Extreme Desert Habitat

Living in the desert brings unexpected health perks like easier breathing for those with asthma, stronger bones from more vitamin D, and a mental boost from stunning landscapes. Allergies and infections are also reduced due to the dry air. Though this all sounds great, It is not as easy as it may seem. For example, where would you get your electricity or water? I will take you through a step-by-step process of how to build a model of a dessert habitat, as well as exploring all of the issues you may run into building these dessert houses in real life, and how to solve them.

Physical Materials:

Foam Packing Material

Paint

Cardboard

Tools:

Hot Glue Gun

Box Cutter

Paint Brush

Software:

Tinkercad

Using Tinkercad, I designed the landscape for my model. I used a topographical style to create the sand dunes. This was so that I could create the entire landscape out of the thin packing material. Feel free to change the shape of the sand dunes to add your own creative twist to this project.

To create the base of the model, I used a box cutter to cut out a piece of cardboard and a foam rectangle with the dimensions of 6x7.25 inches. I then glued the two pieces together with hot glue.

Then, I created the sand dunes that I had designed in the Tinkercad model. I used the box cutter to cut out each individual layer of the sand dunes. Then, I used hot glue to glue each layer of the sand dune together. I then glued them onto the base. The shape of the sand dunes do not matter.

I used a beige acrylic to get an even coat of paint onto the landscape. the packing material creates a rough texture when painted, like that of sand.

I then designed the two buildings that I would include in my model. Since the color white reflects sunlight, painting the outside of the building white would make sure the inside of the house would not get too hot. I chose a dome shape because of the dessert sandstorms that can reach up to 50 miles per hour! The dome shape makes the buildings aerodynamic, therefore making them be able to withstand a severe sandstorm far better. far below the houses, water would be pumped out of deep under the ground, and then filtered to provide clean water.

To create the dome shape of the buildings, I cut a ping-pong ball in half. I then paint a little rectangle with gray acrylic paint to represent the doorway that would be used to go in and out of the houses. I then firmly glued them down onto the landscape with hot glue.

How would these houses get electricity? My Idea was to harness the power of the high winds in the desert to create electricity! The electricity would then be stored in big batteries to power the houses. I used Tinkercad to design the wind turbines. My model for the turbines only used 3 parts so that they would be as straight forward as possible to assemble using the packaging material.

Out of the packing material I used a box cutter to cut out the 6 different parts needed for the wind turbines (each wind turbine needing 3 parts), and then painted them shades of white and gray. I then assembled each turbine with hot glue, following the model I had created in Tinkercad. I then attached them upright to the base.

Congratulations on making your very own model of this desert habitat, and have fun continuing to explore the world of making!