DuPage Children’s Museum Renovation

We did it, the reviews are in and we received a 5 star rating…There were audible gasps of joy and delight. Everyone came together and with one big push…..we were open! Thank you for the passion, the hard work and the commitment that had us looking so beautiful at 4:00 today. The Mayor was truly moved and just in awe of what were able to do in a few months.
~ Sarah Orleans, President & CEO, DuPage Children’s Museum

Architecture Is Fun

Work of significance and relevance, joy and seriousness, range and depth.
~ Robert Venturi FAIA FRIBA and Denise Scott Brown RIBA, Int. FRIBA
on the work of Architecture Is Fun.

Design makes a difference.
Architecture Is Fun listens and engages with you to develop places, spaces and experiences that are relevant for you. We like good ideas and having fun.

Nurturing Your Child’s Creativity

Creativity is a place you and your child should go.
~ Sharon Exley.

In Nurturing Your Child’s Creativity from PechaKucha Night Chicago Vol. 32, Sharon Exley presents her top ten of how creativity, challenge, adventure and more is nurtured in children, which shows why apples don’t fall far from trees (via her own brave and artful explorer daughter Emma).

Young At Art Museum

EVERYONE (850,000 visitors since opening) visiting YAA is incredibly amazed with the exhibitions and the Young At Art Museum experience! Thank you to Architecture Is Fun for their creative vision and artful design that assists in defining YAA!
~ Mindy Shrago, Executive Director/CEO, Young At Art

Shifting the museum paradigm, Young At Art Museum takes a sophisticated design approach to bridging the gap between an adult art museum and a children’s museum. The art museum for children features 22,000 SF of exhibit space designed by Architecture Is Fun, rich in branded environments, art installations and art-making opportunities. The John S. & James L. Knight Foundation says that Young At Art Museum is “one of South Florida’s most transformative arts initiatives”.

Playing with Laminate Design

Wilsonart X Me

Hot off the press! Sharon Exley’s touting one of Architecture Is Fun’s favorite products, Wilsonart custom laminates, in full page ads found in Contract Magazine, Design: Retail, Metropolis Magazine and Hospitality Design magazine!

Frost Art Museum

The renovated family gallery is “super chill,” designed to be worthy of a child’s curiosity and adult admiration, demonstrating everyone is hard-wired for creativity. The whiteness of the space serves as a blank slate for artistic expression and media exploration, from new-age technologies, including a Smart Table™, projector and iPads, to traditional art-making. It is an environment rich in evocative objects and commissioned art installations that inspire active learning, choices, and social engagement. Both orientation and terminus, the discovery gallery is “the place” that frames museum visits.

CODAworx Names Bonner Heritage Farm as Placemaker

CODAworx features the Bonner Heritage Farm at Lake County Forest Preserves in the latest Flipboard issue of CODAmagazine alongside the amazing Storefront for Art and Architecture Situation Room.

Happy Face Collection

Born In Brooklyn™
We’re thrilled to announce our The Happy Face Collection, part of the Born In Brooklyn Private Label. The collection is produced and sold via Fun Finders.

We see furniture and interactive elements for play and learning as objects of delight; saying to children “this is for you!”.

God Is In The Details: Lego™ as Theology

Winters in Chicago are long. Housebound over bleak weekends and chilly evenings, we began to entertain ourselves with creative projects. Our favorite activity has been assembling the Lego Architecture kits, historic sites and contemporary masterpieces, which we’d collected as each limited edition set had been released. Our penchant for play and a belief that busy hands are happy hands led us to construct replicas by Frank Lloyd Wright, Sir Charles Barry, James Hoban, SOM, Mies van der Rohe and others—and we were warmed by the delight we found in building together.

Bursting with Color: Architecture Is Fun Wins HUE Award

Playmakers Sharon Exley, MAAE and Peter Exley, FAIA, of the colorful design studio of Architecture is Fun, Chicago, have been named as Benjamin Moore HUE® Award Winners for Contract Interiors. The prestigious award is bestowed annually for a passionate and meaningful use of color in design.