Constructivist Art, Design and Architecture

Explore constructivist art, design and architecture through theory and application in a hands-on studio practice, with methods, materials, and projects that teach learning by doing.

Explore constructivist sculpture through studio practice by mastering sketchbooks, bases, air-dry clay, and plaster, and create small installations that express space within a space using ready-made bases.

Explore constructivist form through readymade manipulation, basing, and assembly inspired by Duchamp and Cornell. Create mini sculptures and installations on your desk that explore light, shadows, and space.

Explore constructivism, a 1915 Russian art, design and architecture movement that blends material properties and Tecktonik spatial presence with industrial modernity and propaganda.

Follow constructivism’s beginnings with Tatman and Catlin, as wood and steel meet industrial design in the monument to the third international, plus early kinetic, bird-inspired and human-powered machines.

Explore constructivist forms from cylinders, spheres, and cones, building a shared vocabulary of planes, prisms, and core shapes, plus lines, angles, ellipse, parabola, circle, arc.

Explore close packing theory by forming spherical clay units into a line, a triangle, and a tetrahedron, mounting on a base, letting them dry, and documenting the sculpture.

Apply constructivist techniques by building tetrahedron, triangular prism, and cube from light cardstock, using a clean base, tabs, and extrusion concepts, with safe, precise hand tools.

Create three constructivist sculptures by manipulating geometric forms, including spheres and prisms, exploring subtraction, transformation, and topography while studying light, shadows, and color accents.

Explore constructivist sculpture and graphic ideas, showing how tricks shape form and guide planes, using steel, acrylic, plastics, and subtraction techniques.

Construct Leonardos bridge from flat craft sticks on a clean base by forming a central square and alternating under and over to create an arch, no glue or nails required.

Explore how Peggy Guggenheim's patronage fueled Antoine Besner's constructivist sculpture, as works by Panzner at the Centre Pompidou reveal construction in space, brass rods, and planes folding into organic forms.

Explore plaster of Paris molding for transformation, using ready-made molds, color options, and marble effects, while practicing safe mixing, mold removal, and portfolio-ready photography.

Profile Laszlo McColley, a Hungarian painter, photographer and sculptor, whose constructivist, kinetic works blend surrealistic constructivism and science, reshaping modern art, design and architecture.

Analyze hyperbolas and their rotations around the focal axis to form one-sheet or two-sheet structures. Explore straight-line construction with steel or reinforced concrete and complete the paper-folding exercise on curvature.

Vladimir Grigorievich Shuko showcases hyperbolic geometry and diamond-shaped diagrid systems, where diagonally intersecting members—metal, concrete, or wood—form tall towers with spacious interiors.

Discover Felix Candela's thin-shell structures showcased alongside Chapultepec Park's domed groups and Valencia's oceanographic center, emphasizing reflective pools, elegant fenestration, and spacious, light-filled interiors.

Explore the course catalog of constructivist art, design and architecture, and understand how these topics are organized within the course.