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MAKING FOR THE 99% WikiHouse, Strategy of Democratic Architecture Making is fundamental to what it means to be human. We must make, create, and express ourselves to feel whole. There is something unique about making physical things. These things are like little pieces of us and seem to embody portions of our souls. -- Maker Movement Manifesto
USC School of Architecture | Fall 2016 ARCH 793a Architecture Directed Design Research Student: Xiayi Shen | Instructor: Jose Sanchez
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00. INTRODUCTION
MAKING FOR THE 99%
WikiHouse, Strategy of Democratic Architecture
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The first section of the report dissects the systematic operating model of WikiHouse with the study of a specific template solution – MicroHouse. This section also includes descriptions on the configuration system in terms of design factors, structural system, and manufacturing solutions as well as how architecture can go open-source. In the historical part, the advantages of WikiHouse will be discussed in comparisons with historical precedence of similar ideas and intentions. The report also
XIAYI SHEN 2016/12/09
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Given the exciting prospects of WikiHouse, even the strongest supporter of the project still needs to solve the question of how to implement the project at large scale, which will inevitably face oppositions from the traditional real estate industry practitioners. We should always be aware of the radical forces that truly push urban development that are hidden behind the technology and construction work. The following aspects must be considered and resolved in order to successfully implement WikiHouse during the urbanization process. First is the public engagement mechanism - How to provide easy access to the tools to the public and encourage them to contribute to the buildup of the communal infrastructure. Second is the challenge from the constantly updating technologies and human behavior. Unless the system provides an optimal solution that meets the demand of times, WikiHouse will be superseded by new projects quickly. Last but not least, the economic and political impetus cannot be neglected. We never want the WikiHouse to end up as only individual action or toys of the DIY amateurs. We expect successful adoptions and extensive applications within different economic entities.
discusses the challenges that currently prevents WikiHouse from largescale local implementation. The analysis will focus on the feasibility of developing WikiHouse as the tool towards establishing design democracy in an urban context. Finally, we will review the role of architects’ involvement towards this new era of design and construction.
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WikiHouse is an inspiring open source house design project. It questions the traditional rules of the existing architectural profession and the real estate market. The project reflects the nature of social ideology and embraces normal people with rapid advancement of technology and information acquisition. Despite of some misgivings and critical voices, the general public and media reached a general consensus that WikiHouse is a powerful manifesto to the next industrial revolution. The WikiHouse project team consists of people who foresee and respond to the future evolution of the real estate industry. To them, WikiHouse is not the final project outcome, but an ‘umbrella brand’ to facilitate global collaboration, which is crucial to the concept of open-source architecture[1] . In essence, WikiHouse presents a possibility of how the concept of open-source architecture can be realistically implemented, unfolds the story of how open-source architecture can benefit, and demonstrates to the ‘99% of people’ in the world that they can take a more active role and control over their own living environment.
CONTENT 00. Introduction
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-Making for the 99%
01. Project Documentation
02. Project Description and Comparison
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a. Configuration System b. WikiHouse Evolution c. Kit Houses
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- MICROHOUSE
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03. Strategies of Democratic Architecture a. Feasibility b. Open Source Architecture and Public Engagement c. Mass Cutomization and Maker Movement
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Project Data
Building Name:
MicroHouse
Date:
2016
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m
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m 50
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United Kingdom Dwelling
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Project Design:
Architecture 00
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WikiHouse open products used:
Wren
Project Use:
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Unit Dimension:
Template 37.6 m2
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3.9m x 10.8m x 3.9m (W x L x H)
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Number of floor:
1
Total Cost:
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£30,520 (VAT @20%)
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44
86
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Fig 01.01 Isometric View with envelope and dimensions: 1. Ridge Capping 2. Steel Roof Panels 3. Gutter 4. Exterior Cladding 5. Foundation Footing 6. Door 7&8. Windows
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Building Status: Gross Internal area:
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Fig 01.02 Sectional Isometric View with Interior and Structure: 1. Skylight 2. Gutter Downpipe 3. Connector 4. Box Frame 5. Kitchen Utilities 6. Floor Finishing
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Fig 01.03a Plan: 1. Bedroom 2. Bathroom 3. Living Room Fig 01.03b Section
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Fig 01.04 Wall Section along the short axis: the profile of the box frame Fig 01.05 Detail Wall Section: 1. Double Glazed Glass 2. Skylight framing 3. Roof Flashing 4. Roof Panel 5. Gutter 6. Connector 7. Batten 8. Exterior Cladding 9. Gap 10. Water Membrane 11. Exterior Panel 12. 150mm Insulation 13. 100mm Insulation 14. Interior Panel 15. Water Membrane 16. Gap 17. Interior Gypsum Wall Board 18. Downpipe 19.Box Frame 20. Floor 21. Connector 22. Rail 23. Rail Joist 24. Pad Foundation 25. Drainage
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Fig 01.06 Chassis System of Wren: is a hi-tech structure system used for MicroHouse. The system is composed of series of connected box frames and infilled by panels and openings. 1. Box Frame 2. Connectors 3. Lateral Wall System 4. Infill Panels 5. Infill Openings
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Fig. 01.07 The box frame is composed of 4 sub elements: frames, spacers, reinforcers and space invaders. The frames are the main face of the box frame. Spacers are slotted into the frames to achieve the structure thickness. Reinforcers are placed at the corners of the frames to stiffen the weak points. Space invaders are only applied interval of the modular units to keep the box frame from twisting. 1. Frame 2. Reinforcer 3. Spacer 4. Space Invader
Fig. 01.08 (right) The profile of frame is formed of modular units of 300mm lego-like pieces. There are male and female piece at the joint and the joints are required to be located 2 modulars away from the corners.
