Disenchanting prefabrication is what architecture needs now. Although prefabrication has long lists of advantages, globalisation has made the cities around the world as a monotonous landscape. This is due to a forceful transfer of ideas, skills and technology from between different context. Therefore, prefabrication in architecture has to adopt the local culture and their vernacular technology to be more humanist, humble and emphatic.
WHAT IS PREFABRICATION Prefabrication in construction refers to the practice of making building off-site and transferred to the site.[1] There are four degrees of prefabrication; element (ex. brick), component (ex. window), panel (ex. precast wall) and modular (ex. bathroom pod). Compared to conventional projects, prefabrication has better construction performance and yields a better return on investment.[2] The speed of onsite construction is improved up to 40% faster and increase the certainty of the practical completion date.[3] Prefabrication could reduce the project cost because of the lower costs in material, time and labour.[4] The critical path in the construction schedule is less interrupted because the material is procured and assembled in a factory-controlled environment and not affected by the weather.[5]
Prefabrications, an observation from a living room in Melbourne 2018, photo taken by author
In the factory, labour wellbeing also is better managed because they are working in a safer and cleaner environment. The repetitive tasks are aided with automated machinery,[6] which limit the risk of technical issues during and after construction. [7] Consistency in prefabrication works leads to a higher level of craftsmanship in the finished product. The environmental performance of construction improved as the manufacturing process allows for the recycling of materials and elements between projects and facilities.[8] According to a study, the quantity of embodied energy, operational energy and carbon dioxide emissions from prefabrication is smaller than conventional construction.[9] To have a successful prefabrication project[10]; the client, architect, builder and manufacturer need to meet early in the planning stage (before sketch design). The entire process of prefabrication is taking advantage of supply chain management. Although each project is unique, the flow of resources, data and information have a more holistic approach when applied with computer science and systems.
A scene in the factory producing modular architecture in Melbourne, 2019. Photo taken by author.
PREFABRICATION IN HOUSING Mass housing has been one of the applications in prefabricated architecture. Historically, mass housing is a response to demand after the world war. Developed countries such as Europe, the US and Japan have been using prefabrication for mass housing. Since then, the designs and material used for working-class housing are developed and inspired from brutalist architects,[11] as an example the Robin Hood Gardens by Alison and Peter Smithson and UnitĂŠ d'Habitation by Le Corbusier. At present, the tectonic diverse as more engineered construction materials are research. An example is Huf Haus, a German company that uses engineered timber in their zero-energy prefabricated houses. [12] Meanwhile, in the developing countries, there is a boom in population and economy. This changes the social structure and living style which create demand for a large amount of house in a short time. Governments of the countries responded by subsidizing prefabricated construction companies to the built house fast and cheap. For example in India, there is Hindustan Prefab Limited,[13] and in Singapore, there is Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC).[14]
House as a machine? Is it relevant today? Photo from https://www.dezeen.com/2014/09/15/lecorbusier-unite-d-habitation-cite-radieuse-marseille-brutalist-architecture/
DILEMMAS OF PREFABRICATION Technology transfer can hurt the recipient's culture and identity if the local context and situation are ignored or the implementation is too fast for the local industry to adapt. One of the most used material in prefabricated mass housing is concrete. Either as blockwork, wall panels, beams, columns and slabs. Concrete is a good thermal mass but with poor design, concrete can make worse the heatwaves. In addition to rising temperature, mass housing in concrete can create urban heat island for the city. This situation applies to hot tropical countries and temperate countries in the summer season. For instance, in India, there are six distinct climatic zones which in respond there is a variety of vernacular architecture from each region.[15] Therefore the prefabricated mass housing should not be a copy and paste in regards to materiality and design. It is understandable for a generic floor plan for mass housing but with the advancement of technology today, customization of design with parts-to-whole concept can be redefined.
Thoughts 2020: Is there any chances for a adaptive reuse of office buildings to be houses, post COVID?
