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Design and Architecture Norway

Into Architecture: An action-based introduction to architecture

A new teaching concept: Stories about architecture are linked to spatial experiments on a larger scale. The setting is an architecture workshop with room for a large group of participants.

The body is smart: We can experience architecture, but can we experience a structure? All buildings are subjected to powerful forces. These invisible ‘giants’ hold everything together and, regardless of the structure, pressure and tension forces interact in a complicated manner. The students gain experience with structures that they can enter, enabling them to personally experience static tension and pressure forces. They actively participate in the construction of the structure with their own bodies, together with sticks, rope, building blocks and canvas. A body also has its own construction and relationship to architecture in the skeletal and muscular systems. The larger bones absorb the pressure produced – just like the columns and beams in physical structures, while muscles stretch and recoil around the skeletal system to produce a functional position and stabilise the body in active equilibrium.

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The book INTO ARCHITECTURE introduces epoch-making buildings throughout history and enables an activity and experience-based exploration of architecture. The various stories start with concrete architectural descriptions. The reader is facilitated in picturing the landscape in which the structure is located. The building is first approached and then ‘occupied’. This is followed by subject matter content that can be adapted to the age and level of the students.

The eight chapters cover the most important epochs in the history of architecture. The history of architecture is not presented in its entirety, but rather by means of various stories that are pedagogically oriented, while at the same time providing a basic introduction to the art of architecture.

The reader is facilitated in picturing the landscape in which the structure is located. The building is first approached and then ‘occupied’. This is followed by subject matter content that can be adapted to the age and level of the students.

Apart from the main sections of Architectural Story and Architectural Workshop, each chapter also includes a section on Reflections and Resources. This section provides ideas about educational materials and comments on the architectural workshop activities. 

Each chapter concludes with a drawing section in which various drawing exercises related to the theme are provided.

DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT: Understanding the Principles of Architecture (here). 

See also