NBM - City Vision Program Wk 2

 

30 Yr 7 students from Stuart-Hobson Middle School in DC arrived at the NBM for their second week of the City Vision Program. 

The first week involved dividing the students into 4 groups followed by a building design challenge making structures using spaghetti and marshmallows. 

At the end of the session students were given homework sheets to complete before returning the next week. All worksheets provide background and research relevant to the next project and are organized in students' sketchbooks.

Homework this week involved researching different careers in the area of design and architecture and researching information on the Amazon rainforests.

Design Challenge 2 - Welcome to the Jungle
Each group were asked to come up with designs for a planned facility for scientists in the Amazon rainforest.
They needed to:

• Provide a safe place to live and work for 5 scientists
• Provide access to food and drinking water
• Not damage the rainforest ecosystem

students take on different roles; drawing plans, elevations and working on their pitch to the client.

They had 45 minutes to pool their research, gathered as homework, and just over an hour to make their plans and prepare their presentation. If time permits students could attempt a model of their design. Each group then pitched their design to a guest judge who determined the best solution.

a multi level structure disguised as a tree and divided into living quarters and laboratories

the winning design incorporated rope swings, the use of indigenous and sustainable materials and making use of previously cleared land

explaining the small laboratory on a boat moored close to the base camp.

                                

National Building Museum - Outreach Programs

The National Building Museum, as seen from the 4th floor, continues to impress.

Education programs at the Museum run throughout the year. In fact there doesn't seem to be a day in the calendar when groups of students aren't booked in.
Teens and young adults, 12 to 18, are catered for through outreach programs, specifically for students from the Washington, D.C. metro area. These in-depth, multi-week education programs teach middle and high school students to use the built environment as a classroom for developing skills in critical and creative thinking, problem solving, analysis, evaluation, and teamwork.

The Museum currently offers three programs, CityVision  a semester-long program, Investigating Where We Live (IWWL) a four-week summer program and the Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP) which builds upon the two other outreach programs.

I've been able to observe a current CityVision program which began three weeks ago and runs through until May. A group of 30, Yr 7 students from the same school meet once a week at the Museum to take part. Students had to apply through their schools to attend and all seem enthusiastic participants.

The group is led by Museum education staff and Museum volunteers. 

Coral: Rekindling Venus

January 26th the Embassy of Australia invited me to a screening of a new work by Australian media artist Lynette Wallworth, titled Coral: Rekindling Venus. The film was also in official selection at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The work was designed to be screened in the round and there was no better place to see it than the Einstein Planetarium at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Lynette introduced the film and described it as an immersive experience which invites you to lose yourself in the extraordinary world of coral reef communities. You did feel as if you were sometimes lying on the sea floor and sometimes free floating in the water, with a haunting soundtrack featuring Gurrumul Yunupingu and Antony and the Johnsons.

"My intent is to leave the audience with a sense of wonder for the complexity of the coral community and a deep-felt longing to see it survive. What is apparent when you watch the film is the remarkable survival mechanisms already at play in the community of coral reefs, mechanisms that will be put to the test in the coming years. We might see ourselves as two different communities interconnected in our own survival." 

For more on the film including an Interactive Coral Map and to play the track "Rise" by Antony and the Johnsons go to:

http://coralrekindlingvenus.com/

National Building Museum - Green Community Teaching Kit

In the following video Timothy Wright, the National Curricula Coordinator at the National Building Museum explains the Green Community Kit and offers a guide for teachers interested in incorporating the kit into their teaching of the built environment.

With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Building Museum is able to provide a limited number of Green Community Teaching Kits to US teachers at no cost.

for more go to:
http://www.nbm.org/schools-educators/educators/green-community-teaching-kit.html

 

NBM - Curriculum Kits

In November 2011 I collaborated with the National Building Museum as part of the US Department of Education's International Education Week (IEW) program. This collaboration involved a simultaneous completion of the Museum's Green Community Teaching Kit by my students, at Strathfield South High School and students of Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington DC.

