North - South Section
=
East - West Section

Creating a Unique Wall Type:
It was necessary to create a specialized wall type that specifically suited our needs for our modular housing design type. We were able to do this in RevitArchitecture2009 by drawing an exterior wall and editing its properties and renaming the wall type. We renamed it ProtoType01 (PT01). The following are the steps we used to create our custom wall:

1.Draw a "Wall" in Revit:

2. With "Modify" selected, right click on the wall and select "Element Properties":
3. In the "Element Properties" dialog box, select "Edit/New..." next to the "Type" drop-down menu :
4. In the "Type Properties" dialog box, select "Duplicate..." next to the "Type" drop-down menu:
5. In the "Name" dialog box, appropriately rename your wall type and click "OK":
6. In the "Type Properties" dialog box, select the "Edit..." tab next to the box labeled "Structure":7. In the "Edit Assembly" dialog box, modify, edit, and rearrange your wall section to suit your specific needs.

8. When finished, click "OK" to everything and your new wall type will appear in the "Wall" drop down menu:

A Preliminary Floor Plan Using the New Wall Type:


A Preliminary Sketch:

Climate Analysis for the Region of Monterrey, Mexico:
-Average Yearly Cloud Cover-
-Average Yearly Dry Bulb Temperature-

Milne,Murray. "Climate Consultant 3." Department of Agriculture and Urban Design. 2007 ed. Los Angeles: UCLA.

A Look into Modular Prefabricated Housing:

Kieran, Stephen, and James Timberlake. Loblolly House: Elements of a New Architecture . 1st ed. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008.

Background:
In many outlying areas of major cities people who are not able to afford appropriate housing are forced to inhabit areas known as squatter villages. A squatter village is a settlement of families and individuals who live in and occupy land and structures that they do not own, rent, or otherwise have permission to use. These villages are prevalent in the surrounding areas of Monterrey, Mexico. One major concern for these villages is their source of fresh water. This often leads these villages to develop near sources of water such as streams and riverbeds.

Many of these squatters provide for their families through cheap manual labor or rummaging through garbage for recyclable goods that they can reuse or sell. Due to a lack of resources, many times their homes are constructed with these recycled goods that are unsanitary and ill-suited for home construction.

Problem:
These living conditions, specifically their homes, are unsafe and inadequate. Not only do they lack financial and physical resources, they also often lack the knowledge to build adequate housing.

Hypothesis:
Although we recognize the need for a strong network of resources, both physical and financial, to address this social problem, our proposal focuses solely on providing the necessary instruction to construct a small, inexpensive, modular, prefabricated home. We believe B.I.M., specifically Revit Architecture, would be a well suited tool to design our home in a multivariabalic context.

Methodology:
Before design begins, there is a fair amount of research that must be done. This research includes regional climate studies of Monterrey, explorations into low-cost, modular housing, regional architectural and cultural concerns. After careful consideration of our research, we hope to utilize Revit Architecture to address many design/build concerns such as: building material constraints, possibilities for multi-variable solutions, the rapid duplication of three-dimensional components, efficient cost projections, and the ability to create and modify parametric objects.

Timeline:
November 10: Complete necessary research and investigation on the region of Monterrey in addition to pre-existing low cost, modular homes.

November 17: Complete design for modular, prefabricated home that can be implemented in Monterrey squatter villages.

November 21: Complete pamphlet

Deliverable:
Produce an easy to use pamphlet that emphasizes graphic communication to convey the construction (assembly) processes.

References:
Bell, Bryan. Design Corps.

Design Corps. Website

Palleroni, Sergio. BaSiC Initiative.

BaSiC Initiative Website

Quale, John. University of Virginia School of Architecture.

How to design sustainable, affordable manufactured housing:

1. Research. The prefab-housing world is filled with visionary but failed prototypes. Designers need to dig deeper to understand how the industry actually works and push for measured changes toward sustainable and affordable options.
2. Listen. Curb your ego, but not your ability to learn something from affordable-housing experts, builders, businesspeople, environmentalists, and potential homeowners.
3. Research some more. Calling it green doesn’t make it green. Rigorous sustainable design is tough—it requires considerable research time and should not depend on preconceived notions of what’s environmentally preferable.
4. Collaborate. Effective design requires equal parts vision and practicality. Interdisciplinary collaboration is the best way to achieve that, and I believe that group genius is more productive than individual genius.
5. Evaluate. A building is a hypothesis that needs to be tested. Designers aren’t very good about learning the lessons of their work, but that’s the only way to make sure your building is actually affordable and sustainable.

How to build high-quality, affordable homes in the nonprofit sector:

1. Donate your expertise, and challenge your colleagues to get involved. Get a good team together, and then you can dig in and develop thoughtful design.
2. Develop a good rapport with the client, and have patience. It can be a long process from conceptual design through construction. The client has to be open to new ideas, and the architect must be willing to compromise.
3. Listen to your client, and understand the realities of their budget.
Also, educate them as to where real homeowner value exists: energy savings, daylighting, thermal comfort, reduced sound transmission.
4. Develop repetitive details. It’s crucial to detail these things cleanly and make them easy to construct.
5. Work on-site to keep the design on track. You earn the respect of the construction team when you can show that you’re capable of putting the building together.