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Fig 02.01 Render of a Studio Unit with 4 bays Fig 02.02 Render of a Microhouse Unit with 9 bays and a back yard Fig 02.03 Proposed 3 stories townhouse units with WikiHouse system
A. Configuration System
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WikiHouse is not a single building or a simply repeatable model . It is a system that allows people to customize their own house through its web platform, which, upon completing the customization, provides downloadable digital construction kit for decentralized manufacturing and self-assembly on site. Within this system, the customization is not only limited to the unit types and building skin, customers are allowed to personalized their home size, space and shape with several parameters. The platform will automatically generate cutting files for Computer Numerical Control (CNC) router to mill on a standard 4’ x 8’ wood sheet material. The system requires no bolts or nail joints, instead, all parts are designed with pure wood slot joints so that people without any construction skill are able to build a house just like how they assemble a piece of IKEA furniture. The users can also upload their personal designs to the web for the others to download and use. The entire mechanism described here is known as open source architecture.
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This innovative approach relies on the invention of a hi-tech structural system called Wren. The chassis of Wren is composed of series of connected box frames and covered by panels.(see Fig 01.06)The box frame has a sectional dimension of 250mm in depth and 150mm in width. Although assembled with only 18mm thick wood sheet material, the frames allow the building to take the load of a two-story house and can span up to 3.9m. By connecting the frames with the connector pieces along the perimeter, the house can technically reach an unlimited length. The box frame is composed of 4 sub elements: frames, spacers, reinforcers and space invaders.(see Fig 01.07) The frames are the main face of the box frame. The profile is formed of modular units of 300mm lego-like pieces.(see Fig 01.08) Spacers are slotted into the frames to achieve the structure thickness. Reinforcers are placed at the corners of the frames to stiffen the weak points. Space invaders are only applied interval of the modular units to keep the box frame from twisting.
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Theoretically, this frame can be made with various shapes. The users can edit the profile of the roof, either flat or pitched. An inclined or curved wall is also possible. Up to now, the system can go up to two stories but one can add many bays as he wants. By adding different numbers of box frames with an interval space of 1200mm (centerline), the system will give you various scales of houses. Usually, a one-bed-space studio can be achieved with 4 bays and the Micro House in the above documentation is a 9-bays one bedroom on bathroom unit. More than a single profile extruded form, there are possibilities to add on different profiles. It is not hard to imagine that in addition to
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single family houses, the system can also be used in building multifamily housing design. Openings can take up any surface between the box frames. The maximum opening width is 1050mm (1200mm spacing less 150 frame thickness). Windows and doors are not included in the kit provided but there are existing manufactures, like WikiWindow, exploiting open source hardware to facilitate the standardization of WikiHouse accessories. The depth of the frames leaves a 250mm gap for insulation materials that help the house to achieve high energy efficiency with U value of 0.14 W/m²K.[2] The template insulation is 2 layers of soft-fill wool of 150mm and 100mm. The chassis is completed by adding panels at both exterior and interior faces to wrap the frames and insulation layer. End walls and interior lateral walls are separate kit box-stud that skewed to the chassis that do not take any load. That means high flexibility of the interior partition and remodeling during the life cycle of the house.
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There are several options for the exterior finishing. The cladding material can vary from plastic board to timber or steel panels depending on the budget. The fixing is low labor required with the panels screwed on the battens.
