[PREFABRICATION IN ARCHITECTURE]
Prefabrication has been a recurring theme in architecture through the 20th and into this century. The architect’s interest in prefab is enduring and it is interesting to wonder why architects have this enduring interest – we can speculate that it is perhaps because it enables complete design control on many levels? Or perhaps because that it provides a kind of ‘instant building’ which can solve many problems – house people quickly, and provide efficiency and therefore hopefully cost savings.
When we look back in history, we note that the prefab project was quite successful in the early 20th century: Sears and other competing firms began their mail order service in 1909. These houses were inexpensive and came with all parts included. The prefab house business was successful until the Great Depression when pre-fab companies began failing and the war disrupted the economy.
However after approximately 1940 until now prefab has generally been limited in its success, mostly due to its inability to compete in cost after that: it never brought the efficiencies in construction that were hoped for and customization was difficult and contradicted the main intent behind prefabrication.
New technologies in fabrication – particularly in fabrication of wood has the potential to change this. Google’s ‘Sidewalk Labs’ proposal for housing for their new utopian tech city they are developing in Toronto is a good example. Likewise the company Katerra and its recent takeover of firms in Vancouver with expertise in mass timber housing construction. These firms are proposing a prefab system to solve the housing problems. We have seen this before in architecture but the question that this studio engages with is whether current technological innovation is the answer to the ills that have dogged prefabrication in architecture?
[PARAMETRICS AND PREFAB]
This studio to date has engaged with the new digital design and fabrication tools. At this point we will take this knowledge and and look into the potential of the tools to forward the prefab project in architecture. One of the promises of prefabrication has been to allow customized changes in homes to suit people’s needs but within a larger prefabrication system. Due to the complexities of building, this prefabrication promise was always larger than that which could be delivered. This studio engaged with available technologies to be able to customize prefabrication.
[ROBOTIC FABRICATION]
Robotic fabrication is also playing a role in this renewed interest in prefabrication. The industrial robot can very accurately cut connections of great variation with no added cost for variation. In addition, the fabrication can provide embedded information to make assembly quick and easy. This reduces construction and labour time on site. The accuracy of these cuts is also helpful. These innovations provide
[JOINT, ELEMENT, SYSTEM]
When creating their system, students considered what elements the housing was to be composed of, how the elements were connected, and how many units could be stacked. These become the primary constraints of the system.
[HOUSING]
Once the system was developed, it was applied by the students to a sample housing program. In this studio, the student groups determined what type of housing they wanted to engage with – single or multifamily and how many storeys they wanted to deal with. Current innovation in the industry is looking at 6-12 storeys because it allows some flexibility in design and does not need to compete with light wood framing. Groups framed their prefab systems within the North American building culture and desire for housing types.