Prefabrication experiments - 168 - Building Kits - 09 - WOBO bottle

Brickwork is the oldest type of kit building. A sun-dried, compressed or fired chunk of earth modularly dimensioned or shaped is the basic formal unit used to put together any building type or size. The ability to stack, bond and vary a basic unit toward many shapes gives this simple construction method a permanence and value that continues to be employed around the world. Fixed by some type of mortar or glue, the irreversible nature of masonry relates this type of wet construction to massive archetypes and less to industrialized dry assembled systems. Industrialization normalized quality and consistency but simplicity endured.  Furthermore relating the basic mass produced unit’s scale to the human hand depicts both its universality and modesty.

Looking to leverage these basic ideas toward a universal low-cost and low-tech building method based on what was generally a throw away product, Alfred Heineken, assigned Dutch architect/theorist N. John Habraken to design a beer bottle that could double as a brick when emptied. The infamous, «World Bottle» WOBO, little green rectangular shaped Heineken beer bottle would be employed as a basic modular unit in an open building strategy. The glass pressed and blown bottles were designed in two sizes, 350 or 500 mm long, but were never actually mass-produced. The bottles were conceived with dimples and nipples on opposing sides during the manufacturing process. The bottlenecks and bottoms were shaped to fit together for horizontal brick coursing. World Bottle showcased how the eco-conscious building culture of the 1960s and 70s identified building materials from waste and stressed the potential for recycling. The objective was to provide communities all over the world with a truly minimal building unit that would require no complex training or skills.

Under the umbrella of ECObricks, using bottles, glass or plastic, as a DIY building material has resurfaced now and again as a type of log in a chord-based building strategy where bottles are filled and laid perpendicular to the wall face and bound together with some type of mortar. The unit to whole relationship between a brick a whole building offers timeless perception where construction is honest and relates to simple hand-produced and logical details.

WOBO bottle brick coursing

Prefabrication experiments - 167 - Building Kits - 08 - Prefabricated and modular housing kit by Abarca y Palma Arquitectos

The industrialization of unsophisticated timber balloon and platform framing is a universal expression of a variable building kit. Traditionally, standardized dimensional lumber was cut, adjusted and nail joined on site by non-specialized labourers. Mass-produced steel pegs replaced the complex joinery of traditional craftsmen making almost any shape and size possible.  Normalization of timber construction inspired experiments in kit building by pre-cutting members and components to decrease site work and increase building efficiencies. Whether assembled on or off site light timber framing and construction has remained mostly unchanged for the better part of a century and a half. Even panels and volumetric modular timber systems produced in a factory setting largely employ comparable techniques to site intensive platform framing.

Recent developments in digital fabrication specifically CNC milling, already present in many factories and democratized through architectural curriculum has begun to regenerate the idea of adaptable timber kits. Informed by digital technology and the benefits of precise cutting, the lost art of timber joinery is also reintegrating framing.  The Chilean practise of Abarca y Palma Arquitectos explores the relations between prefabrication and traditional craftsmanship. The firm has developed a DIY inspired timber modular kit frame onto which different service and functional modules can be affixed to create multiple housing types. The simple post and beam frame structures are assembled onsite and anchored to point foundations.  Industrialized SIP panels weatherproof the structure and create different spatial typologies. The complete separation of structure and envelope arranges a floating architectural space covered by a large canopy. The insulated / ventilated roofscape between the climatic roof and architectural space keeps the house cooler by protecting the interior from the hot sun.  Large overhangs protect the timber structure keeping it dry as well as keeping water away from the perimeter avoiding the deterioration habitually observed at the base of the foundations. Architectural space floats above the ground keeping the spaces dry and protecting them from adjacent vegetation. A prefabricated kit inspired by traditional carpentry interprets the floating house archetype, which could be adapted to and anchored to any site but is particularly suited to hot climates with a long rainy season. 

Structural and SIP components diagram from the firm's website