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From a user’s point of view, WikiHouse provides the possibility to customize and DIY their dream house by self-defining the size, shape and finishing at low cost and high performance. First, a user needs to pull several sliders on the online design platform or download plugin for Sketchup to specify the dimension and shape of the house. The online platform will then generate all the parts two-dimensionally in the software and layout them on 4’ x 8’ size sheets. The digital file will be sent to a CNC machine and ‘print’ all the parts out. Once all printed pieces are delivered on site, the user can start assembling. Once the assembling begins, the first step is to set up foundations and fix two or more rails that can transported arrived boxes to the perimeter. Next, the user begins assembling the box frames and joining them with the connectors and lock with π-shape pegs. The box frames need to be bracketed onto the rails. Then panels of wall and roof are embedded onto the frames. The users are recommended to design and implement drainage design before the installation. Next, the user should begin installing the end walls and lateral walls. The house also needs waterproof membranes and vapor barriers installed to keep it from the weather. The finishing works include the installation of windows and doors, the exterior cladding, roof and utilities like electricity, ventilation system and plumbing system. That last step is to assemble the indoor facilities and interior finishing wall. The whole process to complete a typical single-family house will take approximately 10 people two weeks to complete. The total cost is estimated to be around £30,000 including tax in UK. It is about one third of the cost using a traditional construction model. Along with the high efficient energy consumption, WikiHouse will help household save more on energy expenses. 02.04
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The very first 2011. It was a layers of 18mm were fastened space of 600mm
02.07 Fig. 02.04 By adding different numbers of box frames with an interval space of 1200mm (centerline), the system will give you various scales of houses. Fig.02.05 More than a single profile extruded form, there are possibilities to add on different profiles. It is not hard to imagine that in addition to single family houses, the
system can also be used in building multifamily housing design. Fig 02.06 Various configurations of multi-unit housing. Fig 02.07 The WikiHouse Foundation proposed a community development plan with the construction system.
test prototype (WikiHouse v1.0) was built in London in frame that spanned 3.6m. The frame was composed of two plywood. The s-joint located staggered on two layers and with screws. The frames were connected at an interval which is also the opening size.
This prototype was soon applied to the exhibition booth of WikiHouse Foundation at the 2012 Gwangju Design Biennale in South Korea and an interior meeting space at the HUB Westminster the same year. The Gwangju Design Biennale booth was assembled by 7 of the prototype frames with seating platform extended from the interior side. And there was an additional unit of a sloped floor deck featured the entrance. The booth had an inwards inclined façade that is unpaneled as the openings. Different from that, the HUB Westminster meeting room was an enclosed space with a translucent material covered the openings. There was another version of WikiHouse v1.0 built by the students from Anglia Ruskin University in 2012 in Chelmsford. With the development of the bolts free S-Joint by Steve Fisher from Momentum Engineering, the team has successfully delivered their first zero-bolts prototype as Wikihouse v2.0 in Milan in 2012.
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From 2011 up to now, the WikiHouse team never stop improving the structural system as well as the software interface. WikiHouse has gone through several versions of update as well as branch extensions by other organizations and groups all over the world.
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In the summer of 2011, two principles of WikiHouse Foundation, Alastair Parvin and Nick Ierodiaconou from Architecture 00 initiated the project in UK. WikiHouse Foundation works as a commercial non-profit organization that depends on fundings from interested parties and Consortiums. The members of the group are from diverse disciplines. They have digital graphic designers, software designers, architects and planners work collaboratively to deliver the production. Along with the feedback ideas from the users, they are less likely to get trapped within the ideal world of architects. Additionally, Architecture 00 is a branch of Project Zero Zero, a collaborative studio of architects, strategic designers, programmers, social scientists, economists and urban designers who are seeking for a paradigm shift from centralized design to a collective endeavor of urban formation. The group aimed at promoting ideas like open access to information and tools, localized making and mass customization etc. they were usually considered as the pioneering effort in the third industrial revolution that features the digital manufacturing and democratic design.
Fig 02.08 The exhibition booth of WikiHouse Foundation at the 2012 Gwangju Design Biennale in South Korea. The first verion of WikiHouse frame requires bolts joints and the opening size is limited to 600mm Fig 02.09 Interior meeting space at the HUB Westminster with translucent glazing Fig 02.10 A-shaped box frame during construction with rennovated frame system Fig 02.11 A two-story wikihouse chassis Fig 02.12 WikiHouse 4.0 which is the first 2 story WikiHouse built during London Desifn Festival in 2014
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The team now is searching for support in promoting the system for extended implementations. They believed it to be a potential way to change the existing authoritarian real estate market and monolithic production as its result. They proposed a community developing model that will fundamentally change the rules of how we build houses. Instead of set a property line and sell the plot to one developer, they divide the site to smaller plots at an affordable price that directly rent to local families. And then the community and planners will develop a neighborhood plan with a basic set of design rules. As long as one stays in the rules, he or she can build whatever they want with any building companies or products, a WikiHouse for example. As a result, the spontaneous community will mostly achieve the living quality that require by the owners. Its considered to be an effective solution to the Britain Housing Crisis.
