Architecture for Kids & American Institute of Architects | Architecture Week 2026: Inspiring the Next Generation - Brandon Farley, AIA; Michael Rowe AIA; Ilya Prytup, AIA Toledo High School Design Competition 25; & Devon Davis, K–12 Person at AIA National

Architecture can feel like a closed world until someone hands you a brief and says, “Try.” I’m joined by four guests who prove that one week, one competition, or even one sketch can change how a young person sees their future, and how they see the places they live. With Architecture Week 2026 (12 to 18 April) as our backdrop, we talk about making architecture education visible, welcoming, and genuinely exciting for K-12 students across the United States.
 
 Architect Brandon Farley shares what makes a great high school design competition brief, including why playful storytelling can unlock serious thinking about sustainability and the climate crisis. He also tackles a common worry head-on: you do not need fancy modelling software to belong in design. Michael Rowe brings lessons from a 76-year-running AIA Toledo student competition built around real clients, real sites, weekly advisors, and a mid-competition “Rendering Day” that connects students to universities and industry sponsors. 2025 Student finalist Ilia Prytup explains what the process feels like from the inside, from learning digital tools to finding confidence, community, and a clearer path into architectural engineering.
 
Finally, Devon Davis, AIA’s senior manager for K-12 initiatives and engagement, lays out what Architecture Week offers and why the “A” in STEAM must include architecture. We also share simple ways to take part, from virtual read alouds to donating supplies and amplifying programmes online. Subscribe, share the episode with a teacher or student, and leave a review to help more young designers find their way into architecture.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hello and welcome to this special edition of the Architecture for Kids podcast, created in collaboration with American Institute of Architects to celebrate Architecture Week 2026. I'm your host, Antonico Plant, trained as an architect, an architecture educator, and the founding director of the award-winning Architecture for Kids CIC. I'm also a doctoral student at the Institute of Education and at the Bartlett UCL and a design tutor at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. In this podcast series, I'll be speaking with inspired young designers and future architects who are taking part in Architecture Week 2026, taking place across the United States from April 12th to 18th. Architecture Week 2026 celebrates the profession of architecture and invites everyone, especially K-12 students, to explore architecture and design. We all play key roles in inspiring and educating the next generation of architects. Together, let's nurture the future of architecture. Our aim in this podcast is to inspire and engage young people to shape their built environment and discover pathways into the creative industries. This episode is brought to you by the American Institute of Architects in collaboration with Architecture for Kids CIC. Please join us in celebrating Architecture Week 2026 from 12 to 18 April. For more information and to learn how you can participate, please visit our website at aia.org forward slash architecture-week. Today I'm delighted to welcome four remarkable guests who each bring a unique perspective to architectural education and the future of the profession. Brandon Farley leads the higher education practice at American Structure Point and has spent more than two decades designing award-winning academic facilities across the Midwest. He is also a passionate advocate for design education, longtime chair of the Indiana High School Architectural Design Competition, and co-author of a forthcoming book for aspiring young designers. Michael Rowe is a licensed architect and partner at Brewer Group Architecture and Engineering. As a lead architect and project manager, he has guided a wide range of public and institutional projects while also contributing to community planning and mentoring young designers through the AIA High School Design Competition Committee. Devin Davis is a nationally certified counselor and an experienced K-12 School Counselor, administrator and program developer with more than two decades of experience across public, private, and charter schools. She now serves approximately 100,000 members of the American Institute of Architects, supporting their efforts to inspire and guide the next generation of architects. And finally, we are joined by Ilia Pritap, a finalist from the 2025 AIA Toledo iSchool Design Competition, and now an architectural engineering student at the University of Cincinnati with interest in sustainable construction, historic restoration, and the use of natural materials in architecture. Together, they represent the full spectrum of architectural growth, from students to emerging professional to established leaders. I'm thrilled to have them with us today to help promote Architecture Week 2026, taking place from April 12 to 18 across the United States. Brandon, thank you for joining this conversation today about the Architecture Week. This will take place between the 12th and the 18th of April. I would like to know a little bit about you and about your involvement in the Architecture Week.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

