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:

2-point perspective sketch of my building

A 2-point perspective sketch of my building

 

3-point perspective sketch of my building

A 3-point perspective version of the building

 

Tracing my sketch in Adobe Illustrator

Tracing my colored sketch in Adobe Illustrator

 

digital sketch of my building

The initial outline of my building in Adobe Illustrator

 

Creating a 3-point perspective grid in Adobe Illustrator

Creating a 3-point perspective grid in Adobe Illustrator

 

A screenshot of my infographic 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 take on a modernist architecture building in 3-point perspective

 

My infographic about modernist architecture

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.