Steps for building a house with materials that insulate heat?

Question

I need steps to build a house with insulators of heat!?
Details here:
I need ideas and steps for building a house with a 40cm by 40cm base. I also need materials that insulate heat and they must be light. A beaker of boiling water will be put in my house. The house will be left in my school's science laboratory for half an hour. After half an hour, the beaker will be taken out and the temperature drop must be at its minimal, as little as possible.
Please read the points above before you answer this question, I appreciate any reasonable answer. Thanks!

Answer 1

If you go to a home improvement store (like Lowe's or Home Depot) you can find rigid foam insulation in the building materials department. It usually comes in sheets about 4ft by 8ft. There are various thickness available and the R-value depends on the thickness plus whether there is a foil lining. This material is intended for insulation rather than structure. But for the size project you describe, you could carry the structural load using only the rigid foam sheets (if you buy one that's about 2" thick).
You should be able to cut it with a carpet knife and assemble the pieces with duct tape.

I made a custom insulated carrier-box for frozen torte (fancy cake) to go on airplane trip. For wear protection, I put sheet of corrogated cardboard over the bottom piece and covered all surfaces with duct tape. Worked great. Cake stayed frozen from West Coast to East Coast. Re-used the container for several more trips with great success.

Additional:
If you need to simulate windows, try this:
Cut out rectangular holes with a carpet knife. Then tape over inside and outside of the holes using clear package tape. This will simulate a double-pane window. Draw lines on the tape with a permanent marker or affix toothpicks on the sticky-side of the tape if you are required to show the window frame.

As for instructions, take a simple gingerbread house pattern and shrink or enlarge it to meet your size requirements. I've included some links for that below.