WikiHouse is a high-performance manufactured building system for small buildings. It uses interlocking, CNC-machined plywood or OSB to create cassettes or ‘subassemblies’ that can be manufactured in small factories, and rapidly assembled on-site, even by teams with no traditional construction skills. (Think “Legos meets IKEA meets Housing!”).
WikiHouse is open source – anyone can freely use, test and contribute to it.
WikiHouse is about the democratization of house building.
A WikiHouse Explainer from Christopher Roosen
A WikiHouse Explainer from UrbanNext.
Visit the WikiHouse Community Forum to learn about ongoing developments with WikiHouse and stay current with its evolution. The adjacent video is a recording of one of the monthly WikiHouse Community meetings. Search for ‘WikiHouse’ on Youtube to find more, or browse the WikiHouse Youtube Channel. There are many informative recordings out there.
The WikiHouse project is maintained by Open Systems Lab. (Check out their other open source projects.)
Governance is via WikiHouse Foundation.
Research Paper: Use of Wikihouse System in Multi-Local Social Housing
Abstract: The construction industry is currently grappling with the dual challenges of a real estate crisis and climate change. In response to this scenario, the integration of industrialized methods in construction processes is advocated to enhance the overall quality of the end product, streamline construction timelines, and curtail production costs.
WikiHouse Value Proposition in a Nutshell:
- Self-built, or Community-built housing equates to lower cost of home construction and ownership.
- When you enable more people to participate in any aspect of the economy, innovation naturally follows. What digital publishing platforms, like YouTube, did for the information economy, WikiHouse could do for the housing economy. People will get creative in finding places to put houses, in creating micro-village communities and lifestyles. The WikiHouse self-builder can capitalize on locations the conventional builders may not find feasible, e.g., small lots, irregular or challenging terrain, potentially even brownfields, using a variety of foundation options, such as, simple wood rails on concrete footers, on rooftops, spaceframe platforms, trailer beds, etc.
- A WikiHouse housing sub-economy could provide meaningful employment to those unable to participate in traditional home construction, including those reentering society after incarceration or recovery programs. With WikiHouse there are fewer training requirements, a lower threshold to participate.
- WikiHouse is a zero-carbon building modality, it uses lots of plywood or OSB, a renewable resource, it is a net positive for climate goals.
Related Resources:
- WikiHouse on Wikipedia
- Duke Makes in Northern England
- SpaceCraft New Zealand
- BE-ST (Built Environment – Smarter Transformation)
- WikiHouse Thermal Performance Analysis
- Build Construx (formerly Charleston Fablab):
- https://www.buildconstrux.com/
- https://charlestonbusiness.
com/construxs-kits-aim-to- tackle-housing-shortages-and- affordable-housing/ - Architecture Unknown
- Mass-customized Community Homes