Future housing construction
From Future of Local Services to the Public
From Schultz, W. and Clayton, S. (April 2008) 'Local Government Horizon Scan 2015-30'
Summary
Schultz and Clayton argue that construction methods for home in the future will include:
- Factory-built, eco-friendly homes that guarantee building on time and within budget, increase build quality, reduce construction waste and lessen the seasonal nature of construction work will be increasingly popular.
- Architects, developers and home-owners will increasingly explore use of modular, ‘nomadic’ housing to solve housing pressures and respond to new work patterns and lifestyle choices.
- Innovations such as self-cleaning, self-repairing materials will reduce accidental and deliberate damage to the built environment and will allow the creation of buildings with the capacity to clean and repair themselves, and create the power needed to do so.
- Embedded power generation will be common: flexible plastics that convert light to electricity (organic photovoltaics), greater efficiencies in silicon photovoltaics and floors that generate electricity as people drive, walk, run, dance or cheer (stadium) on them.
