Kibble Palace, Glasgow

Egyptian Halls, Glasgow

Building blocks for model

Brief

Design a pavilion which commemorates the life and work of Alexander Thomson. Your pavilion should be an inexpensive but permanent structure. The design should reflect his architecture, through its style, decorative features, and use of modern construction materials.

The pavilion should be designed to sit in open parkland. The available ground space is 10 metres square but your pavilion can be circular, rectangular or triangular. Its height should not exceed 10 metres. The final design should be a 1:50 scale model constructed in card.

Stage one - investigation

Visit one of Thomson’s buildings or look closely at the pictures within this section. Build up a study of annotated sketches, detailed drawings and if possible, take photographs on site. Concentrate on engraved patterns, motifs, stencilling, decorative ironwork, colour and architectural detail.

To extend this investigation select three of Thomson’s buildings, one of which should be the Egyptian Halls in Union Street, and make annotated drawings of the buildings showing areas you think are important.

Record in your drawings:

Materials used by the architect.

Where and how different materials are combined.

How and where Thomson used sculpture, decoration and colour.

Point out similarities and differences between the examples. Consider issues such as shape and size of windows, entrances, towers, roof shapes, steps, decorative motifs, carved wood and stone, layouts and surrounding environments.

Stage two – consideration of possibilities

Look at the architectural drawing of the Egyptian Halls here. They were designed by Thomson. What architectural elements does Thomson use (have a look at the classical forms of architecture here)?

Design the facade of a new building using some of these forms.

Create some decorative building blocks of your own, for example new column styles, capitals, pedestals or friezes.

Draw a grid of horizontal and vertical lines on to paper to indicate the various floor levels of a building. Draw your grid big enough to incorporate your building blocks.

Take your selection of new building blocks, draw them on to thin card and cut them out to use as templates.

Use your templates to draw the building blocks on to your grid in the desired positions, to create your architectural facade.

Contact suppliers and manufacturers for catalogues and samples of building materials. It is important to be aware of new materials and to consider how these may be used in stage three.

Stage three – final outcome

Having made decisions about plan, length and width of your pavilion within the 10m2 ground space available, sketch (on graph paper) each elevation of your design.

Draw it in pencil to a scale of 1:50.

Trace the final line drawings of each elevation onto thin card.

Go over pencil lines with a fine, black pen, and draw in details like cornicing, borders and dado patterns.

Cut round the outline of each elevation drawing and cut out negative spaces like windows.

Using masking tape, hinge the elevations where they meet so the card model will stand upright.

Stage four – evaluation

Examine the finished model and write down your opinions. Consider construction materials you sourced in stage two and consider how you might use them.

To extend the activity, photograph your model in directional light (to cast shadows) and outdoors against a natural setting. Within a group give a short presentation about your design using your drawings, models and evaluation as an aid. What examples of local and international pavilions can you find?