Family Activity: Building the Future

Inspired by our exhibition Our Silver City, and thinking about the city of Nottingham, in the year 2094. Nottingham Contemporary might not be an art gallery anymore........gasp! What do you think it might be?

a photo of Nottingham Contemporary's building next to a drawing of the building with trees on the roof
an aerial view drawing of Nottingham Contemporary with plants on the roof

For this activity you will need:

  • Paper
  • Pencils/Pens
  • and your imagination!

If you have visited Nottingham Contemporary, try and remember all the different spaces you visited. The shop, the cafe, the galleries, the big space on the ground floor where we do our holiday workshops.

If you haven't been able to get to our building, click on this link to have a tour. You could also take a look for a quick reminder.

In the future, do you think Nottingham Contemporary will still be an art gallery? Maybe it will, or it might be something else. What do you think it could be?

a photo of Nottingham Contemporary
a photo of Nottingham Contemporary

Let’s think about designing a new Nottingham Contemporary for the future!

Click here to look at a plan image of the top floor, this is where our galleries are. You can copy and draw your own floor plan, or print this out.

Use this as the starting point to plan your own design for the building.

You could add new rooms, you could even think about demolishing walls, moving doors, and changing the name too!

Have a think about some of these things, they might help with ideas whilst you are designing:

  • How do you think the building might be used?
  • Who will use the building?
  • What would happen there?
  • Will the building change on the outside?

Draw, paint or collage what you think Nottingham Contemporary might look like in the future. Take a look at our ideas.

an aerial view drawing of Nottingham Contemporary next to a photo of the building

Tips at home:

  • Don’t worry if you haven’t visited Nottingham Contemporary before, you can still imagine what you think the building might be in the future!

  • You can see some photographs inside the galleries, click here.

We would love to see your ideas for Nottingham Contemporary in the future! Share your future designs with us on social media #NCmaking

This activity was designed by Play & Learn Facilitator, Ursula Rae

a photo of Ursula smiling at the camera with sunglasses on her head and trees behind her

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