This method aims to inspire creativity and intuitive insight through the construction of a small preliminary model, or ‘maquette’.
In this exercise, participants use a wide variety of materials to create a ‘maquette’ to represent specific, physical ideas for the development of a particular place (such as a building, park, farm, or neighbourhood). A ‘maquette’ is a three-dimensional sketch, a spatial representation of an idea or concept. It is generally used by artists and architects to test an idea in preliminary phases of a project. It can be a highly effective method, as it disrupts normal patterns of thought by inviting participants to “think with their hands”. Maquettes can be done individually, in pairs, or as a group. In order to stimulate unconventional perspectives, participants could be asked to create the maquette from the perspective of another species or to create an idea that future generations could improve upon.
Clay/play dough, wooden sticks, straws, pipe cleaners, string, coloured cardboard; abundance of pre-cut or torn out images from magazines stored neatly in a folder; glue sticks, small scissors, and felt-tip markers stored in a small box or bag; A4, A3, or larger paper.
Maquette overview
Practical Aesthetic Making: Gulliksen (2017). Making Matters?
Unpacking the Role of Practical Aesthetic Making Activities in the General Education Through the Theoretical Lens of Embodied Learning.
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