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Educative Design®
For over twenty-five years in practice, Architecture Is Fun’s goal has been to achieve a dynamic architecture through leadership in educative design®. This educative design® ideology – design that educates as well as design that is fundamentally educated – is fulfilled through its participatory nature. Design educates by creating spaces for interactive play, learning, and self-discovery. Children and adults gain knowledge about themselves and the world around them in creative and innovative ways. Design is educated through interactions with the user constituents during the planning and prototyping process. Collaboration sessions held with local community members and creative sessions held with families help to educate the Architecture Is Fun design team…
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Workplace as Public Space
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Peter Exley FAIA RIBA
Peter Exley, FAIA RIBA established an internationally recognized practice of architecture for children, families, and communities. His studio elevates the standards of design for public space, learning, and play environments. Peter is co-founder of Architecture Is Fun, a Chicago-based architecture, design, and consulting firm.
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Sharon Exley MAAE
Designer of influence, Sharon Exley MAAE Associate ASID directs colleagues, clients, and next generation talents to discover the fun in architecture. As a culture builder, author, and mentor, she shares the value of social engagement through design.
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The Questioneers at DuPage Children’s Museum
With a nod to mid-century modernism, the design of the DuPage Children’s Museum Questioneers exhibit brings the popular book characters – Iggy Peck, Rosie Revere, Ada Twist, Sofia Valdez, and Aaron Slater – to life in hands-on ways! Visitors engage in STEM activities alongside their favorite characters, who offer inspiration, passion, and perseverance.
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Thought Leadership
Sharon Exley and Peter Exley bring creativity and thought leadership to their work, their mentorship, strategic planning, writing, and speaking. The playmakers and principals participate in national and local conferences, panel discussions, lectures, workshops, and exhibitions to share the educative process and notions of participatory design to the greater architectural, design, educational and industry-centric communities.
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Architecture Is Fun
Architecture Is Fun Makes Everyday Life FUN!We listen and engage with clients and communities to develop relevant public spaces and meaningful experiences.
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Speaker Engagements
Please Invite Us! Thank you for reaching out to us about speaker engagements. Please let us know if you would like the design duo of Sharon and Peter Exley to speak, or an individual member of the team. We also facilitate workshops on architecture, storytelling, creativity, public space, and sustainable cities of our future.
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Wrecked: Making Archaeology Fun
St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum Architecture Is Fun is making archaeology fun. The WRECKED salon is immersive and object-based. BY sensitively inserting a contemporary salon into a historic two-story keeper’s home, shipwreck stories are shared through the lens of archaeology.
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Publications & Research
Architecture Is Fun makes everyday life fun. The studio’s ethos is based on the idea that architecture is one of the gateways to a more empathetic and equitable future. Sharon and Peter Exley believe making accessible places of learning, living, working, play, and fun to be indispensable for human growth and development. And they like to share these notions via Architecture Is Fun’s publications and research.
