Design Configuration in Industrialized House Building

Theoretical Framework

Architectural design does not only affect the built environment, but also intentionally affects the humans who use and experience it (Steadman, 1979; Hillier, 1996). The built environment sets conditions and offers possibilities for human activity; therefore, it is appropriate to conclude that architectural design is about the relationship between humans and buildings as a socio-technical system (Ekholm, 1987).

The environmental psychologist, Roger Barker, has introduced the concept of behavior setting to refer to a concrete unit of behavior and milieu, with the milieu circumjacent to behavior (Barker, 1968). According to Amos Rapoport, the environment can be conceptualized as a system of settings within which a system of activities takes place (Rapoport, 1997). Christopher Alexander’s similar concept pattern is described as a design unit with a strong emotional content referring to concrete systems of place and human activities and experience (Alexander et al., 1977). The inseparable unit of social activity and built environment is named fabric by John Habraken in a similar attempt to capture the essence of the built environment, in use, as a living organism (Habraken, 2005).

The built environment is generally thought of as organized in different levels of design or intervention (Habraken, 1982; Habraken, 1998; Ekholm, 1987). The level order reflects both the artefacts' size and other aspects, and how they are controlled in different levels of social systems. Based on this insight, the Swedish National Board of Public Building identified three levels of building parts: society-related, building-related and organization- or activity-related - (Ahrbom, 1980). Four levels of control actors can be envisioned in the socio-technical system regarding control of the built environment (see Table 1).