Youth Festival Day

Guests joined us for the first-ever Architecture + the City Youth Festival at the Center for Architecture and Design (CA+D)—a free, family-friendly event designed to spark creativity and curiosity in young people of all ages, from elementary through high school.

Hosted in collaboration with California College of the Arts (CCA) and the Architecture Foundation of San Francisco (AFSF), this hands-on celebration of architecture, design, and the built environment featured workshops, demos, and making activities led by CCA faculty, students, and community partners.

Attendees tried their hand at building a model city with AFSF, learned model-building, jewelry making, comics, and crafts, and joined a cultural sustainability workshop led by InCommon, where students explored what it means to be a citizen designer and imagined how San Francisco can grow while preserving its cultural roots.

Snack and drink stations were available throughout the space, and most activities were appropriate for ages 11+. As with all our youth programs, this event was free.

A young festival-goer drawing with help from a Center volunteer

All-Day Activities

Guests were welcome to drop in any time to take part in these activities.

Screen Printing

Guests created their own prints to take home. Plain shirts and other fabrics were provided, and many attendees brought a favorite item of their own to personalize.

Metal Stamping

Attendees experimented with filing, texturing, stamping, and polishing in a hands-on jewelry-making activity, creating necklaces and keychains to take home.

Textile Display + Loom

Guests discovered weaving and textile design through an interactive loom display.

Build a City

In this hands-on exercise, participants explored the dynamics of urban design and development through collaborative model-making. Working together on a giant city grid mapped out on the floor—streets marked in blue tape, with open spaces ready for new ideas—guests used cardboard, paper, wood, and found objects to design and build their own part of the city, from houses and playgrounds to bridges and beyond.

Every project connected to the ones around it, just as buildings and spaces do in the real world, and participants added on, adjusted, and reimagined rather than tearing down—because cities are always growing and changing.

Building stayed inside the grid (the taped-off streets remained open, though building across them was allowed).
Everyone’s work was respected—no demolishing, only collaborating and transforming.

Workshops

Ready for the Future Workshop

1:00–2:30 PM

A program to cultivate long-term thinking and effective public discourse skills. Attendees reviewed feedback from the Center’s community survey, identified priorities and gaps, and applied their lived experience to help shape future-ready perspectives, supported by facilitators who introduced traditional and digital participation tools and concepts.

Inclusive Design: Vision and Tactile Workshop

12:00–1:00 PM

This guided workshop used tactile shapes, textures, and letters, as well as vision simulator glasses, to help participants learn how designers create better experiences for those with impaired or low vision.

Architecture Model Workshop — From Shapes to Cities!

11:00 AM–12:30 PM (Under 15) · 2:30–4:00 PM (Over 15)

Participants explored how abstract shapes can evolve into architectural spaces through model-making, starting with a swirl, a zigzag, or a blocky blob and using paper, cardboard, and found treasures to bring those shapes to life. Many added their creations to the Build a City activity; others took their one-of-a-kind structure home.