Build-A-House

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Negotiate conflicting persona requirements and material trade-offs to build a shared physical prototype within budget limits.

Use it when: Use when cross-functional groups need to practice balancing multiple user requirements against fixed budget and material constraints.

Skip it when: Skip when you do not have physical craft space, clean-up time, or at least 75 minutes for multi-stage construction.

Group arrangement: Teams of 3 to 6 participants. Divide the total group into balanced teams of 3, 4, 5, or 6; any remaining individual joins an existing team as a shared household co-persona or project controller.

Timing: Relationship Makers Handbook suggests 60 to 180 minutes; UWT structured this run sheet for a 75-minute workshop session.

Materials and tools

• 1 cardboard base lot (approx 18x24 inches) per team
• 5 sheets of white corrugated cardboard (walls and upper floors) per team
• 2 sheets of brown corrugated cardboard (roofing) per team
• 1 roll of masking tape per team
• 2 pairs of safety scissors per team
• 1 sheet of fixture tokens (doors, windows, plumbing fixtures) per team
• 1 persona card packet (6 cards) per team
• 1 budget scoring sheet per team
• 5 sheets of scratch paper per team
• Pens or markers per team
• Additional white corrugated cardboard sheets (15-20 sheets for central supply store)
• Additional brown corrugated cardboard sheets (5-10 sheets for central supply store)
• Additional sheets of fixture tokens (5 sheets for central supply store)

Before participants arrive

1. Set up one work table per team with a base lot, starter cardboard sheets, tape, scratch paper, markers, and scissors.
2. Place one persona card packet and one budget sheet on each team table.
3. Set up a self-service central supply store table where teams can take extra cardboard or fixture tokens, recording each item taken on their budget sheet.

Say this to open

Welcome. In this exercise, each team builds a model home for a specific family. Each of you will take on a distinct persona with clear needs and daily routines. You will reconcile those needs into one shared floor plan, then build the physical structure within strict material rules and a 15-point budget.

How to run it

1. Assign personas and audit needs 10 minutes

   Form teams of 3 to 6. Each participant draws one persona card from their table deck. If a team has more than 6 members, extra participants partner with an existing persona or take on the budget tracker role. Individuals review their persona routine, needs, and wants. Each person writes down three non-negotiable requirements for their persona on scratch paper.

2. Draft the family floor plan 15 minutes

   Teams reveal their personas to each other. Reconcile overlapping and conflicting needs into a single agreed floor plan sketched on scratch paper. Decide which fixtures to purchase from the 15 starting budget points.

3. Construct the model home 35 minutes

   Teams construct their house on their base lot. White cardboard is used only for interior walls, exterior walls, and upper floors. Brown cardboard is used strictly for roofing. No floor material is needed for the ground level; build directly on the cardboard lot. Teams self-serve extra materials or fixtures from the central supply using their 15 points, logging each purchase on their budget scoring sheet. Teams may exceed 15 points if necessary, recording each point over budget.

4. Paired inspection walk 10 minutes

   Teams pair up to inspect each other's house. If there is an odd number of teams, form one group of three teams. Each team designates one presenter to explain design choices and budget tallies for 5 minutes while remaining members visit the partner table. In a trio, two teams visit the third, then rotate. Teams then switch presenter and visitor roles for the second 5-minute round.

5. Debrief 5 minutes

   Gather the full room. Ask the debrief questions to examine trade-offs, budget pressures, and consensus decisions. Call on two or three volunteers per question to stay within the allotted time.

Debrief questions

• Which persona requirement was the hardest to accommodate, and how did you resolve it?
• Did your team stay within the 15-point budget or choose to overspend? What drove that decision?
• How did the physical constraints of the cardboard reshape your original floor plan?

Finished output: A completed cardboard model home matching the assigned personas, accompanied by a completed budget score sheet.

Remote

Run in breakout rooms using an interactive online whiteboard. Provide digital shape templates for walls, roof sections, and fixtures. Teams drag, resize, and connect digital assets onto a shared lot grid, maintaining the same 15-point fixture and material budget.

Hybrid

Hybrid teams work poorly for physical assembly. If hybrid is required, remote members act as lead architectural planners and budget controllers using a digital floor plan, while in-person members cut and tape the physical model.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may choose non-cutting roles such as budget tracking, timekeeper, or architectural sketching.
• Participants may opt to represent a persona without personal acting or roleplay.

If the session gets stuck

Teams spend too long debating persona needs and delay building.

Issue a five-minute warning during Step 2 stating that cutting and construction must begin regardless of whether the floor plan is finalized.

Cardboard runs out and teams stall.

Remind teams that extra white cardboard and fixtures can be picked up at the self-serve central store, and that going over the 15-point budget is allowed if logged.

Terms used here

• Base lot: The flat bottom cardboard slab representing the plot of land upon which the house is constructed.
• Fixture tokens: Paper or cardboard cutouts representing doors, windows, sinks, and toilets.