Technical advances
between 1850 and 1950 brought an array of services to buildings. Sanitation and
comfort were increased by electricity, plumbing, heating and air conditioning. Conveying
air, water and power shaped a regulated interior environment while inducing a
systemic entanglement of wires, pipes and ducts with traditional architectural schemes.
Various strategies such as plumbing walls, service core walls bathroom or
kitchen pods or HVAC pods emerged as integrated solutions to reduce on-site
coordination by standardizing services.
During the latter
half of the 20th century advances in fiberglass technology united with a willingness
to standardize machine like baths, kitchens and services. Technical hubs could
by delivered and deployed into any construction system. Among the diverse pitches
by architects, designers and manufacturers, Charlotte Perriand proposed
fiberglass moulded bath capsules for the "Les Arcs" ski resorts in Savoy
France. Perhaps, a result of her time spent working with and learning from Le
Corbusier, the pods, were inspired by the efficiencies of ship building: Programmatic
repetition made their production cost effective and their overall systemic
coordination straightforward. They were in a sense machines for hygiene.
Fiberglass or
glass fibre reinforced resin polymers were the choice materials for the ready-made
pods as they could be produced in any shape and their moulds could be reused. A
gelcoat base primer allows the plastic shape to be removed from the mould and produces
a polished surface. Fiberglass is a thin layer of reinforcing glass fibre mesh
encased in a polyester resin. The fiberglass could be used as a single layer or
as a structural laminated sandwich panel with an expanding foam insulation core.
Today, bathroom
pods produced by numerous companies are integrated into building types requiring
repetitive service elements such as hotels or hospitals. Today’s pods however
are overwhelmingly produced in traditional construction materials indicating
that mainstream construction and architectural design lacked a sustained
innovation of plastics as a substantial building material. The prefabricated
pods rationalize initial construction but the relatively short service life of
bathrooms and kitchens in buildings can quickly render the pods obsolete. Furthermore,
the proprietary nature of these sub-components has proven to makes changes or
replacement difficult over time.
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| Prefabricated fiberglass bathroom pod (source: to be determined) |
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