Micro production housing

MICRO-PRODUCTION

HOUSING Dongwoo Yim + Rafael Luna

Micro Production Housing Micro Production Housing is a hybrid architecture that seeks potentials in new type of urban housing through investigating possibilities of having dwelling and production functions together. It reflects new atmosphere in recent days of blurred definition of who is producer(maker) and who is consumer.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, mass production has become the most efficient way to make radical economic growth. When Henry Ford brought Model T into the market, this idea of mass production had become the answer to the new industrial generation. People could afford many manufactured product more easily, and more and more products were invented and produced in massive volume. A hundred years after the Model T was first introduced, which was produced from 1908 to 1927, this mass production idea is somewhat changing. Perhaps, it has not been totally changed yet, but there is a new niche market now that allows different type of production; micro production.

Recently, the idea of micro production has become so influential as it can meet the various demand with mass customization. In the mass production era, people had to admit that they would not have much different product from others. It was all about efficiency of productivity.

However, the new generations seek for customize products that can show their identities. For example, many people are eager to get unique smartphone cover that can differentiate their phones from others’, which are mass produced with no customization. It means that micro production can be used to fill in the gap between the mass produced desaturated products and variety of colors that people demand.

Mass Production vs.

Micro Production

This new trend is often understood as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, after the electronics and IT revolution in the 1960s, the electric power revolution in the 1870s, and the steam power revolution in the 1780s.

4th Industrial Revolution Re-Imagine project credit : Petre Jariyananddhanetr, Rhode Island School of Design (2016)

“For making physical goods, until four or five years ago, you really just didn’t have access to production. The world is oriented around companies and manufacturing was expensive and consuming. And then what’s happened is really two things; one is that it became a lot easier to create prototypes on your desktop that started onscreen. ......

There are three big implications of this. First is that you don’t need special skills to create things now. I may have an idea but I don’t know how to run a metal lathe, so that’s the end of that. Now you don’t need to do that. Two, you don’t need a lot of money to get a prototype out there. And three, you can order production at any scale, so you can start with 100 and then go to thousands or millions. So that was the structural change in the last four or five years. It’s everything from 3D printers, CNC machines, laser cutters and CAD software, to the cloud manufacturing services that exist from Shapeways to Alibaba. Then more recently, Kickstarter and Etsy and other markets that have basically solved the last piece of the puzzle, which is finance and distribution.You don’t have to raise funding, you can just take preorders, that’s what Kickstarter does. You don’t need to have access to a distribution channel because you have the web and all the places like Etsy to reach people around the world.” - Chris Anderson -

The micro production era has risen not only because of the niche market demand but also the development of new technology. More recently, it is not strange to see all new technologies that allow people to become a sole manufacturer of a product. 3D printed texture does not require hundreds of labors to make a dress but few people. Easier access to cnc router let individuals to make their own furniture. Also, many farming technologies have been developed and it has become easier to grow farm products in almost any kind of environment. And even the social media is helping out this new era. People are making things in house and selling them through various sources of social networks. These are fairly new atmosphere in our society, but more people are adopting these new technologies to find a way of production.

Micro Production Era

These new ways of production in micro production era is also changing the environment of production facilities.

Unlike in the mass production era, production facilities are becoming smaller and more efficient in micro production era. You do not need to spread out the whole procedure and put them on a conveyer belt to mass produce a product anymore. For instance, the area of Local Motors’ microfactory, which produces 3D printed customized body, is not more than 4,000 m2, which is a very modest size compared to couple of hundred thousands square meter factories of major car manufacturers. And more importantly, these new ways of production eliminates many environmental issues that many factories had caused in the previous era.

Recycling Community project credit : Miaoqi Liu, Washington Univ. in St. Louis (2016)

Then, can this be a chance to think about restructuring the relationship between production and residential facility?

New Microdistrict Barrier of Future Urban Sprawl in Pyongyang, N.Korea project credit : Hyunchul Yoon, Washington Univ. in St. Louis (2016)

Socialist Micro-District Having production facility along with dwelling is not a totally new idea. In fact, it had been tried out in many socialist cities. Microdistrict or mikroyaron is the socialist urban planning idea that was developed in the 1920s to address rapid urbanization in the Soviet Union.

Residential complexes, which include schools, daycare centers, shops, civic and service amenities, are defined by size and scale to build a collective community. In many ways, it shares similar ideas with Clarence Perry’s neighborhood unit concept in the early 1900s that was well implemented mostly in suburban areas in “western� countries. Other than the applicated areas, however, microdistrict idea has a big difference from the neighborhood unit concept; production facility along with dwell-

Is it possible to bring back the essential ideas of microdistrict that tried to realize spatial equality by providing equal access to products?

Custom Toy Factory + Playground project credit : 杨杰蓓 + 郑敏 + 许钰 , China Academy of Art (2015)

Until recently though, production facilities were considered as hazardous or contaminated facilities that should be apart from housing. Therefore, though its innovative idea of having production facilities within a housing block to increase the accessibility to products, the microdistrict idea was barely adopted to civilized cities. As mentioned before, however, micro production facilities have become tighter and more environmental friendly, and it provokes a new possibility of hybridizing production and residential programs together.