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In 2014, the first two-storey WikiHouse was built at the London Design Festival in UK with the invention of the WikiHouse v4.0 box-frame structure which was the system used in the Mirco House, which has been described in the first parts of the report. This was considered a milestone and a big improvement that allowed WikiHouse to go multistories. The building was also fully waterproofed and insulated. Besides, the open-source technologies also applied to this house with Open MVHR, an open-source heat recovery unit developed by Arup and built using 3D printed components and aluminium sheet from beer can[3]. The electrical system was also designed for easy installation with modular components. The sample dwelling unit of Wikihouse wanted to deliver the idea that, at the age of digital emergence, the digital fabrication and open-source technology now enable almost anyone to realize the construction of a customized house without any expertise and construction skills.
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In the same year, Martin Luff and Danny Squires started working parallely with the UK team in New Zealand on the system and developed an entire new structural prototype and tested it for seismic-resistance. Meanwhile, WikiHouse NL, the dutch chapter of wikihouse was set up in 2014. This group aims at searching innovative solutions to different forms under the wikihouse system and has built several experimental structures in various exhibitions. Follow by the development appeared numbers of individual constructions all over the world with the refined zero-bolts joint regonized as WikiHouse v3.0.
Fig. 02.13 Selected page from the Sear Kit House Catalogue with a modern concrete and frame constrution house at a cost of $2,500. House rendering and plans were provided with brief description of spaces.
c. Kit Houses For centuries, people never stop searching for a prototype, and a better way to construct their homes.
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dwelling
In the mid nineteenth century, Andrew Jackson Downing published his pattern books of series house plans, including The Cottage Residences (1842) and the highly influential The Architecture of Country Houses (1850). In the latter book Andrew combined English picturesque with Gothic and Italianate single family rural house style. Andrew strongly believed that “A good house will lead to a good civilization” and that a house has moral value to its owner[4]. The book contained examples of house design plan as well as detail layouts of associated gardens and interior furniture. Andrew’s diverse design included affordable cottage as well as luxury villas in order to fulfill various demands of different social classes
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But in this case, it was only limited to the ‘software’ or paper works of the construction. It is not until the next century when appeared the concept of kit houses. A streamlined way of building single family houses was proposed by a few capital giants emerges in the early 20th century. Notably, the popularity of the Sears Kit Home during the first half of the 20th century in North America marked a revolution of house construction. In 1908, the Sears Company issued its first catalog of modern houses, Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans, featuring 44 house styles ranging in cost from US $360–$2,890. The house kits were mail-ordered and delivered to site by railroad boxcars with all the precut parts. The delivered house parts were usually assembled by the buyers with help from local builders. Distinguished from modular homes which was built in sections, the kit home was shipped as separate lumber pieces that were cut-to-fit and then built on site as a permanent structure. According to the manufacturer, the kit home could save up to 40 percent of the cost comparing to the traditional building method. Moreover, the centralized house kit manufacture process minimized material waste and improved spec accuracy. In addition to house structure, utilities like MEP systems were also provided at an additional charge. Very little customization to the house can be made due to the standardized hardware. It most likely limited to the exterior finishing. While the Sears Kit
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The idea here is to promote specialized knowledge of house construction with easily access media so that people have the initiative in their hand to decide what to build for themselves. House owners have a collective wide range of choices from the books as well as the construction guidance. Thus, they can just hire the workers to build it without any cost on design.
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home was the most popular choice, there were several other competing businesses in the kit home market including Aladdin, Bennett, GordonVan Tine, Harris Brothers, Lewis, Pacific Ready Cut Homes, Sterling and Wardway Homes.[5] Through 1908-1940, The Sears Company sold 70,000 kit home in more than 370 different designs. The demand dropped drastically since the beginning of World War II (WWII), and many companies stopped their businesses.
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03. STRATEGIES OF DEMOCRATIC ARCHITECTURE
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To conclude, WikiHouse further reduced the cost by exempting the transportation cost of the building materials with easily accessible community workshops. What’s more, the system requires no skilled workers on site, which additionally help owners save the labor cost. At the same time, WikiHouse maximized the personalization within the design process and avoided the results to fall into an architectural protocol. Furthermore, the online shared library can store as many solutions as possible which in turn will provide more choices for the further users.