I'm an architect here in Indianapolis, Indiana. And for the last 22 years, I've been involved with or been in charge of the high school design competition, which is a statewide design competition, and it's open and available to all the high school students in Indiana. And so the AIA Indiana has been hosting that competition since the early 70s. And so I was really honored this year when Devin reached out, and she's trying to get all of the design competitions in various forms from across the country together. And so it was pretty exciting to learn about the other design competitions, but also to have the Indiana competition highlighted and featured and uh put a spotlight on it.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

The competition in Indiana is quite particular. I was reading the brief earlier. Do you want to talk a little bit about the brief, which I think is really exciting?

SPEAKER_02 5:12

We change the brief every year. Um, and we also have a a different site every year. This year's brief, well, to back up a little bit, it's really important when you're writing a brief for high school students that you're writing something that any student at any level could really get a hold of and get excited about, but also it needs to have enough depth, enough meat to it that the students who really want to like dive in and take these really long design explorations, you'll allow them space to do that. So I think to me, the the key to a really successful design competition is being able to write a brief that's accessible to anybody but has the depth that students can really like understand what it is to be involved and engrossed in a design or really understand how cool the profession can be. This year's competition, I vaguely it's a little bit like Jurassic Park. I mean, that sounds a little bit ridiculous, but what we're asking them to do is put themselves in the mindset of a designer who's trying to design for an extinct animal, something that a group is bringing back to life, and then trying to think about how a building supports visitors learning about and interacting with that animal. And so in the past, we've had really good success with those types of competitions because if you can give students a little bit of the, they can kind of control their own destiny in a little bit in a way, they're able to pick the things that they find interesting, pick an animal they find interesting, but then they'll also be forced to learn about architecture and the lessons of architecture alongside it. And so we've we've done that in various ways. This is the first year I think we've done something that's almost it's kind of like a zoo. It's a little bit of a fantastical zoo, but that's also part of the trick, right? Is to do something a little bit weird and interesting and engaging to make sure that high school students have something there they can grab onto and wrap their minds around and get excited about.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

And is it something to do with sustainability in the climate uh crisis there to have inspired your brief?

SPEAKER_02 6:59

I think yes, in some ways. We tried not to be overtly political about it, because I think that's a little bit dangerous too, but it's also like it is true that we certainly have extinct animals. And so part of the narrative was really about learning from the lessons that could be taken away from like certain animals becoming extinct. I wouldn't say we really hit the students over the head with the politics of it, but we are encouraging them to think about it. And sustainability is something that I know there is a large percentage of the of the younger population is really passionate about, really interested in. I know I've I have been for a long time. Just here at the firm, I'm also our director of sustainability, so it's something that I have a particular passion about.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

And why do you think young people should participate in the architecture week?

SPEAKER_02 7:40

To me, participating in in the design competition is you get to dip your toe into something. When I think about being in high school, I wasn't really sure what it is that I wanted to do or how I wanted to get involved or how what I wanted to be my my future could be, because I didn't have anybody that like gave me some opportunities to try things out. And that's really what the idea is. So by being able to present students with a chance that they could dip their toe in the water and figure out whether architecture and design has any passion for them or not is really powerful. Even if they hate it, that's actually great, right? That's a great piece of information to have because you can know what it is that you're excited about, where you want to do with your life. And so by participating in the design competition, I always joke, but I'm actually I'm sort of serious. It's all the fun of being an architect without any of the bummers of architecture. Like there's no budget, there's no building code, there's no gravity, right? It's all the excitement of really solving some sort of design problem and doing something fun and like creating something sort of magical and wonderful. And there's there's nobody to tell you no or to tell you why it wouldn't work, right? This is all the best parts of architecture. And so being able to present that to students and see whether that like does it for them or not, I think is is really cool. And every year there's a certain amount of students that'll come up to me afterwards and go, Oh, this is for me. I thought I wanted to be an engineer, I thought I wanted, you know, to go into you know some sort of related field, but architecture is really what it is. A few others will go, This this is not for me, it's too open-ended, right? But I'm I was really interested in thinking about the structure. I was really interested in thinking about the interior materials and the finishes and interior spaces. And so, you know, they can take that and then like use that to inform their decisions later in life. And so it always feels like wonderful to me that I'm able to give them.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

