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Information-Driven Customization: A Profile-Matching Model

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Managing Complexity

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

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Abstract

The application of digital technology models in the building field has offered architects the capabilities to explore new areas toward customized buildings. Housing, a vital sector in the industry, has witnessed a renewed surge of awareness in the last two decades, especially following these new approaches to design and production, aiming to shift from traditional mode of mass production to customization. While this interest has taken various constituencies, emergent design and fabrication technologies have enabled diverse research and pragmatic solutions to contemporary prefabricated housing industry challenges, given that it represents an ideal model to adopt mass customization. This chapter represents a framework for managing information throughout the process of achieving customization in the prefabricated housing industry. The focus is on devising an algorithmic model that matches homebuyers’ profile, in the form of precise programmatic requirements, to a potential housing solution from a predefined database. Once selected, homebuyers are prompted to customize the prototype to further suit their needs, with regard to spaces, and interior/exterior appearance of the dwelling.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Pine (1993) defines mass customization as a production strategy that integrates mass production principles with the process of producing custom products.

  2. 2.

    Habraken (1972) developed the “Theory of Supports,” which was both a significant contribution to the field of mass housing and also based upon the principle of user participation. The theory distinguished between two fundamental components: “supports,” regarded as a physical entity or the rigid part of the building, and “infills,” the flexible part that could be adjusted on different levels – social, industrial, economic, and organizational. The system was designed to facilitate variations to floor plans over time while also accommodating the design of dwellings to meet the diverse standards of housing in any particular society.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Architecture, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, UAE

    Basem Eid Mohamed

  2. UQAM, Ecole de Design, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Carlo Carbone

Authors
  1. Basem Eid Mohamed
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  2. Carlo Carbone
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Basem Eid Mohamed .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management & Technology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jocelyn Bellemare

  2. Department of Management & Technology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Serge Carrier

  3. Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Kjeld Nielsen

  4. Technology and Innovation Management, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Frank T. Piller

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Mohamed, B.E., Carbone, C. (2017). Information-Driven Customization: A Profile-Matching Model. In: Bellemare, J., Carrier, S., Nielsen, K., Piller, F.T. (eds) Managing Complexity. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29058-4_5

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