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We can see similar model of house construction in these kit houses comparing to WikiHouse. Both two schemes provide design solutions ahead of demand. Consumers are able to preview their house production either through a house catalog or the digital 3d model. The difference is that the kit houses only provide limited choices, while WikiHouse allows endless customized results to meet the specific needs of users. After the decision was made, the manufacturing process can both be considered as a one-off service. For the kit houses, all parts were produced in the factory and delivered to the construction site within one kit package. On the other hand, WikiHouse utilized the agile decentralized manufacture with CNC routers. All parts can be printed by one single machine and make DIY possible from raw material. The two scheme both provide additional utility units for choice. They both aimed to deliver low-cost, high performance and easy-constructed house solutions.
projects, does social buildability still matter? These experts can build on any system rather than using the WikiHouse prototype. In this case, how should WikiHouse compete with companies who provide construction services with easy and conventional methods.
a. Feasibility Along with the excitement brought by the innovation of WikiHouse, there are concerns about its prevailing difficulty. Up to now, there is still no fully habitable WikiHouse built in the urban context, except from series of experimental models built for display or as extension to an existing building or as barn houses.
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WikiHouse architects fight back by emphasizing the social buildability rather than considering the WikiHouse project as an optimized construction solution. They are confident about people’s wiliness to trade part of the cost for more freedom on decision making. In other word, WikiHouse aims at an easy accessible tool that could return the control power back to people.
To solve these problems, the WikiHouse team envisions to add supply chain with certified providers and service provider to the WikiHouse framework. [1] By doing so, certify individuals with assurance to their ability can assure and control project standards and qualities. However, it is paradoxical that with these educated certified experts working on the
There is a similar project launched in Delft, Netherlands called Webuildhomes.com.[7] Webuildhomes.com is more or less a digital version of the kit houses. Architects upload their complete designs to the website and provide renderings and plans of the design with an estimated cost. Customers can choose from the library and pick one they like. What is special about this business is that WebuildHomes also provides choices on buildable lots. If a user decides to build one of the homes in their library on their lots, workers will be sent to the site and the user can expect his or her home to be built within 20 weeks. WebuildHomes also provides help and consultancy on financial schemes. However, the problem of this web is the limitation of house design and higher construction cost compare to WikiHouse. By further analyzing the housing market in a specific area will help better promote and implement WikiHouse or other projects alike. Affordability is one fundamental reason for people chose to build a WikiHouse but the consequent difficulty and problems may keep them away. How to organize through the entire design to move-in process is the key to success. Thus, to push WikiHouse to the mainstream of house construction, we need to balance the buildability for individual with the provide service chain.
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The statement above leads to the next question - is WikiHouse really easily accessible? In other words, how should we evaluate the publics’ acceptance and ability in conducting a house construction project with the WikiHouse system. Practical problems will occur throughout the project cycle. First of all, the mastery of the digital design tool is still limited to professions in related industry. You cannot expect ordinary people with no technical background to manipulate SketchUp to edit their designs. The interface needs to be further simplified. Second, the accuracy of manufacturing depends largely on the test trials of the CNC machines. For example, the cutting loss will lead to different opening sizes. If the slots cannot fit perfectly, the structure stiffness will not be achieved. So, there should be some designated personnel who can run the machine well and at the same time have a comprehensive understanding of the design theory to solve related problems. The next barrier is the civil engineering concerns. The design was tested for structural stability and sustainability, however, one still need to consult engineers or profession builders to deal with the grading, foundations, and local conditions. The system is far from a completed set of construction kit that exempt any help from the experts.
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Some may argue that the high-tech system is inefficient and has structural redundancy. Although it saves on the on-site construction cost, it will take longer time and more materials for a CNC machine to mill all the parts with those toothy patterns, which is the part doesn’t count within the cost spreadsheet.
To better predict the public’s acceptance of WikiHouse, we need to target the user group more accurately. By thinking who would use this system the most and identifying their requests and needs, we can better solve the paradox. WikiHouse provide house solutions with affordability that solve basic needs for life but not create luxury houses for the rich. The target user then become the mid-class or low-income families cannot afford the increasing housing price in the cities. Besides, the availability of house site and its cost would be a big concern. Some forerunners in the US built their tiny mobile homes to respond to the unaffordable housing price. But for now, there is no legal lots are permitted for these tiny homes and the builders can only park them in some RV parks. Thus, the user group cut down to those who can find a proper site but cannot afford normal construction cost. What’s more, the construction approval process through government is another reason cause the housing crisis, especially in California[6]. That means the team must provide an express line for their users to get the permission faster or even a pre-approval to the WikiHouse system. Finally, the number of people who would like to spend their time and effort to DIY their own houses are further limited. Most people would prefer only do the decision making and leaving the work to others. If they can have the work done by only click several buttons on the website, it will encourage more people to use WikiHouse as their house solution. Imaging the website provide not only customized house design but also buildable site information, available construction team and an estimate accomplish time and cost, this service chain is more important than the construction solution and more feasible to most normal users.
