The architecture by Edward Ruscha: The encounter between artistic languages and educational practice in Primary Education

Historically architecture as a medium has transformed natural landscapes to generate the spaces in which we develop as social beings. The discipline builds some of the most representative cultural symbols and undoulbtedly is one of those responsable for the mediation of people with the places they inhabit. Knowing and evaluating the buildings in our immediate surroundings makes us aware of their qualities, helping to develop a more critical attitude regarding their care and management. Despite not being a specific content of the Primary Education curriculum, the multiple dimensions of architecture mean that its contents can be explored in a transversal and multidisciplinary way, adapting to the premises set by formal education. This study made us investigate the forms that define the architectures of our immediate surroundings, taking our house as the starting point of an imaginary journey through the landscape. The participants in the artistic-educational actions were primary school students from Guejar Sierra (Granada), being contextualized by the EducaUGR - University of Granada program of activities for schoolchildren. The artist's book Every building on the Sunset Strip by Edward Ruscha (1966) served as an inspiring element for two essential reasons: first, by providing a particular approach from which to recognize and represent the urban landscape and, second, by converting an object everyday as it is a book in an innovative medium for artistic creation. This artistic, educational and research project seeks to transform educational practices in Primary Education and considers architecture as a subject of interest for the critical formation of people, taking contemporary visual arts and cultures as a reference for learning about the world, its landscapes and built forms.