A lot of people have already signed up or submitted work. Is that a limited number or how does that work? You'll just tell us a little bit about it, please.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Yeah. On average, we get between 100 and 150 students that enter each year. There's a handful of schools that assign it as coursework. And so you'll get groups of 20, 30, 40 students from those individual schools. But then there's also like singular students from all over the place. We've had students have been homeschooled, right? We've had students enter by hand. And actually, in some ways, I'm more excited about those entries because those are the students that are really choosing to enter the competition. It's not just homework to them, it's something that they think they might be interested in. And so those are the students that often go on to become architects or something in a related profession. I don't ask that the students or we don't ask that the students register or pre-register ahead of time when all the entries come in. That'll be the first time that we see how many students are actually participating. I can start to get sort of a sense of the number of participants just by the questions that they've asked and how many are asking questions, but that's not perfect gauge. And so it's a little bit of a surprise to us.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

We'll see. I'm looking forward to see how many centers and what those centers look like. And uh, and Brendan, just one last thing. Is there one question I should have asked you that Evan asked you? And what is that question?

SPEAKER_02 10:31

One of the things that I think is important is that students and teachers will get very hung up on the software. They'll feel almost cut out of being able to participate in architecture because they don't have this sophisticated modeling software, especially at a high school level. I honestly think that holds students back. And so the best piece of software you could have is really pen and paper. It's the most direct and straightforward way to design. You're not having to learn something new. You've been probably using a pen and paper since before kindergarten. And not having some filter between you and your ideas almost always produces the best results, but it is a little bit different from the digital world that I think most students live in. And so while it can seem like you're at a disadvantage, statistically, students that sit down and think their projects by hand and do their work by hand have a much higher percentage of becoming either winners or finalists in the competition because their passion ends up showing directly on the page and they're not having to pass it through some software or some digital system that they don't always have the best control over or might not have been the right software choice for this application, but it's what they're being assigned to do, you know, in their class, or it's the software that they're learning. And so I would tell students not to be discouraged because you don't have the software. Be encouraged if you have the passion and the drive to do it. And that that's really what makes it difficult.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

I saw on your webpage that you are um encouraging entries drawn by hand, not just necessarily by computer. Well, thank you very much, Brendan. Thank you for your time. And we're looking forward to Architecture Week in April. Thank you. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

And thanks for uh doing your due diligence. You really did some research there. I appreciate that. I wanted to hear from everybody else. One of the great things that I've gotten out of the group that Devon's pulled together is learning from all the other people and their competitions and what they're up to. I think it's been fantastic. So I'm gonna hang out.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

So, yes, please do. Thank you. So, hello, Mike Rowe. Good to talk to you today about Architecture Week, which will take place on the 12th and 18th of April. I would like to know a little bit about you and about your involvement in Architecture Week.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