Fig. 03.01 Webuildhomes.com is more or less a digital version of the kit houses. Architects upload their complete designs to the website and provide renderings and plans of the design with an estimated cost. Customers can choose from the library and pick one they like. What is special about this business is that WebuildHomes also provides choices on buildable lots. Fig. 03.02 Open Building Institute has begun a Kickstarter campaign to return to this community-oriented and affordable home-building approach. At the core of this plan is an open-source library of housing module designs, from foundations and walls to doors and roof panels. Fig. 03.03 Paperhouse is a platform that allows people to download open source blueprints from world-class architects, like this house from Tatiana Bilbao.
b. Open Source Architecture and Public Engagement The WikiHouse project responds actively to two trending concepts in the architectural practice, that is open source architecture and mass customization. Both concepts origin from computer industry, they gradually touched on other businesses like goods industry and architecture too. These two idea not only shift the way of manufacturing but also reshaped people’s consuming behavior.
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Another example of open source is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that is being written collaboratively by its hundreds of millions of users. The word ‘wiki’ is now extensively used in numerous websites that provide collaborative modification of its content and structure directly from the web browser. That is also where the name of WikiHouse come from. The amount of information that it stored and delivered is enormous and impressive with the contribution from users. Why can’t the architecture profession adopt the concept of open source? With the emergence of digital fabrication assortment - laser-cutter, 3D printer, CNC miller – Architects are finally able to get open source physical, and open source architecture possible. The advancement of computer technology and the prevailing of internet link the software with hardware, thus open source architecture became the emerging paradigm of design process and production delivery. It features a collaborative invention and use of design and design tools by both professional designers and normal users, including potential buyers. The WikiHouse program undoubtedly marks a significant contribution to the practical realization of open source architecture with its customize-design platform and social constructible solution of manufacturing.
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Github is the most popular public open source software development and collaboration platform. The website hosts repositories and offers the system of distributing the source as well as project management based on the open-source technologies. Many have started their own projects and business relied on this system.
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The concept “open source” was first used in software realm. Open source software refers to software with free accessible source code that is open for redistribution and modification. Starting with Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux system, open source has become the basic routine in software development.[8] It is time consuming and wasting of resource to start from a brand-new sheet every time when you need to write some code. That’s why software engineers share their work for an accumulative intelligence and build up the enormous virtual world upon the effort of their predecessors. There cannot be another way to achieve this.
Except for WikiHouse, there are other parallel projects that also carry out the open-source model of design and construction. These projects all have some merits of open source system and use different strategies to realize production delivery. To give a few examples, like Paperhouse, Earth Dwellings and Open Building Institute (OBI) all aim at provide solutions to meet the challenge of increasing demand in affordable, sustainable and beautiful house construction over the world. Open source architecture will have a strong influence to the future paradigm of urban development. It enables end users in the real estate market get involved in the planning and building process. It presents an alternative solution to a stereotyped production that are not even affordable.
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The next generation shifted the focus on symbolic representation but appealing for public space that hold democratic activities like protesting and parade. This thought rooted in the belief that architecture had the power to shape political force. But this was also no truth. The bonds between space and events are uncertain and unnecessarily lead to a democratic result.
However, it is hard to get people engaged into the planning process as what we learnt from the failure of the Oregon Experiment. The project was the very first case of using pattern language to organize spontaneous design by the users instead of a top-down master plan.[10] The architect, Christopher Alexander tried to design the rules of how to build but not the building itself. He expected the users define their own need and follow the rules to achieve the highest efficiency. But he had difficulty on finding a right way to realize the public engagement, and he overestimated the users’ motivations in intervening the building process or they were just unconscious about what they can do to make the change. Architects should thus be aware that the public is not as far-sighted
The debates concrete to one questions - whether should open source architecture go commercial. It seems to be against the original intentions of open source that is free and open to share. Different from other digital information shared online, house constructions are far more intricate. It involves financial activities, local building codes and regulations, and public safety and wellness. We must face these obstacles and take it into consideration. Cooperation from governor’s level should be organized to facilitate and promoting the project. On the other hand, it is necessary to search for a successful business model where both designers and users can seek for benefits or profits. It is the only way to get more project built to make a change.
