A model-building kit that allows users to build scale models of building designs and is already in use in 50 schools and universities is about to be launched as a new affordable version, potentially bringing it to a far wider audience.
The Arckit has 26 interconnecting modular components, which are also available as digital versions in the SketchUp 3D modelling software, allowing users to design their building virtually before they assemble the model.
The new starter kit set to launch in two weeks is called Arckit Go and will be available for £49.99 and contain around 160 parts.
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In comparison, the professional-sized kits that are currently available offer around 400 parts.
Arckit, which was launched last year by Irish architect Damien Murtagh, was originally envisaged as a professional tool for architects. However, it is fast becoming a popular educational tool to teach schoolchildren and students about design and construction.
Murtagh said: “We developed this as a professional tool rather than a toy, but it has opened up model making to everybody. We are really just beginning to expand into the education market, but it’s a no brainer that it will become a learning tool.”
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"We developed this as a professional tool rather than a toy, but it has opened up model making to everybody. We are really just beginning to expand into the education market, but it's a no brainer that it will become a learning tool."
Damien Murtagh, Arckit
Murtagh explains that the kits have being purchased by many schools, particularly those specialising in STEM subjects.
Class of Your Own, the organisation that promotes the Design, Engineer Construct! curriculum in schools, has already incorporated the model-making system into its curriculum.
Murtagh added: “We have got a lot of interest from secondary schools and universities – York, Hull, Huddersfield and most recently the Bartlett, have all bought kits.”
Although described as “sophisticated Lego” the kit is not based on bricks, but modular components. It is based on a 1.2m modular grid, which is the global construction standard in modular construction at a scale of 1:48.
“The system is based on modern building techniques and consists of a series of interconnecting modular components that click together to create vast building possibilities,” said Murtagh.
Murtagh expects to further develop the digital element of the tool, with 3D printing of components already in the pipeline. “We are already encouraging others to make components and we would envisage 3D printed parts to be offered in our system in the future,” Murtagh says.
He added: “Teaching children as young as 12 about space, orientation and reintroducing the physical into the design process is where Arckit offers huge potential in education.
“AutoCad, and this type of two-dimensional on-screen learning, is leading to deficiencies in the understanding of scale and orientation. Students find it difficult to relate to the physical when designing and thinking on screen all the time,” he argued.
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