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The ´óÏó´«Ã½ and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) London have formed a partnership with local schools, working with more than 500 children, to create Tides and Times, a new public multimedia attraction that celebrates the River Thames.

The Tides and Times exhibition explores the historical, ecological, geographical and social elements of what makes the river special and such an iconic symbol of London.

´óÏó´«Ã½ 21CC, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s digital learning centre, worked with 15 local primary schools to give children the opportunity to create new multimedia content such as animations, films, podcasts and radio dramas to bring the history of the river to life.

A further four primary schools worked with architects practices to design audiovisual "pods" to be placed along the banks of the river to house the newly-created content.

Liz Cleaver, Controller, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Learning, said: "This project was designed to engage children in various aspects of the curriculum, leveraging the wealth of history on their doorsteps. Using multimedia to keep the learning experience fresh and creative, and by partnering with RIBA London, we've been able to give over 500 children a truly unique learning opportunity that not only develops their skill base and confidence, but also provides the public with an innovative and exciting new summer attraction along the Thames."

The new instillations located at Southwark Cathedral, Southbank Centre and Somerset House feature touch screens with interactive maps that allow the public to experience and engage with the content created by the children.

A "walking route" has also been devised, marked out by multi-coloured plastic hands that link the pods together, and a free map can be downloaded from the Tides and Times website. The content produced by the children can also be viewed online.

Tamsie Thomson, Director for RIBA London, said: "Being involved in such an innovative project has allowed us to make design and architecture accessible to children, raising aspirations and investing in the development of new skills. The pods showcase the diversity and broad range of skills that architects can bring to educational projects and public art."

The Tides and Times exhibition is available until 13 September 2009. For more information, please visit bbc.co.uk/21cc/tides-and-times.

Notes to Editors

Tides and Times Project details

To create the exhibition, ´óÏó´«Ã½ 21CC gave 15 London primary schools the opportunity to partner with a key attraction along the River Thames including the London Eye and HMS Belfast. Each school took part in an educational workshop to create multimedia content such as animations, films, podcasts or radio dramas about the history of the Thames.

Working with RIBA London, ´óÏó´«Ã½ 21CC then placed a further four primary schools with four architects practices and three Thames-side institutions. These children were able to work with the practices to design and create the audiovisual "pods" along with the creation of a walking route to connect the exhibition along the Thames.

The design process undertaken by the architects and children for all three pods can be viewed at www.architecture.com/ribalondon from 16 July 2009.

London Attractions included in the project:

• Royal Observatory Greenwich
• Museum of London Docklands
• St Paul's Cathedral
• Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms
• Shakespeare's Globe
• Thames Barrier Information and Learning Centre
• The National Archives
• The Golden Hinde
• Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
• HMS Belfast (a branch of the Imperial War Museum)
• The Royal National Lifeboat Institution
• The Tower of London, Historic Royal Palaces
• Kew Bridge Steam Museum
• The London Eye
• The Sea Life London Aquarium
• WWT London Wetland Centre
• Hampton Court Palace, Historic Royal Palaces

Locations hosting the audiovisual pods:

• Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge
• Southbank Centre
• Somerset House

Architects creating the pods:

• Amenity Space – pod design for Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge
• SCABAL (Sall, Cullinan and Buck Architects Limited) – walking route
• Alsop – pod design for Somerset House, constructed by FACIT
• Urban Salon – pod design for Southbank Centre

´óÏó´«Ã½ Learning

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is committed to education and ´óÏó´«Ã½ 21CC is just one of the many unique and varied offerings from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Learning. For more information on all other learning programmes offered for adults, teachers, parents and students, visit bbc.co.uk/learning.

´óÏó´«Ã½ 21CC

´óÏó´«Ã½ 21CC is the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s digital learning centre dedicated to exploring creative ways of using multimedia and new technology in teaching and learning. With two unique classrooms (London and Salford), they develop and run free-of-charge multimedia workshops for five to 19-year-olds from UK-based schools, colleges and community groups, five days a week.

They work throughout the year with professional facilitators and partners, from inside and outside the ´óÏó´«Ã½, to deliver workshops that cover all aspects of multimedia, including film-making, podcasting, graphic design and multimedia music production. 21CC works closely with teachers to integrate all workshops into the curriculum and to develop new ways of using UITC and multimedia to provide innovative and inspiring learning experiences.

For more information and to make a booking for the 21CC classroom, please visit bbc.co.uk/21cc.

RIBA London

RIBA London recently focused its activities on the Thames including the 2007 RIBA London Chairman's Dinner – Past, Present and Future Development on the Thames – and Dark Waters for the London Festival of Architecture 2008 – a collaborative project comprising a map, website and exhibition to explore the topography and history of the Thames as well as highlighting the key buildings along its banks (see www.darkwaters.org.uk for more information).

As a result of these activities, ´óÏó´«Ã½ 21CC approached RIBA London to collaborate on Tides and Times. RIBA London suggested architect work with school children to create public viewing "pods" to house the multimedia content. RIBA London selected the pod venues, fundraised and managed the design and build of the pods and the walking route.

DM