PreFab!

With the challenges of our changing world pushing the limits of our current ways of life, one adapting medium is architecture – specifically the technologically liberated field of prefab architecture.

Recent and ongoing developments in manufacturing and materials coupled with the innovative talents of a vast array of architects, designers and interested visionaries may be leading to a prefab revolution, the roots of which are already spanning the globe. Recent players in the prefab market include unlikely companies such as IKEA and Target.

Prefab is a loose term and the meaning varies depending on who is using it. The prevailing idea seems to be that it is a catchall term for a number of non-traditional building methods.  Assume that I am using the term, ‘prefab’ in a broad sense, applying it to everything from houses made from shipping containers to tinker toy like kits of panels, poles and sheets of glass. Basically anything manufactured or assembled as opposed to built by traditional methods. I will however be most often referring to the burgeoning modernist and more modular designs.

Prefab is nothing new. As reported by Patricia Biederman from her article in the Feb 19, 2005 Los Angeles Times, architect Jennifer Siegel (creator of the Swellhouse), suggested that, "prefab predates the Declaration of Independence." I would say on a more practical level that Pilgrims with house kits are kind in a different category. However, many agree that the 1908 Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog offering prefab kits is a good starting point for modern prefab housing. From this point there have been significant attempts to make prefab a practical reality in practically every decade. Illustrious names like; Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Jean Prouve dot the history of this rapidly revitalizing field of architecture.

For me this immediately raises questions as to why it has failed to take hold in a broader way. A second consideration might be what is different now and what will be the fate of this current trend?

The answers to the first question are likely a rat’s nest of industrial, socio-cultural theories, and market forces. Prefab has gotten a black eye in recent times and is seen by many in the U.S. as an outgrowth of mobile homes and the pervue of trailer parks. Europe has seemingly not had such a harsh view of prefab and IKEA’s BoKlok is sure to be a hit anywhere it is offered. Thanks to the mad popularity and value driven ethos of the company this could be a major step forward for the industry. Leave it to the Swedes to insist on good design in an accessible package. With availability set for this year the BoKlok offering maybe a very telling event.

Not to be outdone by the Swedes the Japanese firm Muji is also offering a prefab. Muji is a huge hit in Japan and has been very successful with its new stores abroad. My personal experience with Muji has been nothing but pleasurable. Though, aside from limited offerings at the MOMA store, it is basically unknown in the USA. This may be another question in the offing. What is the importance of the North American market to worldwide prefab and will it take hold in less crowded places like Canada and the U.S.? These are likely key issues to be faced by largely urban oriented progressive architects and designers. Michael Graves and the leadership at Target certainly seem to think the market will be open to them. Graves has become iconic in the design field and is arguably raising design consciousness in more mainstream consumers.

Will it be enough? Money and status are two things that are major issues in prefab. One aspect of this is space, or square footage and what it means. For instance in the high rent world of Manhattan one way to tell an upscale shop from a lesser one is by looking in the window but not at the product offering or amount of shiny objects. The key is unused floor space. If the storefront has a nice high ceiling and open showroom with nothing but a pair of jeans on a sleek chrome stand you can bet they are high end. The clue is the status marking wasted space. This is not something normally associated with prefab in the vast majority of its incarnations. In fact, I think it safe to say wasted space goes against the grain of most prefab design. Especially when we are looking at the modernist prefab catching on today. In markets like London, Tokyo and New York where space is always at a premium this may not have much negative impact on sales and the fact that these often-small spaces are so well designed will certainly be attractive. Though it would seem something like Werner Aisslinger’s Loftcube has more potential than many others.

Aisslinger, based out of Berlin, has designed a self-contained dwelling space whose suggested resting place is urban rooftops. Anyone who has flown over even a modest sized city may have marveled at the acres of seemingly lost space on unused rooftops. Aside from structural concerns and code issues this seems like a natural way to up the value and hipness factor of many pieces of unused urban landscape. If more cities follow the lead of Beijing in planting rooftops with grass this could introduce a whole new aspect to upscale city real estate.

