Today we’d like to introduce you to Gokce Saygin.
Hi Gokce, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After graduating from Istanbul Technical University with a degree in architecture, I moved to the United States to study sustainable architecture. Over the next fifteen years, while building arKIDect alongside my professional career, I worked at leading New York City design firms, contributed to major public-sector projects, and became a Design Manager at Amazon.
But the real story behind arKIDect began much earlier. Traditional learning didn’t always come easily to me as a child, until architecture. It was the first subject where everything connected: math had a purpose, art became a language, and I could understand ideas by drawing, measuring, and building them. It taught me I wasn’t incapable of learning. I simply learned differently.
In 2012, I founded arKIDect (School of Architecture for Kids) to give children that same opening. Not just to teach design, but to help them discover how they think, solve problems, communicate ideas, and build confidence. That experience still shapes how I teach today: when a child struggles, I assume they may just need a different way in. And I believe basic architectural literacy (reading a scale drawing, understanding how construction, plumbing, and electrical systems fit together) is practical knowledge every child benefits from, not just future professionals.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
When I began teaching in 2012, there was no roadmap for creating an architecture curriculum for children—no established resources or age-appropriate models to follow. I had to build the approach from the ground up: deciding what children should learn at each age and translating architectural concepts that many adults find complex into lessons an eight-year-old could understand and remember. At the same time, I was managing every side of the business—pricing, marketing, school partnerships, and staffing—while continuing to teach many of the classes myself.
I was also raising my daughter and rebuilding my professional life and community in a new country, far from where I grew up. Convincing parents and schools that this was not simply an arts-and-crafts elective, but a meaningful way to teach math, spatial reasoning, communication, and problem-solving, took years. I had to prove its value in the classroom, one student and one project at a time.
That challenge has not disappeared; it has simply changed shape. My biggest ongoing struggle now is protecting quality while growing. I would rather grow slowly than allow arKIDect to become a one-size-fits-all program, because that personal connection is the heart of what we do.
At the same time, I do not want personalized education to become a luxury. That is why we accept scholarship funding, including Step Up For Students in Florida, and help families across the country access approved educational funding whenever it is available.
We’ve been impressed with Arkidect, School of Architecture for Kids, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Since 2012, arKIDect has introduced hundreds of students, ages four to eighteen, to architecture and design through personalized programs in Miami and New York City, online classes nationwide, school partnerships, and original Design Kits for homeschool families. Our students have been admitted to DASH (Design and Architecture Senior High) and colleges around the world.
What sets us apart is the way we combine traditional hands-on learning with the technology architects use today. Children are no longer limited to building with cardboard or recycled materials as they might have been ten years ago. At arKIDect, a student can imagine an idea, sketch it, develop it into a digital or physical model, and then walk through the space in virtual reality the following week. They are introduced to professional tools such as 3D modeling, 3D printing, laser cutting, VR, and AI while still learning the foundations of architectural drawing, measurement, scale, and model-making.
But technology is only part of what makes arKIDect different. We do not give every student the same project and expect the same result. There is no single right answer in our classroom. We guide the process, but each child’s ideas and individual way of thinking lead the design. Our goal is not simply to teach architecture—it is to help children become independent thinkers who can imagine something, develop it, communicate it, and confidently bring it to life.
Beyond the classroom, we provide educational consulting, collaborate with forward-thinking learning communities such as Alpha School, and host career days that connect students with college architecture majors and licensed professionals.
My long-term vision is for architecture education to become a standard part of K–12 learning—not a niche elective, but a tool every child can use to imagine, plan, create, and solve problems.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I wanted to become an architect when I was eight years old, and I never changed my mind. That’s why I never underestimate what a child tells me about what they want to build or become.
Adults often dismiss a childhood dream as “just a phase,” but I know firsthand that it can be the beginning of a real future. Some of the students I taught nearly ten years ago are now studying architecture in college. Watching that journey—from an eight-year-old’s idea to an adult’s career—is the most rewarding part of my work. Someone once took my eight-year-old self seriously, too, and it changed everything.
If your child dreams of designing, building, or creating, we would love to help them explore where that passion could lead. Our main studio is located in Sunny Isles Beach, and we also offer classes in Palm Beach, Brickell, Coconut Grove, Boca Raton, and Key Biscayne.
Learn more at www.arkidect.org or contact me at gokce@arkidect.org.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.arkidect.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arkidect/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arkidect
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arkidect
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlkvqXV7LZc
- Other: https://www.gokcesaygin.com
