BERNICE HARRISONon alternatives to movies and the mall
Open House Dublin
Every child who has built a Lego house or converted a couple of cereal boxes into a doll’s house should happily consider themselves a budding architect, but this week there are several opportunities for them to get a feel for what real architects do. For Open House Dublin, which runs from next Thursday until tomorrow week, some of our most unusual and interesting public building, and even some private ones, too, will throw open their doors to the public.
This year there’s a young people’s programme that should help children as young as five to look at buildings in a new way.
Next Saturday at 11am there’s a children’s tour of Trinity College, from the exam hall to the libraries and lecture theatres. Each child will get a graduation certificate when they complete the tour.
At the Sea City Scape Family Workshop, at County Hall on Marine Road in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, children from seven years old (with a parent or guardian) can create a skyline of the area after a tour of local architecture. That’s tomorrow week, from 2pm until 4pm.
If you can’t make it on the busy open days, you can download activity sheets, suitable for seven- to 12-year-olds, and work away at home, from arts.southdublin.ie.
You need to book most Open House Dublin activities, at architecture foundation.ie.