The problem with new materials and new ways of building things is that they’re expensive. That is one reason prefab or modular housing has never been able to deliver high-quality buildings at a competitive price. KieranTimberlake’s Indian project might change that. Still being developed in partnership with Indian investors, it would be a kit of house parts – factory-made out of aluminum and lightweight precast concrete, easy to move and quick to put together in a few standard plans that suit India’s climate.

“It’s still early, and we’re going at it like a car, almost – we bear down through the prototyping process, getting a product to do different things,” Kieran explains. “That’s a lesson we learned from the automotive industry.” For example, they have conceived concrete panels that bear thousands of tiny rounded indentations, which cast tiny shadows that keep the surface cool.

And given a potential demand for hundreds of millions of homes in India, this may be the chance to work out the kinks and build, finally, architecture’s Model T1

• 1. source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/architecture/constructing-architectures-model-t/article16492472/