Modular Pod House for Affordable Yet Efficient Housing

Time, Labor, Money - core resources that are essential to create properties, and resources that people are constantly searching to optimize to conserve. With these resources becoming tight, I became curious with ways on efficiently building homes that are easy to assemble yet affordable. When I discovered this project, I began researching ways to efficiently use these resources and this led to me exploring a new method of building homes that could be mass produced yet still personalized.

My project centers on pod modular houses that can be assembled by cutting a certain pattern into a rectangular sheet of a material (in this case I used wood) so it could be bent to create a pod as shown in the images above. While I used three pods for the model I created, the homes can be personalized to how many pods the home owner wants, and with the basic barebones of the pod homes being the same (which are the rectangular sheets with patterns cut into it) they can be mass produced to create affordable homes. Creating this project through CAD and creating the physical model has certainly been a learning experience and I hope you enjoy reviewing through my project!

Software:

-Revit 2025

-Inventor 2025

-AutoCAD 2025

Physical Resources

-11 x 11 in Wooden Panels

-Hot Glue Gun

-Clamps

-PLA Filament

-String

-Saw

-A Capable Computer

-Laser Cutting Machine

-3D Printer

-A Lot of Patience

As we know, a 11 x 11 inch panel of wood isn’t really known to be the most bendable object. Any attempt to bend this would likely result in it collapsing under the pressure and completely breaking in half. However, after doing some research online, and asking around teachers at my school, one teacher referred me to this Instructables post that gave some designs (and even models I could use in AutoCAD) that would allow me to get my desired result of bending wood. There were numerous patterns that could bend the wood in specific ways. To figure out which one to use for my model, I laser cutted some samples and began testing them by seeing how far they could bend before reaching failure and seeing if they can reach the desired angle of bend I will need. After doing this, I realized that the wave lattice pattern was going to work the best. Now with this figured out, it was time to put this pattern to the test by creating an actual model. I also began looking for some inspiration for the pod design and would search around the internet to find existing structures/buildings. Attached above are some that I used as inspiration.

Reference link:

https://www.instructables.com/Curved-laser-bent-wood/

I began the drafting process with Revit, and I began with something very simple. I created some dimensions for the pods that would create a cozy yet compact. The pods I made for this were 24ft in length x 20ft in width x 10ft in height, yet with my vision there could be different sizes of rectangular sheets that could create different size pods (and each variation of the pod size can be used for different types of rooms such as bathroom, bedroom, etc). I used the in place massing tool on Revit which I wasn’t that familiar with but I soon quickly caught on and so far I got the barebones of the model but it sets a strong groundwork for further development, including interior detailing and possible stackable configurations to maximize density and efficiency.

Now with my barebone version of the model, there was a lot of work to do from here so it can closely resemble my vision. I began with filleting the corners of the in place masses to create round corners that would be where the wood bends. I then created some space inside the pods by creating voids through the in place mass, giving the walls a satisfactory 6 inch thickness. I next created pillars underneath the pods above (as we can’t expect these pods to just float) and created large glass walls to allow natural light in. Next I built the doorways as well as the staircases to allow people to move around from one pod to the next and so far the Revit project was looking near completion.

While the model was looking great so far, there was still something missing. I didn’t want my pod model to just look like a mass produced unit - I wanted them to feel unique and modern. My first step was adding these bendable columns, that had a rope material connecting it to the bottom pod, that added some much needed architecture to this project. I started with a large one on the top that would connect to the top of the third pod and second pod. I then added some beneath the third pod and some beneath the second (all with a rope/string material holding it down to the pod beneath it). While this made it more aesthetically pleasing, this also added some structural integrity connecting the pods together. I also explored other ways that people can personalize these pods, including painting the rectangle sheets (pre bending) so that the pods would be different colors as well as using different textures. I also made sure to add much natural light to provide the modern and inviting atmosphere.

