As part of Autodesk’s annual Design & Make It Real program, the Make It Home affordable housing challenge invited students to reimagine how design and construction can strengthen communities through innovative, affordable housing solutions. The challenge is one of several initiatives within the program that encourage young people to apply design thinking to real-world problems in the built environment—while gaining early exposure to the tools and mindsets shaping today’s architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry.
This year, we’re sharing these stories during Construction Inclusion Week and Careers in Construction Month, a time to celebrate the diverse voices, perspectives, and pathways shaping the future of building. Each feature in this series pairs a student designer with an industry mentor whose insights illuminate how Design and Make skills and professional practice come together to drive meaningful change.
Today’s story brings together Danyson Tavares, Executive Director of the Boston Society for Architecture and Marcos Leon Gonzalez, who attends Delcastle Technical High School in Wilmington, Delaware. His project, Fundamento Modular – Strength in Homes, Unity in Living, reimagines housing at the U.S.–Mexico border as a foundation for resilience and belonging.
About the design
Fundamento Modular responds to the affordable housing crisis along the U.S.–Mexico border, where migrants and displaced residents face unsafe or temporary shelter. Rooted in Marcos’s family ties to Baja, California, the project envisions housing as both infrastructure and community—a pathway from displacement to belonging.
The design centers on a reinforced-concrete frame that supports prefabricated living modules organized around vecindad-style courtyards, balancing privacy, connection, and shared life. Solar chimneys, rainwater capture, and eco-brutalist planters integrate sustainability into the architecture, while a dedicated community hub provides childcare, laundry, and workshops.
Marcos won the Grand Prize for Best Use of CAD/BIM Tools for his sophisticated use of Revit to model prefabrication logic, structural systems, environmental performance, and real-world constructability—showcasing advanced 3D literacy, data-driven problem solving, and spatial reasoning far beyond typical student work.
Mentor Spotlight: Danyson Tavares on community agency and design with purpose
As a designer and educator, Danyson has built his career around community-engaged design, equity in practice, and empowering young people—especially those underrepresented in the built environment professions—to see themselves as designers, builders, and changemakers.
Favorite project
Fundamento Modular – Strength in Homes, Unity in Living
Student Designer: Marcos Leon Gonzalez
Project Site: Tijuana, Mexico
What stood out to you about Marcos’s project?
What really struck me about Fundamento Modular was its honesty. Marcos wasn’t trying to design a flashy object; he was trying to solve a real social problem in a way that respected both culture and climate. He rooted his design in his family’s own story along the U.S.–Mexico border, and that authenticity came through in every decision.
The project reimagines Mexico’s vecindad housing tradition—a courtyard model that has always been about community—through the lens of modern prefabrication and environmental performance. The result is housing that’s flexible, dignified, and built for belonging.
I was especially moved by how Marcos balanced systems thinking with human connection. He used Revit to work through structure and prefabrication logic, but he also built physical models by hand to test scale and materiality. That hands-on craftsmanship matters. In construction, it’s not enough to draw well—you have to design for constructability. Marcos clearly understood that a design is only successful when it can actually be built, maintained, and lived in by real people.
Why did you want to judge this competition? What excites you about it?
I believe in opening doors for young people who want to shape the built environment. My work has always been about creating pathways, especially for students who may not see architecture or construction as accessible fields.
What excites me about this challenge is that it mirrors the complexity of real life. The students have to consider economics, environment, culture, and social equity all at once. That’s what real design is. It’s not just form and function—it’s about impact. Seeing young designers like Marcos pair cultural insight with rigorous technical skill gives me a lot of hope for the future of our profession.
What inspiration did you take away from the student entries overall?
These students are already thinking in ways that many professionals aspire to. They’re not just making buildings, they’re designing social infrastructure. They’re asking, “Who is architecture for?” and “How do we make sure the people living in these spaces have agency in the process?”
