Housing

A series of architectonic exercises

by Michaela Krpalová, Subdigital, 2020

Monoceros New Metabolism Housing I by Subdigital on Sketchfab

The housing industry is battling overpopulation in cities, and pressure of global housing crisis.

The prediction of near future seems to shift from 3D-printing back to prefabrication and discrete design. How to automatize housing design process? The objective of this project is to create functional, generic housing system that is flexible, adaptable on given spatial and social conditions.
The housing industry in battling overpopulation in cities, and pressure of global housing crisis. Such system should be ready for prefabrication and repetition of mass production, while maintaining the uniqueness and peculiarity of every resulting design.
Our building system is defined by finite number of repeating basic elements, and the relationship between them. In this case modules are representing horizontal and vertical communications, rooms and facades and the relationship are taken from basic common building typologies.

The process of finding and developing a functional system originated in our established abstract set of modules and its translation into architectural language.

The resulting system is generating site (space) -specific designs with limitless number of variations. Depending on the given space, the system can combine rules and modules into valid single houses, apartment blocks or into superstructures.

The strong side of discrete design and our housing generated using Monoceros is in its plurality and the ability to create connected unique spaces using a finite number of parts while preserving the given relationships between them.

The basic set of modules and rules were defined by geometries set in cubic grid with 6 possible directions of aggregation. In the world of architecture that means 4 cardinal directions plus two vertical directions – the above and below

In this regular cubic world, our tests had proven that too many modules with too complex, undefinable rules would have to repeat to achieve the variety of elements essential to construct valid architectonic space. Our solution was the creation of various clusters of modules with constant internal rules.

This optimization created the definition of “megamodules”. In this way we achieved the ability to define and gain control over different sized spaces that are required to create a building. Differently sized and shaped “megamodules” were then given external connection rules and qualities of various architectonic elements.

In this case we defined a set of “megamodules” which doubled as set of elements required to create a horizontal and vertical communication within the building.

These we have called “hallway megamodules” and “stairs megamodules” and got various types of connectors, some with the ability to connect to each other and create a continual path within a building and some with the ability to connect the rooms.

The set that follow these communication megamodules, the “room megamodels” and “façade megamodules” have another types of rules and connections that helped us control and define the interior and exterior of our system and the relationships within them.

By this variety of architectonically defined “megamodules” we have proven the relevancy and applicability of our wfc algorithm in the design process of scale of architecture