NEWS
Schoolyards to Skylines wins national AIA Honor Award
At its annual convention held in Las Vegas in May, 2005, the American Institute of Architects presented the prestigious Honor Award for Collaborative Achievement to CAF's K-8th grade curriculum, Schoolyards to Skylines: Teaching with Chicago's Amazing Architecture. Throughout its 47 units, the 500-page innovative resource book uses buildings, events, and people as tools for teaching all the core academic subjects. Today, nearly 1000 copies of Schoolyards to Skylines are used throughout Illinois, in over 25 states, and in 6 foreign countries. The jury remarked, "It's the tool many teachers, architects, and AIA chapters have been searching for to make architecture come alive for young people. Get this tool out to the public, to home-schoolers!" "Allow local AIA chapters to build on all of it for local programs. A huge thanks to the Chicago Architecture Foundation for making this long-needed program available."

In 2004, Schoolyards to Skylines received a National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Prior to this, it had been more than eight years since the National Trust presented the award to a project other than a building or a person.

Schoolyards to Skylines was also awarded a 2003 Certificate of Commendation for interpretation of local history from the American Association for State and Local History and a 2003 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award for Public Education from the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois.