A platform for consumer driven participative design of open (source) buildings

Homes in the future will contain many new and complex activities, becoming centers for work, commerce, learning, proactive health care, distributed energy production, etc.. The baby boomer and GenX population are demanding choice and tailored solutions in all products they buy, including homes. The combination of societal and market forces will require new ways of designing, building, and integrating technologies into places of living. The housing industry, however, is poorly prepared for this future, creating mostly generic low-grade, inflexible, disruptive-to-upgrade, and high-maintenance products. Few are tailored to the unique and changing needs of its occupants. The industry lacks a process that will lead to the customization of homes that respond to the unique values and needs of occupants, and architects/engineers play no significant role in the creation of most places of living. To address these problems, I propose that a new model for design and construction that places the consumer in the center of the design process. In this model, developers become integrators

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• McLeish, Thomas John, 1970-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Kent Larson.

• Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32250

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/32250