Grade 6/7 Latin students have recently been learning about Roman building structures and were tasked with designing either a traditional roman villa or bath house.
They started off by designing the floor plan of the building and used Google Drawing to layout the 2D structure of the different rooms.
They then used the SketchUp app on their MacBooks to create a 3D model of their building, based on their floor plans and previous building research. They created the model step-by-step:
1. The general structure of the building including the base
2. A cut out section of wall and/or ceiling so that the original structure is maintained but you can see inside one or two rooms
3. Detailing such as windows, door arches, and flooring
4. Colors and textures
5. Inserting appropriate pre-built objects, e.g. trees, wooden furniture, etc.
6. Text labels
Finally, they used QuickTime’s screen recording tool to record a virtual tour of their model, showing off different angles and close ups of their building. They then imported this video into iMovie and added a voice over to match, explaining the different sections and rooms.
A YouTube playlist of the finished virtual tours is embedded below: