i_Prefab Home: Customizing Prefabricated Houses by Internet-Aided Design

Abstract

The paper demonstrates a web-based system for use in the area of prefabricated housing to assist the customer and architect in selecting appropriate building components. By collecting and evaluating client’s requirements with web technology, a methodology can be developed that can generate design options based on the client’s needs and available modular components in the market, and simulate the final design before beginning manufacturing. In this proposed model, a process of providing mass-customized prefabricated housing based on computer-aided design and a web-based product configuration system will be presented. How prefabricated housing design can be evolved from a mass repetitive production level to a mass customization level to meet variability and personality is the primary issue to be explored in this research.