Workshop Overview

Available for Grades 5 and up.

Delve into the real-world challenge of designing a public space! Students learn about the expansion plan for the Nelson-Atkins, then use their creative problem-solving skills to create a 3-D architectural model of their own.   

Outcomes

• Discuss the process, timeline, and roles involved in a real-world architectural project.
• Manipulate paper, cardboard, and poster board by using a variety of techniques.
• Identify architectural elements in the contemporary Bloch Building and the original Nelson-Atkins Building. 

Curriculum

• Design or redesign objects, places, or systems that meet the identified needs of diverse users.
• Redesign an object, system, place, or design in response to contemporary issues.
• Assess, explain, and provide evidence of how museums or other venues reflect the history and values of a community.
• Recognize and describe personal aesthetic and empathetic responses to the natural world and constructed environments.

Vocabulary

• Accessible – easily used or accessed by people with disabilities
• Architect – a person who designs buildings and advises in their construction
• Architecture – the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings
• Architectural model – a scaled, 3-D representation of a building, structure, or urban design
• Circulation – the planned path movement takes through space
• Expansion – the act of increasing in size, scope
• Maquette – a small preliminary model or sketch
• Scale – a mathematical ratio that allows architects to represent large buildings in manageable sizes. EX: 1:100 means that 1 unit in a model equals 100 units in reality
• Sustainable – using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged; minimizing environmental impact

Pre-Workshop Activities

• Explore the winning design for the Nelson-Atkins expansion plan: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art International Design Competition | Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/ Landscape­/Urbanism
• Browse through Architectural vocabulary and illustrations: Architectural Term Illustrations | Architerms
• If you know younger students interested in architecture, try this lesson plan: Design A Streetscape

Post-Workshop Activities

• Continue designing with additional architecture lesson plans: Resources – Center for Architecture
• Learn more about city planning: Box City Curriculum
• Hear from working architects.
• Career Advice from Architect Morgan Frederick – YouTube