Educational projects

In Summer 2017 Chekharda together with the kids’ club “Seekers” organised the first real construction site for kids and built a real 5 m high lighthouse on a riverside.
It was an old dream of Chekharda to start contracting with kids and thus give them a chance to play a real life - not an imaginary life as they use to on usual playgrounds. 100 year ago in this place famous Russian engineer Shukhov built a hyperboloid tower and it became an inspiration for the kids’ lighthouse.

Kids were not alone: architects, engineers, carpenters, creators of rope structures helped the kids with the building task. During two weeks construction time the kids learnt how to design hyperboloid structures, observed how the bearing system of a building rises up and filled up the tower with playful elements from ropes, wood and nets.

After two week the construction was competed and now the lighthouse operates as a local playground and became a real landmark and an observation point on the riverside. Young builders regular organise here their own events and workshops.
The construction playground gave a basis for a new type of “educational playground” in Russia where the kids can play and learn through the real work - and the kids seem to like it even more that typical playspaces!

In the summer of 2019, Bureau Chekharda construction projects for children were continued. This time we went to a larger scale project and, together with children of 7-12 years old, built a real playground on the beach of Nikolina Gora in Moscow suburban area.

In two weeks, next to the lighthouse, built two years earlier, a full-fledged play space with "walking" trees arose. We brought these trees from our workshop. Together with the children we planned how to use them in the arrangement of the playground.

Young builders went through the whole process from the idea of separate flayfull objects to its construction and opening. We created a model of future playground from small branches imitating tree trunks and threads similar to future ropes; thought over the procurement of materials and slitted into construction teams.

Two weeks of hard work, and the site was open to everyone! Now children living nearby come to it every day, and families who come from Moscow to the beach visit it. Moreover, young builders feel the value of what they have managed to create: a new and interesting world for children.