I ran the project over 10 weeks, but could have gone longer and involved Yr 7 and 8 students (Design Technology is mandatory in these years) and Yr 9 and 10 Graphics Technology students ( a 200hr elective subject). Students through analyzing the fictitious town of Grayville were introduced to the basics of urban planning.

They went on to explore the principles of sustainable communities by the investigation of real life towns and cities and examination of green buildings and sustainable technologies. These concepts helped them to re-plan Grayville and turn it into a livable, green community named Greenville.

The program engaged the students throughout and provided a wonderful opportunity for them to increase their understanding of sustainability issues, design, heritage and urban planning.  Students also researched clean energy alternatives and sustainable architecture as well as visiting community gardens and analysing their local neighbourhood.

The Green Community Kit (Grades 5-8) is the second kit produced by the National Building Museum and joins the Bridge Basics Program Kit (Grades 5-9) which uses bridge engineering and design as vehicles for exploring and solving problems. Both kits could be used and adapted to suit any Technology class from Yr 5-12 including Yr 7/8 Technology Mandatory, Yr 9/10 Graphics or as an introduction to senior Engineering classes.

I hope to spend time working on an Australian version of the Green Community Kit while here in the US and also observe the NBM's Teacher Workshops for this kit. The third kit in the series is a program titled, Designing for Disaster which is currently under development.

All Curriculum Kits are available through the National Building Museum's website: 
http://www.nbm.org/schools-educators/educators/curriculum-kits.html

Renwick Gallery - 40 under 40 Exhibition

 

The Renwick's Second Empire-style building, a National Historic Landmark, was designed by architect James Renwick Jr. in 1859 and completed in 1874.

The gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and features one of the finest collections of American craft in the United States. Its collections, exhibition program and publications highlight the best craft objects and decorative arts from the 19th century to the present.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, as first lady, was instrumental in restoring the building to its former glory in the late 60s, reopening to the public in 1972.

The current exhibition 40 under 40, celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Renwick as well as examining the expanding role of the handmade in contemporary culture. All artists were born since 1972, the year the gallery opened to the public.

Erik Demaine
One of the many highlights of the exhibition included the paper folding of mathematician/ glassblower/artist, Dr Erik Demaine, a professor of computer science at MIT, who at age twenty was hired as the youngest faculty member in the history of the institution.
For more of his work go to:
http://erikdemaine.org/



 


Christy Oates
On Feb 1st 2013 I attended an inspirational presentation at the Renwick Gallery by designer Christy Oates, part of the 40 under 40 exhibition. Oates is a furniture designer/maker, based in San Diego and working predominantly with laser cut plywood.

Folding Furniture

Her folding furniture series was developed while she was still a graduate student and is a response to life in a small apartment. The series includes chairs, stools, tables and lamps that all store flat against the when not in use.

The E-Waste Project

The E-Waste Project was inspired by a visit to an electronic waste recycling facility. Oates shot photographs of computer waste then cropped an image of assorted circuit boards to use as a repeating pattern.

http://vimeo.com/22427141
 

Kaleidoscope Algorithm
Her series Kaleidoscope Algorithm is based on computer image manipulation algorithms translated to wood marquetry. The series of 30 artworks are based on images from corresponding top Google search trends for each day in September 2011. Each segment of the trend image is divided into six corresponding veneers from dark to light.

For more of her work go to:
http://christyoates.com

2013 Presidential Inauguration

The Inauguration could not be ignored, it was much more than a day. It consumed the city for weeks prior to Monday January 21 2013, with talk of road closures, fencing, bunting, buttons, tshirts, whether or not you had a ticket to the Parade or Ball or were resigned to watching all day coverage from home.

On the 19th we ventured downtown to soak up the atmosphere before all roads were closed off.

2,500 portaloos, all locked

                                                        

permanent public seating around the Capitol building

                                            

How to stand out in a crowd. Red mink hat and mink coat bought for the last Inauguration in 2009.