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Perfectly safe play can be a quiet kind of harm because it teaches children that the world is predictable. I am joined by civil engineer and artist Mike Hewson to explore what happens when we design parks that feel thrilling, surprising, and a little bit dangerous, while still being carefully thought through and responsibly built.

Mike shares how he moved from engineering and marine construction into large-scale public art, then discovered that a sculpture could also be a playground. That shift opens up a bigger idea: play infrastructure can fund ambitious public artwork, and the best measure of success might be whether a space becomes the go-to spot for children’s birthday parties. We talk about rural freedom, urban constraint, and why kids need chances to test judgement, climb, wobble, and recover without adults flattening every edge of experience.

We also get practical about how “risky-looking” design can sit inside real-world safety standards. Mike explains the choices behind open climbing structures, the tension between the risk management matrix and his “dullness matrix”, and why cognitive challenge matters for development and for adults too. From his Rocks on Wheels project in Melbourne to gallery works you can actually touch and play with, we keep coming back to the same question: are bureaucracy and fear of litigation shrinking public life, and do we want cities shaped that way?

If you care about child-friendly cities, intergenerational public space, inclusive park design, and public art that people can truly use, you will get plenty to take away. Subscribe to Architecture for Kids, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating and review so more people can find the conversation.

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Hosted by founder Antonio Capelao, and co-produced with the Built Environment Trust, the Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University .

These short and to-the-point podcasts hope to improve the interplay between the fields of the built environment and education as we share knowledge between the practitioner, the creative, and the primary school teacher. Exploring how to prepare children and young people for economic, environmental, and societal challenges, and for their professional lives according to today’s needs and those of a sustainable future.

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What happens when you stop chasing the “right answer” and start teaching the art of the question? We sit down with architect‑educators Pantéa Eslami and Hooman Talebi to explore how architectural thinking can transform how children learn, create, and collaborate—without trying to turn them into architects.

Pantéa and Hooman share the origins of Archikid World, an educational platform that blends art, maths, storytelling, fabrication, and urban thinking. From carefully structured observation exercises to playful fabrication labs, they reveal how to design workshops that lower fear, invite safe failure, and build the soft skills schools often miss. Their cross‑disciplinary briefs ask kids to study animal anatomy, build clay characters, design spatial habitats, and film stop‑motion stories—teaching proportion, scale, perspective, and systems thinking along the way.

We gained insight into their partnerships with the Toronto District School Board and the World Urban Pavilion in Regent Park, where Archikid connects classroom goals to real‑world contexts and the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 11 on sustainable cities. The conversation is candid about challenges: each brief can take 100–150 hours to craft, making repetition and new models essential. Their answer is to design beautiful educational playsets that marry aesthetics with learning, bringing spatial reasoning and design literacy into homes and classrooms.

If you care about critical thinking, creativity, and making learning feel alive, this story shows how architecture can be a mindset—process over perfection, curiosity over certainty, and purpose discovered through making. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review to help more educators and parents find the show. What would you change first about the school curriculum?

Support the show

Hosted by founder Antonio Capelao, and co-produced with the Built Environment Trust, the Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University .

These short and to-the-point podcasts hope to improve the interplay between the fields of the built environment and education as we share knowledge between the practitioner, the creative, and the primary school teacher. Exploring how to prepare children and young people for economic, environmental, and societal challenges, and for their professional lives according to today’s needs and those of a sustainable future.

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What if a classroom could seed a local business, reshape gender norms on site, and stand strong through a category‑five cyclone? We sit down with CAUKIN co‑founder Harry Thorpe to unpack architecture’s role in driving education, gender equity, and climate resilience, tracing a bold path from student initiative to 60+ transformative projects across Asia, the South Pacific, Africa, and Europe..

We explore how co‑production—not just co‑design—anchors every stage, from forming the brief to sharing tools on site. Harry unpacks a Zambia case study with Mothers of Africa, where transparent decision‑making, mixed‑skill local crews, and young people‑led workshops turned four classrooms into a community engine. In Fiji, we look at practical resilience: buildings that survive extreme weather, then inspire families to replicate cyclone‑safe details using local materials. Along the way, we discuss working with NGOs, partnering with local architects and craftspeople, and tailoring drawings to different ways of learning so everyone can lead, not just follow.

When travel halted, CAUKIN pivoted. We talk about moving the model into UK schools and launching global virtual workshops that bring together architects, makers, and social practitioners. The practice has matured, too—developing “architecture plus,” where spaces come bundled with livelihood pathways, micro‑enterprise, and skills training that keep value in the community. We also confront the hard questions: where our agency starts and ends, when to design ourselves out, and how to sustain impact with fair fees in charity‑led work.

If you care about community architecture, humanitarian design, co‑production, education through building, and resilient, low‑carbon construction with local materials, this story offers practical tools and honest lessons. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show—and tell us: what does true co‑production look like in your world?

Support the show

Hosted by founder Antonio Capelao, and co-produced with the Built Environment Trust, the Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University .

These short and to-the-point podcasts hope to improve the interplay between the fields of the built environment and education as we share knowledge between the practitioner, the creative, and the primary school teacher. Exploring how to prepare children and young people for economic, environmental, and societal challenges, and for their professional lives according to today’s needs and those of a sustainable future.

