Objectives
1. Students
combine shapes in the design of a building.
2. Students design a building for a particular function.
Arizona Visual Arts Standards
CREATE: Concept 3: Elements & Principles
PO
001: Identify and use elements
in his or her own artwork.
PO
101. Identify and use
elements and
principles in his or her own
artwork.
PO
201: Identify, select
and use elements
and principles
to organize the
composition
in his or her own artwork.
CREATE:
Concept 4: Meanings or Purposes
PO
202. Create an artwork that serves a function.
Resources and supplies
Completed “Exploring
the Tempe
Center for the Arts”
worksheets
"Designing
the Tempe Center for the Arts”
Optional: “Building
on a River: Questor’s Tale,” especially Sections 2, 3, 5 and 7, which
feature traditional Pima buildings, San Pablo church and home, educational
buildings and arts buildings, respectively.
“Building with Shapes”
Construction paper
Scissors
Clear tape
“Architect
Label”
Sample Plan for Surf Shop
Activities
Review
Return
students’ “Exploring
the Tempe Center for the Arts” worksheet.” Ask students if they were
able to answer their own questions on Part B of the worksheet or if they
used their questions to discover something they might not have noticed
otherwise. Share discoveries.
Ask
students to take turns drawing on the board shapes they saw at the TCA.
Remind students that many shapes have names (square, circle, triangle,
rectangle, etc.) but that some do not. Ask students to name as many shapes
as they can as you write them on the board.
Take notes on any new information presented by the docent as well as
interesting questions, observations or responses made by your students
during their tour.
Definition and guided practice
Explain that buildings may be interesting to look at and also be
useful. Write the word “function” on the board. Explain that the function of
a thing is its use or what it does.
Optional review and analysis
You may want to show again “Building
on a River: Questor’s Tale,” asking students to identify the functions
of buildings shown in Sections 2, 3, 5 and 7.
-
Traditional
Pima Dwellings were homes for Pima families. What do you think
members of a Pima family might have done in and around their homes? What
did the dwellings do for the family? (The dwellings gave them a place to
store their things, kept them warm on cool nights, protected them from
wild animals as they slept and shaded them from the hot desert sun. The
dwellings with porches gave shade without blocking any breeze that might
be blowing.)
-
Mount Carmel
Church was a house of worship. What do you think the priest and
members of the church did in the church? How did the church building
meet their needs?
-
Elias
Rodriguez House was a family home. Compare the functions of the
Rodriguez house with those of the traditional Pima dwellings.
-
The
Territorial Normal School Building was, and Arizona
State University’s Old Main is still, an educational building.
What do you think students and teachers did in these buildings? What
functions did these buildings share with the earlier Pima and Rodriguez
family homes (for example, shelter and protection from sun)? What
other functions do you believe a college building needs to serve (for
example, provide classrooms where students and teachers can meet, house
a library full of books and/or provide special spaces for different
kinds of studies, such as music, history, art or science.)
-
Harkins
Movie Theater, Grady Gammage Auditorium, Arizona State University Art
Museum and the Tempe Performing Arts Center
were all designed specifically to serve the special functions of people
who make art and enjoy the art that others make. What can you see in
each building that gives you a clue about what goes on inside? What
are the functions of the marquee and the little booth at the entrance of
the movie theater? How do you
think people use the ramps and balconies of the auditorium?
Compare and contrast functions of an art museum with the
functions of a performing arts center (for example, displaying,
protecting and storing many artworks as individuals and small groups
visit versus organizing and seating crowds of people
all at once)?
Analysis
Ask students to
identify some of the functions of the TCA. What does it do?
(For example, it protects people from the weather. It quiets the
sound of jets landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. It
provides visitors with dramatic views of Town Lake and the Papago Mountains.
The TCA gives musicians, dancers and actors a place to perform and a place
for people to watch and listen to their performances. It also gives visual
artists a place to show their work and for visitors to see their art.
