Welcome to Week 1 of Arts Award: Discover at Home. You can complete the activities by looking at the archive documents and answering the questions. We have provided a special ‘log book’ which you can use to record your answers.
These activities will work towards part one called ‘Discover’. You will learn about one particular form of art which appears all around us, and develop an understanding of how it connects with real life.
Download worksheet for week 1 (Word document, 0.27MB)
Download worksheet for week 1 (PDF, 0.27MB)
Download worksheet for week 1(Accessible PDF, 0.04MB)
To get started turn to the first page of your worksheet and complete the first activity. The worksheet will tell you when to get started with the activities below.
Think about the place where you live.
Perhaps you live in a modern apartment high up with views across a city. Perhaps you live in an old building with lots of history. Perhaps you live in a building surrounded by lots of other buildings. Wherever you live, someone in the past designed it. Someone thought about how the windows should look and where the doors should be positioned, the number of stairs needed and chose the building materials.
Can you draw the place where you live from memory? It might be fun to draw it and then go outside and compare your drawing to the actual building. Are there any details you have missed? Perhaps you can find things on the building you had never noticed before?
Architects are people who design buildings. An architect or a team of architects will have designed the building where you live. The word ‘architect’ comes from the Greek language. It means ‘master builder’. Architecture involves lots of maths and science for example measurements and weight. But architecture is also art. It is design and imagination and at its best it inspires us. Can you think of any buildings you have seen that have inspired you? Have you ever seen a building that makes you feel something? Perhaps you have stood looking up at a really tall building and you have felt something like excitement or wonder? Sometimes buildings make us laugh as we notice funny little faces or details carved into stone or wood. An architect will have designed the building in order to inspire others – you- to feel something!
We will be looking at some of the famous buildings found in London. Have you ever visited London? Perhaps you live in London yourself?
London has a long history extending back over 2000 years. The Romans established a town here in about 47AD. Later the Romans built a wall all around the town they called Londinium. Parts of the Roman wall can still be seen today. It is even possible to see the remains of a Roman temple called the Temple of Mithras.
Since then, London has suffered plagues and fires, it has been invaded, destroyed and rebuilt. Many of London’s buildings are famous around the world. Today we are going to investigate four key London buildings:
• The White Tower at the Tower of London built 1066
• Hampton Court Palace built c1520
• 10 Downing Street built 1680s
• Natural History Museum built 1870s
