Concordia - Living in Harmony

Hey there!

My name is Ryan, and I'm a 13 year old student living in North Carolina, and recently became interested in how urban planning and architecture can shape people's lives. This competition: "Make it Home," seemed like a fun and engaging way to exhibit my personal interests and share them with the Instructables community. Jumping straight in, let me introduce you to my project entry, titled "Concordia - Living in Harmony."

Concordia is an affordable housing solution that works through standardized component construction, with a heavy emphasis on bringing people together. The design itself encourages communal living, breaking racial, financial, and age barriers, while increasing the health and satisfaction of the nearby society. If realized, Concordia will make residents, policy-makers, and construction firms happy, due to careful consideration for each domain.

In this Instructable, I document my design process for the project, and invite you to follow along.

[Left: Hardware and Software; Top Right: Physical Model Materials; Bottom Right: Tools]

Before we get started with the actual design, here are the supplies I used for this project...

Software (all free)

Google Drawings - I use drawings as a very unorthodox 2d graphics software in place of something like Affinity or Figma. It is pretty bad for floor planning (you have to use two shapes to make lines because the line weight diversity is pretty bad), but it's free and once you learn some clever polyline tricks, it will do; also vector based, which is good. I also used this for all of the non-technical schematics/diagrams on this Instructable.

Fusion 360 - sketch based so easy to transfer floor plans to 3d models. I used Fusion to create all of the technical parts of the digital model, and used Blender to do fancy lighting and textures.

Blender - first design software I learned, and I still use for textures and renders, mainly because I'm more used to doing rendering on Blender vs Fusion.

RawTherapee - open source RAW image processing engine, used it to improve clarity and lighting for the images used to document the physical components of the project.

Google (and Scholar) - search engine for all of that fun pre-design research!

Hardware

Computer - something that is good enough to handle all of the software above, I use a MacBook Pro.

Camera - for documenting physical model work, you can your phone. I had an old Canon Kiss x3 laying around so used that with a 24-70mm lens.

Physical Model Materials

1. Balsa Wood Sheets - I used 1/16 inch, in 32 by 3 inch sheets. In total I used 3 sheets, and I found them at the local craft shop.
2. Corrugated Cardboard - Some old shipping packages have great cardboard to make bases for models. Also corrugation is a cool textural difference I have used in the past that can be used to imply material finishes like corrugated sheet metal, or wavy cut stone.
3. Cardstock - variety of colors, use scenarios, and available in large quantities for cheap.
4. Wooden skewers - found them in my pantry, great for round supports.
5. Plastic Sheets - I used a combination of grocery bags, and crafting plastic sheets. They are available in frosted and clear finishes, great for windows.
6. Wire - 18 gauge craft wire, used for material diversity and reinforcement.
7. Pom poms - colored craft balls great for trees and other plants.
8. Hot glue - for a fast drying and strong adhesive.
9. (Jot) White Glue - for a slow drying yet reliable adhesive. I actually ran out of the original and switched to Elmer's Glue-All, which was a bit stronger.

Tools

1. Set square - acts as ruler and for drawing right angles.
2. Ruler - metal for cutting stuff, 12 or 18 inches are both fine, architects scale is useful as well.
3. Scissors - a medium sized pair to cut paper.
4. Wire cutters - for the wire listed in physical model materials
5. Craft knife - I used Olfa's detail blades (equivalent to X-Acto #2), this is used for majority of physical model cutting. Ended up going through 4 blades, keeping them sharp is important for precision.
6. Hot glue gun - intuitively, to apply hot glue.
7. Design Notebook - holds and organizes the entire written design process. However, I use different mediums such as white sketching paper, or more oftenly, trace, and glue/tape those into the notebook.
8. Fine Liners - Pigma Microns, for outlining and accenting drawings. Also used to annotate model.
9. Mechanical Pencil (and lead) - .5 lead, used for all initial drafts in the notebook.
10. Fine point eraser - for editing some pencil drawings.
11. [unlisted] tracing paper - for brainstorming and iterative drafting.
12. [unlisted] markers - Copic sketch, alcahol based marker, in various shades of gray, for shading stuff.

