Prefabrication as a strategy for quickly responding to high demand for
housing has thrived during periods of economic difficulty. Migrating
populations looking for work during the great depression or workforces
supporting the defense efforts contributed to the early 20th century
industrious period for prefab. Prefabrication although linked to these times of
crisis has also been used to support settlement of new areas and to establish
new outposts for different empires throughout history.
As early as the 18th century English craftsman and early industrialists
were producing and shipping pre-cut box frame houses with canvas or wood
panelized infill. The tradition of the craftsman combined with the advances in
industrial production methods most notably in Great Britain supported the transportation
of these prefabricated shelters to British colonies. As building culture is more
readily shared among friendly trade partners, the colonies were often established
according to British tradition as native building techniques were regarded as
too foreign.
The discovery of Gold in 1851 near Bathurst Australia is a noteworthy
example of colonization stimulating prefab. Prospectors rushed to the area and
changed the economic and social fabric of Australia. This gold rush attracted
almost 400 000 immigrants in 1852. The confluence of the gold rush,
industrialization, and the tradition of shipping homes already established in
Great Britain instituted the «box frame iron house» as a dwelling unit packed
and shipped to Australia to respond to the enormous need for housing.
The Iron Houses were simple
box frame structures, at first in wood but sometimes turned to cast iron as their
main structural component. Cast iron was industrialized, profiled, rolled to
form corrugated iron cladding or window and door frames. The corrugated
cladding, the main industrial component of the architecture of the dwellings is
until this day a major element in Australian industrial building culture. The
corrugated cladding brought a revolution in construction as it was easily
fabricated, easily packed, easily shipped and easily fastened. The cladding in
the iron houses was sometimes merely infill and sometimes combined with cast
iron posts to share lateral loads. The Iron houses were not a sustainable form
of settlement as there thermal qualities were less than optimal, conducting
heat gain in summer and heat loss in winter.
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| Image from the Iron Houses Ressource Kit prepared for the City of Port Phillip |
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