Art History - Dame Zaha Hadid

In my Art History 2023-2024 blog post, I decided March would be Dame Zaha Hadid. Here are some resources and my planning notes:

Zaha Hadid
1950 - 2016

also

The Legend of the Persian Carpet by Tomie dePaola

Building Zaha: The Story of Architect Zaha Hadid by Victoria Tentler-Krylov

Architecture for Kids: Skill-Building Activities for Future Architects by Mark Moreno & Seina Moreno

K-12 activities from Center for Architecture

lesson plans from Art History Kids, June 2023

lesson plans from National Portrait Gallery UK

Under 5s / Dens
6-8 years / Imaginary Buildings
9-11 years / Paper Towns
12 years+ / Through the Window

"Architecture is an art form that should provoke emotions and create a sense of wonder."

“The paintings have only ever been ways of exploring architecture. I don’t see them as art.”

"Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works."

"Architecture is not just about creating buildings, it's about creating experiences."

"If I wanted to do clothes or if I wanted to make a building or design a choreography, you are able to do that - they are all under a similar kind of design umbrella."

---

week of Feb 26

Sat

read The World Is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid by Jeanette Winter and look at pictures of her work

do "Nature Sketches" activity from Art History Kids, p.26
(use plain pencils only, look at shape and not color, create designs for clothing/furniture/buildings based on your nature sketches)

week of Mar 4

Mon

read The Legend of the Persian Carpet by Tomie dePaola, look at shapes in Grimm's 1001 Nights Building Blocks and Nautilus Puzzle

Sat

read The Town of Turtle by Michelle Cuevas

do Paper Towns activity from National Portrait Gallery
(work in pairs; give each team a roll of calculator paper, a tape dispenser, two pairs of scissors, and a little plastic turtle; if desired, our collection of wooden animals can also come to visit turtle)

week of Mar 18

Wed

read Building Zaha: The Story of Architect Zaha Hadid by Victoria Tentler-Krylov

do "Architecture + Landscape" activity from Art History Kids, p.27

Thu

SWI investigation - is < architect > related to < detective >?
no, but it's related to < tectonic >, < textile >, and < tissue >

do "Shaky Foundation" activity from Architecture for Kids, p.5
(I would NOT do this activity again. I spent the entire time walking around repeating the instructions! There were too many steps that they had to follow and they just wanted to explore the materials.)

Sat

our focus today is translating one thing into something else!

Candle Flame ---> Shoes
Dance ---> Drawing ---> Dance
Rooftop ---> Hat

light a candle, look at picture of shoes inspired by the shape and movement of flames

Flames Shoe (United Nude x Zaha Hadid - 2015) from French Vogue

do Drawing Movement activity from MoMA
(work with a partner to translate their dance into pencil drawings, then on Monday we will have different students translate the pencil drawings back into dance)

quote: "I have always appreciated those who dare to experiment with materials and proportions."

read The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Manus Pinkwater

do Rooftop Hats activity from Center for Architecture

week of Mar 25

Mon

dance drawings made by Saturday's class!

Wed

look at the relationship between Zaha Hadid's concept paintings and the buildings that resulted from them

How Architecture Is Born: 8 Abstract Paintings by Zaha Hadid and the Buildings They Inspired - architizer.com

Cardiff Bay Opera House
concept paintings, scale model

Vitra Fire Station
concept paintings, finished building

Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art
concept paintings, finished building

MAXXI: Museum of XXI Century Arts
concept paintings, finished building


do "Abstract Architecture Part 1" activity from Art History Kids, p.29

because we had done so many drawings of buildings, it was hard for them to make an abstract painting instead of going right into drawing the specific building they wanted to make tomorrow; I think it would work better if they just did an abstract painting without instructions from me and then later translated that painting into a 3-D design

supply list:
Stockmar Opaque Colour Box Set
Faber-Castell Gelatos Original and Dolce II
Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils
watercolor paper, painting boards, brushes, rinsewater jars

Thu

do "Abstract Architecture Part 2" activity from Art History Kids, p.30

supply list:
large brown paper grocery bags
foldable templates for small gift boxes, printed on cardstock
additional construction paper for details
rulers, scissors, tape, staplers, colored pencils

Make a Pop-Up Building From a Paper Bag

another option: old cereal boxes!
https://www.centerforarchitecture.org/k-12/resources/how-to-transform-an-empty-box-into-a-house/


The children often found that their ideas kept changing as they adapted their paintings into actual buildings! A nice book to read to go along with the idea of changing aspects of your building as you find they don't work for you is William's House by Ginger Howard.

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