The Future Architect's Tool Kit

My granddaughter's Daddy is building a new house. She is 11 and has enjoyed looking over the design and watching the architect make changes as requested by her parents. She's taken an interest in designing a treehouse that may be in her future!

I bought this for my 10 year old granddaughter. She loves it!

Christmas gift for my 9 year old grandson who aspires to be an architect. Seems age appropriate and a good start!

Cute and very informational in a fun way. My son loves it.

This tool kit will have young architects' hearts beating faster. . .and lure in curious adults too.Designing a house is more than just grabbing a pencil and paper, and this kit leads the way through the basic concepts, concerns and how-to tips. Through step-by-step chapters, the basics of architectural design are revealed and everything from floor plans, surrounding landscape and future owners' tastes are explored. Since learning is doing, a architect's scale, graph paper, pencil and eraser are included with the book.Opening the kit is a bit like diving into a present. The hard cover version of The Future Architect's Handbook immediately catches the eye, but it doesn't take long to see the side compartment holding simple architect's scale, a pencil and a white eraser, as well as the pad of graph paper tucked in with the book. This alone is a treat. The case itself is thin cardboard but fairly robust, and the Velcro tab insures that the lid can be opened and closed many times, making a perfect storage place.The book is around 45 pages and rich in illustrations. These are black and white, and help to bring clarity to the information presented in the text. The author does a great job of giving a general overview, while bringing just the right details which will interest kids to light. Everything is explained in an easy to read way, and even the architectural terms are described in a way readers ages 10+ can grasp. Unfortunately, there isn't a glossary to describe the individual terms again at the end of the book.The chapters are fairly short, letting readers soak in the information bit by bit. This also gives them time to start to nibble on ideas of their own. Everything from the location of a house, types of houses, floor plans and individual desires is discussed. At the end, there are examples of how to draw different items (stairs, sinks, toilets, etc) on the graph paper.There's quite a bit of information packed in the pages, and the illustrations and examples come from basic architectural design. So kids would recognize the elements again if seeing a professional design. This is what also makes it interesting for curious adults; the information doesn't really talk down to the kids, but gives an honest, quick overview into the world of basic architecture in a way they can understand.I received a complimentary copy from the publisher by enjoyed this so much (as did my 11-yr-old son) that I wanted to leave my honest thoughts.

Quinn and I were both excited to get our hands on The Future Architect's Tool Kit by Barbara Breck. It looked like it might be something fun for the kids and it definitely delivers!The book explains how to create plans and a model for a house, including site plans and floor plans and elevation. (It builds on the information presented in The Future Architect's Handbook, which I haven't seen yet.) I like the way the author presented so much solid information without overwhelming the reader. The imaginary clients at the end seem a bit too silly, but when I handed the book over to my future wildlife rehabilitator, he happily designed a dream home with rooms for possums. And a craft room, because in his mind all houses should have one.Along with the book is a scale ruler, eraser, pencil, and sharpener. The box that holds it all is sturdy and has a velcro closure, perfect for keeping everything contained on a bookshelf.I definitely recommend this one for creative kids. The publisher provided me with an advance review copy. My opinions are my own.

I appreciated the fact that the terms were in understandable language, such as site plan, floor plan, elevations, and scale.The author explains what "drawing to scale means, how building codes affect a house, and how to design a house using the parameters and a bubble design to help you get started with your design along with graphs and charts to aid in drawing to scale.There are plenty of illustrations to help you with your outline, measurements, and even a section on how to build a model of your house using an xacto knife and cardboard! Then you are given a list of imaginary clients, such as a giant who thinks he is a hobbit, or a dog in a wheelchair who plays soccer to design a house for using your imagination!This is a fun book for the budding architect!

The book was cute, but "Architect's tool kit" seems like a bit of a stretch. I was expecting a small t-square, a triangle, or maybe a circle temple. It only included a pencil, eraser, a 6" ruler, and a small pad of graph paper. Kind of disappointing.

Great starter book - but mine was missing the pencil, drafting eraser and architect scale! Bit overpriced for only the book….

Ok