A prosperous and optimistic «glorious
thirty years (1945-1975)» (Jean Fourastié) followed
the Second World War. The baby boom, the space race and massive infrastructure
rebuilds were the three pillars of this wealth and confidence that fuelled
development as the boomers’ life cycle evolved. This cohort overstrained all of
societies required amenities: housing, schools, roads, etc.
The massive demand forced the industrialization
of infrastructure and transformed the building industry and its culture making
it dependent on disparate continuously produced components. The architect was
no longer a master builder. He became interested in design or management and
less with building, thus creating the void between design and building craft
that exists to this day.
The optimism and limitless
development that reigned within society drove architectural theory to mass
housing experiments that were to alter the fabric of our cities when the building
industry would eventually catch up. Archigram’s utopias are characteristic of
the architectural enthusiasm that occupied design thinking. The autonomous
dwelling pod and its clip-on to megastructure potential illustrated the era’s technological
advances as well as its obsession with commodity. The recognizable individual
unit within the collective structure was the perfect representation of the
individual within the society.
The extent of this type of experiment
was global and sought to industrialize and modularize an overall dwelling strategy
from its urban form to its interior functions. Pascal Häusermann’s Novery
system of components was a particularly complex system of interchangeable compressed
plastic parts assembled in a variety of ways to produce a single unit and combine
them within a vertical superstructure. The curved plastic envelope panels varied
from opaque to transparent in certain cases were moulded to include services,
kitchen or bath components.
The simple radial plan was arranged on a centrifugal grid of 16 circular
segments. When coupled with an inverted circular segment a potential infinite
pattern of adjustable centres and circles could materialise. Each unit and its
access stair were attached to the vertical posts of a support infrastructure.
This stacking effect allowed for multiple configurations. This «set of parts» method of building portrayed
how a specific set of consistent rules applied to industrialized components can
be utilized to create a varied and variable construction system. The
representation of the unit as a cell also illustrated the era’s fascination
with the set-contained living unit.
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| Perspective view of megastructure and dwelling pods |
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