[Image: A traditional Chinese/Taiwanese Sanheyuan 三合院, or three sided residential compound (Tan 14)]

Most of my extended family resides in Taiwan, a country off the coast of China. I visit every couple of years, and one thing that always catches my eye are the sanheyuans, which literally translates to three sided court. They are designed in an inverted U shape, with the central building in the middle, two halls on the sides, and a large courtyard for children to play, cars to park, vegetables to grow, and people to socialize. Though the usage of the sanheyuans throughout China and Taiwan has decreased significantly due to urbanization, I really thought it was interesting how each sanheyuan has its own close-knit micro community, with neighbors and family always eager to lend a hand. Small things like making food for another family or children playing badminton in the courtyard; every individual felt connected and content with their role in their community, something I think that most Americans with private estates, ultimately lack.

In the United States, space is not as much of a constraint compared to the small island of Taiwan, which is only slightly larger than Maryland. This means that it will be much easier to implement the design into the suburbs, the main target for Concordia implementation.

[Image: Franklin Street at evening hours, on the UNC campus; considered the social nexus of Chapel Hill, my family frequents for food and entertainment (TLP 24)]

I wanted to impact as intimate and personal a community as possible, so what better than my own? I live in Chapel Hill, NC, which happens to be in driving distance of 3 great colleges: UNC, NC State, and Duke University. Each university impacts their respective city/town through culture, people, and more!

People from all over the States and international even come be apart of this community, and I believe that inviting them with hospitality is key to a positive relationship. The goal with Concordia is to bring people in this diverse area together by creating an affordable, communal housing blueprint, which can be highly scalable and implemented with utmost practicality.

The design can seamlessly integrate into the demographic that a college town can provide, providing reasoning behind the site choice.

[Images (please click to expand data): Left: Occupation diversity; Top Right: Race/Ethnicity diversity; Bottom Right: undergraduate major distribution, primarily from UNC - all data is for Chapel Hill and from DataUSA]

Chapel Hill’s unique blend of academic, racial/cultural, and professional (see graphic) diversity makes it especially well-suited for communal housing models like sanheyuan that promote cross-disciplinary and intergenerational collaboration. In such shared living environments, residents—ranging from university students and professionals in fields like healthcare, tech, and education, to families with children—can exchange skills and knowledge in meaningful ways. For example, a retired teacher might offer homework help or reading sessions for children in the community, while a working parent in healthcare could share basic first-aid skills with neighbors. These everyday exchanges not only build practical competencies but also strengthen social bonds and mutual support systems. Communal living in this context thus becomes a platform for inclusive, lifelong learning and shared responsibility. Of course any other area could also experience these benefits, but my community is grateful for having an especially wide range of skills we can share among our peers.

Within walking distance to most lecture halls and 2 blocks from Franklin Street, this lot is in an optimal position for students and families. It sits on the outskirts of the campus, and has space for multiple cars to park.

The prompt for this contest tells us to create an affordable housing solution that solves another problem as well. Unfortunately, as I dwelved more into the science behind communal housing, we find that a model like Concordia solves multiple at the same time,

Though I had experienced first hand the positivity that communities like the ones living in sanheyuan could experience, there had to be facts to back up the initiative. After research, I came to four key realizations, which I have synthesized below:

Communal Living Makes Living Cheaper

After all, the main component of the prompt for this contest is to create an affordable design, and while later I will show you innovative construction techniques for the structure, I found that just the concept of communal living can decrease prices for the average resident. Charles Durret says that communal living may provide "shared facilities that can take advantage of economies of scale and efficient construction, and with the money saved, still have remaining funds to spend on other quality of life activities."

Think about it: communal living is inherently cheaper. Residents share the electricity bill, share maintenance costs, leveling out the financial load to multiple families within one physical house. A survey conducted found that communal housing can save more than $2000 per household energy bill!

Communal Living Has Environmental Benefits

Simply having people live in micro communities has its environmental benefits. Shannon Magnin remarks that "Community investment in solar panels, designs built for less reliance on cars, low waste systems, and collectively shared spaces and resource(s)" can significantly help reduce environmental harms.

