A few weeks ago I received an email: “Dear Alla, I got your name through a neighbor of yours, Monika Lightstone. My name is Sharon, and I am an ex-architect who currently is in charge of an art department at a yeshiva in Los Angeles, Ohr Eliyahu. In the summer, I run a 3-week design camp for creative & religious girl teens."
Establishing Children’s Architecture Workshop in 1995 meant embarking on a journey that shaped the course of my life as well as career. A young mother and a newly licensed architect, I aspired to make an impact and become a better parent in the process. Years of hands-on teaching architecture experience enabled me to invent the 11-step method supporting anyone tackling a building project from scratch.
It does not matter if I am chatting with a creative teen, a student of mine, or a DIY home improvement enthusiast — being an ally results in a lifestyle of coherence. As DIY architect providing architectural services online, I am supporting those who are combatting self-doubt.
As DIY architect providing architectural services online, I am all about giving tools and support in the effort to encourage autonomy. This desire to be a proverbial cheerleader is in my blood thanks to the years of raising two daughters, each one a creative teen.
As DIY architect providing architectural services online, I am all about giving support in the effort to validate a creative journey.
Thanks to my daughters, I have charted a career path of an architect whose main objective is to foster creativity. I have included them in my experiments. And they have validated my efforts time and time again. Building our dream home is a good example of the collaboration.
In case you’ve been wondering why I am all of a sudden talking so much about my daughters, I’d like to explain. The reason is my new e-how-to-book DIY Like a Hummingbird: 10 Steps to Naturally Well-designed Kids’ Spaces.
My daughter is going away to college in a year; she will be completely in charge of her destiny. There is a lot to teach her, as all other creative teens, about setting goals between now and then.
Architecture class at ArtCenter’s Saturday High: last week. My creative teens have practically learned everything about how to think like an architect. We've come full-circle and are practicing how to masterplan through mind mapping and collaging. It's the final step in DIY Like an Architect: 11-step method.
Architecture class at ArtCenter’s Saturday High: week seven. My creative teens are mastering the concept of uniting parts with a whole as they learn how to think like an architect while we work our way through the steps of DIY Like an Architect: 11-step method.