Continuing in the line of market specifics and money issues there is the consideration of cost. Looking at a listing of prefabs and reported costs on the excellent site www.fabprefab.com there is broad range of houses available between Rocio Romero’s LV Home at around USD$75,000 complete (land not included) and Tim Pyne’s London based M-House at around USD$272,000 (land also not included). At London, Tokyo and New York standards even the M-House seems very reasonable but when we consider the house I looked at recently in an historic Midwest USA neighborhood which offered a large yard, off street parking, relatively good location and nearly 8,000sf at a mere USD$120,000, I would be crazy to live in a prefab that is more than double the cost before I even own a place to put it.

Re-sale value alone makes this a bad financial deal. That leaves the market riding on style and the ethics of not taking more than we need to survive in relative comfort. Two things modern society basically across the globe is not well known for. Not that this is insurmountable but it will have to be considered. I would even go so far as to suggest that these two reasons, status and money, are likely culprits in the limited success of prefab in the past.

Of course not all success is marked by status and sales. Another consideration and arguably worthy goal lies in another aspect of prefab. Prefab structures show great promise as a boon to disaster relief groups, those that house displaced refugees, organizations seeking to help the homeless and all ranges of applications that require a semi-permanent structure that is inexpensive and meets the shelter needs of its inhabitants. One such company is Icosa Village, a rather intriguing concept in form and function.

As taken from their mission statement available at the Icosa Village website, "The Icosa Village mission is to provide solutions to such basic human needs as high value, low cost housing. Our solutions embody respect for our customers and employees, our intention to build community, and our responsibility for healing the planet."  The statement of vision is worth repeating, at least in part, as well, "Icosa Village offers temporary to semi-permanent shelter products that are suitable for a variety of recreational, promotional, entertainment and humanitarian uses!"

The Icosa product is a cardboard structure that is recyclable and fairly unique being inspired by the Dymaxion vision of Buckminster Fuller. (In a quick aside it may be relative to note that the Dymaxion house was and is a design landmark and for all of its sensibility and solid design it too failed.) Icosa structures are very affordable by many standards. The smaller Ico Pod design with UV protection and fire retardant treatment lists at USD$5,553 retail on the Icosa web site. Thinking of the potential to quickly house people in tense situations and harsh environments as well as the further potential to lessen the urgency of building permanent structures while amortizing the costs over time for those structures makes this sort of thing very attractive. 

Regardless of motivation and goals important things are happening in the prefab sphere, things that may indeed be different than what has happened in the past. The Dwell magazine challenge in 2003 may have been another recent landmark in prefab. It helped spur designers and architects into high gear. The challenge was to design a manufactured house that would cost under USD$200,000. The response was reportedly tremendous. Whether as catalyst or indicator of things to come it has been a harbinger of change in the prefab world.

There is certainly no shortage of hip and interesting options in the increasingly broad range of offerings. From the mind blowing work of Adam Kalkin and Jennifer Siegal to the more practical Skanksa/IKEA paradigm the future is looking very bright. A number of books have come out in recent years and some very comprehensive web sites are shaping up nicely. I think we can expect the current architectural revolution to end at least differently than ones in the past if not far more successfully.

JT Barnhart

Highly recommended sites:
http://www.fabprefab.com
http://www.treehugger.com
http://www.dwellmag.com

http://royalhomestoronto.typepad.com/

Related links referenced and consulted:

http://www.indystar.com/articles/

http://www.time.com/

http://www.residentialarchitect.com/

http://www.loftcube.net/
http://www.climateark.org/

http://www.fabprefab.com/
http://www.icosavillage.net/
http://www.hfmgv.org/dymaxion/

http://www.thedwellhome.com/
http://www.ikea.com

http://www.muji.net/infill/se/modelhouse/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/prefab/

http://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/
http://www.archleague.org/

http://www.modern-modular.com/

http://www.sfgate.com/