Communal Living Benefits the Health of Residents

Carrere et al says that "studies have provided a relatively consistent picture of the increased psychosocial health benefits of the community dimension and the emotional and social bond of this model of housing." The physical characteristics of a structure like Concordia are designed to push people together, and this naturally increases the mental health of residents.

Communal Living Increases Racial and Socioeconomic Equity

Concordia can help with equity in two ways:

1. Policy-wise: In the status quo, government zoning tactics are exacerbating segregation against financially challenged minorities. Soning segregation includes minimum lot size (to prevent affordable small houses to be built), exclusionary zoning (segregation via race and socioeconomic status), and redlining (financial institutions like banks are prohibited or hindered by zoning to serve certain demographics). Concordia can solve all of these policy issues by taking a stand. Minimum lot size is solved by through communal housing; the actual residence is quite large, yet can remain financially available because expenses are shared. Exclusionary zoning power is decreased because communal housing pushes for diversity. The design - you will soon see - attracts college students, financially hindered families, and even a fair share of middle-high class citizens. Finally, if exclusionary zoning is solved, redlining would make it impossible for businesses to survive, and policy makers would have to change.
2. Dynamic pricing solutions: Though Concordia houses are strongly promoting the community side of things, pricing plans are innovatively modular, meaning that each plan is personalized to an individual or family's needs. Wealthier residents may purchase larger "portions" of the house, some may choose to rent, but everyone gets access to common areas and the courtyard free of charge, both of which are designed to be low maintenance and accessible. This encourages vast groups of people to live at a Concordia property, and helps break racial and socioeconomic barriers.

Obviously these are just wide cohousing examples of potential benefits, and not specific to Concordia. Later in the Analysis of Community Impacts, you can find the specific numbers that were predicted for Concordia properties.

After research, I considered how I could further improve each positive impact through physical design.

First is health (step 4) and skillsharing (step 3): these both occur in communal housing models because of interaction. Talking, socializing, having fun with people is good for you. Talking socializing, having fun with people can also teach you new things. These bonds are key to a positive community. Now the question was, how do I make people socialize?

With that question in mind, I came up with:

Open Design - this is really the theme and design language choice I knew I wanted to push for throughout the entire project. An open design encourages interaction and communal bonding, in turn leading to all those other positives. Even small things like a round table or a U shaped couch and a lot of common space builds the communities that the architectural narrative and the Chapel Hill community expresses. Must haves also include shared utilities such as a small library, recreation room, etc. I also wanted to mess around with human movement during the design phase later, as that's something that has always interested me. Finally, I knew I wanted to include a sort of common space. Sticking to our good friend the sanheyuan, I decided to keep a central courtyard as both a recreation and human movement hub. This also means that the structure will be designed in either an inverted U, L, or some type of other enclosure.

Second is sustainability and cost (both step 4): these both occur in communal housing models because of centricity. Having utilites and mechanical systems such as HVAC in one universal energy source saves money, and emmisions. I didn't specifically note how I was going to implement this, because having one energy system for one large building is pretty ineherent.

With these ideas in mind (and my notebook), I set to start the juicy stuff: Designing the building!

[Images: Left: A collection of physical drafts; Top Right: tracing a scanned document in Drawings; Bottom Right: cross-plan calibration in Drawings]

Over the next group of steps, you will see primarily the digitalized final version of multiple areas that I focused on during the design process. However, as this is still an Instructable, I decided to also included some iterative hand drawings on paper, trace, and other mediums to show how I got to the final design.

Here was my general workflow if you're interested:

1. Brainstorming, usually a diverse spread of solutions [Sketchbook, Pencil]
2. Trace iteration, around 2-3 rounds of trace on top of a chosen solution, refined and edited [Trace, Fineliner]
3. Paper final draft, taking the last trace and putting it on white paper, with more polished linework [Mixed Media Paper, Fineliner(s), Pencil, Markers]
4. Digitalize, scan the paper final draft, import into Drawings, and trace/refine using polyline, text, etc.

