Maxx Living
Innovation creates room for affordable quality
Why would a property developer, with its own architectural team, want to collaborate with an industrial designer?
Because they aim to construct a project of 500 affordable and sustainable wooden starter homes that are modular, prefabricated, scalable, and fully tailored to the buyer's preferences. This presented a few significant challenges, as the construction industry mainly deals with either custom-made single pieces or homogeneous mass production.
During the initial discussion with Maxx Living, it became clear where an industrial designer could add value. Firstly, in optimizing the technical design for mass production. And secondly, streamlining the process from raw wood in the factory to a complete superstructure on-site. Additionally, the goal was to avoid manually drawing 500 different customer configurations.
Modular in length
Maxx Living's concept is simple and clever. The front facade is available in several standard (height and width) sizes: M, L, XL, and XXL. In length, each house is composed of modular segments, each 1 meter 20 wide. The total length of the house can be customized, and thanks to modularity, the placement of elements such as the entrance, windows, or skylight segments can be adjusted. The layout, staircase, and floor are also modular. This allows for choices like a complete upper floor with a maximum square footage, or the spaciousness of a loft.
Endless possibilities for the buyer... and thus a significant challenge in terms of drafting and documentation. After testing various workflows, the decision was made to work with an intelligent Mastermodel that governs the dimensions of all parts of the structure. This Mastermodel starts with a mainsketch, based on the front facade dimensions, serving as the basis for all subsequent sketches and features. Any changes to this sketch automatically update all underlying components at both 3D Part and 2D Drawing levels.
At the Assembly level, configurations can quickly be chosen from segment types, allowing for the rapid generation of a customer-specific composition and accompanying house drawing.
Superstructure within a day
Next to the design workflow there was a focus on product and process optimization. The segments are prefabricated, insulated and pre-wired in a clean and dry environment, then transported and delivered just-in-time to the construction site. Two segments are horizontally assembled and then lifted into position onto the concrete foundation. Thanks to smart modular bolt connections, the entire superstructure can be assembled within one day. An efficient workflow, from individual components to the complete superstructure.
The high quality finishing, including solar panels, completes the Maxx Living experience: a modern, sustainable home tailored to personal preferences at a remarkably competitive price.
