| summary |
Digital Technology has transformed industrial manufacturing and production; and an array of Industrial Design products provide increasing comfort and benefit to millions of global citizens via ergonomic and mass production/customization strategies. Yet, housing needs of a rapidly growing global population are rarely affected by digital technology. Shifts in societal demographics, from rural to urban city centres, and concurrently Global Warming and ecological changes are exacerbating the world housing situation. Millions are homeless, live in inadequate shelter, or as in the US Manufactured Housing (MH) market, live in nondurable poor quality “manufactured” houses that are detrimental to health, at best, or during extreme weather events, suffer catastrophic damages often resulting in death to occupants. Nevertheless, housing concepts and related living units have benefited very little when compared to architecture’s related manufacturing industries counter-parts (i.e. automotive, aerospace, marine industries, etc). While Technology has vividly expanded the shape language of architecture (i.e. Free-Form-Design), some may argue that Free-Form- Design buildings generally have beauty that is only “skin deep” and typically focus on providing signature statements for both the designer and elite clientele. In this paper, we will briefly review the role of the architect in the US Manufactured Housing industry; additionally, we will identify the major problems that plaque the US Manufactured Housing Industry. Further, we will review how architects and Industrial Designers use technology in their respective fields and draw larger designmanufacture principals for issues of global housing. Our findings and analysis suggest that an Industrial Design approach, applied in architecture for mass housing, offers a means of improving the architect’s role and technology in manufactured housing for the masses. |
