Architectural Approaches to Housing Customization: Introducing the Inhabitant-Driven Customization Approach and the MyChanges Tool

Purpose: Customization is a paradox in architecture, providing necessary modernization for buildings but potentially damaging their architectural integrity. In this paper, the authors introduce the Inhabitant-Driven Customization approach for avoiding this paradox; this approach lets inhabitants design the customization from options created...

User-Centered Shape Grammars for Housing Transformations: towards post-handover grammars

This paper presents a post-handover shape grammar for introducing inhabitants wishes in the transformation of individual houses of the Malagueira housing complex by Álvaro Siza Vieira in Évora, Portugal. The presented research includes a case study developed in the context of the workshop Gramática da Forma em estudos de habitação - análise,...

Customized Cork Façade

The propose paper presents an ongoing research which main goal is to use cork in a customized modular façade system. Cork is used due to its ecological value, renewable characteristic, insulation properties and aesthetic value. The modular system design is bio-inspired in the microscopic cork pattern and the study aims at reproducing in the...