Explore Architecture using the alphabet above to navigate through historic references to help you think about the art and techniques of designing and building. Look at the many styles and types of architecture from around the world. Which part of building speaks loudest to you?
Make a list of your favorite buildings. What about it do like most? Would you want to be an architect (a person who designs buildings)?
What type of buildings would you want to build?
Who would you want to design them for? Would they be a redesign for a family home, a brand new high rise apartment, sprawling offices or businesses storefronts?
Where would you want to design these buildings? In the country, city, or suburbia? How is the building placed on the lot? Which direction does the front door face? What surrounds this building?
What kinds of materials would you want to use? There is poured cement, brick, stone, wood, bamboo, tile and more to think about using.
Let’s draw! Take a piece of paper, a ruler and a pencil and start sketching your own building designs. You might want to start by focusing on the facade (the exterior front face of the building). How many windows and doors are on the front of your building?
Now that we have focused on the outside (exterior) of the building let’s look at the inside of the building (interior). Architects use graph paper to make a floor plan that includes each room of a building. Notice all the details in your home or school that and architect planned. Architect make drawings to scale, which means they draw 1 centimeter to equal 1 foot for example.
Walk the length and width of the space you are in and start drawing the floor plan of this room to scale. Where are the doors, windows and closets? Draw rectangles to represent them.
Next, design your own house or bedroom!
Research. Now it is time to start learning about who designed these buildings and how those buildings are used. Start your research on architects that incorporate styles that you are naturally drawn to. Look at more buildings which these famous architects designed to get an understanding of how their style and interests developed and how you might develop your own style as well.
Look back into history. Greek classical columns that inspired Roman columns: the Doric, the Ionic and the Corinthian. Columns were inspired by early huts created from bundled reeds. Doric was the the simplest and least decorated. The Ionic is easily identified by the two spirals at each end. The Corinthian is the most detailed and are decorated with acanthus leaves. Did you know these columns were originally colorfully painted and the color weathered off in time? Find columns outside in your city! For fun, study and draw the three types of columns and colorfully decorate yours to represent you.