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Abstract
Based on John Turner's (1972) assertion that a dweller's control of the decisions concerning the design, construction and management of their housing stimulates individual and social well being, the thesis examines the experience of a cluster group of self-builders in the UK to test Turner's proposition within current social and cultural conditions. The study of self-building is located within the discipline of design history as it seeks to provide a contextual account of the process of designing and making a home giving due consideration to the political, economic and social history of housing and to studies of housing design that propose particular theories and methods for the interpretation of domestic architecture and interior space. This is the first study of its kind to examine the self-build home as a conveyor of social and cultural information and to place the activities of the amateur designer and builder within the context of design history. Further to this, the study proposes that the self-build home - its production and consumption - offers unique insight into the post-modern condition. The study explores how self-builders bring their understanding of their personal needs and aspirations to the design and construction process, and the knowledge and skills they develop to accomplish the complex and lengthy task of self-building. Using a collection of cases, the study explores how the amateur designer and builder re-negotiates traditional precepts concerning home design and building through their intervention in the provision of specialist professions and trades. The study concludes that self-building, like other forms of 'serious' amateur activity, offers a highly challenging process and significant rewards (that contribute to well being on a number of levels). These include rewards concerned with personal development (reflecting issues of identity and creativity), knowledge and skill development (for example project management and quantity surveying), social and lifestyle gains (in terms of what the home offers and how it functions) as well as gains in equity through the contribution of the self-builder's own labour. A further finding shows the need for further and specialist facilitation processes to be developed to support a deeper engagement with the conceptual and design phases of self-build projects.