Now that I had a Revit model finished I would have to translate that into AutoCAD in order to have a file to laser cut. However, I had restrictions. The wooden panels I could use were only 11in x 11in, so I couldn’t just keep the same numbers from Revit to AutoCAD (instead of feet it would just be the same number but in inches). Now I had to scale down the dimensions while maximizing the panels as much as I could. After doing some calculations I decided to scale down the Revit dimensions by 2.4 and switch the feet to inches. The new dimensions for my AutoCAD and physical pod model were now 10in(length) x 8.333in (width) x 4.167in (height), but this still wouldn’t fit on one wooden panel since when the pod is unwrapped (in its rectangular sheet form before bending it would be closer to 27 inches). So I would have to use three panels of wood and connect them together to create the one rectangular sheet, which then I could bend to create the pod. I also kept in mind the doorways and stairway openings which I created rectangular holes for (so the pods could actually be entered).

After creating the rectangle sheets with the pattern cut, I decided that it would also be important to design a frame to hold the rectangle sheets when I bend them. I was quickly able to design that as I used the dimensions from Revit and used my conversion scale, however, I also had to figure out the fillet (curve) amount. I did some calculations from the Revit model and I figured out an amount I could fillet the lines and the frame looked great now. Now that was done, I could finally begin laser cutting and soon assemble.

Now it was time to put all the CAD work to the test and see if I could successfully create a pod model. I began laser cutting the entire first level pod and I made sure to laser cut pod by pod so I can make any adjustments/corrections for later pods and check to see if I made any mistakes. As I could’ve guessed, there were many mistakes with the way I went about laser cutting this first level pod. Since the unwrapped pod was around 27 inches, I had to glue a 11 inch long panel to an 11 inch long to a 5 inch long panel. While the 11 inch panels could bend just fine, there was too much tension in the 5 inch panel that would make it barely bend and this lost the consistency I was looking for in the bendability. I wasn’t ready to give this up yet, so with this mistake in mind I made sure to change the way I would laser cut these panels and lessened some length from the 11 inch ones while adding some to the 5 inch. This made sure that the bendability was more consistent.

Initially, I was trying to do the stairs through AutoCAD and laser cutting that out to assembly, however, I realized that not only would this be very tricky, time consuming, and tedious to do but it would also haven’t much detail. So I decided to go on Inventor and model the stairs. This was my first time really using Inventor so this was definitely a learning experience but I was able to catch on very quickly and figure out how to use the software. I got the dimensions for the stairs from Revit and was able to use the same conversion I used before to create new dimensions. In Revit there is a feature to generate L shaped stairs, and I created that model in Revit and tried my best copying the features and creating it into Inventor. I also created the pillar columns which was a lot simpler to do than the stairs, however, now I got to the bending columns. I had no idea how I would design this, and I didn’t want to not include it in my physical model as I thought it really added a unique and modern feel. So I asked my CAD teacher how to approach this and she introduced me to the sweep and loft features which allowed me to get desired results. The columns didn’t extend straight upward — they curved slightly inward — which meant I couldn’t use the basic sweep command and had to come up with an alternative solution. I began by placing a series of small points along the desired path of the bent column. Then, I positioned circles at each point and connected them to form the curved column shape. The next step was to add holes through the structure so that string could pass through it.

With all the components 3D printed and laser cutted, it was finally time to put everything together to create my vision. I had already assembled the first level pod previously and next I created the two other levels which I had a lot easier time doing than the first, but still required a lot of patience and precision to do. Once I had all the pod levels done, I began hot gluing the pillars and stairs to the pods and stacking them on top of each other. Now with the model taking shape, I began adding the bending columns on the top and running string through them so they connect to the pod below. After that I was finally all done with my pod model.

Thank you for taking the time to look over my project. Throughout this process of researching, designing, and building this model, I have gained a great deal of experience and knowledge as this model used many different techniques, software, and materials to get it done. It required quite some commitment and time to do, but I really had a great time creating this project (and that's what really matters) - and I hoped you enjoyed reviewing the process just as much!