Archimake
Workshops · Autumn term · Week one
Our autumn term is under way, and this term’s theme is Home. Our young architects studied Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, one of the most celebrated houses of the twentieth century, and drew their own plans of it.
The house that was nearly lost
The Villa Savoye was designed by Le Corbusier and finished in 1931 at Poissy, just outside Paris. It very nearly didn’t survive. In the late 1950s, the town planned to clear the site to build a new secondary school, and the house came close to being demolished.
It was saved by André Malraux, France’s culture minister and a friend of Le Corbusier. The French state bought the house in 1962, and three years later it was protected as a historic monument.
This November marks 50 years since Malraux’s death, and the villa is celebrating him with a season of exhibitions and events. Ten years ago, it was also named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A house that was almost knocked down to make way for a school is now a lesson in itself, and this term our Archimakers have been drawing it.
Autumn Term
In our All Ability workshops, Archimakers spent the first week of term inside a house that changed how architects think about living space. They worked out how it is put together, then set it down on paper as a proper architectural plan, showing the walls, columns, stairs and furniture.
Returning Archimakers raced ahead, and one newcomer impressed the whole team on their very first day. One plan was so well drawn it could have been by a 1st year architecture undergraduate student.
Reading the plan
Look closely at a plan of the Villa Savoye and you can find the ideas that made it famous: rows of slim columns that lift the house off the ground, a long ramp that carries you up through the middle of the building, an open terrace, and long strip windows that let in the light.
One Archimaker labelled them all on their own plan.
And a room of their own
With a famous home on the page, some Archimakers turned to a home much closer to hand. One drew a careful plan of their own bedroom, with the bed, desk, rug, wardrobe and shelves all labelled, and the door swing drawn in.
Looking closely at a room you know well is one of the best ways to start thinking like an architect.
Sustainable by design
Online, our Intermediate group began a term on sustainable design. They explored a Paris landmark famous for wearing its pipes and escalators on the outside, then drew their own section through it, a view that slices a building open to show how it works inside.
Asked what sustainability means for a building, one Year 7 Archimaker said:
“It’s able to sustain people who are inside it for a long time.” A Year 7 Archimaker
And when it came to describing the architect’s style, a 10 year old Archimaker needed just three words: “It looks raw.”
Thanks to our All Ability teaching team, Zaki Hassan, Azrah Jussab, Fatim Kamara and Lucy Zanetti, and Cheryl Pilliner-Reeves for curriculum design
Term theme
Home
Ages
7–18
Format
In person & online
Archimake runs STEAM architecture workshops for young people aged 7–18, in London and online. New Archimakers can start with a £1 Trial Guided Workshop at join.archimake.org.