Similar to what Brandon talked about, I'm also a committee member for AI Toledo, which is northwest corner of the state of Ohio. And we have a competition, design competition that's been held for high school students. This is our 76th year. So I think we're one of the longest standing design competitions in the country. I personally competed on in this competition when I was in high school, my senior year, which is pretty much what led me into the profession I am today. So I've been a committee member for probably the last, I don't know, 20 plus years. So we have five committee members total. It's a 10-week-long design competition, kicks off at the beginning of January. So our submissions are due here at the end of actually next week. And then we'll have an awards banquet next month as well. A little bit different are our projects that we usually try to work with a nonprofit. So it's actual a true client. So whether it's a nonprofit or a community organization, whatever. So it makes the project a realistic project for the students. That way there's a real site, there's a real end user for that space. And it helps if it's a nonprofit, that it's free marketing publicity, this design competition for them as well to try and so it kind of works both ways. So we'll this year we're actually working with the uh Lucas County Land Bank. They take over dilapidated neighborhoods and demolish old structures and so forth. So this year's competition is a new duplex for that organization, which is a little bit more of a simplistic project. Past projects, we've usually like to stick to around a 5,000 square foot building. Just give anything too much larger and complicates the task at hand for students. As some of these students, this is their first exposure to architecture. So we really try to minimize how much crazy impactful stuff. And just like what Brandon said, we don't get hung up on building codes and budgets or anything of that nature. We want you to have fun with the competition. We are working with students that some are working in a school environment where there is some sort of a class that it's geared toward. So whether it's industrial arts or if we're lucky enough, we'll have an architectural class within high schools, but that's that's been sliding in the last few years. So we don't really have those great resources and avenues within schools. So a lot of them are doing just like what Brandon said, similar like independent type studies, which so that's why the 5,000 square foot is really we try to keep it tighter niche so that it's easier to work with. So every school that we work with will assign an advisor to that school district. So that advisor is an architect, you know, affiliated with AI Toledo, either an architect or somebody emerging professional or so forth. So they'll visit with these students or these classes once a week and just kind of review where they're at, answer questions, you know, just to be there as a resource. About midway through the competition, we'll have Rendering Day, which is held at a university here in our territory. And uh they're licensed uh architecture studio as well. So we'll we'll all meet there, and we have a lot of different sponsors of different awards for our competition. So we'll invite all those sponsors to this event, all the students to the event, and we'll break them down into small groups and they'll rotate to each one of the sponsors. And the sponsors are just there to offer any sort of insight to the students as well. You know, the advisor is looking at it from one perspective, but these you know, all these other sponsors are looking at it from whatever their sort of, you know, whether it's landscape architecture, urban planning, sustainability. So we're kind of all over. So that takes place about halfway through, and then again, uh we'll be wrapping up our design competition next week, and then we'll shortly afterward, a couple days afterward, we'll have we'll do judging, which is we'll invite all the students, all the uh sponsors in. So we'll have a set of judges just for the architectural awards part of the competition, and then we'll have each of the sponsors then judge as well. So the architectural awards are judged by your age group. So we have junior high that also participate. So we'll have a junior high level, and we'll have freshmen and sophomore group together, juniors are grouped together, and then seniors, every other sponsored award are holistically judged by the entire group. It's not uncommon that we'll have multiple different winners or students that have won different prizes, different sponsored awards as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

What is the incentive? Why do you think young people should take part in the competition and in architecture week?

SPEAKER_03 16:47

Just like Brandon said, this is the first attempt to have a student that's got any sort of interest at all in the world of architecture design, what uh what would have it? Even some of our local sponsorship award scholarships will also even incentivize them to whether it's an allied field of architecture as well. So we all play in the same place. So it's whether it's interior design, engineering, and so forth and so forth. So some of our awards we can give out to an allied field to those scholarships. But again, this is an ex exposure to that design of the built world. And um, you know, there's gotta be at least one or two students in every school district that's got some sort of passion or desire to want to do this, so it's a good opportunity. I mean, just like this design competition, expose yourself at the high school level. When you go to the next level in college, it's it's the exact same thing. And then you go to the real world, you're gonna be doing the same thing you're given on project to design. So it's just it's that way to expose it. I mean, we've worked with art classes, we've worked with digital media type classes, worked with all different types, anything in the design world, it's a good way to expose students.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Being the longest running program of this kind with the American Institute of Architects, you said it's a seven, six year started in 1950. You know, why do you think being so successful? And do you know how it came together to begin with in 1950?

