Channel your inner child when selecting memorable gifts for the holidays or otherwise for the next generation of architects and engineers.
Spirograph Design
Set, MoMA Store | $15
Based on the 1965 original, this kit of interlocking gears
has been used by generations of kids to draw elegant, mathematically inspired
patterns over and over and over again. Packaged in a conveniently portable tin, the retro toy includes
the signature rings and gears along with paper, pens, and a guidebook. momastore.org
Iggy Peck Architect, Andrea Beaty and David Roberts | $10.59
This illustrated children’s tale, first published in 2007, is actually a case study in using locally sourced materials—peaches, pancakes, and coconut pie, for example—as the building blocks of large-scale, community-oriented projects. Read along as the spirited Ignatius Peck, AIA, faces down the formidable Ms. Lila Greer, who one day declares that design has “no place in grade two.” Spoiler alert: Architecture saves the day. Listen to the entire book here. andreabeaty.com
Star Wars Limited
Edition Notebook, Moleskine | From $20.95
Get that future architect on the Moleskine (or
Moleskine-like) bandwagon early with this Star Wars–themed set of notebooks and
planners—and complete the package with a black felt tip pen and a quick primer in architectural lettering. Toru Hasegawa, co-creator of design-apps maker
Morpholio in New York, picked the notebooks for our 2015 gift guide: “We know that kids need help keeping track of all
that homework,” he said. “Teaching good habits starts with good tools
that make organization and planning feel creative, fun, and special.” store.moleskine.com
Architecture
According to Pigeons, Phaidon | $19.95
Pigeons spend hours perched on buildings, so you can expect them
to have opinions about the structures’ design and role in the urban landscape. In
this colorful story from 2013, globe-trotting pigeon Speck Lee Tailfeather muses about his
favorites. Travel with Tailfeather from the Golden Gate Bridge to La Sagrada
Familia to the Burj Dubai and back. And prepare for his astute commentary on
the obscurities of design: To us, it’s Frank Gehry, FAIA’s Walt Disney Concert Hall; from
Tailfeather’s birds-eye perspective, it’s simply the Silver Squiggle. phaidon.com
Pigeon, Various
Projects | $60
Consider giving readers of Phaidon’s Architecture According to Pigeons a cuddly companion with this
plush bird hand-knit from Alpaca wool by craftsmen in Bolivia. Alex
Mustonen, a principal at Brooklyn, N.Y.–based architecture firm Snarkitecture, recommended
it for inclusion in our architects-choice
gift guide “as a nice, fuzzy reminder of things both good and bad from the
city.” projectno8.com
Architectural Blocks,
Haba | From $19.99
A gift guide for kids is not complete without a set of
building blocks. Though not quite as refined as those of Froebel and Richter, this beech wood
set comes in kits to construct the U.S. Capitol, the Coliseum, a St.
Basil’s-esque cathedral, and a few Greco Roman–inspired designs. See
more architectural toys, past and present, here.
habausa.com
For more year-end gifts, check out our 2015 architects-choice gift guide.
