The association of dwelling and
mobility is rooted in nomadic cultures. Tipis and yurts epitomize the union of
shelter and displacement. These
archetypes exposed the combination of quick construction, light materials, simple
disassembly and uncomplicated transport. The American tradition of the covered
wagon and the need for relocation during the modern era drove the modest transformation
of early motorcars and eventually developed the mobile home industry. Carrying
your dwelling offers the perfect paradox of linking anchorage and freedom.
The «anchored freedom» proposed by the mobile home along with the Highway
system combined to encourage the leisurely discovery of post-war America. The
mobile home was the flagship component of postwar leisure and helped grow the
manufactured home industry. Articulated to the steel chassis and its
accompanying criteria for transport, these factory made trailer-homes were the
embodiment of the modern architect’s dream of factory-produced house.
Motivated by government aid and the
baby boom, the industry eventually developed the double wide (two adjacent and
complementary mobile sections) to compete with permanent dwellings. The
advantages of a mobile chassis and a different set of building standards allowed
for a different cost structure, which helped the mobile home become one of
America’s most affordable housing types. Traditional aesthetics and permanent
decorative appliqués such as entry canopies were all included to achieve a
greater permanent feel.
Liberty Inc’s telescopic two-story
trailer is a remarkable example of using technology to diversify the mobile
home. In the case of the Liberty telescopic trailer, the objective was a second
floor to increase floor space and its potential flexibility for a changing
family structure. A patented system combining a worm shaft and worm wheel in a
translating jack allowed for the relatively simple lifting and sliding of the
upper envelope over the lower one. The extrusion of the upper floor once the
home was set in place gave the mobile home a scale analogous to a typical
two-story American shotgun house. The stair component included in the bottom
section provided circulation and certainly established a spatial quality not
commonly found in trailer homes.
Regularly cited, but rarely
successfully applied by architects as a model that could be applied to mass
housing, the mobile home industry has employed Fordisms effectively for a
century.
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| Patent drawing from http://www.google.ca/patents/US2862253 |
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