Ephemeral architecture in a small box. Kits of stacking or modular lightweight parts and fragments. Architectural styles and precedents from around the world. Endless possibilities for wholes in danger of imminent collapse. Miniature structures, buildings, entire cities are erected, demolished . . . in an hour. Children are the architects, designers, structural engineers, builders, [wreckers], clients and guest critics. We can all learn from the worlds children design for themselves.

Bridgman, Rae. (2016). Preface to Chinese edition of Children and Their Urban Environments by Claire Freeman and Paul Tranter (Earthscan Publications, 2011, 265 pages). Translated by Ming Xiao. Nanjing, China: Southeast University Press.

Rae Bridgman began collecting architectural and building toys in 2014, and mounted an exhibition at A2G gallery (University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture) that summer.

Building Toys - Architecture on the Red Carpet grew from a summer 2014 project at the University of Manitoba, in partnership with Brazil's Science Without Borders programme and Winnipeg firm BridgmanCollaborative Architecture's TOYLab.

Isabela Araujo do Nascimento, Marina Renosto Gennari and Thiara Oliveira Arajuo, along with Ming Xiao, a visiting scholar from Nanjing, China explored children's building toys with Rae Bridgman, a professor in the Department of City Planning at the University of Manitoba. Toy history, principles of toy design, materials and market studies, and toy safety standards informed their research.

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