The built environment - Greek to Po Mo

We teach year 8 art a unit on "The Built Environment". It begins with a study of historical buildings (Parthenon, Colesseum, Notre Dame), relevant architectural movement/styles and how these buildings related to and functioned in their current society. (I do an extension activity on the Sydney Opera House).  There is also a little bit of Howard Arkley thrown in there for good measure.

BUT THEN we look at modern/contemporary design - Daniel Libeskind! Frank Llyod Wright! Frank Gehry! Integrated green spaces! Vertical gardens!

And the students make tiny model houses/buildings - some highly detailed and carefully constructed, others roughly put together out of rubbish and found objects.  The entire year groups work will be placed together in an installation on the school oval.

We also introduce them to the idea of post modern art through the practice of artists who incorporated buildings/houses/built environments in their work.

The three following artists and particular works are who we are going to focus on:

1. Rachel Whiteread,  

"House"(1993) and "Place (Village)" (2006-8)

"House"

"Place (Village)"

2. Song Dong,  

"Eating the City" (2006) (various locations)

 

3. Hema Upadhyay "Where the bees suck, there suck I" (2009)

And I also just found this article, about artist Sergio Cezar's installation work based on Brazillian favelas: 

Another kind of model village…