Elements in a plug and play home building system must have standardized dimensions. If not so, an element would lose its value the moment you take it away from a construction. It would not fit any place else. You could only throw it away or have it remanufactured. Think about the famous building system LEGO. A LEGO block is modular. It always fits together with the other LEGO blocks. What would happen if all LEGO blocks in a set would have just a little bit different dimensions? You would only be able to make one construction with a given set!. This is exactly what is happening in normal home building. Every piece is fitted to size. An other advantage of standard dimensions is that manufacturers can produce elements, not knowing what the building will be in which it is fitted. This opens the way to mass production and thus lowers prices. Mass production asks for limiting the amount of available dimensions. On the other side, standardized dimensions can be a harness for the design. A standard dimension could be just a little too long or too short for your goal. So you should have enough available dimensions to reach your goal. As a solution to these problems of dimension I offer the following dimension system: System A System A is a fractal modular preference dividing line dimension system with fixed joint width. This asks for some explanation. Fractal modular means it is a modular system, but the module depends on the dimension. The bigger the dimension, the bigger the module. This you can see in the table.
Available dimensions thus would be:
And for angles the module is:
Available angles thus would be:
These are the normal angles on a drawing board. The preference part means that you have preferred dimensions. I suggest that there be a first choice dimension and a second choice dimension. The first choice in kept in stock, the second choice is made to order. Besides this you can always have a "special". This means a dimension which is not in the system. The second choice emerges by adding a second choice module to our table:
Available second choice dimensions thus would be:
And for angles the second choice module is:
Available second choice angles thus would be:
Dividing line means the dimension specifies the distance between the center of joints (dividing lines) and not the dimensions of the element (which are smaller). The part about fixed joints width tells you that all elements have the same width of the joint. This means the element is smaller than the modular dimension to leave a place for the joint. This joint width is set at 12.5 mm. The joint width is necessary for:
You have to subtract the joint width form the modular dimension to get the real dimension of an element. ___Examples____ Lets say we want to establish the dimensions of the small wall element in the next picture. We need to determine the width, height and thickness. The dimensions of the element are within system A: A300 x A600 x A100
These are all first choice dimensions. The A-dimension specifies the distance between dividing lines in the construction. So we have to subtract the joint width of 12.5 mm. The dimensions of the element itself should thus be:
System A allows for 2 mm form tolerance. An element with following dimensions is thus regarded as OK:
When manufacturers stick to this dimension system, elements will always fit together to make a continuous structure. |
(C) 2024 RW Angenent