What this project is really about
How many rooms are there in your home? Is there a balcony? How about a garden? How many bathrooms? Are there young kids or older people living with you? Is the design of your home customized for their needs too? And for the biggest question of all - how long did it take to build your home? What if you could build a home that’s customized to suit the needs of people living at your place in a very short time? Let’s take it a step further and use concepts of physics to make it foldable so it can be assembled anywhere! This could potentially solve affordable home crisis or even utilize available space really well. In this project, you will be guided through research, ideation and finally designing the house. You can get creative with the materials and design. Remember it has to be functional and look good. Let's get started!
Millions of people worldwide lack access to safe, affordable housing — and when disasters strike, the need becomes even more urgent. Traditional construction is slow, expensive, and often inaccessible to those who need it most.
You will research different types of compact homes, ideate a foldable and prefabricated house design, and create both a blueprint and a physical prototype using everyday materials. Your design must be functional, liveable, and structurally sound.
Foldable, prefabricated homes could revolutionise emergency disaster relief and affordable housing at scale. Your design thinking today mirrors real challenges that architects and engineers are working to solve globally.
What you'll walk away knowing how to do
This project isn't about memorising facts. It's about building capabilities that transfer — to your next project, your next class, and beyond.
Learn from people who do this for a living
You're not learning from a textbook. You're learning from practitioners.
Ashwin Mahalingam
Dr Ashwin Mahalingam is a professor in the Building Technology and Construction Management division at IIT Madras. He previously co-founded All Star Fleet, an asset management company for construction firms in the USA, and serves as a Director at Okapi Advisory Services and IndInfravit Trust. Ashwin Mahalingam’s research focuses on...
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