The industrial revolution increased
demand for low-cost housing for the masses migrating to these pulsating urban
centres. Factories, train stations, exhibition halls, urban markets, were all
new building types associated with this economy based on the continuous
production of goods.
The «Taylor» model of labor organization also fostered a need for
housing a new work force. The increased need for housing, the rapid
urbanization, and the exploration of new materials and methods associated with
industrialization created a fertile ground for new systems for housing. Modern
architecture and its radical dissociation from historic models can be traced to
this fertile ground of experimentation.
Materials like steel and concrete
associated with the new production capacity were relatively new to the building
industry at the end of the 19th century. The experiments performed
on these materials at the turn of the 20th century were to transform
the building culture from on-site building to on-site assembly of off-site
produced components.
The experiments performed by
builders, architects, engineers, and inventors of the time influenced
generations to radically modify their construction strategies. When we analyse
certain modern prototypes associated with these radical changes, «LeCorbusier’s Unité d’habitation» or «Mies Van der Rohe’s steel and glass towers»
the precedents these experiments were based on are often left out of the
analysis as these prototypes were conceived in a vacuum. It is in fact often
previous experiments or failures that feed the heuristic nature of building
culture.
One of the interesting systems, that
proposed an increased industrialization of building was the «Mopin steel and concrete system». Invented
by industrialist Eugène Mopin in the early 20th century, the
structural system was based on a grid of light-steel components encased in
concrete. The envelope of thin prefabricated concrete panels attached to the
steel frame was based on a standard and modular grid. The grid offered a
flexible pattern for planning. This rational approach to building offered a
very austere vision of mass housing. The system was used in several multi-story
buildings in the early 1930’s and was a major par of France’s contribution to
the industrialization of building. (see the prefabrication of houses, 1951).
Many of the buildings have since
been demolished, as the concrete covering did not offer sufficient fire or
corrosion protection for the light steel frame. Although not a success, the
Mopin system, offers a view into the genesis of industrialized building and its
two important components; the separation of structure and envelope and a grid
used as a tool for standardization and modular coordination. These elements
used as tools for industrialization of building are also two major components
of modern architectural theory.
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| The «Mopin» system of concrete and steel _ photo from housingprototypes.org |
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