The Modular Back-to-Back House : An Interactive Generative Methodology for the Design of a Lifetime Home

Fagan, Des (2021) The Modular Back-to-Back House : An Interactive Generative Methodology for the Design of a Lifetime Home. In: SPACE International Conference 2021 on Architectural Design and Theory Proceedings :. SPACE International Conferences, 1 (1). Studies of Planning and Architecture Consulting and Education, GBR. ISBN 9781916284197

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Abstract

The research proposes the building of half a house akin to historic ‘back-to-back’ housing, with the remaining ‘half’ built over the remaining lifetime of the owner, providing versatile and adaptable room and spaces for the life changes of the owner. The method is based on a unique Autodesk Generative Design definition providing a multi-objective design generation algorithm for creating design iterations for the unbuilt future ‘half’. Each homeowner is able to then navigate the thousands of design options generated to evaluate the potential cost of changes to the fabric (linked to the SPONS cost guide) of the house based on their individual lifetime changes; marriage, children, illness, dementia etc, to improve financial forward planning. The work goes on to evaluate the effectiveness of the algorithm output through a series of comparisons with established ‘lifetime home’ case studies.