Passive Solar Home
For this project we were told to design the most energy efficient house possible while staying in a $5,000 budget. We would create a presentation as well and be judged by our designs, whichever design won would actually be built on school campus.
Our design must include blueprints of our house as well as a computer and or physical model of your design. You are also required to have a complete list of all your materials and their cost. For our presentation, we had our blueprints, pictures of our computer model, explanation of all our model's key features, and a cost chart of materials, quantity, source, and why we chose that material.
Our design must include blueprints of our house as well as a computer and or physical model of your design. You are also required to have a complete list of all your materials and their cost. For our presentation, we had our blueprints, pictures of our computer model, explanation of all our model's key features, and a cost chart of materials, quantity, source, and why we chose that material.
Below is a few pictures of Our computer model design:
When we first started to collaborate for our design, we went and decided each detail, piece by piece. We chose the shape we wanted our house to be, the dimensions of each wall, how many windows we would need, etc. When it came to decided what materials we should use for our house, we split it up into sections of the house and what we material would need for each. Once we decided that much, we searched online for what exact product we would use based on quality, cost, and availability. Every time we found a new product we would add it to the cost chart.
I was in charge of our model piece of the project. I created a computer scaled model of our house design, as shown above, using the program SketchUp. This was my first time using this program and was quite difficult, but I soon got the hang of it. One of our key features, a custom hexagonal skylight is not shown in our model due to the difficulties, time and effort it would take to figure out how to create a scaled version of it on our model when I could use that time and effort for more important matters appertaining to our project.
I was in charge of our model piece of the project. I created a computer scaled model of our house design, as shown above, using the program SketchUp. This was my first time using this program and was quite difficult, but I soon got the hang of it. One of our key features, a custom hexagonal skylight is not shown in our model due to the difficulties, time and effort it would take to figure out how to create a scaled version of it on our model when I could use that time and effort for more important matters appertaining to our project.
Below is a copy of our cost chart:
Overall, I feel that this project went smoothly with few setbacks. Everyone worked well together. We all helped with the work load and contributed our thoughts and ideas freely and those ideas and thoughts were accepted freely and taken into consideration. In most cases applied to the design in one way or another as well. Many of the mistakes I made in this project will only help me to do even better on my next one.
below is a copy of our slideshow used in our presentation:
~Some things we could've done better:
Distinction~ We could've clearly stated why we chose certain materials and backed up the reason with facts some more. We knew why we chose each material, but I don't think that message carried over to the audience. We should've emphasized our reasonings a lot more.
Presentation~ While we took extra time to practice our presentation, our actual slideshow could've used some work. While it included our key features it lacked vital aspects. For example, in our whole presentation, we didn't explain actual our facts and research for why we chose each material we did.
Presentation~ While we took extra time to practice our presentation, our actual slideshow could've used some work. While it included our key features it lacked vital aspects. For example, in our whole presentation, we didn't explain actual our facts and research for why we chose each material we did.
Some things i believe we did well:
Organization~ For this project I felt that we were quite organized. For example, to make is easier to keep track of, and analyze I created a google document we could all access and add each material we use in our project. Using this chart also allowed for a more accurate estimate of our total price.
Preparation~ Compared to other projects I have worked on this year, to me, I felt the most prepared for our presentation . A week before we had to present our design in class, most of my group members met up at my house so we could all practice our presentation and go over what questions might be asked.
Preparation~ Compared to other projects I have worked on this year, to me, I felt the most prepared for our presentation . A week before we had to present our design in class, most of my group members met up at my house so we could all practice our presentation and go over what questions might be asked.