What impressed me most was their willingness to question norms. That curiosity to say, why does it have to be this way? is something I deeply value. At YouthBuild Boston, where I had served as Executive Director, we used to talk about “building with, not for” communities. Marcos embodied that mindset. His project wasn’t speculative; it was actionable, adaptable, and built from empathy.
Any final reflections?
Fundamento Modular reminded me why community agency and storytelling belong at the heart of architecture. Projects like his prove that when you empower young people with the right tools—and trust them to lead—they’ll find new ways to bridge social purpose and technical excellence. That’s what keeps me excited about this work. The next generation isn’t waiting for permission; they’re already reimagining what architecture can be.
Student Spotlight: Marcos Leon Gonzalez on design, family, and resilience
When he entered the Make It Home challenge, Marcos was a student at Delcastle Technical High School in Wilmington, Delaware, and a participant in the ACE Mentor Program of America. Drawing on his family’s roots in Baja, California, he explored how design can help border communities facing displacement rebuild with dignity and belonging.
What inspired your project?
Inspired by my father’s journey across the border carrying nothing but a sketch of hope, I set out to design housing that could rebuild lives. That story taught me that architecture is more than walls and roofs—it’s the first step toward security, opportunity, and belonging.
In Tijuana, a city shaped by constant movement, I designed reinforced concrete frames to hold 30×30 modular homes, lifted into place like pieces of a new foundation. Between them, open courtyards—drawn from the vecindad tradition—invite sunlight, airflow, and community life: children play, families gather, and neighbors connect. At the heart of the project, a social hub links residents to skills training and local jobs, letting the architecture itself serve as a bridge to opportunity.
Even the smallest details tell a story of resilience. Solar chimneys draw warm air upward, deep shading keeps interiors cool, and modular adaptability lowers costs while raising comfort. Together, these elements form more than housing—they sketch the first outlines of a future where rebuilding is possible.
What did this project teach you about the role of architects, engineers, and builders?
This project shows me that architects, engineers, and builders work best as a single, iterative team rather than isolated specialists. Imagining how people might move, gather, and inhabit modular homes made empathy central to every decision. Using BIM models and small-scale prototypes revealed structural and assembly challenges invisible on paper, proving that design is as much exploration as planning.
Technical rigor and creativity intertwined at every step. Adjusting structural connections, imagining modular assembly sequences, and planning for long-term maintenance weren’t just technical exercises—they ensured the design could scale and serve its social purpose. Even without real-world construction, visualizing human use at each stage showed me that architecture becomes meaningful only when it supports the people who live in and maintain it.
Ultimately, architects, engineers, and builders are translators, collaborators, and problem-solvers. When these roles converge around a shared human goal, even conceptual design can tackle social challenges, turning ideas into impact.
This contest asked you to solve more than one problem. What “extra impact” did you aim to create beyond providing affordable housing?
This project creates more than homes—it builds a platform for opportunity, dignity, and social resilience. The concrete “cubbies” provide a durable, adaptable structure, but the real power comes from connecting people to resources, skills, and each other.
A central social hub links residents to training programs and local job pathways, while shared circulation and semi-public spaces foster collaboration, mentorship, and community networks. Every design decision multiplies benefits for residents—balancing privacy with interaction, sustainability with affordability.
By integrating housing, skill-building, and social infrastructure, the project demonstrates how architecture can address multiple layers of a challenge at once. It becomes more than shelter—it’s a stage for rebuilding lives, strengthening connections, and creating stability. Thoughtful design transforms not just spaces, but lives.
Looking ahead
During Construction Inclusion Week and Careers in Construction Month, we celebrate stories like these—where mentorship meets imagination, and where the next generation of designers and builders are not just imagining a more inclusive future, but actively constructing it.
Stay tuned for more Student + Mentor Spotlights from Autodesk’s Design & Make It Real program, featuring inspiring conversations between professionals and students who are redefining what it means to design and make a better world.
The post Building “With”, Not Just “For”: A conversation between Make It Home student winner Marcos Leon Gonzalez and Danyson Tavares, Boston Society for Architecture appeared first on Digital Builder.