[Image: one of the many layout sheets worked on, this one with the first iteration of the final design]

I started the design by sketching multiple different layouts of the structure. I started with the original sanheyuan layout, but it looked very blocky and unoriginal. Some shapes had weird nooks and crannies that would form. Others were too organic, and just looked like blobs. This step took a looong time, over the span of 2 weeks (mostly because I was procrastinating). I finalized with a layout that was still definetly sanheyuan inspired, but feature the right wing being at an angle to feel more welcoming and permit more light to enter the courtyard. It also featured both wings being set back slightly to provide a second microcourtyard perhaps for trashcans or a garden in the back of the building.

If you didn't get my Pokemon reference in the drawing, well, so it goes.

If you didn't get that Vonnegut reference, well, I have no words.

The centerpiece plant wise is a large Emerald Sunshine elm, placed in the middle of the courtyard. There are several reasons for its inclusion, mainly shade, air quality control, and nature exposure. Numerous studies have shown that being in contact, seeing, or sharing the same air with even one tree has health benefits.

The Emerald Sunshine is a modified version of the Chinese Elm, known for its low-maintenance and resistance to diseases, making it perfect for Concordia properties.

There is also a green roof, you can read about that later in the Environmental Mechanisms step.

All of my floor plans were made in Google Drawings, and created by tracing and refining a scanned hand-drawn plan. Hopefully you can really see the open design language on the first floor where most of the socializing happens. I included lots of large full length windows for natural light flow, and a more "flowy" atmosphere for the interior.

The second floor is primarily residential, with 4 bedrooms, one designed to accomadate a larger family with children. I purposefully let the media center be a two story raised roof. Hand drawing the 2nd floor plan on trace over the first floor was very insightful, as it allowed for me to envision what could be built on, and what people would see from balconies, etc.

The roof has a larg skylight above the media center, to make the first floor flood with natural light and be very spacious. A frosted finish may be applied in order to avoid sharp light during the midday. Meanwhile, the left wing roof has a mini-array of three solar panels. The right wing skylight near the entrance was later removed due to space constraints. All non-feature roof area is covered by the green roof. See environmental mechanisms (s32)

Site plan should be dynamic depending on the terrain, and the suggested site plan is just for this specific site.

I found drawing the design in three dimensions way too challenging, with perspectives and angles I just technically could not execute, having no previous training. Time restraints in mind, I made sure to learn techniques later, and intended to sketch the physical/digital 3D model for perspectives afterward. I have heard that Saarenin's JFK TWA terminal was also conceptualized this way, not that I'm anywhere close to his mastery...

Not super important, but if you want to look at ALL of my final drawing scans...

Physically modeling my design is always my favorite part! I personally find it lot's of fun to assemble, cut, and conceptualize in 3D. For this project's model style, I went with something a bit more realistic then my normal study models, so you guys can really see all the details I packed in there.

Thus, I decided to build at a 1:72 scale, which is enough to show doors, windows, chairs, etc., but still small enough that I don't have to spend a ridiculous amount on overpriced balsa sheets. Materials-wise, I kept true to the list at the top, but some additions were made due to time constraints. Mainly this was buying a model tree and grass powder for the project, because I ran out of time before I could make my own pom pom trees.

Nevertheless, the next few steps will guide you chronologically through my model-making process.

Math isn't the most fun, but building to scale is apparently important. I started with the math in order to scale everything down from the original dimensions. I used the desmos scientific calculator, but most of it was pretty easy and self explanatory.

I had not established wall heights before this, but I went with a standard 8' on floor 2, and 9' on the more open floor 1.

Doing this math allowed me to estimate how much wood I would need, and I cut that accordingly. Also, this sheet was used as a constant reference for wall lengths, and proved to be very important.

[Images: Left: floor plans taped to foam board, Top Right: finished foam board cut out, Bottom Right: Tracing floor plan with craft knife]

I started the actual building by printing out all the floor plans, which I scaled in the printer preview of my laptop, and it auto-calibrated with just one wall length I took from the math sheet (s. 19).

Next, I taped the first floor plan onto a sheet of foam board, and cut along the walls with my craft knife. This lead to a floor that I could attach my walls on.

