Imagine downloading your house online and “printing” it out on a machine. You don’t have to imagine it. London-based Architect Alastair Parvin and his team have created a revolutionary home-building concept: Wikihouse.
Wikihouse makes it possible to download the blueprint designs for homes that meet buyers’ exact needs. The plans can then be fed into a CNC machine and the parts (and tools) needed to assemble the shelter are simply cut out from sheets of plywood.
Update: though we originally published this article in 2013, Wikihouse is still going strong with an updated system coming in 2021.
The practical applications are far-reaching. Not only can you design and download your own home, but Wikihouse could be used in disaster relief scenarios where natural disasters, war, or political turmoil cause the destruction of homes and property and displaces many people.
SCALABLE: This is scalable and modifiable. Anyone can download and use the plans and modify them for your own use under the terms of the license for free. This means you are free to improve upon the design or make your own.
Wikihouse is designed using Sketchup. A free (at the time of this writing) 3D design software application.
This is a truly revolutionary idea, and the concept is proven. It works.
“The purpose of the WikiHouse construction set is that the end structure is ready to be made weathertight using cladding, insulation, damp-proof membranes and windows. WikiHouse is still an experiment in its early stages, and these have not yet been prototyped or developed further. All the information shared on WikiHouse.cc is offered as an open invitation to collaborators and co-developers who are interested in putting open source solutions to these problems in the public domain. If you are working on one of these, or would like to know (or do) more, please get in touch.” http://www.wikihouse.cc/guide
Source Links:
The Commons – http://www.youtube.com/user/Thecommon…
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