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Mass Customisation And Its Effect On The Individual And The Production Process

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Mass Customisation in Architecture

Introduction

Mass customisation implies a relationship between an individual and the production process.

For mass production to occur a process must be created which aims to fabricate a product in the easiest and the least redundant way. This process is highly designed to create products which are virtually identical in mass quantities (Image 01.1). The final outcome caters to the product rather than to the individual. A process, on the other hand, which allows for a product to be produced based on the needs and wants of the individual requires a link to be created between the person and the system. (Image 01.2) For this relationship to exist, the individual must have a knowledge of the different …show more content…

The combination of these two factors are then forced upon the user, who will never consider the possibility of variation.

Extrusion moulding, additive fabrication and water jet cutting are the three production methods which this project will explore in the context of a joint at an architecturally viable scale. In architecture, joinery exists in wood work and metal and is intended to create a connection between separate elements. For example a lap joint in wood work or welding, or a metal t-plate are intend to be static joint details which can bring together multiple elements. The ball and socket joint, however, is a joint type which does connect separate elements, but allows for movement among them. This can be utilised to create structures which can withstand forces acting from various angles, or structures which can be dismantled, folded and transported. Thus exploring the ball and socket joint which is a natural or manufactured joint or coupling in which a partially spherical end lies in a socket, allowing multidirectional movement and rotation, will allow me to explore these fabrication methods to their greatest capabilities.

Extrusion Molding

Extrusion molding is recognized as a process of pushing a malleable material, sensitive to heat, through a plate with a predefined void. As the material is pushed through the die, it takes on the shape of the void and therefor an object is created with a continuous cross

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