Prefabrication has
evolved to signify manufacturing large chunks of buildings or parts in a
factory. However prefabrication can also refer to any building component that
is mass-produced to simplify the on-site construction process. Although not
normally associated to prefabricated building systems, masonry walls are in a
sense the simplest result of prefabrication: a continuous production of
identically dimensioned modular units. The units are easily stacked and bonded
to develop infinitely variable designs based on purely compressive building
systems such as walls or arches. Exemplifying the ideas of "materia povera", masonry
construction is founded on earthen materials, craftsmanship and is conceptually
different from the skeletal frame structures that are synonymous with modern
architecture and industrialization.
Inspired by both
simple materials, workmanship and an idealized «do-it-yourself» construction
from prefabricated ornamental blocks, Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian automatic
homes related to masonry’s simplicity and sought to fill the need for
authentic, aesthetic, affordable, and potentially mass produced homes for the “modern”
family. Designed in a period of fertile exploration for industrialized building
systems, the Usonians were sequels to Wright's textile block houses designed in
the early twentieth century. These houses employed the same simple stacking to
achieve a global patterned textile like composition and design. Although the designs
maintained Wright’s ornate Aztec inspired intention, each block was
recognizable as a basic building unit. The inexpensive repetitive blocks could
be assembled and even produced by prospective owners. Established on a two-foot
square grid the envelope's blocks were of modular dimensions: four inches thick
by twelve inches high and twenty-four inches wide. The brickwork bond involved an
inlaid reinforcing steel grid of rods encased in a semi-circular grove filled
with mortar. The resulting monolithic load bearing walls habitually supported a
simple wood framed roof.
Wright's simple
construction system did not revolutionize America's domestic building as the timber
balloon frame remained the go to system for housing. The simple modular blocks did
however relate to many do-it-yourself building systems from mass timber blocks
to compressed earth blocks or even today’s 3d printed building units. As
architecture moved to renew its building systems based on technology, Wright
imagined the simplest form of handcraft assembly from prefabricated elemental building
components.
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| Prototype design and building block system |
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