Rethinking Habitation

Remapping, adaptation and integration for suburban housing retrofitting
Lead researcher: Manfredo Manfredini

Auckland is not an affordable city and with the Unitary Plan predicting a growth of one million in the next 30 years this will have serious repercussions on quality of life for its citizens. Eco-digital fabrication (edFab) provides a number of benefits that empowers the consumer and challenges the market dominance of commercial property developers. It also means labour costs are considerably reduced and a property developer is not absolutely necessary – thus the developers profit mark-up is not being passed onto the consumer – resulting in reduced build costs.

Given the high number of under-occupied houses in New Zealand (41% in 2006 according to Statistics NZ) and the growing phenomenon of house sharing (including re-composition of multigenerational families), the edFab method provides a means by which housing can be modified reliably and cost-effectivly to address the changing household composition and improve house livability:

• Adaptations: system of adaptable and mutable building components (wall panels, openings, ceilings) for self-renovation with local house integrations. The elements will be delineated rearticulating traditional compounds with integrated automation, cabling and ducting systems.
• Integrations: system of adaptable and mutable extension pods (studies, bathrooms, bedrooms) for self-driven house integrations. The spatial units will be designed to be consistently integrated with the existing formal and structural contexts.
• Remapping: system of sub-components (insulation layers, interior paneling, integrated furnishings) for self-build conversion of existing garages, laundries and roof cavities into habitable rooms. The sub-components integrate automation, cabling and ducting systems.