Although not commonly
related to full-scale architecture, cardboard has nevertheless inspired many low-tech
and low-cost architectural and structural explorations. From post-disaster
dwellings developed in the early 20th century such as the Container Corporation
of America's emergency dwelling in 1954 to explorations by Pritzker Prize
winning architect Shigeru Ban or the cardboard house by Strutchbury & Pape
in 2004, cardboard’s accessibility has appealed to designers. Flexible,
modular, inexpensive and recyclable, cardboard sheets, current in packaging are
ideal for panelized construction systems such as boxes or polyhedrons. Faces
can be easily glued, taped, stapled or pined and if the sheets are appropriately
treated against water or humidity, cardboard can be used for outdoor
applications.
Most experiments connecting
cardboard to architectural experiments draw from the consonant materiality used
in architectural modeling. Employed as such for comparable motives, availability,
easy to work with, relatively cheap to produce, procure, and recycle, additionally
corrugated cardboard has surprisingly suitable structural strength and formal
agility. The abstract relationship between building and modeling can
be observed in folded or laminated structures such as Herbert Yates' Plydome or
the recent sectional housing prototype by Fictional Factory, the Wikkelhouse.
Although the Wikkelhouse takes an altogether different approach to using
cardboard, it is based on cardboard’s main attractiveness: cheap to produce and
low embodied energy.
The innovative
process of wrapping, wikkel translates to wrapper, 1,2 meter layers of
cardboard over a rotating mould develops a thin stressed-skin construction
system; a type of thick 24 layer glue-laminated structural core rigged into an
archetypal house profile. The modular sectional building method allows users to
develop an overall organization from component slices. Advertising a service
life of fifty years, the low embodied energy of the wood clad cardboard core is
both economical and effective. Fiction Factory, behind the Wikkelhouse modular
system depicts the house as a user based customizable product. Each 1,2 meter
wide subassembly can be designed to include different components while the
addition or subtraction of sections can adjust to an evolving lifestyle. Smart
segments, which contain utilities such as kitchens or baths, can be added to further
customize each segment’s role in the overall arrangement.
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| From the Wikkelhouse website |
Nice blog. Major advantage of Prefabricated construction is that,These homes are built in parts, it is easy for a home owner to add additional rooms or even solar panels to the roofs.
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