SPEAKER_03 18:07

We've actually a lot of the student, I mean, our numbers were pushing to 300 plus at its peak time of competition. And a lot of the principals and partners and firms here in Northwest Ohio, a lot of these principals participated and did this when they were in high school. So that's even much larger benefit. I can't tell you how many architects are in Northwest Ohio that did this or have some sort of exposure back to it. And just it's everybody appreciates it. And I think it's that's why the longevity of it still exists to this day. I think just because of people's experiences, whether they were a student, an advisor, a sponsor, whatever. I mean, it's just it's continuing to go. I mean, this year's numbers, I think we're registered just over 100, maybe 113 for this year. So we'll see next week how many actually deliver on that day, uh, if they can all pull them together or not. But uh, it's not been uncommon. COVID, uh, our numbers slipped a little bit just because of uh how we were communicating back to students. So I think those numbers were floating maybe 60, 70. So we're definitely we've been gaining ever since COVID back up. Our numbers have been getting higher and higher. And we're doing a little bit better job on our end of trying to find even other schools. I've never participated in just grabbing that one, two students out of those school districts. So our our goal is to keep getting those numbers higher and keep exposing the world of architecture to as many students as we can.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

And Mike, is that a question I should have asked you? I haven't asked you. And what is that question? It's a good question.

SPEAKER_03 19:31

I think the big question is what we can do to try and gravitate towards any of those students. I have any sort of desire of the design profession, whether it's architecture or anything related to the built environment, how do you get to that? Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of K-12 schooling, there's a lot of this focus towards Steam and STEM. And unfortunately, it's more of the robotics side of things, is what I've noticed. And it's really we're sort of this lost world of architecture, it's kind of got forgotten about in any of the curriculum. So I really think that's a huge question is how can we, you know, whether this is a statewide thing, a national thing, how do we get back into those type of things? I feel like we are a STEM and STEM type program. So why are we not? Where are we being left out? That's that's the big push on my side, at least.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Thank you very much, Mike. And uh I'm looking forward to seeing the entries from Toledo at the Architecture Week. Thank you. I'm here with Ilya Pritup and uh is based in Northwest Ohio. He's 19 years old and is taking part in the architecture week. And uh, Ilya, would you like to tell us about why you participating in the architecture week?

SPEAKER_04 20:42

A lot of it was covered by Michael. I took part of the Toledo AIA competition last year and came out as a finalist. I was a senior in high school, and our high school had an architecture class. So I got to work on this project during school hours, and then I came home and work on it at home. It was just this really fun thing. And I was already gravitating towards going to college in either architecture or engineering. So I ended up going for architectural engineering at the University of Cincinnati. I was very glad to take part in the competition, and that's how I made it to this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

And uh, what are your expectations about the the competition? Expectations in terms of your design or your career?

SPEAKER_04 21:27

It was just that something that sounded really fun, and I had good uh reviews on the teacher and on the competition itself. So I just was really interested in the design aspect more so because you know I had taken general shop classes, worked on projects at home, but I hadn't really gotten into the digital design side of things, which this was and I really wanted to try out.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

So, what is the most exciting part for you of the competition? Is it the design, drawing it, or the end result, or the whole process?

SPEAKER_04 22:00

Well it has to be the the whole process for sure. We were given a real site, a real project pretty much, and that was the exciting part, I think, was that this could become a reality and given the site, you can't even go and visit it, you're given all the information, and then you know the sky's your limit, you get to try to think of your own project pretty much. You're given a lot of freedom.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Brandon, you wanted to join in and on something.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Yeah, I don't want to take over the podcast, but I do have a question for you, Ilya. Yes. As you look at where you were in your head when you started that competition versus where you finished, I guess, well, this is gonna be a two-part question. One, how do you think that changed your thoughts about architecture? What do you think you took away? And then two, what would you tell high school students who are thinking about entering in the competition today? Like what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_04 22:50

I guess the competition was it was what I was expect I expected. I but I did get to learn, you know, work with software, and that was the the fun side of things. Photoshop as well, the digital side. Working on those skills was uh important and the career that I might be choosing currently pushing me towards seeing what the work could really be like. And I think uh it was a great competition if you're interested in designing anything or the arts or engineering or any sort of design career, then you should look into competitions like such as these, you know, where your your creativity is your your pushing factor to something.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Well, that's actually one of the questions that I was gonna ask you. If you would recommend other people to participate, and if so, why would you do that? What is the message that you want to give to them?

