ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 519

International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy Session VII STUDY OF MODULAR, FLEXIBLE, CUSTOMIZABLE HOUSING MODELS FOR MASS PRODUCTION, WITH LOW ENERGY CONSUMPTION Domizia Mandolesi1, Ilaria De Marco1 & Ilaria Vergori1 1 Housing Lab, Dipartimento di Architettura e Progetto (DiAP) “Sapienza” University of Rome, Italy, [email protected] Abstract The transformation of the family, the immigration of new inhabitants and the increasing age of the population, together with new dynamics in the world of employment such as job insecurity and nomadism of youth, are changing the needs for dwelling in Italy, as in other countries. Moreover, sustainability changes the conception of the home and the city, moving towards three different dimensions: environmental, social and economic. We think that only an integrated approach to these themes can change the way to organise spaces and functions inside contemporary houses. One of the main issues of contemporary housing projects is to develop sustainable and lowcost solutions 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 similar to those used for airplanes, cars, and other objects of design. Among the limits of prefabrication on the one hand we find the standardization of form resulting from the application of these systems to the construction of mass dwellings; on the other hand is the spread of vernacular single-family dwellings, serially produced to respond to current tastes without any experimentation or research into their architectural language. The work we intend to present pursues the objective of overcoming these limits and demonstrating that can exist a poetic of domestic space based on the standardization, modularity and repetition of building elements, as has occurred in the past. In particular, we will present two design experiences that, beginning with the definition of a prototype for a detached home offering a series of dimensional and typological variations, possesses the capacity to generate urban systems and, in any case, to be integrated within existing contexts. Keywords customization, housing prefabrication and mass production, flexibility, low energy consumption, environmental issues. 517