Home Design
The Challenge:
Become an architect, an interior designer or have fun trying to build a home that would fit all the needs of your favorite superhero. Home Design allows you to do all these. You just need to create a goal and learn how to design it all!
THE DETAILS:
QUICK START
Begin with the Quick Start page. HOWEVER - this is exactly what it says it is, a quick start. It is not meant to be worked on for more than 30 min. Your house CAN NOT be saved until you hit the 'continue' button on the quick start and truly begin your design project.
A Few Words of Wisdom
Punch! Home Design is a powerful program that lets you easily design the exterior and interior of a house. While you can get started without knowing much about the program, you'll probably need to use some of the learning resources to get the most out of your house. Spending some time looking at the resources and learning launchers can make the difference between a boring, empty house and one with colorful walls and a variety of furniture and appliances.
Let's Talk About Dimensions
As you start to design your first house, you may be tempted to make the largest house possible. Unfortunately, as your house gets bigger it become more difficult for the computer to keep up. With this in mind, I highly suggest limiting the size of your house. Not only will this help the computer run smoothly, but it will also make it easier to produce a realistic house.
Another consideration is the size of each of your rooms. As you use the QuickStart Screen, you'll see a list of general dimensions for each size room. While you don't need to stick to these sizes, they will help give you an idea of what a typical house looks like.
Working with Stairs
Ask anyone that has used Punch! Home Design what the hardest part of their design process was, and you'll most likely hear "stairs" as the most common problem. This section will help keep your frustrations to a minimum as you build a way to move from your first floor to the second floor!
Customizing your Design
Go to this link for help with the customization of your walls, doors, windows, roof, materials and color!
https://www.punchsoftware.com/blog/post/punch-software-tip-2-customizing-your-design
STEAM U Levels:
GREEN CIRCLE (1 PT.)
Create a floor plan of a typical house.
Include screenshots in your presentation of different views of what you created from the 3D mode in PHD.
BLUE CIRCLE (2 PTS.) IN ADDITION TO ALL IN THE GREEN CIRCLE....
Design your house using the 'Inspector' tab in PHD. Add flooring, paint, exterior, windows, doors, furniture, etc. to your floor plan.
Your house should be designed for a specific person or purpose. It could be a 'dream house' or designed for Curious George or for Iron Man or whatever you can think of.
Create an movie tour of your house and design using screenshots or a screen recording. Your Movie should include titles and audio.
BLACK DIAMOND (3PTS) IN ADDITION TO ALL IN THE GREEN CIRCLE & BLUE SQUARE...
Your house design should be for a creative purpose. Something that could be valuable now or in the future. For example, a house of the future when water is limited and crazy technology is available or a house design to survive on the Moon or Mars or a environmental friendly house that doesn't waste electricity. Create the next best feature that everyone will want in their house!
Your presentation movie should focus on the innovative designs that your house has with an explanation of how that will be helpful for many.
Student Examples:
Max R. (8th grade, 2021)
Punch Home Design 8-2: Sarah, Marni, Abby, and Jessie