The cold weather months are an ideal time to encourage students to think about how we heat our indoor spaces, and the environmental impacts of the choices we make.
This can lead to exercising their creativity by designing their own healthy, sustainable home. This is a multi-step activity:
- Review a variety of videos showcasing options for sustainable building design.
- Play the Building Design Game that shows the cost and impact of several building options.
- Create a floor plan and sketch of their own ideal, sustainable home.
Intro Videos
VIDEO #1 – A tour through a beautiful home built of cob – a sustainable building material (3.56 min).
VIDEO #2 – Brief introduction to the concepts of green, sustainable and healthy buildings (2.25 min).
VIDEO #3 – A Landscape architect discusses design principles in a house built entirely from local and sustainable materials (5.19 min).
Building Design Game
Teacher Sherri Owen has created an activity that explores a variety of building options (roof, insulation, electricity, appliances, heating), and involves students in making selections based on available funds. The game PDF contains complete instructions and templates for money and building parts that can be copied before playing the game. A simple video walks you through the process of playing the game.
Design Your Own Sustainable Home
Now, design your sustainable ‘Dream Home’! Use everything you’ve learned about building options and costs, and create a sketch and floor plan of the home you’d like to live in.
Then, have a tour of Dream Homes! Students can compare their designs and explain the decisions made in creating their home designs. Were there difficult choices to make?