Make Your Own Gehry-Inspired Architectural Model

In honor of Frank Gehry, who is gracing our cover this week, I thought it would be fun to play architect and create a scale model of a building inspired by iconic structures like Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain. 

I had never made a model before, but with some common objects I found around the house, I was able to channel my inner architect. This would be a fun activity for kids to introduce them to architecture and make them into budding Gehrys.

What you’ll need:
Small empty boxes
Empty paper towel tubes
Random household objects
Aluminum foil
Foam board or cardboard

1. Gather boxes, paper towel tubes and any small random objects you can find around the house. I collected a bunch of things to give me choices, but I ended up mainly using one box and a paper towel tube. I decided that including too many shapes would make it ungapatchka. But that’s me — you’re the architect of your own imagination.

2. If you decide to use the paper towel tube (and I certainly recommend it), cut it into pieces. However you cut them, the curve of the roll will stay intact, creating wavy shapes for your building. You can also cut up boxes if you’d like so that your building does not have the traditional four walls. 

3. Cover your architectural elements in aluminum foil. The foil mimics the titanium walls in Gehry’s work. The great thing about using foil is it molds around your objects easily, and you don’t need to secure it with glue or tape.

4. Cut a piece of foam board or cardboard for the base of your model. Then start assembling all the objects you’ve covered with foil, gluing the elements to the board and one another. Experiment. Remove some things and reposition others. I decided my building needed a finishing touch, so I covered a clothespin in foil and made that the doorway.

Jonathan Fong is the author of “Flowers That Wow” and “Parties That Wow,” and host of “Style With a Smile” on YouTube. You can see more of his do-it-yourself projects at jonathanfongstyle.com.