Architecture

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We live in a Designed World…Nature’s and our own. Architecture is our shelter, our habitat, our space for living, learning, working, playing, celebrating, and creating. First peoples created shelter from rain, high and low temperatures, wind, and humidity or aridness. They inhabited caves and other openings in the earth, fashioning wigwams, yurts, and longhouses. Some shelters were collapsible and transportable from one land to another. Others were constructed of stone or wood and left behind when the water source dried up or food became scarce. People scavenged for available building materials, including clay from the earth for adobe, rocks and stones for walls, and wood for roofs. As carved tools became available, the craft of forming, cutting, weaving, stitching, stacking, and joining

Your ideas are like rain that washes down the limbs and nourishes the tree. Stand by your code and create a place—a haven for knowledge, a room for reflection, a station for dreams. This pavilion will test all your skills at all levels, at all times. You will be like the first person to imagine and create a new place on this earth. Will you design the site? From Inside out or outside in?

You have the power to shape space and experience!

Activity 1 – under, in, on and above architecture

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Architecture is construction of ideas and experiences in built space. It is also a sculpture of and with natural light. Taking these two ideas, begin by exploring single spaces and forms that allow natural light to enter in different ways. In addition, explore creating these spaces under ground, in the ground, on top of the ground and above the ground- all places architecture is built! Create 4 models that allow light to enter in different ways while responding to connections to the ground in different ways. Draw your four spaces from above, in section and in plan. Move your ideas around in your imagination, on paper, and in construction!

Activity 2 – Scales of architecture

We make our buildings and then they make us.

Winston Churchill

Architecture is the second skin of the earth. It exists in, on, under and above the earth’s surface depending upon needs, shelter, weather, ground, and the people who build and live in it. Architecture is built across scales of density. It may be a single home and farm in the countryside. It may be a few dwellings by a river or water source. It may cluster into a small village with a main street and a few public buildings. It may develop into a small city. The city may grow into a major urban area. In the 21st century when more than hlaf of the world’s population lives in urban areas, it may be in meglopolis. Draw the different scales in plan and in section and label them. Look at the NEXT.cc SCALE Journey and start thinking in connected scales!

What scales of architecture interest you?

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Activity 3 – Great Buildings in Architecture

Ever since people began creating cities with access to water and food and safety, types of buildings expanded depending upon their climate, culture, populations, and needs. We can travel the world to visit ancient cities, past, present and future developments. Take a moment to think about what great buildings you know and what makes a great building? Peruse this collection of famous 25 Top UNESCO World Heritage Sites and FIFTY of the World’s Best Buildingsto discover some of earth’s most profound edifices. Choose one of the buildings you discover, sketch it, and write a few sentences about why it is important.

Activity 4 – Make an Architecture Timeline

Since the beginning of time, humans have built shelters for protection. As people settled, different types of buildings were needed. As communities flourished, cities developed. People in other places and different times have built architecture in response to culture, society, technology, climate, and the environment. When we travel, we can visit buildings from other centuries that still exist and imagine what they meant to the people who created them and what they mean to people alive today. Architects can also work like archaeologists to excavate and study past civilizations. Preserving historic buildings is a vital role for architects. Historic preservation aims to restore the building to its original condition and reuse it by adapting its function while retaining the structure. Research architectural timelines and create one that starts at least 3,000 years ago.

Draw and label significant buildings from each century up to the 20th century and the invention of the modern-day tall building, the SKYSCRAPER. Try to add the tall buildings to the drawings of the historical buildings.

How tall do you have to go?

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Activity 5 – What do architects do?

Architects create ideas in response to community, culture, ecology, environment, economy, technology, people, place, and potential! Architects build the “second skin of the earth”. They connect the human network with outdoor spaces, buildings, neighborhoods, districts, and structures where we live, learn, work, play, and relax. Look around you. Everything that is not nature is constructed by people. It is known as our built environment. Since the beginning of human evolution, people have migrated into communities with access to air, water, and food. Settlements became villages, then cities, then large urban areas. Buildings are important edifices that establish the culture of neighborhoods, towns, villages, and cities. Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities!

Activity 6 – Do you Want to Be An Architect?

What is the path of becoming an architect? It can start almost anywhere. Perhaps you are interested in cities, or how people live in different cultures and climates. Maybe you like to draw, or build, or construct things already. While most people grow up in homes, and half of the population in cities, architecture provides us with shelter, and a place we can call home. Many architecture centers and schools and non profits offer architecture and design summer camps. Or try online e-learning resoruces like NEXT.cc! Try it. You might like it!

Activity 7 – Building Systems

Every building requires specialists such as materials scientists, structural engineers, landscape architects, interior designers, lighting designers, electricians, roofers, and window and door contractors. These individuals may become licensed architects and take on positions such as programming and analysis, practice manager or director, project director, project manager, developer, project development and documentation, contractor, or builder. The larger the building, the more people are involved. Architecture students complete internships in offices to gain experience in different positions. They complete a set number of hours across various activities in one or more firms, and then take exams in the other subjects. Architects protect the health, safety, and welfare of the people and communities they serve.

Which position would you like to take?