Unit 1 Lessons

3. House Styles Tour with Google Street View

​

You will need: Google Maps and PowerPoint

​

Part 1: Local House Styles

Your Objective: use Google Street View to explore the local area and identify common house styles, analyzing their architectural features and potential influences.

​

1. Create a PowerPoint

2. Look up Google Maps on a web browser

3. Click + Drag the little yellow person onto your choice of neighborhood in Williams Lake and "walk" around it, looking at houses.

4. Find and document at least three (3) distinct house styles. For each house, you must:

   1. Take a screenshot or sketch the house.

   2. Identify the architectural style (or best guess).

   3. Describe at least three key features (e.g., roof shape, materials, windows, porch design).

   4. Suggest why this style might be common in the area (e.g., climate, historical influences, local culture).

5. On your final slide, try to answer the following questions:

   1. Do you see any trends? are certain styles more common? Why?

   2. How do these house styles reflect function, history, and culture?

PLEASE SAVE your PowerPoint as 02 House Styles Tour

​​

​

Part 2: Global House Styles​

Your Objective: use Google Street View to explore house styles in different countries and climates, analyzing how architecture adapts to environmental and cultural factors.

​

1. Continue with your House Styles Tour PowerPoint

2. Choose THREE locations with different climates, for example:

   • Scandinavia ​

   • Japan

   • Grece

   • Brazil

   • India

   • Southern United States

   • Indonesia/Thailand

   • Morocco

3. Go to Google Maps​

4. Go to one of your chosen countries, and drop the little map person into a residential neighborhood.

5. Explore. Find at least three homes per country that represent a style you see repeated:

6. For each house, you must:

   1. Take a screenshot or sketch the house.

   2. Identify key architectural features

   3. Explain how the house may be suited to the climate (e.g. materials, roof shape, ventilation, layout)

   4. Note any cultural or historical influences.

7. Comparison Slide

   1. Should have one house from each of the three countries

   2. Highlight key differences, focusing on climate adaptation and cultural influeces.

8. Final Slide - Answer these Questions:​

   1. What surprised you?​

   2. What similarities exist across different climates?

   3. How do economic factors shape house designs?

PLEASE SAVE your PowerPoint (still 02 House Styles Tour)