Hi all,
I too would be interested in experiences in teaching architecture to
children as well as youth and informal adult learners.
The Education staff at the Art Gallery of Ontario are beginning to deeply
consider public, school group and studio programming focusing on
architecture. We are embarking on a transformation of the gallery by none
other than Frank Gehry. While the staff and the people of Toronto wait with
great anticipation for the unveiling of Gehry's plans and model, we are
looking to take advantage of our experience in having the gallery
transformed around us by one of the world's most prominent architects.
Another neat aspect of Gehry's transformation of the AGO is that he lived
right across the street from the gallery as a boy and claims that his first
deep artistic experience happened here. Even more fascinating, the Royal
Ontario Museum www.rom.on.ca just across the University of Toronto campus
from us is being transformed by Daniel Libeskind and right next door, a bold
expansion to the Ontario College of Art and Design www.ocad.on,ca by William
Alsop.
We will be offering programming for family groups through our Family Sundays
programs starting next fall, a youth architecture program starting this
summer, and of course special lectures and adult courses. As a department,
we are concerned that we do not just offer courses in basic architectural
drafting, model making and history. We are very interested in exploring
issues in social architecture and the role of public institutions like
galleries and museums in communities.
We want to have our youth program (ages 15 to 19) to explore the idea of how
the AGO might be transformed by the students themselves. Our initial ideas
about how we might get the ball rolling has us starting with a large
group-contributed collage featuring images of all sorts of social spaces
including domestic, corporate, museum, educational public common and
commercial. The idea being that the students begin to identify and consider
the relationships of each of these spaces. This will include mapping the
community and then working towards producing models and drawings without
getting into any in-depth drafting and technical modeling. This process
will be supplemented with formal sculptural and graphic studies. We are
planning to produce a single group project and although the students will
not be able to take the larger model and graphics away with them, they will
be able to take away documentation as a folio of photographs and documents.
I am consulting with a prominent local architect and professor about how he
thinks architecture should be presented and taught to young learners. We
seem to be in agreement that the course should avoid jumping into the
technical design aspects of architecture. We do want to reinforce the
collaborative and team aspects of professional architecture. As part of
the course, we are also hoping to start an ongoing dialogue between the
class and the Gehry office.
I too would be very interested in hearing anyone else's experience in
exploring architecture in museum/gallery public programming. Please do not
hesitate to contact me off-list.
Paul Toth
Manager, Studio Programs
Art Gallery of Ontario
www.ago.net
416-979-6660 ext.370
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Harry Klinkhamer
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 7:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Teaching architecture to grades 2-5
Also, go to the CUBE Web site www.cubekc.org and look at some of the
resources they have available.
Harry Klinkhamer
Program Officer
American Association for
State and Local History
1717 Church St.
Nashville, TN 37203-2991
615-320-3203
FAX: 615-327-9013
[log in to unmask]
Visit our new Web site, www.aaslh.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "BECKER, DAVID" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Teaching architecture to grades 2-5
> You may want to contact Peter Exley at www.architectureisfun.com
> Besides creating some extraordinary spaces for children, Peter teaches
> architecture at the Art Institute of Chicago and does some great hands-on
> programming with school children to get them excited about the idea that
> "architecture is fun".
> Tell Peter I say, "HI"
>
> Dave Becker
> Manager of Play Programming
> Hamill Family Play Zoo at Brookfield Zoo
> 708-485-0263 ext 291
> [log in to unmask]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ccarr [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 2:07 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Teaching architecture to grades 2-5
>
>
> Hello all--
>
> I will be teaching a summer "College for Kids" on architecture later
> this month, and would be immensely grateful for any suggestions you
> could send my way on activities for the students. There will be two
> classes of 14 children each, composed of second through fifth graders.
> Each class meets for an hour and a half for five days, and I would like
> to design a curriculum in which each day we learn about and work on one
> component for the final project. I'd also be interested in including a
> short architectural history each day (maybe 15 minutes) followed by an
> explanation of the day's project, and then time to work on it. I have
> found a couple of websites, but the activities they list--reasonably
> enough--seem specific to the site or museum itself, even at the National
> Building Museum.
>
> One idea I am considering is having them design their ideal college
> campus--dorms, dining halls, classrooms, gym, library, etc.--one
> component each day, and then having them choose their favorite example
> of each to put together for the last day's "show and tell." But I teach
> at the college level, so am not as well-versed in the capabilities or
> enthusiasms of elementary-aged children. I would be very appreciative
> if anyone might be able to suggest the best route to pursue--for
> instance, would it be better to have them produce blueprints than a 3D
> model--or materials to purchase (there's a very tiny budget, about
> $100). And do kids this age do better in small groups of 3-4 students
> each when assigned to a project, or do they prefer to work individually?
>
> I may have been unclear about what I'm after since I'm still in the
> planning stages of thinking about it, but would really love to hear
> suggestions, ideas, or pitfalls to avoid from those of you with
> experience with these sorts of programs or activities.
>
> Thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide,
> Christian
>
> --
> Christian Carr
> Acting Director
> Sweet Briar Museum
> Visiting Assistant Professor
> Department of Arts Management
> Sweet Briar College
> 434.381.6246 (phone)
> 434.381.6132 (fax)
>
> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
>
> The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
> http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
> information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail
message
> to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read
"help"
> (without the quotes).
>
> If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
> [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read
"Signoff
> Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>
> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
>
> The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message
to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help"
(without the quotes).
>
> If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff
Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message
to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help"
(without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff
Museum-L" (without the quotes).
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
