Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes	Part A: How strong is paper?
15 minutes	Part B: Resilient architecture: Shigeru Ban
45 minutes	Part C: Build a fire or flood-resilient building
10 minutes	Reflection

Part A: How strong is paper?

Step 1.

Place a pile of A4 paper in front of you (and the class) and pose the question: "How strong is paper?"

Demonstrate its strength by cutting an A4 sheet into quarters. Take 1 quarter and explain how it’s not strong when it is flat and scrunch the paper up. Take another quarter, roll it into a cylinder and tape the end, so it doesn’t open up. Place it vertically on a table with your hand on top and explain how it performs well under the compression of your hand when it is rolled up.

Then, ask students: "How strong is paper if you fold it into shapes?"

Step 2.

Assign students to a pair and ask them to create a structure that can hold a heavy book.

Step 3.

Test the structures with a textbook and discuss why some were/weren’t successful and how they might be able to improve the structure.

Part B: Resilient architecture: Shigeru Ban

Step 1.

As a class, watch: Shigeru Ban: Emergency Shelters made from Paper (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q43uXdOKPD8). Invite students to take notes or create a see, think, wonder table where students can add any relevant information.

About the video and Shigeru Ban: Long before sustainability was a buzzword, architect Shigeru Ban used ecologically sound building materials such as cardboard tubes. He uses them to build remarkable temporary structures for disaster-struck nations such as Haiti, Rwanda and Japan.

Step 2.

Facilitate a brief discussion with your class and use the following questions as prompts:

How could the architect’s practice and concept be applied to the Australian landscape?
What disasters have occurred in Australia, and how have communities rebuilt quickly?
What are the social and economic effects of being able to rebuild quickly for local communities? This can include building community spirit, maintaining dignity or for businesses to continue to trade.

Part C: Build a fire or flood-resilient building.

Step 1.

Let your class know that you need them to apply their critical and creative thinking skills (green hat) to create a design solution for the following brief:

Step 2.

Present students with a hypothetical brief:

A fire or flood has just come through a community and destroyed homes and public buildings, including classrooms. Families have returned to rebuild and start the cleanup phase. To continue schooling, a building must be erected quickly for the students, classmates and teachers. There is a shortage of builders, so facilities need to be constructed quickly and easily by members of the community who have no experience in construction. It must also be easy to take down after rebuilding the original classroom. The classroom building must only house the bare essentials for a class of 25 students.

Step 3.

Divide students into groups (2-3 students per group) to design and build the model. Advise them to experiment with triangles or prisms and cylinders for structural strength.

Step 4.

Before you commence, brainstorm some ideas for fire resilience such as:

Creating a firewall around the perimeter of the house.
No combustible plants near the home on the floor plan.
Creating an underground space under the house
Designing the building so the roof is round and debris slides off
Minimise the building footprint
Minimising window sizes
Use a prism shape to deflect strong winds

Then, brainstorm some ideas for flood resilience:

Building the house on stilts or an elevated area
Creating elevated spaces within the home or roof
Creating flood barriers or walls around the building to keep water out
Design a space at the subfloor level that can flood to manage the flow of water.

Step 5.

Invite students to collaborate and build the foundations with the unfix cubes, use the polypropylene sheet or cardboard to construct the floor (base), and build the paper house on top.

Note: Students can use the unifix cubes to build a slab (concrete base) or frame (timber or metal base).

Step 6.

Invite your students to conclude their buildings and set up testing stations to see whether their buildings are fire and flood-resistant.

Flood: Test the building in a tub of water and see if it floats away or gets wet.

Fire: Turn the fan on and pour loose dirt or leaves from outside over the building designed for fire resilience.

Reflection

Ask students to write down their observations about the performance of their building and what they can do to improve it. Consider the structure, materials, cooperation, design etc.

Differentiated learning

Extension

Ask your students to design a floor plan (floor plan at a scale of 1:50) and build a paper house that will fit their family. The home must only provide one or two rooms for sleeping, cooking, and bathing.

Remind students to:

Research fire or flood-resistant homes and list why they are resilient
Research materials and strategies used in fire or flood-resistant homes.

Provisions for learning support

Give students a maximum width and length of 200mm x 200mm, which equates to a 10mx10m space, and a height of 60mm, which equates to a 3m high ceiling. Advise students to erect the building walls with the floor plan as a base. This will help guide them in the model-making task.

Teacher reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Resilient Australia - Resilient Design And Architecture

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