New Micro-District

New Micro-District in Pyongyang, N.Korea project credit : PRAUD (2014)

It is not just to mix two different programs but to increase social chain between producer and consumer. Now there is less distinction between who is producer and who is consumer, because basically anybody can be both in the micro production era. Therefore, anybody in your neighbor can be the maker of the product you are using everyday, and you can be the producer of a product that the whole neighbors are purchasing. This phenomenon will solidify social chain between producer and consumer that we somewhat have lost since the mass production era, and will help to construct a sustainable neighborhood which both microdistrict idea and neighborhood unit concept tried to achieve.

Constructing Social Chain

New Microdistrict Urban Furniture Manufacturing & Displaying Community project credit : Jaebum Byun, Washington Univ. in St. Louis (2016)

New Microdistrict Barrier of Future Urban Sprawl in Pyongyang, N.Korea project credit : Hyunchul Yoon, Washington Univ. in St. Louis (2016)

Work Live & Make Space We are now well exposed to “live & work” environment that promotes the culture of working within your living space, and certain professionals, such as artists, take good advantage of this type of spaces. However, “live & make” space need to go beyond the level of making things in your living space. Unlike working, “making (or producing)” is naturally engaged to consuming, and therefore, a live & make space has to be more complex than a space that is just providing bigger living space so that it has exposure to potential consumer. Also, as a aggregation of live & make spaces, we need to think about what process of making can be shared so that the complex of production spaces can also create a community within itself.

How will live & make spaces enhance social chain between makers, consumers and neighbors?

Live & Art Production Space, Providence, RI project credit : Jae Young Jo, Rhode Island School of Design (2015)

New Microdistrict Pig Farming & Market in Pyongyang, N.Korea project credit : Yantao Wu, Washington Univ. in St. Louis (2016)

Micro Productions This urban production or micro production will not be limited to conventional production items, but rather expand to most of things that are related to our daily lives; farm products, eateries, recycle products, industrial products and so on. Perhaps these micro production facilities may not be able to cover the whole demand of a city, but still will be able to meet the need of the neighborhood. They are not to compete against or to replace the mass production market but to fill the gap between neighborhood level demand and city level demand.

Micro production lets mass customization possible so that it can target a certain group of customers who otherwise might have been left out.

New Microdistrict Mobility Factory Housing in Pyongyang, N.Korea project credit : Sihui Ren, Washington Univ. in St. Louis (2016)

image credit : Qiushi Wang, Washington Univ. in St. Louis (2016)

Micro Farming

Urban Farming is not a strange word any more. It has become one of the trends that leads the concept of “local production & local consumption.� It is not just to consume fresh farm products as consumer, but also to solidify social chain between consumer and farmers. Although not all farming industries can be replaced to urban farming, there is much potential in urban farming as the productivity and variety of it grow.

As it already has become a new way of integrating farming and housing, micro farming can play a major role in forming a housing rather than just sitting on a roof. It throws us many complicated questions not only like what kind of vegetables can be cultivated in city but like what is the process of making farm product in a residential complex.

Moreover, micro farming is not just limited to vegetables or grains. As MVRDV shows in their conceptual proposal Pig City in 2000, there are possibilities that advanced mechanical and architectural systems can help farming industry to overcome limitations on conventional farms.

New Microdistrict Barrier of Future Urban Sprawl in Pyongyang, N.Korea project credit : Hyunchul Yoon, Washington Univ. in St. Louis (2016)

Gourmet Industries Places like bakery, micro brewery, cafe are rather conventional neighborhood amenities than a new trend. However, at the same time, these gourmet industries can easily be engaged to cultural and educational programs.

Therefore, instead of being an independent amenity, an eatery can be the anchor that enhances community activities through living with culture, education and making.

Baker, Brewerer & Barista’s Community, Providence, RI project credit : Amelia Millan Osma, Rhode Island School of Design (2015)

Gourmet Industries can be anchor point of neighboring communities by embracing other funcions, such as educational and cultural programs.

Lacquer Factory project credit : 张璐 , China Academy of Art (2015)

Fruit Winery & Bar project credit : 詹小卉 + 敖露珊 China Academy of Art (2015)

Recycling & Production Upcycling is not a strange term anymore. Newer technologies these days suggest us to rethink about how to use various materials that once understood as wastes. For instance, there is a new way of making polyester fiber from recycled plastic bottle that can be done in a small room, and recently, Epson made a paper recycling machine that will fit into any office sizes. These technologies can easily be adopted to a new type of production industries and promote recycling culture. The reason why recycling production is important and interesting is that recycling is part of our daily activities deeping involved in community living. We can imagine people in a neighborhood collecting recycled materials together to use them as raw materials for products in demand. Therefore, this collective activities become ways of enhancing social chain in a community.

“Recycling is not just a process of saving environment but also of enhancing community through production.�

New Microdistrict Urban Furniture Manufacturing & Displaying Community project credit : Jaebum Byun, Washington Univ. in St. Louis (2016)

Recycling Community project credit : Miaoqi Liu, Washington Univ. in St. Louis (2016)

Investigated in socialist’s microdistrict concept, Micro Production Housing has its potential to become a new collective urban housing typology that enhances social community, which has already become fragile. The new industrial wave of maker culture encourages people to be both makers and consumers, and therefore, it provokes active interactions between neighbors who now can be someone who made your daily using tumbler.

Therefore, the Micro Production Housing is not just to explore a new hybrid architecture but also to think about what will urban living be like in near future, just as the mixed use building Unité d’Habitation was Le Corbusier’s answer to the question of what should be the new way of living in the modern period.