[Images - In Sinistrodextral Fashion: Cut out walls waiting to be glued, media center window, first window and wall piece, front courtyard compartment with bent glass, mat measuring marks with a plate of balsa wall, a compartment glued on, interior wall installed, clamp usage in action, interior compartment before installation, complete interiors]

Walls

I always cut my balsa every 6 inches to make it much more manageable, so 6*3 inch sized plates. For the first floor walls, I cut each 6*3 plate in half, to get 6*1.5 plates, and then cut the walls vertically to get wall length*1.5 (wall height), plates, and set those around the floor to get a feel of what it would look like. I ended up using around 31 inches of 1.5 plates, which was just off of the estimate I calculated in step 19 of 35 total inches in exterior wall.

Take notice that I did not cut the two walls in the hallway section, because those would be primarily glass (plastic).

Windows

Next, I set to work on cutting out the windows. I knew that I wanted the windows to be almost full length, so you get a lot of natural light, and visibility into the courtyard. I gave the windows about a foot off the ground, and 2/3 foot for framing on the top and around the window. I traced out the window slot in each wall, according to floor plan, and then cut them out with the craft knife and a ruler. Then, I cut out a sheet of plastic slightly oversize from the opening, and used white glue to attach them to the back of the wall. My first couple had a bit of glue residue from overuse, but it improved later on.

Furnishings

I attached doors to walls where applicable via cuting out the door slot, cutting in half the new plate, and reinstalling with hot glue. I also too some scraps to make wooden bars, colored them black with a fineliner, and white glued them onto the wall for handles. To finish, I added little steps in the front two doors to give people a step up onto the floor.

Additionally, I took a bit of scrap paper, and wrote "CONCORDIA" on it with a pen, and attached that to the main entrance - totally didn't just do this because I accidentally cracked the frame :( .

Compartmentalizing

I found that connecting two or three walls with finished windows was ideal, so after finishing all the windows and furnishings on each wall if applicable, I connected them into "compartments," which made it much easier to glue them onto the floor. This is especially apparent during the interior wall assembly, as installing one by one led to still drying walls getting pushed by the new one being put in. This is a technique that I think is very useful for any building, and I'm sure I will use it later on.

Additional Techniques

Wall clamping - I found a little sewing clip that was very useful in clamping together walls and windows, because sometimes the window plastic would bend and not adhere.

Mat measurement - Another time-saver, I took my most used measurement lengths, and marked them on the cutting mat with a Sharpie fineliner. Then, I could just use that marking instead of having to refer to the math sheet or using a seperate ruler.

[Images: Left: a stair propped up, with respective mat measurements, Right: installed right-side L-turn staircase]

For stairs, made them with scrap pieces of balsa wood. Using the mat measurement technique, I could standardize the stair dimensions, and cut out like 15 steps. Then, I used a ruler to measure out the footprint I could afford of a specific stairwell, and combine that with the interior wall height. Next, I take a strip of balsa to make the railing, and glue steps along that railing, with estimated increment.

Key tips on stairs is to do the railing step before you install, or it gets very messy, which happened in the one on the right side of the building.

The stairs on the left rest against the glass, which gives them a cool floating look.

[Images: Left: installed 2nd floor, Top Right: window and courtyard view, Bottom Right: in construction]

Basically here i repeated all the steps for the first floor as far as walls, windows, doors, etc.

Done at at the same time as step 24

[Images: Left: finished deck, Top Right: deck in progress, Bottom Right: material prep beforehand, More: marking wirign location]

For the raised deck, I decided to include some material diversity with metal wire. However, the original 18 guage wire I had was too thick for the model. Forced to be resourceful, I straightend paper clips, and used those instead.

The first step was cutting the paper clips, which I did so at a standardized length with wire cutters. Then I hot glued them to the foam board, and secured them in place with a balsa strip on each side. Finally, I took another balsa strip which I applied to the top of the wires to complete the railing.

[Images: Left: finished roof panels, Top Right: glue and brush, ready to be applied, Bottom Right: model grass powder, More: first panel at various stages of powdering]

The roof has three main things I had to address: green roof, skylight window, and solar panels.

