Information-Driven Customization: A Profile-Matching Model

Abstract

The application of digital technology models in the building field has offered architects the capabilities to explore new areas toward customized buildings. Housing, a vital sector in the industry, has witnessed a renewed surge of awareness in the last two decades, especially following these new approaches to design and production, aiming to shift from traditional mode of mass production to customization. While this interest has taken various constituencies, emergent design and fabrication technologies have enabled diverse research and pragmatic solutions to contemporary prefabricated housing industry challenges, given that it represents an ideal model to adopt mass customization. This chapter represents a framework for managing information throughout the process of achieving customization in the prefabricated housing industry. The focus is on devising an algorithmic model that matches homebuyers’ profile, in the form of precise programmatic requirements, to a potential housing solution from a predefined database. Once selected, homebuyers are prompted to customize the prototype to further suit their needs, with regard to spaces, and interior/exterior appearance of the dwelling.