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The world of prefab and modular homes. |
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| studentorgs.utexas.edu/prefablab/ |
The Prefabrication Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin has been investigating prefab methods since 2002:
"The Prefabrication Laboratory is a research group...focused on integration of factory production techniques and architecture. Offsite fabrication offers many benefits for building: higher quality, economies of scale, and more efficient use of resources. Prefabrication takes many forms and is evolving rapidly: modularization, pre-assembly, 'off-the-shelf' components....Our research investigates these changing processes looking for points of entry for architects....We look at fabrication in the larger context, how it has been used in the past, successfully or not, and how it affects local environments, cultures, economies."
The lab is similar to Studio 804 at the University of Kansas School of Architecture.
Our group will be interested in Shearing Knowledge.
The way I am looking at it, is to start with the excesses of consumerism (affluenza and McMansions) and propose a philosophy of simplicity (buy less and live in smaller houses), through prefabrication.
The merits of prefabrication being proposed are of sustainability (time, cost and material efficiencies), affordability, and adaptability.
Which in turn leads back to the idea of 'architecture as product', packaging / branding / marketing etc.
Ironically, the ills of consumerism are spawning a way of looking at architecture (through prefabrication), and the final 'product' will use the positives of consumerism to wrap it up and make it more attractive to the general consumer market.
I would be keen to hear from others researching in the area of prefabrication, and have just started my own blog at www.fabprefab.blogspot.com