But of course before we start with those, we need the actual roof itself, which I cut out of left over foam board, and using the dimensions on the math sheet. I also used balsa strips to line the perimeter of the roof board, to make it look good.

Solar Panels

I started with the left roof's solar panels, which are composed of balsa scraps, paper, and cardboard. The monocrystalline solar panels used in the design are usually dark blue, but I had to go with a lighter hue because of "color theory and stuff." To make the panels, simply cut out cardboard at an appropriate size, and a similarlily sized piece of colored paper on top, attached with white glue. Then, take some scrap balsa, fabricate them into rods, and cut out 6 of the same size. Finally, glue them all together and apply with white glue onto the roof foam board.

At this point in time, I also cut a little hole where the access hatch was going to be.

Green Roof

Now for the fun part, grass! You can read more about the green roof specifics in the environmental mechanisms step, but aesthetically, it just had to be green and have textural nuance. Thus, I purchased a cheap bag of modeling grass powder. To apply, I put some white glue and spread it out with my finger, poured grass on, and shook excess off. This is NOT the way to do it. I ended up with large lumps in the grass, and my entire table was green at this point. For my second try on the right side roof, I used an old paintbrush to apply the glue, much more evenly. This leads to way better coverage. Also, apply the powder with a large container (I used a baking tray) below, in order to avoid creating a mess.

Skylight Window

Additionally, for the second roof, I made sure to make the balsa strip frame first, and then apply not the entire roof surface, but a surface with room for the skylight window. Take a plastic sheet, size, and apply to the bottom. Finish both roofs by making sure that they fit on the floor 2 model, and shaking off any remaining powder.

Using 3 sheets of large white paper along with a random assortment of desk lights, I made this extremely amateurish lighting rig. If saving money is the name of the game for this year's prompt, this is as affordable as you can get.

Used RawTherapee to touch up on images. Very basic processing skills but happy with how they turned out.

One of my first times using Fusion 360 for architecture, but I found it very intuitive to transfer from floorplan. I just took the digital floorplan and import it as a reference image. Then, I could use the sketch tool to outline the walls for the first floor. I repeated this for the second floor, and used construction planes to create windows. I finished with a very basic yet precise model.

Also I totally forgot to take screenshots like halfway in which is why there aren't any second floor pics. :(

[Image: cross section of the repaired first floor, ]

Transferring the model to Blender via .obj was not without its own set of problems. For some reason the angles were all messed up so I had to go to edit mode and manually fix the triangulation.

[Image: Left: using the physical model to match colors and texture, Right: some of the many textures the Blender community shares with each other]

I used a combination of asset textures from public libraries, or using procedural texturing to make the textures you can find on the green roof and house wood.

noice

[Images: Left: green roof layers diagram, Top Right: green roof benefits compared to other sustainable features (US EPA), Middle Right: solar panel internal workings, Bottom Right solar panels projected layout]

Green Roof

Green roofs are a smart, sustainable building feature that provide environmental, economic, and performance benefits by transforming rooftops into living landscapes. By absorbing rainwater, they reduce stormwater runoff and strain on drainage systems, while also filtering pollutants from precipitation. Their insulating layer helps regulate indoor temperatures—keeping buildings cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter—leading to annual energy savings of 15–25% and reducing summer air conditioning demand by up to 75%. Green roofs also protect roofing membranes from UV exposure and extreme temperatures, extending roof lifespans by two to three times and deferring costly replacements. Although installation costs range from $10–$25 per square foot, the investment can pay for itself in 6–15 years through energy savings, reduced stormwater fees, and increased property value—often 3–7% higher than comparable buildings—making green roofs a resilient and cost-effective strategy for sustainable construction.

Green Roofs on Historic Buildings: Green Roof Benefits - National Park Service

Solar Panels

Solar panels offer long-term financial and environmental benefits, especially for cohousing communities. After the initial installation cost—typically ranging from $15,000 to $25,000 for a residential system—homeowners can save between $10,000 and $30,000 over 20 years on electricity bills, depending on location and energy usage. In cohousing buildings, shared rooftops and communal infrastructure make solar installations more cost-effective per household, allowing residents to collectively reduce utility expenses and carbon emissions.

