Explore our current projects positioning children and young people as active contributors in shaping discussions about architecture, design, the built environment, and sustainability.
Across London and Cardiff, three interconnected projects - Soho Kids Xmas Lights, Walworth Kids Xmas Lights, and Cardiff Kids Xmas Lights - invite children to shape their local area through light, creativity, and place-based learning. Founded and led by architecture educator Antonio Capelao, these initiatives place children at the centre of the built environment as designers, curators, and storytellers.
Working with primary schools, pupils take part in design workshops, site visits, and public exhibitions, developing ideas that are realised as bespoke LED street lights installed annually in their neighbourhoods. What began in Soho in 2021 has grown into a multi-city network, each project exploring identity, culture, resilience, and sustainability through the lens of everyday urban life.
The programme highlights the value of STEAM education in fostering creativity, civic engagement, and a deeper connection to place. By making children’s ideas visible in the public realm, it also champions their presence in city centres—reinforcing the importance of supporting vibrant, inclusive urban communities shaped by young voices.
EcoMinds is a collaborative initiative between Antonio Capelao, Founder of Architecture for Kids CIC, and Gonçalo Baptista, Director of Pinzauer. This initiative combines Antonio’s experience in participatory design education with young people and Gonçalo’s expertise in architectural practice, particularly in adaptive reuse and sustainable retrofit of existing buildings.
Supported by Westminster’s Climate Fund, EcoMinds will engage young people with real-world building cases, public and private, to explore creative, low-carbon, and regenerative design solutions. The project integrates circular materials and strategies for energy efficiency, helping participants understand how architecture can actively restore ecological systems and contribute to healthier, more resilient built environments.
If you would like more information about participating or sponsoring the project, please get in touch.
The Little Investigators is a participatory project co-created and co-produced with the Built Environment Trust, engaging 450 primary school pupils across ten areas of London. Designed for children aged 7–10, the project invites young participants to become “little investigators” of their local neighbourhoods, exploring how they experience and understand the places where they live.
Starting with two simple questions—What do you like? and What don’t you like?—children took part in guided walks, observing, sketching, and reflecting on local landmarks and everyday spaces. They considered how these places made them feel, using words such as safe, busy, happy, or uncomfortable to express their perspectives.
Back in the classroom, pupils translated their observations into drawn maps and 3D models, combining personal experiences with creative interpretation. The project not only introduces children to architecture and urban thinking, but also highlights the value of their voices in shaping the built environment.
By foregrounding children’s perceptions, The Little Investigators reveals how young people experience their cities—offering meaningful insights into place, community, and everyday urban life.
If you think your school would be interested in hosting this workshop, please email our Head of Learning, Sandra Hedblad for more information. shedblad@buildingcentre.co.uk
The Architecture for Kids podcast is an award-winning series co-produced with the Built Environment Trust, the Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. Hosted by Antonio Capelao, Founding Director of Architecture for Kids CIC, the podcast brings together practitioners, educators, and creatives working with children and young people.
Through short, focused conversations, the series explores how the fields of architecture, education, and creative practice intersect. It highlights how collaboration between designers, teachers, and communities can support more inclusive, diverse, and engaging built environments.
The podcast aims to inspire new ways of thinking about how children and young people experience and shape the world around them, while addressing wider environmental, social, and economic challenges. By sharing knowledge across disciplines, it supports the development of more responsive, future-facing approaches to education and design.
Architecture Week 2026 Podcast - with AIA
This special edition of the Architecture for Kids podcast, created in collaboration with The American Institute of Architects (AIA), celebrates Architecture Week 2026.
Hosted by Antonio Capelao, the series features conversations with young designers and emerging voices engaging with architecture across the United States. It explores how education, creativity, and community can inspire the next generation of architects and designers.
Through these discussions, the podcast highlights pathways into architecture and the wider creative industries, while encouraging young people to see themselves as active contributors to the built environment.
The series reflects a shared commitment to making architecture more accessible, inclusive, and relevant - empowering young people to engage with and shape the future of their cities.
BA (Hons), BSc Arch, Dip Arch RIBA II, MA ARCSR, MPhil/PhD Student
Antonio Capelao is an architectural educator, researcher, and practitioner committed to fostering socially engaged, sustainable, and ethically responsible design. He is the Founding Director of Architecture for Kids CIC, where he leads participatory initiatives that position children and young people as active contributors to the built environment.
Antonio is currently an MPhil/PhD researcher at the IOE and the Bartlett, UCL, exploring how architects and teachers can co-design STEAM projects that embed creativity, sustainability, and collaborative knowledge-making. Alongside his research, he teaches as an external design tutor at the Welsh School of Architecture, where he has developed a strong focus on studio-based, hands-on learning.
With professional experience across all RIBA stages, his work bridges practice, education, and community engagement. Projects such as the Soho, Walworth, and Cardiff Kids Xmas Lights demonstrate how design can empower young people, foster civic participation, and bring new voices into the public realm.
Through teaching, research, and practice, Antonio’s work centres on connecting people to place - encouraging a more inclusive, creative, and sustainable approach to shaping our cities.
Antonio Capelao
hello@architectureforkidscic.org
Mobile: +44 (0)7721400048
Instagram: @archforkidscic
YouTube: @antoniocapelao4748
Bluesky: @antcapelao
LinkedIn: Antonio Capelao
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2405-0099
Architecture for Kids
- The Little Investigators
- Architecture for Kids podcast