Is the technology transfer is done correctly? A case in India. Photo from https://economictimes. indiatimes.com/small-biz/productline/building-materials/budget-2019-gives-continued-momentumto-affordable-housing/articleshow/70173554.cms
In a developing country, mass housing and prefabrication are one of the solutions to build fast and cheap. However, the borrowed architectural elements originated from foreign places. The authority decides mass housing construction usually is the government or developer as clients. The endusers have minimal input before design and this leads to overlooked user comfort. In prefabricated supply chain management, the conventional project schedule still did not include the end-user decision. For example, in Malaysia, terrace housing is designed for a middle-class society made from prefabricated concrete and steel. The housing has a higher internal temperature when compared to the traditional wooden kampong house.[16] Users responded by adding extra roof overhang and install the air-conditioning unit to cool the house. This shows the architecture does not provide its full service to the end-user. Moreover, prefabrication as a mass housing construction is encouraging the use of unresponsive architectural elements, design and materials. It is true prefabrication is the way to move forward in architecture, but the asymmetric information on material choice and construction method affect the level of comfort in a house.
Users taking control of their houses, good or bad? As noticed in Malaysia. Photo sourced from Google Image.
REGIONALISE PREFABRICATION AND FUTURE PROOFING Making mass housing more personal can be achieved by regionalizing prefabrication. Regionalizing means designing prefabricated elements by implementing vernacular architecture tectonic and principles. Vernacular architecture takes into consideration of macroclimate of the area in which the building will be used. First, the players in regionalize prefabrication need to include end-user, the client (veto power), architect (the intention), builder (the outcome). The balance in authority of design will include the end-user. The end-user can feed information into the system through data collection before the design process. The client (ie government or developer) need to reach the end-user early so that they can be a better representative of the user to the project team. Data can be collected easily through an online system which can be simulated in phone applications or websites. Principles and working system of an online game (i.e Massively multiplayer online role-playing game MMORPG) can be used for the end-user interface. Then, this data will be used by the designers and builders to their decision making.
Update 2020: Follow up the process of designing for Nightingale Housing Project, apartments that is socially, financially and environmentally sustainable.
How will an a apartment designed by the end user can be done? Who owned the authorship? Sketch by authors friends.
The rest of the process will follow the current supply chain management. This implementation will require a change in building contract and making the construction of prefabricated mass housing more democratic. (how it change) Initial design – collecting end users selection. Selection for the infill are pre-determine. These data given to architects and builders for them to work it out. The manufacturing process and the design outcome. Next, the typology of mass housing needs to be a mix-use building. Mass housing is a little community hub, not only housing. It needs to accommodate apartments which offer various size, price and organization in a building, suitable for changing demography. Mass housing needs to cater to ageing users and changing family sizes. The mass housing, especially public-funded need to have include programs such as offices, shops, amenities, childcare, public transport and digital centre. An inclusion of unprogrammed area is essential to the various future development of the mass housing. Prefabrication construction will enable easy change of movable elements. This mass housing is own by many, over generations, rather than over singular management.
Update 2020: This paragraph illustrates the maturity of the author’s thinking and ambition;; ignorant of rules and regulation across multiple government levels. The author accept the challenge, again.
Learn program organisation from Silodam, Neatherland by MDRDV. Diagram from https://www.mvrdv. nl/projects/163/silodam
Although the technological method to make prefabricated elements, which is the assembly line, the substitution of materiality will change the prefabricated product. The construction consists of a fixed structural frame and changeable infill. As to allow anyone to install the prefabricated part, the connection joints are standardized and can be handled by using a hand. It is possible also when human abilities can be enhanced to a proper cyborg. Similar to the Metabolist movement to infuse megastructure and biological growth, the new prefabrication will grow assisted by the users. Architects, engineers, designers, makers, researchers should be visiting the futurist and neo-futurist again to think big. The difference is now robots, computer and electricity have already accessible by the layman. Prefabrication, the manufacturing process needs to be operatable outside of the factory.
Architects need to visit visi their imaginary world for inspiration. Drawing by author.
