Reinventing home construction

In 1947, Robin Boyd, the doyen of Modernist architecture in Australia, established the Small Homes Service in conjunction with the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects. For �5, you could choose from a range of plans to build your house. The intention was to make the pleasure of living in an architectdesigned space a reality for homebuyers of modest means.

Boyd considered home ownership to be a fundamental need. He said having a small house “in a fenced allotment is as inevitable and unquestionable a goal of the average Australian as marriage”.

This tradition continues with a rather modern twist. Enter WikiHouse, an idea that sprouted in the United Kingdom in 2011, flflourished in New Zealand and is now being