Living 4.0 – Digital platform for affordable housing

The demand for affordable and flexible living space is growing – at the same time, the digital transformation offers new opportunities to make modular housing more efficient, resource-friendly and user-oriented.

Living 4.0 is developing a digital platform for the integrated planning, production and use of modular residential buildings. The focus is on linking BIM-based processes, parametric design tools and off-site production with the aim of enabling a new generation of digital residential construction.

Why Living 4.0?

• Combination of digital planning with modular off-site production to reduce construction time, costs and resource consumption.
• Integration of user participation and life cycle scenarios to promote individual and sustainable living concepts.
• Development of two networked tools:
  • BIM4D2P (BIM for Design to Production) for planners, manufacturers and construction companies
  • PHD (Parametric Habitat Designer) for users and property developers
• Digital object libraries and shared data structures enable a continuous flow of information between planning and production.

Project description

The aim of Wohnen 4.0 is to develop a digital platform that maps the entire value creation process in modular multi-storey residential construction – from planning and production to use.

The platform is based on BIM modules that are transferred directly to off-site production using BIM4D2P. At the same time, the PHD tool enables the participatory and parametric design of residential modules by users and developers – including automated visualisation, cost estimation and life cycle assessment.

The project pursues an integrated approach and focuses specifically on mass customisation, digital interfaces and a consistent data structure to prevent information loss.

Vision

Living 4.0 stands for a new approach to affordable housing: digital, modular, participatory. With this project, TU Wien is developing an innovative planning and production system that combines individual needs, economic efficiency and ecological responsibility – and is thus helping to shape the housing of the future.