Shelter

A Pueblo house is an apartment-like structure built by Ancestral Puebloan people in the American Southwest. They are typically constructed with adobe bricks that are made of sun-dried clay, sand, and grass. These multi-story buildings, sometimes reaching four or five stories, were designed for defense and community living. They featured flat, earthen roofs accessible by ladders. Learn how these architectural marvels are built and the importance of climate and geography.

Learn how geography, weather, culture, tradition, natural resources, and purpose, all contribute to the design and construction of shelter. With an introduction of houses around the world from Arthur Dorros' This is My House*, students will build their own houses with front or side yards, chimney, doorbell, fences, trees, steps, porch, flowers…whatever they can 'see' in their mind's eye as they walk toward their own front door. Consider what materials are available and build a family. Consider the problems your walls will protect them from: rain, snow, heat, fire, winds, floods, mice, bugs or wolves. 

*© 1992 Scholastic Hardcover by Arthur Dorros.