Houses built just for kids

Writing on the walls is OK in the house that Eileen Goldenberg built.

A fantastical playhouse is coming together at Berkeley Preparatory School through the work of Tampa artist Goldenberg and 15 high school students. With its splashy colors, a mosaic floor and chalkboard-paint walls, the playhouse is designed to be interactive and get little brains bubbling.

"I think this house is going to be the kind that spurs a child's creativity," Goldenberg said.

The playhouse is one of 20 that artists and architects, mostly from the Tampa Bay area, are designing and building for the Outdoor Arts Foundation's "R'Kidtecture" project. The houses will be displayed together on March 26 at Reeves Import Motorcars and then divided for exhibit from April through November between Tampa International Airport and WestShore Plaza.

On Nov. 13, they will be auctioned off to benefit the nonprofit Outdoor Arts Foundation and R'Club Child Care Inc., a St. Petersburg-based organization that provides preschool and before- and after-school care at more than 40 centers.

The arts foundation has exhibited fiberglass sea turtles and manatees across the area and in 2004 asked artists and architects to design and build dog houses for "BowWow Haus."

Jay Goulde, the foundation's executive director, said some of the turtles, manatees and dog houses sold for between $12,000 to $15,000. The playhouses could fetch between $5,000 and $15,000 per house, he said.

They are designed for children to use.

"They were meant to be very interactive, but we also gave all of the participants guidelines for playground safety," Goulde said. "We want them to be functional playhouses."

Most have a 5-by-5-foot base but differ widely beyond that. One has a peanut butter and jelly theme, with bread-shaped walls supporting a slide. Another has panels with polka dot perforations. A third looks like a mushroom, a nod to "Alice in Wonderland." .

Goldenberg's Kids Rule house spins off the Dogs Rule house she designed for the BowWow Haus project. It features some of the same blues and greens and is highly embellished. She partnered with Berkeley Prep, where her son is a senior, and the students have pitched in with manual labor, decoration and ideas.

"The more it's embellished, the more jewel-like it becomes," said Berkeley art teacher Terrie Forester.

The house is taking shape in front of all the students in the student lounge, and teens pass by daily to see what is new. The walls inside are covered in chalkboard paint, so the playhouse inhabitants can draw on them, and empty frames for "art du jour" hang on the wall.

Berkeley's youngest children will contribute drawings to occupy the frames for now and inspire the playhouse owners to do the same, Forester said. Working with Goldenberg has also given the high school students a chance to get to know a professional artist, Forester said, and learn more about design and crafting on a large scale.

Goldenberg, who normally works in acrylics, said it has been exciting for her to work with the high school students, who are enthusiastic and have a lot of ideas.

She hopes it might inspire future artists, too. When she was in high school, she participated in a public arts project in downtown Tampa.

"I'll never forget driving down Ashley and seeing my work downtown," she said.