An Historical Perspective

Create a presentation about a building in your neighborhood. Every student or team of students must select a unique structure.
  1. Choose a building in your neighborhood

  2. Make careful observations about the building.
    1. Describe what you see in front of you.
      1. Look at the exterior: what does it look like? Put yourself in the shoes of someone who is from the time period and is seeing the building for the first time.

      2. How far away could you see this building then and now? What has changed?

      3. How did you approach the building then. How do you approach the building now?

      4. Is it symmetrical? Asymmetrical?

      5. Do you know how to enter it?

      6. Describe the elevation/façade. How tall? Scale? Roof?

      7. Look at the exterior details: how do they affect you?



    2. Look at the plan and interior.
      1. How is the interior laid out?

      2. Is there an entryway or foyer? Why?

      3. How do you explore the interior? In what order?

      4. Does the building “tell” you where to go? How?

      5. What are some details that you notice?

      6. Given what you know about the building, what might be some important rooms to look at more closely?

      7. What are some of the details in these rooms?

      8. What was the building used for? (Also known as the program of the building…). What is it used for today?



  3. Ask the current users of the space questions about the building.

  4. Research the building.
    1. Write a paragraph about your building from the viewpoint of an individual from the period in which it was built.

    2. Create a bulleted list of key facts about your structure

    3. Select images to illustrate your presentation.

      Your presentation will need to include at least the following images:
      • elevation
      • plan
      • exterior images
      • interior images.
  5. Research Style
    1. What style is the building? How do you know (what are characteristics of this style)?

    2. What styles are found in the period that the building was constructed in?

    3. Find another building from the period that is the same style and make at least three or four comparisons.

  6. Create a presentation or narrative for your building based on observations and research.

  7. Follow up: How do the presentation together create an archive and an understanding of "place?"

  8. Sketch out your building, then make a model of your structure. The model should be to scale so that you could place the models from the class together.