Towards flexible interior design: a system of interior design innovation for cluster housing developments in Taiwan

In Taiwan short-term profitability rather than long-term social sustainability propels housing development, with the result that the interior layouts of individual dwellings do not meet the immediate and changing requirements of occupants. The current inflexibility of Taiwanese housing and interior design can also be traced to the dominance of concrete as Taiwan’s primary construction material and the tendency of Taiwanese governments since WWII to leave design standards in private housing to the market. The inclusion of case studies identifies flaws in the development process as it applies to the cluster housing development sector, showing how these have led to inferior design and the waste of significant financial, human and material resources. In response the research proposes a system of flexible interior design based on a combination of user-centred and participatory design processes, customisation principles from product design and manufacturing and N.J. Habraken’s concepts of Open Building and Open Source Building. Referred to as the ‘base building system’, this innovative approach facilitates sustainable architecture and interior design in contrast to current inflexible, developer-driven approaches in Taiwan. The adaptable interior design and construction system allows ready tailoring of interior design to the needs and preferences of individual occupants while making later modification more straightforward. This is demonstrated in the accompanying CD, which simulates a web-based program prospective home buyers might use to participate in the interior design of a unit in a typical Taiwanese private cluster housing development.