Creative minds, a challenge from Zooom! magazine, long hours of volunteered student time and $1,500 is what it took for seven Iowa State architecture students to turn their ideal playhouse into reality.

The plan for “Dream Spaces” was given to ISU architecture students by Zooom! magazine, a family publication distributed throughout the Ames-Des Moines area. The magazine is supporting projects for Fox 17 TV’s Family Fun Fair in February at Veterans Auditorium in Des Moines.

Zooom! officials raised $1,500 in donations from local lumberyards and hardware stores and approached the university this fall.

Rick Baker, president of the American Institute of Architecture Students at ISU, said there has been an urge to get involved in a design building project within the architecture department.

“This really gets us out there,” he said.

Chris Evans, the student project coordinator, said getting to see something built to full scale is exciting.

“There’s not a lot of students who get that opportunity. You learn a lot when you get to use a saw and a hammer,” he said.

The project, which got under way at the beginning of October, started as a design competition among students. Student teams developed a playhouse design proposal. The winning team consists of Joe Bensh, Eric Baron, Heather Church, Tom Feldmann, Jennifer Llop, Bradyn Podhajsky and Evans.

Representatives from Zooom! and several faculty members were on a panel of judges who chose the design.

Construction on the playhouse began Jan. 9. It will be completed by Feb. 1. The group spends four to five hours a day working on the playhouse, which is being built in the basement of the Design Center.

The playhouse is 10 square feet with another 5-foot square structure attached to make it shaped like the letter “L.”

“There is a platform inside that kids can play on, and a movable wall,” Evans said.

The playhouse will be displayed by Zooom! at the fair on Feb. 8-9. It will then be brought back to Ames to be displayed in the yet-to-be-organized Children’s Museum of Central Iowa.