Over the last few years, the problems that have arisen in modern society have created many challenges for the construction industry. One of the most important problems of the construction industry, is the environmental pollution due to construction wastes, gas emissions, and high consumption of energy and natural resources, that greatly aggravates the already existing environmental crisis. Meanwhile, with the severe situation in the economy, the reconstruction is less and less, as the price for building new houses is now extremely high. As a result, many people are facing housing problems.
For all these reasons, the architecture and the construction industry are interested in prefabricated self – build housing systems (modular homes, kit homes), which seems to be a worthwhile alternative to the problems of cost, energy and pollution. Such systems areproduced digitally (CNC, 3D – PRINTING), in factories and the materials used for the construction components (walls, windows etc.) are recyclable and reusable. In this way, the construction site can be avoided, thereby reducing construction costs and environmental pollution. Furthermore, end – users are able to self – assemble their house system, thus reducing costs even further (eliminating the paid work of a specialized crew). At the same time, they have the opportunity to actively participate in the decision-making process for the design and the construction of their home.
The aim of this research is to investigate the prefabricated self – building housing systems, their advantages and disadvantages, the use of digital tools for their production, what materials are used and which the role of the end – users is. Also, there are examples of scientific articles, analysing such systems, that are chosen by many people as way of living in several countries with severe housing problems like England and the Netherlands.