Abstract

Offsite manufacturing can be part of the solution to achieve international sustainability goals and improve productivity in the construction industry However, mass production can lead to a monotonous built environment that is alienating to people and therefore unsustainable Previous research has examined the required complexity of the built environment through various experiments, but in these, respondents had to evaluate conditions that did not affect them personally As a result, complex attitudes, like nimbyism, could have remained hidden To fill this gap in research, two online surveys were conducted, with over 200 participants, focusing on the prejudices towards mass manufactured residential buildings and the criteria of the diversity of homes The first experiment examined how respondents would feel if they had to see a similar home to theirs, by varying visiting frequency and similarity The second survey investigated the real attitude of society towards these buildings from various angles with Likert Thurstone and semantic differential scales T tests showed that the prejudices were positive in general, except concerning these buildings’ diversity, and respondents were negative only about having to see regularly a similar dwelling to theirs These results have demonstrated that mass produced homes with custom façades can be socially accepted, so their production could be sustainable, and, consequently, useful in overcoming housing crises