As for materiality, by learning the vernacular technology, a new synthesis of engineered material will be used in prefabricated elements. Change in climate, the temperature is anticipated. Prefabrication needs to be ready for at least 100 years worth of climate change. Prefabrication should start from the hottest, most dry and most humid places on earth. Prefabrication is said to stand extreme condition in a rural area such as the construction of a resort on the cold snowy mountain in Nepal, but prefabrication at present only cares about speed, cheap and ease. For example in a tropical region where wood products such as meranti, bamboo and straws are used in vernacular construction. The new prefabricated materials are made from DNA extraction from living trees. A neo-mutated-bamboo will be used as a base material that makes up mass-produced frames which later flat-packed for easy transportation. At present engineered bamboo manufacturing is straightforward as to how other engineered timber is made, that is cut, finger jointed, flatten, glued, pressed and tested. The new-mutated-bamboo prefabricated frame and infill are made to withstand various loads and extreme temperature.
Mutant buildings can be build in the laboratory. Collage by author.
Furthermore, the new prefabricated material, that is easy to handle by a human-robot can change the tectonic of mass housing. The population will always increase either fast or slow hence prefabrication is the right direction to allow uninterrupted daily life whenever new houses are built. With the new materiality from prefabricated elements, the mass housing design and aesthetic will also change. Taking into account mixed-use programs and generations of users, the new mass housing will accommodate the changes. Essentially to change tectonic of mass housing, support and funding from government, public and private sector are needed. Public, the end-user to have a larger voice in deciding their communal housing. Mass housing is a collective architecture but the way architecture works now, architecture never ask the public to as how they want their mass housing to be. Optimistically, it will start small. A new town with mass housing, funded and developed with pre-determine end-users is what needed. Government as the main client for mass housing is making use of big data analytics to be a better representative of the public.
Update 2020: Question, what does it mean to dwell in precarious age?
Mixed-used Cohousing for marginalised community in Melbourne. A studio project by author.
A regionalize prefabricated for housing need to be influenced by the end-user(s), the newmutated-materials with the help from complex data-processing application software. Echant the prefabrication construction and design so that all living beings can live in harmony. Remember, you are the destroyer, you are also the builder.
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Smith, R. E. (2010). Prefab architecture: a guide to modular design and construction. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Smith, R. E. & Rice, T. (2017). Permanent modular construction: construction performance. In R. E. Smith & J. D. Quale (Eds.), Offsite architecture: constructing the future. DOI: https://doi-org.ezp.lib. unimelb.edu.au/10.4324/9781315743332 MBI. (2012). Improving Construction Efficiency & Productivity with Modular Construction. Report, Virginia: Modular Building Institute. Smith, R. E. (2010). Prefab architecture: a guide to modular design and construction. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Smith, R. E. (2010). Prefab architecture: a guide to modular design and construction. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Haas, C. T., O’Connor, J. T., Tucker, R. T., Eickmann, J. A., & Fagerlund, W. R. (2000). Prefabrication and preassembly trends and effects on the construction workforce. Center for Construction Industry Studies, 14. Knaack, I., Chung-Klatte, S. & Hasselbach R. (2012). Prefabricated systems: principles of construction. London: Springer.
Quale, J. D. (2017). Onsite vs. offsite: comparing environmental impacts. In R. E. Smith & J. D. Quale (Eds.), Offsite architecture: constructing the future. DOI: https://doi-org.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu. au/10.4324/9781315743332 Kamali, M. & Hewage, K. (2016). Life cycle performance of modular buildings: A critical review. In Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.05.031
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11. Nicholas Thoburn (2018) Concrete and council housing, City, 22:5-6, 612-632, DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2018.1549203 12. https://www.huf-haus.com/en-uk/multifamily-house-sample-1/ 13. Smith, R. E. & Shilpa Narayanamurthy (2000) Developeing Countries: a case study in India.
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16. Natural Ventilation Approach in Designing Urban Tropical House. Izudinshah Abd. Wahab, Lokman Hakim Ismail