Prefabrication experiments - 141 - visions of the future - 02 - printing buildings APIS COR

A remarkable and sophisticated history of construction can be conveyed through the study of unconventional building techniques conceived to speed up, streamline or simplify the building process. Robert G. Letourneau’s Tournalayer, a machine for casting houses or Thomas Edison’s continuous casting process are two such inventions that employed concrete’s malleability toward providing mass housing quickly and efficiently. Both systems used intricate moulds to form walls, floors, roofs and, in the case of the Tournalayer, integrated openings for services. 

Casting a house on site hypothetically make things easier as foundations, envelope and structure are produced in one monolithic form. Using this type of direct method reduces waste as accurate material quantities can be determined and consumed as needed. Further, today’s information technology could allow this type of cast to be numerically controlled with matter being deposited meticulously within a defined field of coordinates. 

Apis-Cor, an innovative start up company is complementing the extensive list of on-site casting inventions and has garnered our interest thanks to its innovative building printing machine. The company has to date produced one 38m² dwelling structure in a small Russian town. The Apis-cor printer can be easily transported and controlled on any site. Most large scale 3d printers that print buildings are either portal types or scaled up Delta versions. The Apis-cor is a moveable column crane that has a printing range of 132 m². The crane’s anchor point can be moved so as to produce larger structures.  Analogous to a computer controlled concrete pump, the printer’s nozzle is controlled to deposit a lightweight concrete mixture in horizontal strata of any shape. The company argues in favour of their lean construction process, which reduces material use and waste as material is mixed, generated and used on-site and as needed. A small mixing plant is located on site and material is transferred to the printing nozzle. A cellular truss matrix maximizes voids in the structure reducing both mass and volume. 

As was the case with other similar inventions, the efficient design to fabrication process rationalizes construction, however most other building systems remain conventional. Reducing the system entanglement synonomous with contemporary building culture needs to be fully addressed in order to achieve a synthesis of value, productivity, high quality, and functional adaptability.

From the Apis Cor website

Prefabrication experiments - 140 - visions of the future - 01 - Cellophane House

Refabricating architecture published in 2004 reaffirmed prefabrication’s appeal for architects and shared a vision for the reorganization of building culture.  Manufacturing, long thought to be unconnected from architectural design, could now be part of a holistic design to construction process with the architect firmly positioned at its core. Contemporary computerized tools triggered this revolution. Already more than a decade later, cad tools are further streamlining with cam tools giving the architect unprecedented access to the factory floor.

Kieran and Timberlake's contemporary manifest is perhaps as important to prefabricated architecture as Gropius’ work was in the early twentieth century. Gropius argued first for architecture made from manufactured components leveraged into many design options. In the same way Kieran and Timberlake’s work first on the Loblolly House in 2006 and then in their prototype design for the Cellophane House inspired a new generation of architects to rethink the factory production of houses. 

Cellophane house is one of five prototypes built to be included in MOMA’s rekindling of prefabrication exhibit entitled Home delivery: fabricating the modern dwelling (2008). The five prototypes reintroduced prefab exploration and continued the lasting conceptualization of the exhibit house prototype as a necessary component for architecture’s advancement.

The Cellophane House, a derivative of the canonical modern glasshouse proposed a five storey scaled-up «Le Corbusier’s Citrohan House» like prism assembled from a kit of industrialized parts. An off the shelf aluminum post and beam frame, manufactured «chunks» or modular building sub-assemblies such as kitchens and baths and variable skins or cladding are the three basic elements of this plug and play building syntax. The system is cleverly designed to facilitate both assembly and disassembly, to challenge traditional construction and propose flexible and modular data informed parts that can be employed for many different designs.

Beyond the architects’ exploration of Smartwrap (a trademarked structural multi-functional bioclimatic adaptable cladding capable of reacting to changing environmental conditions), the real innovation is the systems’ horizontal and vertical scalability. A statement on mass customization, the modular structure can be modulated for different site topographies, orientations and any functional layout.  Furthermore, the kit can accommodate a variety of materials to suit different needs, tastes, and budgets.

Cellophane House layers and components

Prefabrication experiments - 139 - settings - 10 - custom prefab - weeHouse

Both Henry Ford’s assembly line and Toyota’s just-in-time «lean» production model influenced building culture. Today’s digital manufacturing technologies are reforming production and altering the way buildings take shape.   Complete 3d-printed houses, intelligent and customizable modular components, digitally cut building kits and completely data-informed and driven subcomponents, the future of prefabrication is streamlined from file to factory to building site. As information technology drives greater potential for efficient interaction from designers, architects and producers, powerful cad tools link design thinking to the factory floor. CAM tools eliminate the daunting translation usually associated with hand drawn or cad drawn construction details. The design for manufacturing model could potentially place architects and designers at the core of a type of customizable prefab, revolutionizing the mass production connotation associated with prefab.

Alchemy architects of Minnesota, USA, have demonstrated this data-driven paradigm in their «weeHouse» building system organized by a consistent platform of coordinated components. The design process is based on the combination of modular dimensional and design decisions combined with a defined quantity of potential finishes, fixtures and furnishings. The process and product are geared toward small, sustainable and well-crafted dwellings adapted to any site, optimizing orientation and topographical anchorage. The architects propose an efficient site specific spatial planning instead of the predictable designs that are usually proposed by traditional modular manufactures.

The weeHouse system was developed in 2002 and the architects have improved the process through numerous prototypes. The platform starts with one basic 300-800 sqft single module and can be expanded by a myriad of options from the basic building unit. The unit can vary from 14' to 16’ in width and up to 60' in length; maximum dimensions are defined by standardized transportation criteria.

The customizable process involves a collaborative effort. Architects coordinate both the general contractor and the manufacturer, consolidating design as the focal point.  Bringing the architect into the factory is perhaps the solution to elevating prefab's potential. Technology has never been the obstacle, as production has been leveraged to mass-produce mobile homes very successfully. With the «wee house» system, manufacturing technology   integrates the architectural office producing a streamlined design, production and construction process possibly creating a new pattern for building manufacturing.  

From the weeHouse brochure