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When Dr Simon Johns first stepped into the vibrant classrooms of Ecuador—some overlooking the sea, others nestled in the Andean mountains, and a few without walls in the Amazon jungle—he discovered something profound about education. Wellbeing wasn't labeled or taught as a separate subject; it was woven into the fabric of learning itself.

This revelation sparked a journey that would lead him back to Wales to develop and research digital wellbeing programs for schools. In this enlightening conversation with Antonio Capelao, Simon shares how his background in psychology and experiences teaching across continents shaped his innovative approach to student wellbeing.

At the heart of Simon's research is "Pause Up," a digital resource that creates structured moments throughout the school day for students to reset mentally and physically. His findings reveal fascinating patterns across age groups: younger students embrace movement-based activities, while teenagers connect more deeply with reflective exercises exploring gratitude, empathy, and purpose. Perhaps most compelling is how the physical school environment—from modern facilities to century-old buildings—significantly impacts program effectiveness.

Set against the progressive backdrop of Welsh education policy, which uniquely includes wellbeing as a core curriculum area, Simon's work takes on special significance. He articulates a vision where wellbeing isn't "an isolated island" visited occasionally but the foundation upon which all learning is built. His research points toward a future where the architecture of school spaces is fundamentally reconsidered with student and teacher wellbeing at its centre.

For educators, designers, parents, and anyone interested in how physical spaces shape mental wellbeing, this conversation offers valuable insights into creating learning environments where young people can truly flourish. As Simon aptly puts it, "If wellbeing is at the top of the lesson plan, everything else runs smoother."

Please subscribe to Architecture for Kids podcast and leave your rating and review. Recommend us to your friends and family. To find out more, visit antoniocaplan-portfolio.co.uk, buildingcenter.co.uk, thorntoneducationtrust.org, and https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/architecture

Support the show

Hosted by founder Antonio Capelao, and co-produced with the Built Environment Trust, the Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University .

These short and to-the-point podcasts hope to improve the interplay between the fields of the built environment and education as we share knowledge between the practitioner, the creative, and the primary school teacher. Exploring how to prepare children and young people for economic, environmental, and societal challenges, and for their professional lives according to today’s needs and those of a sustainable future.

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Professor Penny Hay shares her journey from disaffected student to Professor of Imagination, exploring how reimagined learning environments can transform education for children and young people. Her pioneering projects challenge traditional educational models by creating immersive spaces where creativity, architecture, and nature converge to empower young learners.

• Art teacher saved Penny after friend's death at 16, leading to combined degree in education and fine art
• First professional experience included teaching drawing to architects and engineers
• School Without Walls project places children in residence at cultural venues for 6-7 weeks
• Forest of Imagination transforms urban spaces by bringing nature into the city
• Co-design and co-production with children central to all projects
• Creating "beautiful living classrooms" where children's ideas are valued alongside professionals
• Built environment and learning spaces critically impact how children engage with education
• Reimagining education means seeing "the child as the curriculum and the community as the school"
• Every classroom could be a studio – an immersive, multidisciplinary environment
• Child-friendly cities benefit everyone and create more sustainable futures
• Professor of Imagination role focuses on nature, wellbeing, and creative responses to global crises

Subscribe to Architecture for Kids podcast and follow us on Instagram @archforkidsCIC, Twitter @AntCapelao, and LinkedIn. Visit antoniocapelao-portfolio.co.uk, buildingcenter.co.uk, thorntoneducationtrust.org, and cardiff.ac.uk for more information.

Support the show

Hosted by founder Antonio Capelao, and co-produced with the Built Environment Trust, the Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University .

These short and to-the-point podcasts hope to improve the interplay between the fields of the built environment and education as we share knowledge between the practitioner, the creative, and the primary school teacher. Exploring how to prepare children and young people for economic, environmental, and societal challenges, and for their professional lives according to today’s needs and those of a sustainable future.

Send us Fan Mail

Children are not just the citizens of tomorrow. They are also - and equally - citizens today, with clear needs and concerns about the places where they live. Antonio's Architecture for Kids podcasts are a great platform for exploring why children are an 'indicator species' for cities, and how cities need to change.

Support the show

Hosted by founder Antonio Capelao, and co-produced with the Built Environment Trust, the Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University .

These short and to-the-point podcasts hope to improve the interplay between the fields of the built environment and education as we share knowledge between the practitioner, the creative, and the primary school teacher. Exploring how to prepare children and young people for economic, environmental, and societal challenges, and for their professional lives according to today’s needs and those of a sustainable future.

Send us Fan Mail

I want to participate in this podcast to spread architecture education for children thanks to the network that Antonio Capelao weaves from the UK . We learn together.

Support the show

Hosted by founder Antonio Capelao, and co-produced with the Built Environment Trust, the Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University .

These short and to-the-point podcasts hope to improve the interplay between the fields of the built environment and education as we share knowledge between the practitioner, the creative, and the primary school teacher. Exploring how to prepare children and young people for economic, environmental, and societal challenges, and for their professional lives according to today’s needs and those of a sustainable future.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Hosted by founder Antonio Capelao, and co-produced with the Built Environment Trust, the Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University .

These short and to-the-point podcasts hope to improve the interplay between the fields of the built environment and education as we share knowledge between the practitioner, the creative, and the primary school teacher. Exploring how to prepare children and young people for economic, environmental, and societal challenges, and for their professional lives according to today’s needs and those of a sustainable future.