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environmental and urban context? Naturally, the idea of the home as an industrial
product must be accepted by the future inhabitants. Therefore to overcame this problem,
prefabricators making room for architectural experimentation. The projects that we are
illustrating below should ensure by showing existence of a poetic that involves the
organisation of the plans and volumes of the modular and prefabricated dwelling and at
the same time refusing clichés. Specifically, the following projects deal - at different
scales - with the questions discussed above.
The custom-made home. “Living box”, 2005
One of the themes of the research carried out by HousingLab - Sapienza of Rome - is to
develop low cost projects for houses with formal and environmental qualities that can be
customized and tailored to individual needs. To meet the demands of a large and
heterogeneous public, these projects must refer to processes regulating the production
of goods for mass consumption. “Living box”
responds to the need to personalize the
home by identifying a basic kit of pre-assembled units, industrially built off the building
site to which combine components on the spot. All easily transportable. The main aim is
to create homes with a limited number of standardized and easy-to-assemble prefab
components to choose from a catalogue, that are able to generate controlled spatial
configurations of the domestic environment. These components should be flexible
enough to follow the different needs both in terms of personal taste of the inhabitants
and in terms of adapting to differing local situations. The “custom-made home” is
conceived for a broad social strata, low costs and flexibility to respond to all needs and
favouring self-building and self-definition of domestic space. On the private market
applications could be in tourism or temporary vacation homes. A useful use of the model
is in social housing, to respond to house-shortage emergencies for the most needy or in
case of natural calamities. The basic unit is a “box”, prefabricated, whose square faces
with side length equal to 3 meters, are composed by wooden frames. The layout and
number of sides that can be opened with respect to the two that are fixed (floor and roof),
allows different configurations of the basic unit and of the bearing structure of the house.
The use of wood is suggested for its relatively low cost, lightness and reversibility,
though the “box” can be made with other materials that present similar prerequisites. The
basic “box” unit is a container of components to assemble on the site. Its limited
dimensions allow also road transportation, up to a max of 3 elements per vehicle. The
basic units are positioned following a precise sequence to obtain the desired
configuration. Once they are opened, the other components inside are assembled. The
floor is mounted before opening the basic units to guarantee stability to the system.
Once the bearing structure of the house is up, the other components can be assembled.
Only one person is needed to set up the structure. The combination of basic units, from
two to three “boxes” per vehicle, provides different types of homes. The maximum height
is two stories. Simplicity and versatility allow an extremely simple and quick
reconfiguration of domestic space, by increasing or diminishing the number of units
according to the needs of the family. From the different combinations of house various
urban forms are generated: from the single family home to simple rows or courtyards, to
mixed schemes forming more complex patterns. The preassembled components of the
basic “box” are: frames, bracing and internal partitions, ground floor and roof. The
ground slab is to be assembled on the site. By choosing wood for the bearing structure
of the “custom-made home” the attention is focused on the use of natural materials, non-
polluting and reusable, with high thermal inertia. Solar panels on the roof and ventilated
façades for the outer walls are an integrated part of the design. The components to be
chosen and assembled on the site are: outer fittings, interior fittings and flooring, glazing,
roofing, equipped walls for toilets. These components can be chosen through a
catalogue together with the basic unit among industrially produced components, thus
obtaining a complete kit to send to destination with one trip the house will be built in.
