Prefabrication experiments - 308 - Then and now - 08 - Do it yourself systems

Throughout history, building houses was a social act deploying collective methods, knowledge and patterns from generation to generation.  Construction know-how was not exclusive to specific trades or classes. Fishermen, farmers and artisans, all built their own dwellings as their ancestors had before them. Before mechanization and mass production, building one's own home provided the satisfaction of defining, limiting, circumscribing a place and protecting the family unit against climate or predators. 

 

As a reaction to the hyper-specialization of trades and the mass production of dwellings engendered by industrialisation, the late 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of a do-it-yourself movement. Magazines and instructional journals for making a wide range of items became central to this and fuelled an interest in systems that made it possible to be the central figure in the construction of one's own dwelling. Sharing simplified instructions, lists of tools or devices, materials and precise illustrations turned any able-handed person into a master-builder. A-frames, domes, box frames and platform frames were all offered in pre-cut formats including the required hardware to simplify erecting a home with family and a few friends. Walter Segal’s self-build method is an iconic elucidation of a simple timber frame structure though a type of recipe handbook providing technical details as well as arguing for making building a social process.

 

Built on the legacy of pattern, type and instruction literature, the recent homesteading, cottage core interest is linked to a similar need to interact with one's environment and setting responding not to industrialization but to our totally connected surroundings.  As was the case for Walter Segal's more low-tech approach, Wikihouse by Alistair Parvin leverages the affordability of modeling software and digital manufacturing to pave the way for a new generation to construct their home from an open-source kit. Exemplifying the hacker / maker culture applied to a type of architectural meta-design, Wikihouse's CNC production bridges the gap between ability and competence. Both projects in their own way are based on communicating building knowledge and social iteration. Further, specifically for Wikihouse or projects like it, today’s potential crowd enhancement through globalized communication elevates the potential for do-it-yourself to benefit from a limitless social improvement. 

comparative process analysis