Definitions with examples
Show “Designing Tempe Center for the
Arts." Point out three kinds of
architect’s plans: 1) renderings, 2) model and 3) blueprints. Explain that
renderings are architect’s drawings (sometimes made on a computer) that show
how the finished building will look. A model is a miniature building that
also helps people imagine how the finished build will look. Blueprints are
very specific drawings telling builders exactly how to construct every part
of the building.
Assignment
Ask students to choose a function for an imaginary building that
they would like to design or they may think of their own function for a
building. For example:
-
Sports Stadium
-
Warehouse for Toys
-
Light Rail Train
Station
-
Elementary School
-
Elephant Barn
-
Firehouse
-
Computer Store
Ask
students to identify the people who will use the building and how they will
use it. They should start with an idea about the function of their building
or they may change their minds about the function as they work on their
designs. Show “Sample Plan for Surf Shop”
as an example.
Technical demonstrations
Distribute one color of construction paper. You may want to give the same
color to students sitting at the same table or near each other, so that they
can trade shapes with nearby classmates. Demonstrate making long cuts with
scissors. Demonstrate how to slowly close the scissor turning the paper
rather than the scissors to make smooth curved cuts.
Samples
Show “Building with Shapes”
reading explanatory text. Ask students to design a building combining at
least three different shapes. They should make an architect’s plan of their
building showing the front or from the side. As they make different
arrangement of shapes, they should think about how their building might be
used.
Distribute a second color of construction paper. Ask students to add smaller
shapes to make their buildings more interesting to look at and to better
serve a specific function. For example, they can add windows, doors or
decorations. They should try several arrangements and perhaps trade shapes
with nearby classmates.
In process feedback
Distribute a sheet of white drawing paper for backgrounds for students’
building plans. Before any shapes are glued to a background, ask students to
write the function of their building on a slip of paper and place it next to
their arrangement of shapes. Ask students to walk around to view several of
their classmates’ ideas offering positive suggestions to make the plan more
interesting to look at or more functional.
Demonstration
If students are not experienced with using glue sticks, demonstrate
how to cover tables with newspaper and how to glue the entire back side of
each piece of paper, especially all the way to the edges.
Completion and exhibition
When students have completed their building plans ask each to sign his/her
plan carefully in the lower right corner. Ask them to think how people will
use their building and what building materials they would use to construct
their buildings, as they complete their “Architect’s
Label.”
As
possible, exhibit the drawing with labels in the school (library, lobby
display case, hallway or your classroom).
Assessment Guides
1.
Objective: Students combine shapes in the design of a
building.
Assess building design.
-
Exceeds
expectations
-
Student’s plan
combines at least three different shapes in an interesting or complex
way into a larger shape
that
resembles a building and added smaller shapes that make the building
plan more interesting or look at or that support its function.
-
Meets
expectations -
Student’s plan
combines at least three different shapes into a larger shape that
resembles a building.
-
Approaches
expectations -
Student’s plan
combines at least two different shapes into a larger shape that
resembles a building.
-
Fails
to meet expectations
- Students glue at least two different shapes on a background.
2.
Objective: Students design a building for a particular
function.
Assess building design and architect’s label.
-
Exceeds
expectations -
Student’s glued
shapes resemble a building that has some relationship to the function
s/he described on his/her Architect’s Label and proposed materials.
-
Meets
expectations -
Student’s glued
shapes resemble a building and s/he described a function and proposed
materials on his/her Architect’s Label.
-
Approaches
expectations -
Student’s glued
shapes resemble a building and s/he included his/her name and either a
function or proposed materials on the Architect’s Label.
-
Fails
to meet expectations
- Student's glued shapes on a background.
Extension Activity
Ask older
students to plan two different views of the same building. (front elevation,
side elevation, plan view [exterior as seen from above the roof] and/or
floor plan [interior view as seen from the ceiling].