21.08.09

I thought I had better upload some ideas that I had been thinking about that aren't yet "perfect". Most of this was undertaken before any conception of design possibilities or model making.

I began by looking at a couple of projects to get my head around pre-fabrication and adaptability.

This house for tsunami victims in Sri Lanka poses interesting ideas that might be applicable to our project.

Firstly, the simplicity of the house(s) is significant, both in terms of materials and form. They have a respect for local building culture and established residential habitation precedents, which is important and something I would like to advocate any future projects.

This prompts me to think about limitations that are inherent in using established materials, and whether a design can adhere to cultural housing archetypes with different materials. This is an issue for prefabricated design generally. Something to concentrate on in future concept iterations...

It is interesting to observe the level of documentation of a project like this, which is to be sent to builders with little knowledge of modern construction technologies or drawing convention. This is a set of working drawings for the house:

http://senseable.mit.edu/tsunami-prajnopaya/pdfs/CD2.pdf

I'm unsure if these drawings are sent to builders in Sri Lanka (there was no indication in the written description) or if they were strictly adhered to.

While I admire this as an approach within a loose definition of 'prefabrication', I think it only has some relevance to our project.

These are a couple of projects that I found quickly that do not maximise the potential of prefabricated design (or maybe they are just not the direction that I would like to head in)...

http://www.dezeen.com/2007/03/06/zenkaya-prefab-lodges/

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/05/27/cap-salt-2-health-centre-by-baas-architects/

The first link is to an overview of a 'pod' type of prefabrication, where the design is completed elsewhere and transported to the site.

I guess this is where the relevance of a flat pack of parts is revealed.

The second link is to a hospital where the design is site specific but materials are fabricated off-site. My interpretation of this process is only slightly different from a standard construction process.

However, I thought this blurb about the hospital was pertinent:

"To take prefabricated-industrial architecture to the limits. The project is designed as a stylistic blueprint for the concept. The entire structure, façade enclosure, interior enclosure, false ceilings, etc. are all perceived as a fusion of catalogue products based around strict modulation for dry construction. This could enable the future systematised construction of other similar facilities, saving both time and costs."

21.08.09

After today's lecture, I have been thinking about the 'accordion'. Glenda presented some models that showed sectioned, laser-cut, MDF models that give an approximation of form. While the models themselves are only indicative of form, like a skeleton, this theory could be applied to some of my early models and thinking.

If a 'flat pack' building is condensed using this method, it can be expanded to give greater definition of form. One downfall of this method is that, when flat, it might not be efficient comparative to other flat pack systems.

[click to enlarge]

The idea here is to maintain a level of site specificity that is comparable to conventional architecture, which could be created through responding to empirical data concerening the site [contours, lighting levels at certain times of the day etc...] as well as site based factors that require more artistic discretion [things like views].

The roof form that I have been working on in this series of models is purely hypothetical in that it does not yet relate to a site, but a site could be imagined and a form crafted from that.

Could the fundamentals of this building be e-mailed? Sections ould be emailed as panels to be cut out and create form.

How will it be constructed?

Maybe there is no point to this, and I could acheive a desirable level of distinctiveness and and site relevance through a uniform flat pack architecture that changes with site (perhaps site specific architecture doesn't need any individual design...). I will make further models regarding this idea.

Alter shape (manually or automatically, yet to be determined) with different site qualities.