SPEAKER_04 23:37

This was part of my high school classes. I got to try something different during school, which was really fun. You know, you have your basic math classes, English classes, all that stuff, and then you gotta have a fun class in between. And I got to interact, it was a whole class of us, so you know, we'd compare our designs and be like, oh, that's a cool idea. I should have thought of that. And uh it was you know, you're almost competing with your peers, so you kind of create a small community of similarly thinking people. I would definitely encourage people to competitions in general, any sort of competition that we get compared to others.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

And Ilya, is that a question I should have asked you that I haven't asked you? And what is that question?

SPEAKER_04 24:18

I guess perhaps why was this uh the deciding factor in me going to college for architectural engineering? The answer is partially I want some scholarships, it's gonna definitely help. It wasn't the deciding factor already in gravitating towards psychology, but it was definitely a final stamp that yes, this was fun, and I would definitely like to do this more.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

That just made me think perhaps one last question. How do you think younger generation like yourselves and the younger what is their involvement in architecture? And do you think they should be more involved or less involved? Do you have an opinion about that?

SPEAKER_04 24:55

I think people should think of, you know, where should I live and what space would I like, what my surroundings are. People should definitely think more about that and take part in those discussions with community and neighborhoods and all those things. People should be interested in more of just design building architectures of the space that people live in and how they interact. People should definitely take part in that aspect.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Why is that?

SPEAKER_04 25:19

Oh, because we all have you know an ideal of what would we think where we would like to live and what people we would like around us, and the space is uh is a big deciding factor for that. How do we interact with people and where do we see them, and how much time do we have, and there's the difference between urban, suburban, and rural, and all how those neighborhoods are created.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Also, because ultimately they are going to experience and inhabit those places, so they should have a say, no, regardless. I think that's really important. Ilya, thank you very much for your time and good luck with the competition. And I'm looking forward to seeing your design. Thank you. Devin Davis, you are senior manager for K12 Initiatives and Engagement at the American Institute of Architects, Washington. And um, do you want to tell us about what that means? And uh, you are also, I think, the mastermind behind Architecture Week. And uh, what is Architecture Week?

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yeah, my title is basically a really long title that in essence means K-12 point person at AIA National. So, my my role is to provide support and resources for our members and our chapters who are doing K-12 outreach, whether that's connecting people with people who are doing similar programs or people with resources, or for example, this project where we're creating a guide for chapters who might wish to start their own design competition and celebrating the work that's already being done with design competitions in chapters across the country. Architecture Week in its current iteration, which is with a focus on K-12 outreach, is in its third year. I was not the mastermind of it, but I got to come into AIA and implement the idea that a committee of senior leaders at AIA National had had come up with. So it's been really a lot of fun to try to figure out ways to expand the outreach and simplify the process for our chapters and our members in doing so by figuring out what resources are needed, what funding is needed. Most people have a limited amount of time to spend on any given initiative. So my my role has really been just trying to figure out how do I simplify the K-12 outreach because it is so important for students across the country to understand a little bit more about architecture as a profession, like Mike was saying, with the more coding side focus of STEM and STEAM. We've missed the A for architecture and STEAM somehow. I don't know how we missed that boat, but uh we we need to get it back so that we can make sure that students are getting exposed, whether they become architects or not, just being more informed consumers of the built environment that we all live in is really important. That's really been my role and the focus of Architecture Week specifically is on expanding that outreach.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

About the architecture week itself. Is it too late to send a submission or do you want to talk a little bit about that process, please?

