A rationalized building system for low-income housing as a response to the issues of flexibility and participation

Abstract

This thesis will focus on the design of a building system intending to approach the problem of low-income housing provision in developing countries.Two concepts will be proposed as a base for the development of the building system, as follows: 1) The concept of housing as an evolutionary and dynamic process that evolves over time, rather than a static view of housing as a finished product. Thus, housing will be considered as a verb rather than as a noun. 2) The recognition of the dweller as an active power, who inevitably affects and changes the dwelling environment through his/her physical intervention. The building system designed, by virtue of its generic characteristics (shape, lightness etc.), will facilitate change and variability of the dwelling in response to users requirements. The designed system will be applied to two different housing schemes--low density single units and middle density apartment buildings--in order to test the system's performance and encourage further research and implementation.