The latest video in our Dezeen x MINI Living series explores Bartlett School of Architecture graduate Matt Lucraft's concept for a modular building system designed to address London's housing crisis.

Matt Lucraft's proposal, titled the Dagenham Breach Housing Co-operative, is a plan for a settlement of self-built and customisable homes that seeks to tackle the scarcity of affordable housing in the British capital.

The plan would initially be implemented on a brownfield site in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, but employs a open-source building system that could be rolled out to areas further afield to make use of unused land.

Lucraft envisions that prospective home owners would use a piece of software that allows them to create digital designs for their homes. The buildings would then be prefabricated and delivered to site ready for assembly.

Additional modules could be tacked on the existing buildings to extend them as required, minimising costs and waste by offering residents homes tailored to their needs.

The plans combine the pitched roofs of English vernacular architecture with the typically compact proportions of Japanese housing. Lucraft also drew from the post-war Japanese Metabolist architecture movement, which promoted the use of modular plug-in capsules to create megastructures that emulate organic growth.

The movie is part of Dezeen x MINI Living Initiative, a year-long collaboration with MINI exploring how architecture and design can contribute to a brighter urban future through a series of videos and talks.

Find out more about the project ›