Eco-Structure Building Kit

Eco-Structure Building Kit

Eco-Structure Building Kit

Worldwide, there is a housing and homelessness crisis. 100 million are homeless (United Nations, 2005 survey). 1.6 billion live in substandard housing (Habi-tat for Humanity, 2015). 22.5 million are refugees (United Nations, 2016). 550,000 are homeless in US each night (HUD, 2017). 6-10 million in the United States face severe housing cost burden or are ?doubled-up,? living with family or friends (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2016).

The challenge to engineers is clear: design safe, affordable housing that is good for the health and well-being of people and the planet. This kit allows budding architects and engineers to try their hand at this daunting task using simple materials.

The kit is intended for class-room or school-wide STEM challenge competitions but can be adapted for home use. Enough materials are provided to allow student teams to build a proto-type as well as a final version. The final version can be put through 2 solar radiation tests (summer inclination and winter inclination), 1 ambient light test, and 2 structural integrity tests (wind and snow).

Guide contains a guidelines for a STEM challenge, a Bill of Materials Worksheet, a Judging Rubric, and a Test Result Calculation Sheet.

• Structural elements include corrugated cardboard and chip board, foam pads for insulation, Cello sheets for window material, and a full roll of masking tape.
• Set also includes thermometer to test structure insulation and summer/winter solar resilience/usage, and a photocell with leads to measure the amount of natural light.