Download your New Home!
As our lack of affordable housing continues unabated, one company may have found a solution – a D.I.Y flatpack you can download from the internet to build your own two-storey home.
The designers behind the project aim to allow anyone to design, download and ‘print’ an affordable, weatherproof house and their components to be assembled with ‘minimal skill or training’.
The house, does not need bolts instead utilising screws, staples, wedges and plugs – and even the mallets are ‘printed’ and cut alongside the pieces for the home.
Blueprints and designs are available to download from the internet, would be builders can then get the pieces that make up the house manufactured using the 3D printing technique.
WikiHouse designer and project manger Alastair Parvin said constructing the house is achievable for the average ‘Ikea-savvy’ person, adding that the housing crisis was a major source of inspiration.
‘What we are trying to do is spark people’s imagination about how technology can now enable almost anyone to afford their own custom built house without the need for conventional construction skills.’
‘We are moving into a future where the factory can be everywhere – and increasingly the design team can be everyone.’
It is estimated 42,000 new homes are needed in London every year alone in order to meet current demand. Bear in mind any apsiring builders will still need planning permission before assembling their new homes. Perhaps a more pertinent point that hasnt been addressed; how exactly do you go about downloading an inexpensive plot of land?