4 Section 1 Architectural Drafting Fundamentals
along with English, Spanish, French, German,
Dutch, and other people who settled in North
America, contributed to the vast number of
architectural styles that are used throughout the
country. Traditional architectural styles provide
a historical background that still infl uences the
design of today’s homes.
Native American Houses
The evolution of the American house started
with the dwellings of the Native American inhab-
itants. The Native Americans developed their
building techniques over thousands of years.
They used locally obtained natural resources such
as rock, clay, wood, bark, plants, and animal
hides to construct their shelters.
Wigwam
The wigwam was a small house usually
made of wood frames covered with woven mats.
See Figure 1-2. Many people think of wigwams
as round structures with domed roofs, but they
could also be cone-shaped or oblong. The typical
size of a wigwam was about 10′–16′ in diameter
and 8′–10′ high. The grass houses used in the
Southern Plains were a variation of the wigwam.
Tipi
In the North American Plains region, many
Native American tribes moved often, following
bison and other food and clothing resources
across the plains. Their shelter had to be light-
weight and easy to assemble and break down.
Their main form of housing was the tipi, a cone-
shaped structure covered with animal (usually
bison) hides. The typical size of a tipi is 12′ in
diameter and 10′–12′ tall. See Figure 1-3.
Longhouse
The longhouses built by the Iroquois and
Algonquian tribes in the Northeast were much
larger structures than wigwams and tipis,
although the construction was similar to that of
wigwams. They were usually rectangular and
consisted of wood pole frames covered by bark
or grass mats. They could be as large as 200′ long,
Arthur Rutenberg Homes, Inc.
Figure 1-1. Styles from the past often influence the design of new homes. This home borrows the tile roof and
arches of the Spanish Colonial style.
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.