Affordable Housing - Participatory Design Tool
I would like to develop a tool to aid non-profit organizations such as New Story and Echale in their participatory design processes. These organizations build affordable housing in the United States, as well as abroad in a variety of countries. Part of their ideology is that everyone should have a say in the design of their home, and they often conduct surveys, and participatory design workshops to understand what kinds of design features community members are interested in.
What’s it do?
I want to create a tool that aids these organizations in developing unique designs tailored to the resident's needs and wants. This tool could streamline the design process by taking as an input the desired features outlined by future residents, and outputting a preliminary design of the house in Revit that can be passed on to architects and engineers for finishing.
Inputs
Possible inputs that could be gathered from workshops or surveys with residents could be:
- Desired # of Bed Rooms — this is especially important to consider when housing families
- Roof Type — its not uncommon for folks to prefer flat roofs so they have the opportunity to build up later. Others however prefer a more traditional look.
- Number of Windows — Natural light has strong benefits associated with improved well being
- Patio or no Patio — According to New Story access to green space is a common request by residents
- Ceiling Height — this is important to consider for thermal comfort of residents
Dynamo Logic and Outputs
First, dynamo will layout the points associated with the geometry generated by the future resident's inputs. These points will then be used to create lines and curves, which will in turn be extruded and associated with revit elements. These elements will demonstrate the general layout of the house and the following outputs:
- Walls
- Windows
- Doors
- The Roof
- Patio