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Nowadays, people talk about democratic architecture or urban planning as the power of ordinaries to involve in the decision-making process and to reform. Open source architecture is considered a smart strategy towards urban design democracy. If we think the kit houses like an industrial product that seeking for profit maximization, WikiHouse is more the open source mechanism than the product. We hope that the mechanism will finally shift the traditional business paradigm and affect the city development pattern. It equips normal people the tools to change their living condition and make use of the collective power of citizenship to reform the urban environment. In this sense, for WikiHouse, it is a radical political movement rather than a commercial model.
If we consider WikiHouse as the strategy of democratic design for the era, we need to overcome this barrier. There are discussions about the mechanism and development pattern of WikiHouse. More specifically, how does the Creative Commons expand their database? There are two directions, to further develop on the one existing system with possibility to deliver more end solution, or to explore more WikiHouse-like systems with different technologies. It is likely that we will need both efforts to further advance the concept of open-source architecture. Thus, more general management and curation are required to support and regulate the development. Nevertheless, most of these organizations are non-profitable and are short of resources, leaving both users and designers with little help and support - how can the users protect the interest of individual designers? How to keep them motivated in searching for better designs?
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These efforts, without exception, are all aiming at the realization of democratic architecture and urban design. While, the definition and strategy of making architecture democratic is always changing throughout the time. The topic of democratic architecture was put forth during the early 20th century by the great Chicago architect Louis Sullivan and succeeded by his disciple Frank Lloyd Wright. They kept searching for a democratic form of architecture that represent the spirit of democracy. According to Ockman,‘That “democratic form” is an organically unfolding process and an object of symbolic representation; that it emerges from the collective imagination of a modern, progressive society and is an act of individual poetic genius.’[9] Specific materials were thought to carry the symbolic meaning of democratic value. For example, glass indicated transparency. The idea of democracy was delivered based on the common recognition.
as the professions are. They usually won’t be motivated by a long-term benefit on social wellness but immediate interests. On the other hand, the publics need to be educated on the importance of their individual effort in reforming the urban environment. The reform is not a one-daywork but takes time.
that carry out specific functions and has the interface to be connected to the whole. On the other hand, a configuration system consists of rules of how modules can be selected, dimensioned and combined to meet particular requirements. WikiHouse then can be considered as a system product.
c. Mass Customization and the Maker Movement The term “mass customization” was initially coined by Stanley M Davis in 1987 in his article from “future perfect”, where he gave the definition: “Mass customization of markets means that the same large number of customers can be reached as in the mass markets of the industrial economy, and simultaneously they can be treated individually as in the customized markets of pre-industrial economies.”[11]
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The concept of system products and system deliveries are widely discussed to be the strategies to realize mass customization in building industry. According to Havm, Mortensen, Thuesen, and Haug, ‘a system product’ is multifunctional and multidisciplinary and can be customized based on demand. A system delivery encompasses the system product and the processes, which have to be carried out in order to configure, produce, deliver and install/adapt a system product on the building site’.[13]They pointed out that, to solve the complexity of system products and to reach high adaptability at the same time, there are two concept needed, modules and product configuration system. Literally, modules are well-defined units
The maker movement started with the prevailing technics of digital fabrication. Like hackers, the makers possess the tools that enable them to steer away from the existing rules and create new order. Many believe that the popularity of the makerspaces that provide both software and hardware supports to the makers is a strong evidence of success of the maker movement. Government agencies, like DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) are also keen to promote the maker movement by funding the establishment of TechShop national wide to encourage innovations. Opposite opinions argue that such de-institutionalization can hardly occur with just tools available to everyone. The ignorance of social and cultural environment may lead to the movement to doom.[16] Evgeny Morozov analogized that the maker movement to the failure of Arts and Crafts Movement in the early 20th century. He stressed that the reformers should not be optimistic about the maker movement without taking considerations of the political and social influence into account. To avoid repeating the history, we need the social infrastructure to be available before the reform take place. Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind, in the article ‘the future of the profession’, predicted that the decreasing demand for professions such as architects is due to easier access to the ‘tools’ and expertise to accomplish these tasks.[17] The technology advancement catalyzes such change. As a result, the architects’ task shift from providing ultimate
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The origins of mass customization happened in IT hardware industry. The business model of the computer supplier Dell is one of the successful examples. Dell manufactures hardware and assembles them on specific demand. The similar model was also implemented in automobile industry. However, these examples were all based on a standardized-mass-productionto-personalized shift, which is opposite from the traditional building industry processing. Conventionally, a unique design was provided by an individual architect for the client with a specific location and project requirement. Each project can be considered as a customized solution and this model is generally accepted by the publics, but the efficiency of design process and result were questionable. A standard-to-customized shift can be easier than the other way around. An industrial producer can provide various options for the user on same product. From the users’ perspective, it widened their selection range and they are more likely to accept and welcome the change. On the other hand, architecture clients are used to receive unique design products for their requirement. It’s harder to pursued them to choose from limited product type. Admitted that construction can be a complex mix of all the specific conditions, there is still strategies to achieve high efficiency project delivery. In other words, architecture can go mass-customized.
