The Salvadori Curriculum: Art

Each lesson plan is in PDF format. Select the lesson title to open the file.

American Dream House - Your work will be done in groups. Each group will research one style of architecture that has been used commonly in the United States and then use what it has learned to design and render a house in that same architectural style.

Archcyclopedia - Your challenge is to make an Archcyclopedia – an illustrated encyclopedia of architectural elements you find in your school. Just like in previous exercise, you will be combining images and text in your design to create a book of definitions. Along the way, you will learn about architecture, graphic design, and book-making!

Façade Facelift 1 - Your challenge is to take all that you have learned about how the style outside reveals what is underneath and use it to come up with ideas that would give your school a new "face" or "façade. You will use a three-step process: 1) Assessment, or "what we now have"; 2) Design, or "what we could have"; and 3) Presentation, or "what we should have."

Façade Facelift 2 - You are going to create a large scale-model of your façade re-designs, decorated, adorned, colored, and otherwise built to bring to life in three dimensions the concept you drew out in two dimensions.

Nomadic Niche - Different nomadic people have built different types of dwellings based upon weather and available materials. The Mongolians in Asia have the "gher," the Bedouins in the Middle East have their tents, the Somalis have the "aqal." The type of nomadic dwelling you are probably most familiar with is the Native American tipi. Your challenge is to build a full-scale tipi that will hold half-a-dozen of your classmates.

A Sense-Able Map - Imagine that your classroom is uncharted territory and you are a team of surveyors commissioned to represent this uncharted territory to those who have never been there. Survey and record your group's perceptions. Use all your senses. Try using one sense at a time to heighten the experience. Then communicate your perceptions to others by creating a "Sense-able" map of your classroom. Remember to use all the tools you have at your disposal to represent your ideas, including graphics, symbols, and scale, etc.

Tall Tales - Think of a folk tale, legend or myth you know well and really like, one that you remember from childhood or that has special meaning for you. Design an entryway for this character's house. Of course, unless the house and the door are mentioned in the tale, you probably don’t know what kind of door your character might have. But use what you know about the character to imagine what it should look like.

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