1. Homes for Different Climates
Our Plan for Today
Review what we learned last week
Learn about energy in the countryside in China
Work in engineering teams to design houses for specific climates in China
Homes for Different Climates presentation (PPT/PDF) for Lesson 2 of the Engineering Challenges in China unit.
This slide presentation has built-in “animations,” so you can click for the next text or image to show up on many of the slides.

2. Engineers design different types of houses for different climates
China is a BIG country and has many different climates
China is a big country and has many different climate zones, so engineers must take climate into account when they are designing homes for people in China.
US Dept. of Agriculture:

3. Engineering Design-Build-Test Cycle
Engineers design different types of houses for different climates
Steps of the engineering design process:
Design
Understand the need
Brainstorm different designs
Select a design
Plan (drawings, materials)
Build
Test & improve
 Why does it go in this order?
Design
Build
Test
The engineering design process is circular. After testing your model or prototype, you incorporate what you learned into an improved design and re-build and re-test, until you get the best solution.

4. © Abigail Watrous
© Abigail Watrous
Examples of homes in rural China. What materials do you see? What house features do you see?
The two homes (and the wall) in these pictures are made of bricks, which can be nice and cool in the hot summer, but chilly in the cold winter.
Lots of people in rural China use the small circular coal briquettes (in the lower left picture) to cook their dinners and heat their homes; this type of coal is cheap but the indoor air pollution it causes can have bad health effects on people’s lungs.
© Abigail Watrous
© Abigail Watrous

5. More examples of homes in rural China.
© Abigail Watrous
© Abigail Watrous
More examples of homes in rural China.
Notice that not all homes in China are made of bricks. Some, like the two on the right side, are a mix of brick and concrete. The one in the top left, which is in southwestern China, has some beautiful woodwork in the kitchen. The one on the bottom left is made of mud bricks (adobe-like).
© Abigail Watrous
© Abigail Watrous

6. China
China
This map shows three cities in China that are located in three different climate zones.
Urumqi is in far western China in a hot and dry climate.
Harbin is in the far north of China and is quite cold and snowy.
Guangzhou is located the south with a tropical climate (wet).
US Department of State:

7. Engineering Design Build Test
Today we are going to design a house for one of three climates:
Very cold
Desert
Tropical
How do you think these houses should be different from each other?
In today’s activity, you will act as engineers and create your own design strategies for your model houses, so that they perform well in the snowy, tropical or desert climate conditions that will be tested.
Then, we will build and test our houses.

8. Things to know before you design
Latitude
Altitude
Number of rainy/snowy days
Average summer temperature
Average winter temperature
This is part of the design process… to first understand the need and do research to find out everything you can about the design challenge situation.

9. Harbin: very cold climate
Test: Your house must be able to keep the roof from caving in when we put a lot of snow (weight) on top
Think about how your house will be tested and design it to handle those conditions.
What are your climate challenges? What are your design and construction strategies and techniques? What materials make sense?

10. Guangzhou: hot and wet
Test: Your house must keep dry a piece of tissue paper inside when we pour water (rain) on top
Think about how your house will be tested and design it to handle those conditions.
What are your climate challenges? What are your design and construction strategies? What materials make sense?

11. Urumqi: very dry
Test: your house must be able to keep an ice cube from melting as we heat the house with a hairdryer
Think about how your house will be tested and design it to handle those conditions.
What are your climate challenges? What are your design and construction strategies? What materials make sense?

12. Your Drawing detailed plans sketches materials dimensions
Side View
After you have brainstormed ideas and agreed on a design, make detailed plans that include sketches, drawings and materials. Here we have a floor plan, which shows the placement of rooms, doorways and windows. And, we have a sketch that shows an elevation (side view) so you can see the foundation, porch, roof overhangs and roof shape.
Top View
(floor plan)
 Elevation: foundation, porch, roof shape and overhangs...
Floorplan: rooms, doorways, windows…
National Park Service:
National Park Service:

13. Your engineering instructions
Choose a partner
Choose the climate you want to design for
Fill out the information on the top of your worksheet about the location you chose
Write your goal for your model house
Make a rough sketch of your house
Build, test and improve your house
Create a final drawing of your house
Turn in your worksheet to the teacher
Bonus question: Why do engineers design model houses? (Answer: Because it usually takes too much time and money to create and test full-size houses.)

14. the end Note on image sources
Image sources are usually noted on individual slide pages
If not noted, source is Microsoft Clipart: Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA USA. All rights reserved.