As the next in a series of architectural exhibitions, we decided that this project would focus primarily on our youngest viewers, but it is designed to be attractive to "playful" adults too.

Addressed authors - architect Marcela Steinbachová and lecturer Barbora Škaloudová have prepared an interactive exhibition, which introduces the visitor to an identical room in various architectural contexts. The authors are interested in what influences the perception of the space in which we live, and focus on the basic elements such as color, light, geometry, material, structure…. They touch both the furnishing of the room itself and what is not visible yet is part of the architecture. The exhibition offers visitors a number of creative tasks in each room and offers the opportunity to experience the space from the architect's point of view and to engage their imagination and creativity.
The theme of "architecture" is nothing new in the House of Arts in České Budějovice, whether it is exhibitions, projects or rich educational activities. It is within our teaching department that we would like to intensify the topic of architecture even more in the future, so even from this point of view, this exhibition can be considered a certain propeller.
"Architecture" is one of the fundamental concepts in our lives and its approach focuses on just the "smallest" very important moment. Communicating architecture to children means opening the way to living the space. Teach children to look and perceive - where we live, where we are, what is around us, how we work in it, and how people play a role in all this. Consciously show children the way to perceive and influence their surroundings. It is a great assumption that if children learn to observe their surroundings, they will be more attentive to other places and more sensitive to unknown, new things.
The spaces are different. If they manage to evoke sensitivity in children, they will be able to distinguish or perceive differences. It is not only architecture from the point of view of construction, but it is also a social and felt space. (Anxiety, darkness, vastness….) However, children can also get acquainted with what to observe in buildings and what to look for - name differences, the details or the space as a whole, or even be interested in the very ideas of architects.

The child is confronted with architecture as soon as he finds himself in this world. For example, as Gaston Bachelard states in his remarkable book The Poetics of Space: "Our first home is the cradle before we are thrown into the world."

Children encounter moments when not only humans but also animals build their homes / nests. Likewise, they have been "building" from sand, cubes since their early years, they are the creators of the first "architectures" in the form of bunkers, hiding places, houses from anything… They create their nests, spaces of secrets, protection and safety.

There are a number of questions, ways and issues that this topic presents, and which can be brought closer to children in such activities. The diversity of meanings of places can also be associated with the diversity of meanings of buildings (hospital, school, apartment, church, museum, pub, prison…), which is a source of the connection to the emotional side, where we feel or how we behave. The perception of scale and detail also becomes an important moment.

Architecture = everyday life, it is a cultural wealth, filled with spiritual, emotional and social life. Children also live in it, and we are convinced that our task is to bring architecture closer to children. This is also the cornerstone of this project. From the parent's point of view, it is not enough to tell the child, just that the house is beautiful (or not). Even in children, we can develop the ability to look critically and develop the ability to form one's own opinion, to compare various impressions and ideas.

Architecture is not primarily a "building" discipline, it creates a place for mankind. Sensory perception and sensitivity to space belong to the fundamental and primary life experiences. We are constantly confronted with space. Architecture, urbanism, spatial planning, interiors, design… give our environment and everyday life its processes, objects, form and shape. They are an expression of our culture, but we perceive them only consciously, and we take it for granted.

All of the above words are just a fragment of what the theme of architecture opens up and offers.

The ROOMS project aims to uncover "certain" possibilities of space. In six parts, it offers situations and moments that can be commonly encountered. To a certain extent, the project addresses the history of installations in this gallery, builds on the spatial design of Tomáš Džadoň, which he created for the exhibition of Václav Stratil, and is also based on the original division of rooms in a residential house. The visitor thus has the opportunity to walk "interactively" through one room and meet the issue of light; how we are influenced by it; what it evokes in us; how to work with colour in architecture as well as how space can be modelled by light and broken down. Another room offers work with scale and allows movement in a certain structure. What is hidden from us, but is an essential part of architecture, and what reveals the history of the room is the theme of another of the rooms. Last but not least, it is possible to realize here how a given space can be inhabited.

Michal Škoda (curator)
House of Art České Budějovice
nám. Přemysla Otakara II. 38, České Budějovice 370 01, CZ
www.dumumenicb.cz