For the Explorations Project, we explored an area of interest or passion in a self-directed project. The only requirement was that our project had to do with our elective class (Design in my case) and at least one 21st century skill. Twenty-first century skills can be defined as knowledge-based digital skills necessary to keep up with today’s society; the 21st century skills that my project included were technological literacy and communicating visually. This project provided me with an opportunity to learn more about architecture. I chose to study modernist architecture, its origins, and characteristics in particular, and made an infographic to capture the things that I learned. After reading about modernist architecture, I then designed my own modernist building.
Process:
A 2-point perspective sketch of my building
A 3-point perspective version of the building
Tracing my colored sketch in Adobe Illustrator
The initial outline of my building in Adobe Illustrator
Creating a 3-point perspective grid in Adobe Illustrator
A screenshot of my infographic in Adobe Illustrator
Final Product:
My take on a modernist architecture building in 3-point perspective
My infographic about modernist architecture
Here is my explorations presentation:
Experimental Music:
I used computer generated sounds in Reason, a music program, to create a short track. I was playing around with different instruments on reason, and happened to press a certain sequence of notes that interested me. When I first heard the notes, I immediately thought of calming music with a steady beat, music that someone might listen to at the end of the day to wind down. I developed that sequence into the one minute track below, trying to capture that feeling of quiet contemplation.
A screenshot of my experimental track in Reason
Reflection:
Doing this project has helped me realize that I really enjoy drawing buildings. I would like to design more buildings in the future, and possibly do case studies as well. I struggled over finding the right colors for the building, but ultimately decided to color it in grey, the color of concrete; sometimes, simplicity looks best. Learning to draw in three-point perspective has made me interested in exploring designing in 3D. I benefitted from this project as a digital artist by learning to properly draw in three-point perspective as well as shadows.