One of the Helsinki Design Week festival’s most popular programmes is Children’s Design Week. At the Children’s Design Week events this year, we will be shaping the city of the future and hearing presentations on topics that inspire children and young people.
Take a look to the city of the future through Children’s Windows
At the main event of Children’s Design Week, Children’s Windows, children and young people will build an installation with the theme “Open City of the Future” in ground-floor windows at Aleksanterinkatu 13 together with designers and design educators.
The construction process and the completed installation aim to ponder what the city of dreams would look like. It aims to strengthen children’s literacy in design and architecture and increase their knowledge of the built and visual environment.
The installation will be built on Saturday, 3 September, with young people. In addition to designers, Urban Tech Helsinki experts and start-up entrepreneurs will also be involved.
Urban Tech Helsinki is an incubator focusing on clean energy, mobility, sustainable construction and the circular economy, generating innovative companies to solve the challenges of cities.
“At the Open City of the Future workshop, the Urban Tech start-up teams will discuss the future of cities with young people and present their innovations, which can help build our future together,” says Taina Seitsara, Special Planner at the City of Helsinki.
For Saturday’s workshop pre-registration required, sign up here. The work can be followed through the windows of Aleksanterinkatu from 10:00 to 16:00.
On Sunday, 4 September, a design workshop will open to all children. The free non-stop workshop will be open to joining between 10:00 and 16:00. Children attend the workshop with an adult. The workshop languages are Finnish, Swedish and English.
The final results of the workshops will be on display in the windows of Aleksanterinkatu 13 until 11 September.
The Design Academy of the Design Museum and Ornamo is responsible for the pedagogical planning and implementation of the event. The Culture and Leisure Division of the City of Helsinki and Urban Tech Helsinki are also involved in implementing Children’s Windows.
Read more about Children’s Windows
Children’s PechaKucha features presentations on topics that inspire children
As part of the Culture Trail programme for schoolchildren, Helsinki Design Week is organising a PechaKucha event for children on 6 September. 5th graders in Helsinki have been invited to prepare PechaKucha speeches consisting of 20 pictures, together with their teachers, following the guidelines of Suomu – the Finnish Association of Design Learning.
Speeches can be about anything that inspires and interests’ schoolchildren right now – such as football or video games.
Children’s PechaKucha presentations will be held at the Central Library Oodi’s Maijansali on Tuesday, 6 September, from 12:00 to 14:00. Admission to the event is free. The presentations will be in Finnish.
Read more about the Children’s PechaKucha here.
Read more
Children’s Design Week
Helsinki Design Week
Helsinki as a city of design
Photo: Helsinki Design Week