Scale

Imagine that you are really small. You are so small, in fact, that you are the size of an ant! What does your world look like? Make an ant’s view drawing. Stretch your imagination! Next fly up into the sky. Fly above the tops of all of the buildings. Look down on your house and neighborhood. Draw the buildings and streets, and the houses, cars and trees in miniature. Draw your world in a bird’s eyes view.

Scale can surprise!

Scale can show point of view!

A scale is a tool that helps us imagine, or know, something’s size in real life, and then to reduce it to fit onto a piece of paper.. For example when you are drawing a picture of an elephant on paper it is easier to show to somebody than bringing the elephant to show them! Scale helps designers design things small, medium and large before testing and constructing.. Most things people make and build are drawn (and modeled) before they are built full scale. In this exercise, you will draw yourself in three different scales. Print the grid and then draw yourself at 1-inch scale, ½ scale and ¼ scale. For each different scale, the scale reference is equal to 1 foot in real life. For example, 1" scale means that 1" = 1 foot. ½" = 1 foot. ¼" = 1’.

Miniaturize yourself in three scales!

Fold a sheet of graph paper in thirds. In the first third, sketch a section of a room as if it were a box with you sitting in a chair. Make the height and width of the room narrow and low. Put a normal door in the back wall. Next, copy yourself, but draw yourself in a room that is medium size tall but the same width as the first room sketch. Keep the door the same but draw a window above the door. In the final third, copy your sitting figure the same scale again, but place yourself in the tallest room. Make an oversize door on the wall. How do you think you would feel in room 1, 2, and 3? What scale of a room is intimate vs. cramped? What scale is monumental? Which room do you feel comfortable in? Compare the scale of each space. (What is the size of the room relative to you?) Did the scale of the room have anything to do with why you felt the way you did? Submit your analysis.

Let the scale speak to you!

In this activity, you will be measuring and recording your bedroom. First, make a sketch which shows the walls of your room. Make an opening for doors and for any windows. Using a tape measure or a ruler, measure the width and length of your room, noting the width and location of the doors and windows. Now measure the basic pieces of furniture as well. After you are satisfied that you have the dimensions that you need on your sketch, you are ready to make a measured, scaled drawing of your bedroom. Watch the video below about scaling using a standard 12 inch ruler.

Then, take a piece of 8 x 11 grid paper. Each square grid should represent one foot (1’-0"). First draw the outline of your room. Add ½ foot or ½ of a square thickness for the walls. Place the openings of the windows and doors. Next place the size and position of the furniture. Color your drawing.

You have scaled part of the world!

In this exercise, you will start investigating something you already know…home sweet home. While a large percentage of the world’s population is homeless, you are here with the support of a home. You will create a consilience of scales poster investigating your home according to nanotechnology, pattern, objects, space, architecture, neighborhood, urban, region, and the world. You can make your own drawing or use NEXT.cc’s 9 Scale of Home Worksheet

9 World: Locate your house. Print or draw a small image of the globe marking its location.
8 Region: Show the area of the state or country of where your house is.
7 Urban: Locate the city in a line drawn map.
6 Neighborhood: Use GoogleMaps and zoom into your city. Print a 1 mile by 1 mile view. Color black everything that is private property-homes, businesses, etc.; leave white everything that is public like streets, parks, plazas.
5 Architecture: Draw an elevation or view of your house.
4 Space: Do a drawing of one of your favorite rooms.
3 Object: Select and draw an object in your house that is important to you.
2 Pattern: Draw, photograph, or rub one or more patterns in your home. Look at tile, carpets, bedspreads, wall paper, floor or ceiling textures.
1 Nano: Find and example of nano technology in your house.

Throughout history, buildings have been built that are bigger and can hold more people. Spatially the buildings vary radically from funerary monuments like the Great Pyramids, or Temples like the Parthenon, or religious structures like the Hagia Sophia or the Gothic Cathedrals. Draw along with the march of magnitude and when you are done, visit NEXT.cc Skyscrapers Journey to experience the highest heights in the world!

How large is large? As we leave our earth, our solar system looms large. Its expanse is another world to explore. Watching [Powers of 10]( you can see the variety of activity/lack of activity between zones of distances. You can build a scaled model of our solar system.
make the planets and our sun to scale and then place them at an appropriate distance from each other. Check out NEXT.cc SOLAR SYSTEM Journey for more activities. Take a photo and upload your scaled model to the gallery!

• How is a scale drawing different than a life-size drawing?
  • The windows are in the same area.
  • They are different sizes.
  • They are both the same size.
  • The scale drawing is larger.
• Why is the scale drawing important in design?
  • It's larger than the real building.
  • It shows exaggerated spaces to allow for dimensions and other text.
  • It shows the drawing on an easy to handle size paper.
  • It shows more information than anything else.
• What is a scale?
  • An item used to weigh buildings.
  • A type of ruler to measure in various scales.
  • A way to change the picture to look completely different.
  • The numerical relationship of objects.
• A floor plan does all of these except ______.
  • Provide a view looking straight down.
  • Show the size and shape of the rooms and building.
  • It never shows windows or doors.
  • List and show the heights of walls.