From prototypical to prototyping: mass-customization versus 20th century utopias in architecture and urban design

Abstract

This paper seeks to establish connections between the four phases of the Industrial Revolution and architectural utopias in architecture and urban design. We start with an overview of the four phases of industrialization, trying to establish connections to the respective architectural and urban trends at each phase. We argue that in the same way the Second Industrial Revolution and its new mass production system influenced some Modern utopias at the beginning of the 20th century, the Third and Fourth Industrial Revolution methods have boosted new contemporary utopias. In order to illustrate this thesis, we looked at examples of different scales: consumer products, building components, housing units and urban design. We concluded that the main difference between modern and contemporary utopias is a shift from top-down to bottom-up processes across the different scales. New parametric CAD software and personal production machines, such as CNC-routers, laser cutters and 3D-printers, and the concept of mass-customization, are making it possible for users to be more participant in the production of their own products, homes, and even the urban spaces. The paper ends with an inquiry about which will be the next utopias, based on the technologies expected to reach tipping points in the next decades.