The emergence of WikiHouse and other mass customizated architecture projects, to a large extent, relies on the facilitation of computer technology and ability for normal people to manipulate information which marked the hacker era.[15] Stewart Brand, the publisher of the famous ‘Earth Catalogue’, claimed that hackers, defined as non-professions who takes over the tools and fiddling with it to make an alternative solution to certain problems, are the ‘new-found elite’ to challenge the stereotypical authoritativeness.
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Instead viewing from a market perspective, Tseng and Jiao concluded mass customization as ‘the technologies and systems to deliver goods and services that meet individual needs with near mass production efficiency.’[12]
Many believe that mass customization will be the future dominate business strategy. Despite its success in other industries, its adoption to the building industry is still challenging, with the primary challenge being the availability of related technologies and manufacturing systems to make customized product cost competitive with equivalent mass-produced one.[14] That has been achieved by WikiHouse on low cost. However, other concern could be the amount of solutions and products accumulated by the open source system. There is not enough diversity provided by WikiHouse despite some customized options. Considering the demand of the housing market is not an enormous figure compare to commodities, the base number of the market gap is not enough to allow the ‘mass’ happen. Addition to that, unlike a piece of furniture, a house could mean a lot to the owner who would expect his or her home to be special and distinguishable. This further pull house construction back from mass customization. To conclude, a single system product like WikiHouse might not be the right way to realized mass customization in building industry. Will mass customization finally lead to a monotonous built environment?
04. BIBLIOGRAPHY design resolution to providing tools for the normal people. Moreover, the future challenge for architects lies in integrating relevant disciplines into the process of design, and making use of the technology to shape the social, political and economic environment towards a healthy urban development.
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It is not perfect yet, but it will stimulate the emergence of related fields to cooperate and improve the building process. WikiHouse is the first step towards democratic design.
2. “Library.” WikiHouse. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2017. 3. Stott, Rory. “WikiHouse Unveils World’s First Two-Storey Open-Source House at London Design Festival.” ArchDaily. N.p., 21 Sept. 2014. 4. Downing, A. J. The Architecture of Country Houses; including Designs for Cottages, and Farmhouses, and Villas, with Remarks on Interiors, Furniture, and the Best Modes of Warming and Ventilating. New York: Dover Publications, 1969. Print. 5. “What Is a Sears Modern Home?” What Is a Sears Modern Home? http://www. searsarchives.com/homes/index.htm 6. Jackson, Kerry. “Housing Crisis a Man-made Disaster.” The Orange County Register. N.p., 30 Dec. 2016. 7. “Webuildhomes”,
http://www.webuildhomes.nl/en/
8. Ratti, Carlo, and Matthew Claudel. Open Source Architecture. NY, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2015. Print.
10. Alexander, Christopher. The Oregon Experiment. New York: Oxford UP, 1975. 11. Davis, Stanley. Future Perfect. Reading, MA:Addison-Wesley, 1987. 12. Tseng,M AND Jiao, J. Mass customisation. In G. Salvendy(ed.), Handbook of industrial Engineering. New York: Wiley, pp. 684-709, 2001. 13. Hvam, Lars, Niels H. Mortensen, Christian Thuesen, and Anders Haug. “Conceptualising the Use of System Products and System Deliveries in the Building Industry.” Mass Customisation and Personalisation in Architecture and Construction. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. N. pag. Print. 14. Bechthold, Martin. “Product and Process Approaches.” Mass Customisation and Personalisation in Architecture and Construction. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. N. pag. Print. 15. Morozov, Evgeny. “Making It.” The New Yorker. N.p., 05 Jan. 2014. 16. Field, Karen L. “: The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy . Murray Bookchin.” American Anthropologist 86.1 (1984): 161-62. Web. 17. Susskind, Richard E., and Daniel Susskind. Introduction. The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford UP, 2015. N. pag. Print.
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9. Ockman, Joan. “What Is Democratic Architecture?: The Public Life of Buildings.” Dissent 58.4 (2011): 65-72.
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The importance of WikiHouse is not because of the creation of a low-cost house construction system. But above all, it offers a chance to change the urban development model. It reveals the problems and flaws of the housing market. It encourages similar innovation to take over the right to build.
1. Urquhart, Robert. “WikiHouse’s Lead Architect on How Open-source Idealism Could Cure a Sickly Building Market. Archinect, 2 Aug. 2016.