Architecture

Architecture is a great topic and unit with middle school students. Most students do not really think much about the houses and buildings around them.

We discuss several different types of architectural styles and architects as well as room layout, flow, public, transnational and private spaces withing a home.

Also, we look at topics of how much space a person really needs, drawbacks of large spaces as well as potential issues with spaces that are too small.

After all of our class discussions, seeing work from architects like Santiago Calatrava, Frank Lloyd Wright, Zaha Hadid, Le Corbusier and looking into the style of Gothic architecture and tiny houses, students design their own dream home.

I place a few constraints on their homes to make the project more realistic. Houses must have a minimum of a kitchen, dining room, living room, two bedrooms (with closets), a bathroom and cannot exceed 3,000 square feet. Designs can have more then this but still cannot exceed 3,000 square feet. If a student is designing a tiny house then they can get rid of some required spaces.

We use the computer program called Punch to draw our virtual houses. This is a great program that lets the user walk through the house, paint walls, assign trim, rugs, hardwood fooring and even place furniture.

Kings Hill House- Floorplan	Kings Hill House
9	7
6	4
3	2
1	index
Classroom	Classroom2
punch

Architecture

Kings Hill House- Floorplan

Kings Hill House

9

7

6

4

3

2

1

index

Classroom

Classroom2

punch