to extend to primary and secondary schools and HELP.KIDS from Scott Sutherland is the one that is an excellent initiative. This programme intends to roam around in city and shire schools covering wider children in Primary Schools in Scotland. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….