Architects live and breathe with their Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) software. CAD allows the architect to quickly and accurately record an idea, and then easily modify it. The best CAD software has components to render the design in three dimension. What would take a high-end supercomputer during the 80’s is now easily available for desktop machines.

The folks at Liverpool Hope University in the U.K. are building a simple CAD program for children called KiddyCAD. Their goal is to give kids a modeling tool that is fast, fun and easy to learn. The first module of KiddyCAD is ChurchBuilder 1.1, which can be used to build churches.

The Liverpudlians describe ChurchBuilder as “3D Modeling Software for children which is quick, easy and fun to use… so simple a grown-up could use it.” The software can be used to learn church design and vocabulary (home schoolers take note.) Their free demo is easy to download and install, and while it has a few minor bugs, it looks great. The authors report:

We have trialled ChurchBuilder in a number of primary schools throughout Merseyside… The response from the children has been very positive. We found the children quickly picked up the church architecture terminology and quite happily talked in terms of naves, chancels, towers and transepts when building their models.

The full version costs £19.99, which is about $10 at last week’s exchange rate. The Bettinger kids have tried working with it, and all seemed to pick the tool up quickly. Reviewing the quick web-based training videos helped them understand the interface and the tools.

Contact Information:

KiddyCAD ChurchBuilder 1.1
http://www.kiddycad.com/index.html
Liverpool Hope University
BACS Deanery
Hope Park,
Liverpool,
L16 9JD,
England

The good Catholic folks over at FaithFirst.com have a little game for our younger parishioners: Design A Church. The primary school kids can drag and drop the parts of the church to make a design.

Click the image above to get to the game.

We’re privileged to have a Catholic architect on our project: Adam Hermanson of Integration Design Group. I’m sure Adam could do better than my effort, above. Actually, most Holy Trinity students could do better. So e-mail me your kid’s work, and we’ll post it here.

The Abston Church of Christ in Abston, Michigan was dedicated by Rev. John Ashley on Sunday, March 24, 2002. Built by Hughes Construction under the direction of general contractor Amy Hughes, the new church took almost a year and a half to build. The church has seating for over 1400 and a hand-crafted pipe organ. The committee could learn something from these people about dedication to a goal.

Here is the interior:

Click the images to visit the web page that creator Amy Hughes set up for her Lego Church.

Happy April Fools Day!