Background

Re-Coding Homes searches for flexibility in the standard layout of contemporary housing units very common in the big cities of Turkey. The project differentiates from other studies with its unique design model characterized by an expert system that generates complete home environments according to parameters defined by user needs. In this sense, certain methodological and contextual aspects were employed throughout the study. Among these, flexibility, modularity, adaptability, and user participation were discussed as methodological aspects that identify the design model. Urban regeneration and mass housing are investigated as contextual aspects that affect the overall quality of present living environments in the specific context of Istanbul.

Re-Coding Homes

The research project Re-Coding Homes aims to create flexible interior design solutions for standard mass housing units and differentiate them according to different user needs. The study consists of three basic steps defined as case study, development of the design model, and development of the user interface. The design model is characterized by a flexible expert system that leads to different spatial variations by multi-parametric layout generation based on parameters determined by user needs. In this sense, the design model acts as a mass customization tool that gives the possibility to create complete living environments together with all furniture and necessary equipment.

Development of the User Interface

This chapter includes the final phase of the Re-Coding Homes Project, which has been conducted as a TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) research. In the case of Istanbul-Maltepe Başıbüyük Housing, which was constructed by TOKI (Housing Development Administration) within the final phase of the study, a digital interface has been designed and operated in order to bring all the outputs of the project as variations, which are customized for different users. The interface works as a website, which includes representation and information on different variations offered by the design model. With the web interface, a system has been obtained in order to provide user participation and mass customization as well, as it will contain information about the project and will be used as a communication tool to share this information.

Design Workshop

Although the expert system is vital for the research project Re-Coding Homes, it mainly deals with the layout, density, and relations of modules and represents them only as raw cubic geometries. Parallel to the studies of the expert system, during the Design Workshop, the design team worked on developing the components of the modular system. All modules fit in the 3D grid defined in the expert system and have similar codes so that they can come together within different configurations. Throughout the Design Workshop all these interior modules are concretized using a laser cut and real materials in the ITU Model Lab. The main objective of this chapter is to exemplify a design process run in relation with an expert system that generates solutions related to user needs.

Genetic Algorithms

This chapter includes the second phase of the Re-Coding Homes Project, which has been conducted as a TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) research project with the title “A User-Centered Model Research Towards a Flexible Interior Spatial Design for Mass Housing Units: Urban Renewal Housing.” In this phase, which will be presented in this chapter, the design model and an expert system have been developed with the aim of improving the interior spaces of mass housing projects in accordance with different user needs and providing solutions that will increase the flexibility of apartment interiors. The expert system that can operate the flexible modular system proposed in the housing units has made it possible to achieve a large number of spatial variations by means of “multi-parameter layout design.” “Mass-customization” approach was used in order to generate satisfactory results for users' spatial needs and life styles.

The Project Site

Data collection is vital for every design process in order to define the design parameters that will guide the rest of the process. In this chapter data collection procedure and evaluation methods used for the project Re-Coding Homes is discussed by focusing on field research and survey studies. Survey studies are mainly based on semi-structured interviews and spatial mapping methods. The interview was structured to collect data about the family structures, daily routines, social relations, and comparisons between the current and previous living environments. After completing the survey, answers given to the questions were transferred into digital data. During the systematization of the results, the most important problem was to process the complex data in order to support the design model. In this sense, a reporting software was designed to evaluate the data group. The parameters extracted by means of the reporting software became the main input for the expert system.

Conclusion

This chapter discusses the results of the Re-Coding Homes Project, which has been conducted as a TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) research project. With the project and the generated system, standardized housing interiors that cannot meet the different needs of users are diversified according to changing needs, and in this way, the use value of these living spaces has been increased. The developed model introduces modular furniture units that meet all the activities, all the needs of mass housing users, and the system proposal that brings them together.