Architecture Students Meet with Teams Across Campus to Plan New FutureHAUS

Last week's mid-term review brought together a dynamic interdisciplinary team of 33 Architecture, Industrial Design, Electrical, Mechanical, Computer, and Industrial & Systems Engineering students to present progress on their shared exploration of industrialized housing. Guided by the Cartridge Catalog brief, the team demonstrated how design thinking, product engineering, and digital systems integration can merge to reimagine prefabricated housing delivery. Reviewers Christine Williamson, Joe Adams, Karin Clark, Robin Ott, and Marie Paretti provided invaluable feedback - encouraging the team to refine the interface between systems, structure, and user experience while maintaining clarity in modular hierarchies. The discussion highlighted the promise of translating lessons from manufacturing, transportation, and product design into a cohesive architectural process that challenges conventional construction models.

Building on this foundation, the team will synthesize their research into a Cartridge Catalog - a comprehensive library of prefabricated, plug-and-play building components including bathroom, kitchen, living, and mechanical cartridges. Each cartridge is designed as a discrete yet interoperable product line, optimized for off-site fabrication, transport, and rapid on-site assembly. This catalog will form the backbone of next semester's design-build program in the School of Architecture, where selected cartridges will be prototyped and assembled at full scale. The resulting system aims to demonstrate a new model of housing delivery that is adaptable, efficient, and responsive to community and environmental needs - bridging pedagogy, research, and real-world application in the spirit of industrialized design.