Prefabrication experiments - 143 - visions of the future - 04 - Flexibility and adaptability : The Suitcase House by Gary Chang

Mechanization, mass-production and the accompanying commodification of building culture drastically changed domesticity. The dwelling was forever more technology driven and a vessel for enjoying services and amenities.  Standard of living was anchored to the idea of convenience and lifestyles were projected to be increasingly dynamic. Diversity in matters of family type and composition was to become the norm. Houses would need an integrated capacity to adapt to this intensifying change.

Twentieth century architecture is fraught with projects proposing dwellings that could at once transform and adjust to varying conditions, lifestyles or context. Further the theme of mobility accompanied adaptability and flexibility to advance the idea of a multifunctional house. A sample experiment, «suitcase house» proposed by the Palace Corporation in 1945 was an easily assembled, demountable and transportable dwelling unit suited to the needs of migrating populations.

More than half a century later, another «suitcase house» was proposed by an architect exploring the notion of multiple functions and their time-based interaction.  Gary Chang designed the multi-use house with the idea of spatial transformation in mind. Known for his 24 room variation of a 344 sq ft apartment, (see  24 Rooms Tucked Into One by Virginia Gardiner  in New York Times; January 14, 2009), his design for the suitcase house is a veritable architectural transformer. The house’s piano nobile is cantilevered into the landscape by an opaque foundation prism. The two-storey house is anchored to the Chinese landscape in a town named Badaling just north of Beijing. The house is a simple manifestation of an open plan structured by a series of structural porticoes. The box frame structured plan is reconfigurable accommodating up to 14 people in numerous functional scenarios. The multifunctional strata can be adapted by manipulating screens, which divide the open plan into a series of rooms. The house’s foundation is where most of the multiple functions are concealed. Trap doors access these chambers used for sleeping, working or relaxing. 

Built in 2001, the utopian longhouse employs a stratified section of served and service spaces. The service spaces housed in the lower container are closed off to the surrounding landscape while the relationship between the living spaces and the environment is filtered by a matrix of varying filigree screens.

Suitcase House confirguration

Prefabrication experiments - 142 - visions of the future - 03 - Project FROG's manufactured kits

Assembling a predesigned and manufactured kit-of-parts into quality buildings has integrated architectural discourse, at least, since Joseph Paxton's iron skeleton Crystal Palace in 1851. This elemental construction method influenced both architecture and construction schemes such as Charles and Ray Eames's Case Study House 8, directing a reform toward architecture assembled from mass-produced and catalogued components. Beyond both these prototype projects, prefab experimentation with this type of kit building methodology was extensive and is perhaps even at the heart of current building culture as architects pick and choose from industrialized and catalogued parts while much of the building’s integration is handled on-site. Construction documentation has become ever more complex because architects must design and envision the assembly of disparate elements produced by various manufacturers. Off the shelf methodology has created a rupture between design, production and craft as building systems are increasingly complex.

Leveraging these contemporary difficulties with building information modelling, Project Frog (Flexible Response to Ongrowing Growth) is devising pre-determined and integrated platforms for different building types. Designing for manufacture and the simple on-site assembly of all building systems circumvents the entanglement and lack of efficiency synonymous with on-site construction. Harmonizing design and construction is at the heart of this budding business model. The relatively young company (2006) is employing computer modelling to design and produce intelligent and informed parts that can be used in a variety of designs. Distancing itself from off-the-shelf component assembly, delivery, site logistics, procurement and kit installation is all coordinated by FROG.  Adaptable and designed with energy efficiency in mind, the «core and shell» platforms or the companies’ building typology sets are customizable and based on sustainable building practices.

Analogous to the LEGO® Company’s predetermined toy kits where the required pieces are either pre-packaged or conceived for each thematic arrangement, each component becomes part of the company’s collection. The pieces are stored and available in a database, increasing the potential to serve numerous types. Platforms are made available, but architects can use a cloud-based configurator to create a personalized building, which is instantly corroborated as compatible to FROG’s process. This type of prefab middleman sidesteps the «lost in translation» problems associated with contemporary building.

Company advertisement