Putting it All Together

Learning About ArchitectureLesson Four

Learning Goals

•Studying the life and work of American artist Simon Rodia•Understanding the concept of vernacular architecture•Learning techniques for working with wire and clay

Buildings that :

•use materials found locally•use local traditions and cultures

What is vernacular architecture?

Buildings that :

•Are designed and built without professional architects•Use recycled materials and “green” construction practices

What is vernacular architecture?

Traditional buildings, made in ways that have been passed down for

thousands of years.

Three kinds of vernacular architecture

Brazilian longhouse

Inuit igloo

Hopi pueblos

Ecological “green” homebuilding for

sustainability or to fit in to the environment.

Three kinds of vernacular architecture

This whole monastery in Thailand is made from

recycled bottles!

Structures built for art and self-expression. Usually built by one artist

out of found or common materials.

Three kinds of vernacular architecture

Paradise Gardens, Georgia

Watts Towers, California

Cathedral of Junk, Texas

The Watts Towers•Built by Simon Rodia, who was NOT an architect

•All materials bought or found locally

The Watts Towers

•Built over 34 years•17 sculptures, including 3 tall spires, 2 walls and a gazebo•Rodia called it “Nuestro Pueblo” or “our town”

The Watts Towers

•Gathered old soda & medicine bottles, broken tiles & whatever he could find

The Watts Towers

•“Old Sam” sat in a window washer’s seat suspended from his towers while listening to his favorite opera music sung by Enrico Caruso.

•Click on the speaker to hear Enrico Caruso sing!

The Watts Towers

Rodia left the property in 1955. the City of Los Angeles was going to tear the towers down, but a committee saved the sculptures. The area is now a state historic park.

Build Your Own Tower

Start by using the presentation to teach the students about vernacular architecture and about the Watts Towers and Simon Rodia. If you’d like, play the included CD of Enrico Caruso while the students work – just like Rodia!

Bend both 18” pieces of aluminum wire in half, making sure the ends meet up. Do this one wire at a time.

Hold the two bent pieces together so the curved ends match up.

Build Your Own Tower

Wrap a piece of colored wire (about a foot) around the tops, making sure to wrap around and through the wires so the two pieces are connected as one. There's no wrong way to do this, but it's important to make your tower strong, so wrap tightly!

Spread the ends out a little to make a teepee shape. This is the basis of your tower.

Build Your Own Tower

Using the thinner colored wire, thread on beads, buttons or other items, and then weave the wire around the “legs” of your tower. You can use some wire to wrap around items that don't have a hole, and then wrap the end of the wire onto the tower to attach them. Leave about an inch at the bottom empty – this will be pushed into the base. If students wrap the wire around individual legs, as well as wrapping around the outside, it will strengthen their tower.

Build Your Own Tower

Once the wire sculpture is complete, students will use the clay to mold a base for their tower. Create a round, thick slab like a short cylinder. Making the shape perfect isn't necessary; it just needs to be a flat-bottomed solid shape. Place this on the paper plate, and then gently press the feet of the tower into the top of the wet clay, sinking the wire about an inch.

When the tower is set in, students can mosaic the base by pressing bits of glass, pottery, or trinkets into the clay.