Pavilion for Healing Architecture Project

Bring architecture, engineering, resilience planning, and human-centered design into your classroom through a real-world community recovery challenge. Students will design a healing pavilion in Tinkercad that supports people after a disaster while balancing accessibility, sustainability, rapid construction, and community needs.

Inspired by real-world resilient architecture projects, this challenge encourages students to think like architects, designers, and planners by investigating how public spaces can help communities recover, reconnect, and rebuild.

Students will design a pavilion that supports a defined community need such as:

1. a pop-up health clinic
2. a gathering or meeting space
3. a community market
4. a memorial or reflection space
5. a charging and resource station
6. or a hybrid community support structure

Students will explore how architecture can:

1. restore safety and dignity
2. encourage social connection
3. respond to environmental conditions
4. support recovery and resilience after crisis

Using the Make It Heal Tinkercad starter model as a foundation, students will apply design thinking, engineering practices, and spatial reasoning to create a modular, resilient pavilion for a specific community.

This project also supports the Design & Make skill badge for Architecture.

This project is intentionally flexible and can be completed using a range of classroom technology setups—from fully digital classrooms to blended maker environments.

Required Supplies

Each student or team will need:

1. Computer, laptop, or Chromebook with Internet access
2. Access to Tinkercad
3. Tinkercad starter model (Imperial or Metric version)
4. Paper for sketching and brainstorming
5. Pencils or pens
6. Ruler or measuring tools
7. Notebook, journal, or digital document for research and reflection

This project can be completed as a short design sprint or expanded into a larger project-based learning experience through research, biomimicry investigations, environmental analysis, and iterative design.

Students will:

1. Apply the design process to solve a real-world community challenge.
2. Research how public spaces support healing, gathering, and recovery.
3. Define design criteria and constraints related to sustainability, accessibility, climate, and construction.
4. Develop layouts and architectural forms using scale and measurement.
5. Create a 3D pavilion model in Tinkercad.
6. Evaluate designs based on usability, resilience, accessibility, and environmental responsiveness.
7. Practice critique, collaboration, iteration, and design communication.

Optional: This project may also support learning related to:

1. biomimicry and nature-inspired design
2. computational design and Codeblocks
3. passive cooling and environmental systems
4. blueprint sketching and site planning
5. modular construction systems

Basic Criteria

Students should:

1. Use the Tinkercad starter model as the base structure.
2. Design a pavilion for a defined community use.
3. Show scale and basic measurements.
4. Include at least one modular or quick-assembly feature.
5. Include at least one feature that supports comfort, dignity, accessibility, or gathering.
6. Include at least one environmental or resilience-focused feature.
7. Demonstrate thoughtful organization of people, activities, and space.

Before building, encourage students to:

1. research disaster recovery spaces and resilient architecture
2. collect inspiration images
3. investigate how public spaces support healing and community recovery
4. create a simple mood board or sketch page

Suggested prompts:

1. What does a healing space look and feel like?
2. How can architecture help people feel safe and connected?
3. What features help communities recover after disaster?

Students identify:

1. the disaster or recovery scenario
2. the intended users
3. the purpose of the pavilion
4. the needs their design will support

Encourage students to create a simple needs statement:

"Our pavilion will help __________ by providing __________."

Students may sketch a simple blueprint before building.

Encourage students to think about:

1. circulation and movement
2. accessibility
3. gathering spaces
4. weather protection
5. modular construction

Students then use Tinkercad to build their pavilion using the starter model and additional shapes.

Students share their work, gather feedback, and improve their designs.

Suggested critique prompts:

1. How does the pavilion support healing or community recovery?
2. How does the design respond to environmental conditions?
3. What improvements could strengthen the design?

Students may deepen their designs by exploring how nature solves problems related to shelter, cooling, strength, flexibility, or resilience.

Examples include:

1. termite mound ventilation systems
2. honeycomb modularity
3. tree canopy shading systems
4. shell structures
5. Fibonacci-inspired patterns

Students may also explore:

1. Tinkercad Codeblocks
2. computational design
3. passive cooling strategies
4. nature-inspired architectural forms

This project was inspired by the now archived Lesson Plan: Biomimicry and Using Nature as a Design Partner, by Kellyanne Mahoney, Tinkercad Learning

Students may explore how designers use sketch-based modeling to create architectural forms directly in Tinkercad.

Examples include:

1. Bezier curve sketching
2. curved walls and screens
3. arches and openings
4. domes and canopies
5. sculptural architectural features

Students may also explore:

1. Extrude Sketch
2. Revolve Sketch
3. profile editing
4. sketch-based modeling
5. rapid design iteration

Students may extend this project by exploring how location and environmental conditions influence architecture and community spaces.

To use Forma, eligible educators and students must first sign up for free educational access and create an Autodesk account. In compliance with COPPA, students must be at least 13 (14 in China and South Korea) to use Autodesk Forma. Once logged in, they will be directed to their Forma Hub, which is where they will manage their projects.

Examples include:

1. solar orientation
2. wind patterns
3. terrain and topography
4. nearby buildings and infrastructure
5. vegetation and landscape features

Students may also explore:

1. Autodesk Forma Site Design
2. site analysis
3. solar and wind studies
4. climate-responsive architecture
5. data-informed design decisions

Students should present:

1. their community need
2. their design inspiration
3. their pavilion model
4. key design decisions
5. revisions made after feedback

Reflection prompts:

1. What problem does your pavilion solve?
2. How does your design support healing, gathering, or recovery?
3. What would you improve if you had more time?

The Architecture badge challenges students to demonstrate understanding of:

1. spatial relationships
2. resilience and sustainability
3. human-centered design
4. architectural communication
5. 3D modeling skills in Tinkercad

This challenge connects directly to AECO careers such as:

1. architect
2. resilience planner
3. environmental designer
4. modular construction specialist
5. urban designer
6. humanitarian designer
7. sustainability consultant
8. disaster recovery planner

In addition to awarding Design & Make skill badges, you may use the optional rubric to assess student work. The rubric is intentionally modular and can be adapted to fit your instructional goals and available class time.