Abstract:
Since the industrial revolution, the majority of homes, like other commodities, have been mass-produced by professionals and subsequently mass-consumed by the lay public. We have been accustomed to our place as consumers in a market economy. When housing deficits grow to ‘crisis’ proportions, much of the debate would centre around the question: who should build our city’s much needed homes- the state or the market? With either option, the assumption is that only a top-down, big-provider model possesses the efficiencies required to tackle such a scale of a task. This thesis argues that a focus on efficiency alone is too narrow a measure of success; rather, effectiveness should be the goal. By reinstating the lay users’ place into the housing process that they have become excluded from, the city’s needs are better addressed. Through a housing development in Papakura, this research project proposes a reversal of the predominant top-down housing model to bottom-up. This presents the opportunity to explore the implications of mass user autonomy in the design and mass construction of homes.