Architecture Artmaking (Grades 3-5)

Set-Up:

-Check to see how many kids are coming, to determine how many tables are needed (up to 6 per table)

-All needed materials are on the Architecture-as-Art rolling cart in the Classroom

-Place 1 box with markers, 6 pencils, 6 scissors, 6 glue sticks, and 4 masking-tape rolls on each table

-Place a stack of bases, a stack of square boxes, a stack of rectangular boxes, big scraps, 2 plain box models and 2 non-box models on the front table (model created by “Thinking Outside the Box)

Introduction to kids:

-Introduce or review role of architect as decision-maker and problem-solver

            -“What decisions do architects have to make?”

-Introduce or review images of the North and Hamilton Buildings.

-“Are they box-shaped?”

-Talk about the idea of thinking/building outside the box.... What does that mean?

-Show flat forms and corresponding boxes—square and rectangular

-Open up the flat form and suggest possibilities:

cutting, folding, scoring, tearing, sitting on, scrunching up, etc.

-Show 2 non-box building models (“What are you going to turn YOUR box into?”)

Architecture Art Making - Outline

-Have students come up, table by table, to get: 1 box (kids choose between square and rectangle)

1 base

During process time:

-Have students think about what their building will be and its needs, etc

            “What’s your building going to be?” “What will a ______ need?”

-Introduce an architect’s use of models

            “Why would architects make models?”

            “Do they get it ‘right’ on their very first try?”

                        (Studio Daniel Libeskind makes hundreds of models in planning for one building)

                        (architects are problem-solvers: they keep trying and retrying)

-Demonstrate scoring technique at each table: make indentation w/scissor or pencil and then fold

            “Is anyone having trouble bending the cardboard?”

            “If you want to make a crisp sharp fold, here’s what you can do…”

            [demonstrate]

-If students want more materials, offer scraps only and introduce the idea of a budget for a building

            “Do you think architects have unlimited materials?”

-Students may combine resources on a collaborative building.

-Have students attach their buildings to the base, if they haven’t already, mid-way through

            (glue, tape, might also puncture holes/slits in base as an anchor for angles)

-Suggest the addition of windows, doors; check light and shadow inside

-Encourage students consider their buildings sculpturally

            “What will your building look like from every angle?—from the front, back, sides, top?”

                        “What makes [this] a building? An artwork? Can it be both at the same time?”

-TIP: Depending on the working skills, you might give them time heads-up during the creative process

To extend the activity

-Suggest the addition of decoration: markers, tape design

-Suggest the addition of landscaping (grass, trees, sculpture, etc), signs, etc.

-Create a city on the floor. Lay out the streets with masking tape. Remember to pull it up after they leave. Discuss choices in creating the city.

Clean-Up..Allow at least five minutes for this.

-Have students put their name on their work.

-About 5 minutes before cleanup time, tell them class is coming to an end.  

-Ask them to leave all the materials on the table if another class is coming in.

-If they are the last class, have them bring the materials up to the appropriate containers.

-If the floor is a mess, ask each kid to pick up or put away 5 items. Usually works wonders.