Build-A-House
Using the actual metaphor of building a house, enable participants to highlight tradeoffs, establish communication and flexibility patterns
How to run it
- Split the group into People Science teams.1
- Build Take the individual persona descriptions and assemble them into the "families
- They then create a model of a house based on these requirements of each family"s personas, the requirements of the other people in their family, and budget constraints
- They have 0 minutes to complete this Rules for Part 2 The white cardboard provided can only be used as building material for interior walls, exterior walls, and
- No building material is required for the floor on ground level'build directly on the lot.2
- Use the brown cardboard for roofing material
- The design for your house must include the fixtures windows, doors, sinks, commode, etc
- that have
- You have 15 points with which to buy additional building material and fixtures see chart in your team
- You may go over budget if necessary to complete your house, but we are keeping track.7
Run this exercise live
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Prompts to use +
Split the group into People Science teams.1
Build Take the individual persona descriptions and assemble them into the "families
They then create a model of a house based on these requirements of each family"s personas, the requirements of the other people in their family, and budget constraints
They have 0 minutes to complete this Rules for Part 2 The white cardboard provided can only be used as building material for interior walls, exterior walls, and
No building material is required for the floor on ground level'build directly on the lot.2
Use the brown cardboard for roofing material
Run this with your AI assistant +
Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.
Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Build-A-House. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Split the group into People Science teams.1; Build Take the individual persona descriptions and assemble them into the "families; They then create a model of a house based on these requirements of each family"s personas, the requirements of the other people in their family, and budget constraints; They have 0 minutes to complete this Rules for Part 2 The white cardboard provided can only be used as building material for interior walls, exterior walls, and. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.
Origin unverified
- Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Relationship Makers Handbook; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Relationship Makers Handbook.)
- What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
- No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
- Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.