Day 036: Layered spaces

Shapes and layers

Today we are working on a vertical spatial structure

Do you happen to live in an apartment building or in a lower family house. Have you paid any attention to higher buildings with multiple layers? Apartment buildings are very typical examples of spaces stacked on top of each other. They might be sometimes a boring example, because the variation between floors is not that different. Do you have any other examples in your mind? How about some public buildings? Have you ever seen a picture of Walling water house by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright? That’s and amazing example of a building using layers of different spaces to highlight the spatial experiences. Check it on Google image there are plenty of inspirational pictures of that building.

Ask some help from an adult in cutting the different layers. Scissors and cutting knives are very sharp so it is better to pay attention and take care! You can make all different kinds of shapes, just make sure that they will overlap and you can stack and layer “the floors” later on.

We are aiming to build a multi-layered wonderland where we are combining different kind of floors and spaces together. This is an imaginary vertical structure with multiple spaces and heights. You are more than welcome to make your spatial structure look like your own dreams and ideas. We have used quite a lot of colours but you can have your own style and freedom to build your own thing! We have used a bit organic shapes for the four different floors that we have in our structure. You may build as many floors as you wish as well! We are just wondering what kind of a world is this one that we have made, how many people and animals are living in this little imaginary vertical village?

You would need these things for the activity:
- used cardboard box
- toilet paper or kitchen paper rolls, or any other rolls you happen to have
- some acrylic paints if you wish to colour your world
- a brush
- scissors or a cutting knife (remember that adults should assist children with the cutting part)
- a pen
- cutting board
- a ruler
- glue
- We have also used some elements from the activities of day 30 and day 34. Check out those activities for more instructions. We are using the small spaces on different floors. The small blue sculpture is also used as an abstract elevator or a staircase in this activity.


What kind of a world you are building? Who are living there and what kinds of activities are placed there? What kind of spaces you would need for those activities. What colours you have in mind? How many floors are you planning to build?

Have a great day! 

These are the first steps in making your multilayered wonderland with multiple layers and spaces on different heights! Once you have got some help in cutting the different shapes (floors) from cardboard you can paint them as you wish. What kind of things you have on different floors? Do you have some grass, some water, streets and paths, what else can you imagine? Use colours you like the most, do not be shy it can be very colourful or just unicoloured if you wish so.

It’s time to stack the layers. We have provided the steps on piling the layers together. You can use toilet paper rolls or household rolls as pillars or you can make a bit triangle like walls from the same cardboard as you have made the layers. We have provided some images with tips to make the supporting walls. It is super easy to make them. We have used just regular glue but you can use hot glue as well. Just remember that it can get very hot and then you need to really pay attention to use it! Normal glue takes a bit longer to dry, but it still worked well at least for us. You better use always three pillars when you use the round paper rolls; it is balancing the different layers in the best way when supported from three places. If you use the wall kind of structures, you can just use two os them, because they are a bit folded to a triangle shape and that’s why they are standing and supporting the top layers better. Have fun stacking the layers!

Great we are done with the layers and building part, now it is time to combine different kind of spaces on different levels and maybe you still need to consider the connections in-between the different layers. Is the blue elevator or staircase enough to connect all the activities or do you need stairs or maybe a ramp? What else would you need?

How is living in this wonderful wonderland? How many inhabitants there are? What kind of animals are there?

Dear followers we want to remind you that parents assume all responsibility for the safety of their children in these activities.

♥ - Team Bobola -