Studio Visit: Stephen Lepp, Architect

Stephen Lepp is a special kind of artist, he is an architect. He designs buildings, schools, libraries, hotels, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, vacation homes. 

Mr. Lepp listens carefully as a client describes the kind of building he needs. Then he designs the form of the building: wide, tall, straight, twisting. He selects the materials to build the building: brick, glass, steel, concrete. He designs the entrance and the lobby. He designs the landscape that will surround the building. His team of skilled draftsmen draw the "working" plans that tell the construction teams how to build the building. 

Here are some selected projects of Stephen Lepp Associates, Architects.

This is a vacation house that Steve Lepp designed. It was built in North Haven, Long Island, New York.

This is a photograph of the interior, taken from the second floor.

This is a photograph of the walkway from the house to the pool area.

Here are three sides of the Queens College Student Center, designed by Steve Lepp.

Project: A Model of Your House

Some architects like to build paper models of their designs for buildings. Try to build a paper model of the building where you live. These are the materials you will need:

Construction paper
A point-and-shoot camera
Scissors
Elmer's glue
Scotch tape

With an adult:
You are going to construct a paper model, a simple box shape, of the building where you live. You will glue photographs of your building to the outside. You will build the box out of construction paper.  Here's how to do it:

On a sheet of construction paper,  draw five rectangles 4"x 4." You will have a center square and one square on each side of the center square. It will look like a big cross shape. (These will be the floor and sides of your building.) 

Photograph the front of your building, and the sides and back of your building. (If you can only photograph the front of your building, don't worry. You can leave the sides and back blank.) Download the photos to your computer and print them. (Keep the image size 4"x4.")

Cut around the outside edge of the big cross shape, the box, you drew on the construction paper. Make a crease around the middle square (Use a paper clip to press the crease and a small ruler.)

Trim the photos to 4"x4" the same size as the squares. Remember, the middle square is the bottom of the box. Fold the sides of the big cross up so you have the walls of the box. They will form the front, sides, and back of the building.  Scotch tape the corners together so the model stands.

Place the photo of the front of the building in the front of the box. (Make sure the bottom is on the bottom.) Put drops of glue in the corners and glue it on the model. If you have photos of the back and sides of your building, glue them on.

There. Now you have a small model of the building where you live. Do you want to do the inside???