The excitement is building! Pop-Up City is coming to Town Center of Virginia Beach on Saturday, July 11th from 10am – 4pm. Join the fun as local architects construct a mini city throughout the plaza made entirely of cardboard. Spend the day watching the mini city come to life as you explore STEAM stations and a build zone for kids!
STEAM Stations:
The STEAM zone will feature a series of hands-on activities led by volunteers from architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms, as well as related organizations. These stations will be similar in spirit to the activities from our recent STEAM initiatives at the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Creative Well Foundation — interactive, approachable, and focused on introducing kids to design concepts like structure, balance, spatial planning, and problem-solving. Each station will offer a quick, engaging activity that allows kids to jump in, create something, and learn through doing.
Children’s Build Zone:
The Build Zone will be centered around cardboard as a creative building material, using boxes collected through donations from the AIA Coastal Virginia community. Some boxes will be painted in bright, fun colors and used as large, block-like elements for collaborative, life-sized building. Others will remain unpainted and available for smaller-scale, more detailed creations.
The event continues into the evening with family friendly music and entertainment as part of the Summer Fest live music series.
Visitors will be given stickers to vote for their favorite builds throughout the day. Winners for the People’s Choice (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) will be announced during the evening Summer Fest program.
There is currently no rain date, Pop-Up City will proceed in light rain. In the event of a major storm or dangerous winds, the event will be postponed. July conditions are typically hot and sunny–staying hydrated and having cover from the sun in your designated build area is recommended.