Adding value : an architect's retaliation against the mortgage industry and a computational investigation into do-it-yourself design-build

Abstract

This thesis proposes a novel system for the design, fabrication, and assembly of the single-family home. Driven by the American mortgage crises of the early-20th Century, the proposal selects for its client-type the foreclosed ex-homeowner and thus the constraint of a mortgage-free homeownership solution. The thesis presents a holistic view of residential architecture, taking into account the social, economic, technical, and geographical constituents comprising the current realities and the present possibilities of American homeownership. Specifically, this thesis demonstrates the technical possibility for a do-it-yourself design and assembly system for the mass-customized expansion of a single-family over its lifetime and the positive effects of such customization at the level of the suburban development.