FIRST UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS TO USE ARCKIT
The Education Sector has expressed a serious interest in Arckit
The education sector has expressed a serious interest in Arckit since our launch and this month has seen several schools and universities around the world commit to making Ackit part of their curriculum for architecture and design courses. This is an exciting change for design students at these schools and universities, who will soon be using Arckit to inspire the next generation of architectural design.
And they’re not the only ones to see Arckit’s massive potential
Arckit has steadily been gaining approval and support from architects, institutions and students following a wave of product listings in The RIBA Bookshop, National Building Museum in Washington, The Chicago Architecture Foundation, Alvart Aalto Museum in Finland, and shortly Harrods of London. So it’s no surprise that schools and universities have started to explore its use in education.
“Arckit will appeal to architects for its elemental-ness. To say that it releases your inner child is the highest compliment I could give!” – Review of Arckit by the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Arckit’s first pioneers in education are the University of Huddersfield here in the UK and Loretto Kirribilli Senior School in Sydney, Australia. They are the first secondary school and university in the world to officially include Arckit as part of their curriculum to use alongside digital software for architectural design. Its introduction could offer a very real advantage to their architecture students.
Using Arckit as an educational design tool
A senior teacher at Loretto Kirribilli believes that Arckit’s ability to allow students to physically design is going to have major benefits for her students. As well as being fast and reusable, Arckit also saves students valuable time and money. The kit they have in their first year will also be used in their final year and beyond – one of the reasons for the extremely positive reaction from students.
The main benefit of using Arckit as an educational design tool is that it’s a quick and easy way to build scaled working models without glue or mess. This means that students can physically explore designs and use their imaginations to create a wide range of different structures – no drawing, measuring, cutting, gluing or sticking. As well the continual development and introduction of new components to add to existing kits, students also benefit from physical models being compatible with digital design.
Students can create digital SketchUp versions of Arckit
Interestingly, nobody thought to advance physical model making after the digital era arrived. Using Arckit, students can create digital SketchUp versions of Arckit components to recreate their designs virtually with AutoCAD Design. This also allows them to introduce digital models to real world settings, see their designs in context, and explore them as part of a collaboration or discussion group.
Interior designers and stage set designers are also starting to show interest in Arckit because the system uses Arckitexture – allowing students to cover walls and floors with realistic external renders such as wood flooring, terracotta tiles, stone walls and shingle aluminium. In short, Arckit is an educational design tool that allows students to have fun creating detailed and realistic physical models!
We are now offering discounts for schools and universities. Please contact us to for more information on how Arckit can be used as part of your architecture and design curriculum.