Through color to form: young visitors created their own three-dimensional city at the National Centre RUSSIA
The children's workshop "Houses and Little Homes in the City" was held on 19 April at the National Centre RUSSIA as part of the educational programme of "The Birth of Scale" exposition. Participants of the creative process immersed themselves in the color plasticity of the architectural environment and explored the spatial properties of color under the guidance of Oksana Denisova, a teacher at the Moscow School of Architectural Development (SHAR) and a member of the International Union of Educator-Artists.
The children learned the basics of color-plastic modeling — a new methodology for developing spatial thinking in children. Participants of the workshop created their own three-dimensional city made of imaginative houses.
"Through color to form, as through thorns to the stars, the children formed their own vision of the world, inspired by elements of urban architecture — individual houses, entire streets and squares, even fragments of certain cities or districts. Through color, a child could express their emotional state and how they perceive the world," said Oksana Denisova.
At the art class of "The Birth of Scale" exposition, the children acquired skills in working with double-sided colored cardboard for modeling spaces, houses, and bridges, conducted experiments with color and form, and studied the properties of large and small urban objects. Their imagination was sparked and brought to life in real urban installations thanks to their interaction with the exposition's displays.
"I imagined a city and named it Makarburg. It has a fountain, many houses with parking lots, and one house with a helipad on the roof. And my city is all green, because this color goes well with nature," shared young Muscovite Makar Krudu..
The architectural exposition "The Birth of Scale" at the National Centre RUSSIA reveals the grandeur of Russia through its architectural legacy. The exposition features both original exhibits from the National Centre RUSSIA and items provided by museums and private collectors from across the country. Among them are tools used by architects of different eras, blueprints and models, and building designs — both those that were successfully constructed and those that remained as innovative ideas. A separate section is dedicated to the future of Russian architecture — children's creative studios, student workshops, and projects by young architects.
Partners of "The Birth of Scale" exposition include DOM.RF, the Ministry of Construction of Russia, Gazprom, the A. V. Shchusev State Research Museum of Architecture, the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the Yakov Chernikhov Architectural Charity Foundation, and the HSE University School of Design.
Participation in guided tours of "The Birth of Scale" exposition and workshops within the "Children’s Architectural Workshops" educational programme is free of charge with prior registration on the website of the National Centre RUSSIA at russia.ru. Current information about the workshops is available in the "Events" section.
The history of Russian architecture, bold concepts, and Soviet urban planning projects realised across the globe were presented to delegations of the exposition on May 31.
These mills were technological structures, each one a complex mechanism despite its apparent simplicity.
