TIMBER TOWER: MIT THESIS

This Thesis proposes a prefabricated housing architecture that delivers configurational flexibility through a strategic union between industrial manufacturing and the burgeoning DIY culture of personal fabrication. The combination of mass produced standard components with the ability to locally customize, via personal fabrication tooling, provides a personal housing protocol with true flexibility. This thesis was submitted to satisfy requirements of both a Masters of Architecture and a Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Half Meche, half architecture- this joint thesis proposes both a wooden housing tower and a framework for the development of custom fabrication machines via modular mechanical components. Together they aim to catalyze variation in prefabricated housing without sacrificing the economic advantages of mass production.