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Sure. No, it's never too late. We have this week in April, it's always around April 15th. And that is because that is AIA's Founders' Day. The week surrounding April 15th is architecture week. It is about K-12 outreach. It can be as simple as participating in a wish list donation. For example, we have chapters across the country who are already doing K-12 outreach and they have an Amazon wish list where anybody could donate supplies to help support their efforts. Or we are hosting virtual read alouds with 11 authors, about three a day all throughout Architecture Week that teachers, parents, librarians, anybody can sign up and listen to an author read their book and then engage with that author in QA. And then one of the specific reasons for that particular project is we want to make sure we're reaching students in rural communities as well. A lot of our chapters are in city centers or places where there's just there are more architects to reach out to schools than there are in many rural communities. So we're trying to create opportunities for students in every area of the country to participate in architecture week. But even just simply sharing a social media post during architecture week to get the word out to various members' connections is a huge help. So really the week is focused on celebrating the work that's already being done and trying to encourage more year after year.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Why should young people create this mission for architecture week?

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Well, specifically with these design competitions, it's just such a neat opportunity to have mentorship from architects in the field to just dive in and experience the world. And like Brendan was saying, without any of the bummers, your imagination is your limit, honestly, with these competitions. And you get to bounce your ideas off of people who are already in the field and get support and encouragement and networking opportunities. And I think it's just a really fun way to experience what architecture is all about and decide if it's a path you're interested in or not. And there are so many design professional fields that are not specific to architecture that you are also experiencing and learning about. Again, like Brandon was saying, like maybe you're into interior design, or maybe you're into this structural part of there's so much to experience and learn from these design competitions. I think it's awesome that so many exist. And I hope that more continue to be created so that students can experience these.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

And I think there's also some prizes, no?

SPEAKER_00 30:47

Well, yes, absolutely. There are also prizes. This is our first year of doing this design competition celebration. Hopefully it will continue year after year. But in essence, this one will have a submission from each of the chapters who already do design competitions. They'll send in their top submission. We'll have a webpage where the public can vote on it. And then we'll also have their physical boards in a gallery at AIA's national conference, which is in San Diego this year in June, at which point the voting will close and the winning student design will win a thousand dollars. So that's really neat. We're using this podcast to help us celebrate between April and June. We'll use Architecture Week to launch our webpage. And then we'll also have a design competition guide that all of these leaders of the design competitions across the country have come together to create for other chapters who wish to start design competitions.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

And Devon, is there a question I should have asked you, haven't asked you? And what is that question?

SPEAKER_00 31:42

I can't think of one. Maybe just where to go if you're looking for more resources or how to participate in Architecture Week. We have an Architecture Week webpage that is AIA.org backslash architecture-week with all sorts of ways that anybody can participate from simple to more complicated. And I'm here to support anybody in any of their efforts.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

And uh is that a website or anything else that um we can leave in here for people to access?

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Yeah, the Architecture Week webpage is a great one, specific for Architecture Week, but also I keep an ongoing list of resources on the K-12 page at AIA, and that is just AIA.org backslash become an architect, and anybody can access that at any point for resources, students, educators, AIA members, anybody.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Or if they DM us with the platforms where we have the podcast, then we can get in touch with them.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

Absolutely. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Devin, thank you very much. Thank you, and good luck with the architecture week. I'm excited to be part of it and uh talking to lots of different people and young people in particular, and understand what's their interest in architecture and design and in the architecture week. So thank you. Thank you very much to my guests today, and thank you to all of our listeners. If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to the Architecture for Kids podcast available on all major platforms. Don't forget to leave a rating and a review and recommend the podcast to your friends, family, and anyone curious about architecture and design. To find out more, visit my website www.antoniukaplow.co.uk you can also follow my work on social media Instagram Arch for Kids CIC, Blue Sky and Kaplon, LinkedIn Antonio Kaplan. Please join me again next week for another episode of the Architecture for Kids podcast. This episode is brought to you by the American Institute of Architects in collaboration with Architecture for Kids CIC. Please join us in celebrating Architecture Week 2026 from twelve to eighteen AP. For more information and to learn how you can participate, please visit our website at a dot org forward slash architecture.