The eight Open Source House principles

	Locally embedded The design is embedded in the local cultural context (e.g. socially and economically); it can be produced locally, aims at improving local employment and know-how and strives to minimize the need for import and transportation.
	Design the whole life cycle The future disassembly and material-use are an integral part of the design. All organic and technical materials can be separated. Natural resources are renewable.
	Climate The design makes optimal use of its location and surrounding climate conditions in order to minimize energy consumption.
	Size The design adheres to local building standards. Elements are transportable and re-usable (e.g. elements of house ‘A’ are exchangeable with elements of house ‘B’).
	Structure The load-bearing structure is separated from the demountable building skin.
	Connections All connections between the components and the structure are dry and demountable. This makes re-assembly easy and clean.
	Installations All installations must guarantee a flexible organization of the household and provide a sustainable way of living. The installations are smart, safe, upgradeable and adapted to the local ecology. They can function independently from the structure and skin.
	Open Source Share All designs and ideas will be published and shared on www.os-house.org to inspire others. Others may use, improve and adapt them. For that purpose designs, drawings and presentations are made in a clear, reproducible manner.

The principles guarantee the sustainable and flexible qualities of the designs. Embracing these principles will create locally embedded, always evolving, modular housing systems.

We are aware that this is not the only way to build sustainable houses, yet in this way the housing designs can be compared and remain flexible. This means elements can be combined and adapted to fit changing personal needs.People in low-income countries are used to incremental building. However Open Source House provides a more sustainable solution to incremental building. It facilitates easy upgrading of the houses, stimulates the local economy and creates longer life cycles for building components and materials.

This way the houses and the designs are flexible and open for future improvements and developments. With the 8 Open Source House principles as a common language, an incredible diversity of technical and creative solutions is collected on the OS-House platform. Free to use for anybody, everywhere.