The Pleated Cape: From the Mass-Standardization of Levittown to Mass Customization Today

In the 1950’s, the Levitts put mass-production and the reverse assembly line into use in the building of thousands of single-family houses. However, the lack of variation that made their construction process so successful ultimately produced a mundane suburban landscape of sameness. While there were many attempts to differentiate these Levitt Cape Cods, none matched the ingenuity of their original construction process. The notion of mass-customization has been heavily theorized since the 1990’s, first appearing in the field of management and ultimately finding its way into the field of architecture. Greg Lynn used mass-customization in his design for the Embryological House in which thousands of unique houses could be generated using biological rules of differentiation (Lynn 1999). Other industries have embraced the premise that computer-numerically-controlled technologies allow for the production of variation, though it has not been thoroughly studied in architecture. While digital fabrication has been integral in the realization of several high-profile projects, the notion of large-scale mass-customization in the spec-housing market has yet to become a reality. Through the execution of an addition to a Cape Cod-style house, we examine the intersection between prefabricated standardized panels and digital fabrication to produce a mass-customized approach to housing design. Through illustrations and a detailed description of our design process, we will show how digital fabrication technologies allow for customization of mass produced products.