Research project: Design and production of a minimal house prototype using digital technologies in development and production

The Project Digital Hut has been inititated as a research project for “initiative Zukunft Bau” of BBSR by Prof. Julian Krüger (today HS München) and Prof. Hans Sachs at the TH Köln (Technical University of Applied Sciences Cologne) in 2015. The article includes the documentation of studies, experiments and prototypes from 2015 to 2020. The research project “Digital Hut” has been continued by the Project “DIGItours” (Digitalisierung im Handwerk – Mittelstand 4.0, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)at the HS Wismar in 2019. The project has been finailzed from 2021 to 2023 with a built prototype by Prof. Julian Krüger and Benjamin Kemper (MA) (today: PHD Doctorand at HS Anhalt and the ETH Zürich).

Digital House – final prototype by Julian Krüger and Benjamin Kemper on Designboom

 

CONTEXT

 

Against the backdrop of rapid developments and the spread of digital technologies, we will be increasingly challenged to reformulate social, economic and political strategies in the future. The scope for innovative concepts in the interaction of people and objects, intelligent automation and individualization in production is opening up at increasingly shorter intervals.

 

 

GOAL

 

The aim of the research project was to design and produce a “minimal house prototype” using digital technologies in development and production. In the multi-phase project, digital production methods were used to develop a variable and reduced lightweight construction system that can be configured (via app) and erected by the user without the use of complex tools. Through the use of innovative material processing and the use of sustainable building materials in combination with an adaptive spatial concept, a particular attempt was made to meet the requirements of a mobile and networked society. The main focus here is on the connection of (software) interfaces: user collaboration (principles of “open innovation” and “mass customization”), local, digitized fabrication and the customized design / production of high-quality spaces.

 

 

METHODOLOGY

 

The “Digital Hut” is an experimental construction kit for digital building planning. The building system is in a permanent process of transformation, as the users are an important part of the development process. The high level of adaptability results in a large number of possible applications, such as the redensification of unused urban spaces or the use of temporary buildings as a source of inspiration for sustainable and innovative architecture.