[Images: Right: CLT blocks (Oregon Dept. Forestry 12), Left: full-length polycarbonate glass installed (Vulcan Plastics)]

The primary building consists of two materials, wood and glass.

Wood

Locally sourced Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) offers a sustainable, cost-effective alternative to conventional building materials by using regional timber to create strong, energy-efficient structural panels. North Carolina’s abundant forests and $32 billion mass timber industry make it an ideal location for sourcing CLT, reducing transportation emissions and embodied carbon compared to steel or concrete. Local producers, such as Evergreen CLT in Stony Point, exemplify how regional manufacturing can meet modern building standards while keeping costs competitive. Choosing locally made CLT not only benefits the environment and speeds up construction but also helps boost the local economy by supporting in-state forestry, jobs, and innovation in green building.

Windows

Though originally intending to use double laminated glass, it was too expensive, and I found a good substitute.

Polycarbonate is an excellent sustainable alternative to traditional glass in wood construction, offering a lightweight, durable, and energy-efficient solution that benefits both the environment and the consumer. Its high impact resistance and long lifespan reduce the need for frequent replacement, minimizing material waste over time. Unlike traditional glass, polycarbonate provides superior insulation and UV protection, which helps regulate indoor temperatures and lowers energy consumption. For consumers, it's easier to transport and install, cutting down labor costs and making it ideal for affordable housing solutions. Compared to glass, it’s also more affordable and less resource-intensive to manufacture, making polycarbonate a smart, eco-friendly choice for modern sustainable housing.

LEED is an USGCB (United States Green Building Council) sustainable construction rating system. On their website there is quiz you can fill out and get a rating after answering questions on your building's sustainability features. Concordia scored 92/110, and achieved a Platinum rating, which is the highest. It performed especially well in the Integration, Energy, and Indoor Environmental Quality categories, which are probably the ones I dedicated most of the green part of the design to.

Although not 100% definitive of a good building, the LEED certification shows how Concordia holds up on the environmental side.

[Image: Brain power needed to do this boring math]

I used a calculator

CLT walls: (195 * 9)/2 = 877.5ft^2 * 50 (cost of CLT per sq ft) = 43,875

Flooring: 2580ft^2 * 5 cost of standard wooden flooring = 12,900

Windows: (195 * 9)/2 = 877.5ft^2 * 25 (cost of Polycarbonate per sq ft) = 21,937.5

Solar panels: 400*3 = 1200

HVAC: for a house this size = 10,000

Green roof: 700 * 30 = 21,000

Appliances: 10,000 (full kitchen), 5,000 (other) = 15,000

Misc. (furniture, furnishings, etc,) = 20,000

Permits: 1000

add all that together and you get 146,912.5

Construction is around 1/3 times that so add around 50,000 to get to a total of

196,912.50 USD +/- depending on the quality of materials, permits, and construction costs.

A Concordain property is designed to fit 10 people, so that means each person pays around 19,691.

You are effectively saving 4-8 people's shared appliances with the model, and solar panels pay back.

"Community" "Harmony" "Togetherness" are all words and connotations that were intended in this design. Pair that with my interest in the Latin language, and you get Concordia. Literally translating to harmony, it also means to be of one accord, which is what happens inside of a Concordia property.

[Image: My very organized Finder file folder (what a mouthful), for this project]

Anyways, this project was honestly a lot of fun to work on. I learned lots of new skills such as basically all of the essentials of Fusion, transferring files into Blender, using tracing paper to do iteration drafts, and much more. There are definitely some things I would also want to change in hindsight, but I found it to be a productive and enjoyable 2 months that I dedicated towards this project.

Many thanks to Autodesk and the Instructables community, which I'm proud to be part of and interact with. Also gratitude to my parents for allotting time to work on Concordia. And last but certainly not least, thanks to my Chapel Hill and RTP community, at the end of the day, this project wouldn't exist without you.

Thanks for reading, bye!