According to the American Federal
Housing Administration (established in 1934 by National Housing Act) 20% of all
newlywed couples bought a home before the Great
Depression. During the meagre years
of the depression that number dropped below 7%. The collapse of the housing
industry created a shortfall of close to 2 million units. Architects,
industrialists, inventors and builders idled by the economic downturn looked for
alternatives to solve the housing crisis. Industrialization of the building
industry was encouraged by the AIA (American Institute of Architects) as a way
of reducing waste and optimizing project economics. In the 1930’s prefabrication
was seen as a solution to the problem of Mass housing.
Many government and research
organizations such as The Forestry Service or the Pierce Foundation worked with
academics and industry to explore new systems for housing. One of the most
innovative experiments in American mass housing was the result of the
partnering of the Pierce Foundation and General Electric Company to establish
American Houses Incorporated. The company was to commercially produce the
experiments proposed by the ongoing research of the founding organizations.
Steel was the main component of the
research, as it was seen as a durable, lightweight, and fireproof material. It
was also seen as the material reflection of modern society. American Houses Incorporated
commercialized the «Motohome» in 1935 as a prefabricated home with a state of
the art moto-unit core.
An American interpretation of Le
Corbusier's «machine-à-habiter», it was a sleek modular unit marketed as a
durable, strong, lightweight, fireproof, soundproof and advanced building
system. The exterior walls were composed on a 4’ grid of 2 ½” hollow
cold-rolled steel studs. «Pyrestos» panels filled in the grid of steel studs
and were faced both inside and out by asbestos cement. The exterior joints and
units were covered in aluminum. The modular coordinated system had a flat roof,
corner windows and was a simple interpretation of European modernism. The
structural system was a basic evolution of wooden balloon framing. Floors and
roofs were composed on a modular grid and structured by steel joists.
The structure was not the main
innovation of the system. The common wall «core» was prefabricated with all
kitchen, bath fixtures and a HVAC system along with a stainless steel worktop
its cabinets and appliances. It was the motohome’s engine and it was commercialized
as the moto-unit «the house that runs itself».
The steel structure and the moto-unit
were conceptually innovative but complex to produce and this increased the
moto-homes’ costs. Only a few thousand were produced. By the 1940's most of the
companies that had experimented with these advanced steel systems had either gone
under or reverted to simpler wood frame traditional systems to compete
economically and semantically. Steel systems often required substantially more
overhead. Economics took over and these advanced systems of construction
remained marginal.
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| The House that runs itself - in popular mechanics |
While the production of the innovative Motohome was short-lived and, as a consequence, not many are around nowadays, the few people who still inhabit one should be aware of the dangers of asbestos exposure. Due to the popularity of asbestos as a building material at the time, the carcinogenic mineral was not present only in cement. It would also lurk in the HVAC systems and in numerous other construction products, such as floor tiles, as well as in various household appliances which required insulation, such as dishwashers. With ageing, asbestos-containing materials deteriorate and become friable, which prompts toxic fibers from escaping the matrix. Thereby, the inhabitants of old modular homes can easily come in contact with carcinogenic fibers, whose inhalation may lead to serious diseases like asbestosis or lung cancer within several decades.
ReplyDelete"If you lived in or currently inhabit a modular building by American Houses Incorporated, you were most likely exposed to asbestos, since these structures had been put up between 1930 and 1940, when nearly every U.S. construction company would employ asbestos. For this reason, you should keep a close eye on your health and seek medical attention as soon as possible in the event you experience symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue, a chronic cough, or unexplained weight loss." said Gregory Cade, principal attorney at Environmental Group - www.elglaw.com