Liberating High-Quality Home Design

Does not having the money to hire a world-class architect mean you shouldn't be able to build a well-designed house? A new website seeks to make high-quality design accessible to the masses with open source architecture.

1 minute read

December 5, 2013, 2:00 PM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"Architecture has long had an accessibility problem: You want a bespoke house? You’re gonna have to pony up a lot of money," writes Liz Stinson. "In the process, good design has become a luxury; a snooty, out-of-reach idea that only the rich have access to, which is actually the exact opposite of what good design should be." 

A new platform called Paperhouses, hopes to reduce the barriers to good design by bringing "high-quality open source architecture to the masses," says Stinson. "For its initial launch, Pacheco rounded up 12 well-known architects from around the world to contribute a house blueprint that the public can access for free."

"The plan is to release a new house every month, and build up an ever-growing database of designs that people can access."

Thursday, December 5, 2013 in Wired

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