We live in a country where we are actually fortunate to be able to make our own choices about how we want our housing. In many parts of the world, people have to live in whatever they can get their hands on or resolve it overnight.
Sitting and casually Googling a bit with my coffee this morning, I came across a link to a Chinese construction company.
Laughed at first and thought... what the heck! But then I started thinking. How many are we on the planet? With the current population growth, what modern construction solutions do we need to meet the needs?
Both construction-wise, depending on the area you live in, cold, heat, earthquakes, landslides, floods, etc.
And cost-effectively, most of the world's population cannot afford to choose whether it should be an HTH or EPOQ kitchen, or even what colors the house should be. Will we move towards such a standardized construction technique that everything is modular?
What do you think?
Here's the link that got me thinking.
http://www.putianhouse.com/gsjj.asp
It's about steel-constructed houses, something I saw a lot of when I was in Australia. The cost situation made it attractive for people who wanted their own house at a fraction of the price of a traditionally built house.
Is there a chance this is the future for us too?
Sitting and casually Googling a bit with my coffee this morning, I came across a link to a Chinese construction company.
Laughed at first and thought... what the heck! But then I started thinking. How many are we on the planet? With the current population growth, what modern construction solutions do we need to meet the needs?
Both construction-wise, depending on the area you live in, cold, heat, earthquakes, landslides, floods, etc.
And cost-effectively, most of the world's population cannot afford to choose whether it should be an HTH or EPOQ kitchen, or even what colors the house should be. Will we move towards such a standardized construction technique that everything is modular?
What do you think?
Here's the link that got me thinking.
http://www.putianhouse.com/gsjj.asp
It's about steel-constructed houses, something I saw a lot of when I was in Australia. The cost situation made it attractive for people who wanted their own house at a fraction of the price of a traditionally built house.
Is there a chance this is the future for us too?
Not unthinkable, as commercial buildings are often constructed with steel to a large extent. However, I find it hard to believe that such a house would be significantly cheaper than a regular house in Sweden. The building framework makes up a small part of the cost of a villa. Installations, furnishings, surface layers, and fees account for a large part of the cost.
Mmm, it's a common misconception. I think most people trying to invent something to reduce house building costs focus on the structure itself. But as pelpet points out, the structure makes up a very small part of the cost of building a house in Sweden. About 10%, maybe.
Quote from a building material dealer: "People calculate in detail what the material for the structure will cost. Then it turns out that the moldings cost more than the structure."
Quote from a building material dealer: "People calculate in detail what the material for the structure will cost. Then it turns out that the moldings cost more than the structure."
I think you can draw a lot of inspiration from commercial buildings. For example, I can look at my office - there’s an installation ceiling on each floor with ceiling tiles that you can take down, and above that runs all the electrical, plumbing, data networks, ventilation, etc. Quick, cheap, and easy to build, and very flexible. And all the walls are basically painted. But nobody wants it that way at home (except me, who likes the office environment) because "it looks like an office." But what's the problem? I think it's great.
Bathrooms are a hassle. Does it really need to cost 100,000 SEK to build a tiled wet room? We should probably let go of the tile obsession and use more vinyl and wet room boards, like fibo-trespo. And why should bathroom furniture cost as much as it does and still be junk? I think manufacturers have been quite successful in pretending that certain chipboard furniture is "exclusive."
Kitchens must be done smarter too. Much smarter. I think today’s kitchen cabinets are all rubbish. You should be able to attach a garage wall (type) to a wall, add some sturdy brackets and support legs, put a countertop/sink on top, and then hang all drawers and shelves on the back of the garage wall. Then some doors on the front; they should be able to hang on the support legs. Anyone could assemble such a kitchen, and it would be significantly easy, effortless to take down/put up, adjust, modify, swap parts, etc.
But actually, I don't want it to become cheaper to build. Because then the value of my house would be undermined. For imagine if you could build a new 200 sqm villa for a million, who would want to buy my house for twice that? If I could build that cheaply, I wouldn’t sell the houses for less than I had to. And no municipality drives for cheap housing either. Then a lot of low-income people would just move there, paying little in taxes and causing a lot of costs. It's better to do like in Danderyd and ensure that only high-income earners live there.
Bathrooms are a hassle. Does it really need to cost 100,000 SEK to build a tiled wet room? We should probably let go of the tile obsession and use more vinyl and wet room boards, like fibo-trespo. And why should bathroom furniture cost as much as it does and still be junk? I think manufacturers have been quite successful in pretending that certain chipboard furniture is "exclusive."
Kitchens must be done smarter too. Much smarter. I think today’s kitchen cabinets are all rubbish. You should be able to attach a garage wall (type) to a wall, add some sturdy brackets and support legs, put a countertop/sink on top, and then hang all drawers and shelves on the back of the garage wall. Then some doors on the front; they should be able to hang on the support legs. Anyone could assemble such a kitchen, and it would be significantly easy, effortless to take down/put up, adjust, modify, swap parts, etc.
But actually, I don't want it to become cheaper to build. Because then the value of my house would be undermined. For imagine if you could build a new 200 sqm villa for a million, who would want to buy my house for twice that? If I could build that cheaply, I wouldn’t sell the houses for less than I had to. And no municipality drives for cheap housing either. Then a lot of low-income people would just move there, paying little in taxes and causing a lot of costs. It's better to do like in Danderyd and ensure that only high-income earners live there.