You might be interested in Walter Segal's ideas of building houses as assemblies from materials in their available dimensions so the parts are easy to reuse or modify. I find his ideas both compelling and a bit too idealistic or from another era. In the winter I have an architect friend who I talk to and hope to get his views on the pros and cons this year.
https://theprepared.org/features-feed/segal-method
He's kind of amazing and I'm obsessed with him, but the problem with his original concept is how hard they are to insulate. He has a lot of living followers that have put a lot of time into designs that can be insulated well, but they lose the off-the-shelf quality of the original Segal concept.
edit: It took me a little while to find Segal's followers' books, so I might as well list the ones I own here if anybody else is interested. They contain updated, insulated interpretations of Segal's process, and experimentation with alternative materials.
The Self-Build Book: How to Enjoy Designing and Building Your Own Home by Jon Broome and Brian Richardson
Out of the Woods by Pat Borer and Cindy Harris
The Whole House Book: Ecological Building Design & Materials by Pat Borer and Cindy Harris
The Green Self-Build Book: How to Design and Build Your Own Eco Home by Jon Broome
Thanks! I did some reading about his concepts but decided it was a rabbit hole that would take a while to explore. Decided to stop for a while so I can focus on more pressing things but I'll add those to the list. Looking at updated information seems worthwhile.
Out of the Woods is familiar for some reason, I know my dad wanted to build a house himself at one point. Maybe that was on the bookshelf when I was younger? I'll have to talk to him about this.
Ugh. Not really. I struggle to come up with any reason at all given that it's proven technology with prior art going back many thousands of years. The entire city of Venice is built on the concept.
We keep digging up long forgotten civilizations to find their post beam foundations in tact.
My best guess is rot. However, if you do it right there is no risk.
I had wondered if there were a sort of open-source floor plan for a smallish single-family home.
I imagine a design that has variations for different geographical regions of the country to account for material availability, local needs and codes. Optimized for ease of construction, cost, etc.
Perhaps it could get some sort of blessing from various municipalities so that building permits are either waived or fast-tracked.
Perhaps construction workers could learn or train to construct these homes such that experienced contractors can rotate across a number of builds in an area — total time for construction of one home perhaps close to 3 or 4 months.
> This plan is drawn to meet the National IBC (International Building Code), but it may not completely comply with state, city, county or municipality code requirements. It's recommended to consult with your local building official prior to purchasing the plan. If needed, this plan can be modified to comply with any state, city, county or municipality code requirements. Modification fee may apply. Plans ordered in an electronic PDF format are not refundable due to the licenses issued to the purchaser for the rights to build the Plan. *State of Illinois residents: Please consult with your local permitting officiant prior to ordering plan.
An "open source floor plan", beyond a floor plan, gets into liability.
Not fully parameterized like what you're talking about but Seattle has some standardized pre-approved plans for DADUs (detached accessory dwelling units) available. It would be nice to see design libraries for various regions with equivalent building codes/standards.
