1

TERM 4 Visual Art

GRADE 6

BUILDINGS

You will be learning about building architecture, particularly how a building is

designed both to fulfill its function and to fit into its environment. You will also

make your own graffiti, of your name, to hang on the walls of the classroom.

2

DIFFERENT TYPES OF BUILDINGS

An ARCHITECT is a person who designs and plans buildings

for a specific purpose and environment according to the

client’s requirements. He will be called upon to oversee the

construction of the building. An architect has to consider:

1. A space that is required for a purpose such as, for example, designing a school,

a shopping mall, religious building or a private house.

2. The materials that are needed.

3. How the building will fit into its environment.

The very first buildings that were ever built, developed from man’s need for

shelter, for feeling settled and for having places where they could worship.

3

You cannot separate the function of a building from the way it is designed.

Consider the different spaces in a home or a school and how each one provides

the necessary space for its different functions.

FORMAL ASSESSMENT Activity 1 (5 marks):

• Collect pictures of interesting buildings.

• Find ONE EXAMPLE each of a house (semi-detached, town house, double story, farm

house, etc.), a block of flats, a school, a religious building (church, mosque, etc.) and a

mall.

• Paste them into your art book, at the top of a new page, under the heading:

Interesting Buildings.

Study/look at details of the different shapes and parts that make up the following features of each building:

1. Windows

2. Doors

3. Chimneys and gutters

4. Balconies and verandas

5. Stairways

6. Fences

4 Choose TWO BUILDINGS and write an essay detailing the following:

• The features that form the façade (the front face of a building) of each

building (1 mark)

• The roof (describe the shape, features and materials used) (1 mark)

• Where do you see sharp angles (e.g. the pitch of the roof), horizontal

(does the building stretch across the horizon) and vertical lines (does the

building reach towards the sky) (2 marks)

• How the building fits into its setting (e.g. a mountain, on a coast-line or in an informal

settlement) (1 mark)

The above information will assist you in your drawing of your tall and narrow

buildings.

Activity 2 (15 marks): Imagine that you are an architect, and you have been

asked to design a tall, narrow building, to fit into a tall,

narrow, vertical space.

Use black felt-tipped pens to explore the elements of tone, line and texture in

drawing the features of your building. 1. Start with a basic line drawing (in pencil) of your buildings. Remember that you should aim

to include as many different types of buildings as possible and not just skyscrapers.

2. Decide which buildings are going to be in front of others.

3. Make the buildings 3D by adding shading (colour some areas solid black and leave others white).

4. Decide on which texture each building is going to have (some will be smooth and made of

glass or have glass elements and some will be rough because they are made of concrete

or brick).

5. Decide on what type of roof, door or windows each building will have.

5 6. Start drawing the buildings from the bottom of the page upwards.

RUBRIC FOR DRAWING OF BULDINGS CRITERIA MARKS

3 MARKS

2 MARK

1

Meeting the specification and

constraints set out in the instructions

All specifications and

constraints set out in the instructions are met by

the learner

Not all specifications and constraints are met by the learner. Building is tall and narrow, but does not fit in a

narrow vertical space

Specifications and constraints not met

Use of the

elements of art

All 3 elements of art used (tone, line and

texture)

Only 2 elements of art used

Only 1 element of art

used

Following

instructions

Instructions followed by starting the drawing at the bottom of the page

Learner followed instructions at the

beginning of the activity, but abandoned them

No instructions followed

Creativity and

design of building

Building is interesting to look at and the elements

used enhances its features

Some parts of the building

make it interesting

Building is plain and not

interesting.

Purpose of the building clearly

identifiable

Purpose of the building

explicitly clear

Purpose of building

somewhat clear

Purpose of the building

not clear

ACTIVITY 2 – 15 MARKS

6

ACTIVITY 1 – 5 MARKS

TOTAL OUT OF 20