Prefabrication experiments - 171 - Geometries - 02 - Capsules and megastructures

Directing the efficacies of regular geometric principles to housing helped initiate a class of technical architecture formed by modular building blocks, volumes and prefabricated containers amassed to breed homes and even cities. Illustrated in a diversity of patterns throughout the 20th century but most notably by Japanese metabolists, Kisho Kurokawa posited and tested a simple equation, unit+unit+unit…=city, exploring multiple tessellations for an architecture based on unitary coherence. 

Japan’s massive post war reconstruction efforts paralleled by government support for industrial development certainly played an important role in establishing these patterns for building adaptable and reconfigurable architectures based on a simple mass produced capsules. Described most characteristically for the Nagakin Capsule Tower (1970) but also explored for the Capsule Village (1972) and for the Concrete Capsule House (1975), the capsules were designed as complete technological liveable containers to be plugged into a shared infrastructure or megastructure. Each megastructure was designed as a base and conduit for implanting or detaching prefabricated boxes as the city grew or needs evolved. 

The Capsule Village designed to receive leisure dwellings in a plug and play pod format was perhaps the purest expression of the metabolist vision. A large-scale three-dimensional truss spanned intermediately placed concrete supports charting a steep topography outlining a field of potential dwelling outlets. The dancing megastructure touching the landscape sporadically presented the idea of minimal site disturbance further informing its potential to be constructed or deconstructed as needed. The «homo movens» (the mobile man) zeitgeist was central to the development of this type of evolving structure. 

The tubular space frame was the chassis for attaching circulation elements, ductwork for piping and power lines distributing services to containers affixed to the space frame by mechanical and reversible joints. Each capsule of monocoque construction measured 3 meters by 6 meters was organized according to three dwelling functions: hygiene, eating and sleeping. The mechanical box like aesthetic exemplifies the designer's fascination with space age imagery. Present in both the capsule tower and the Capsule Village the simple rectangular geometry associated with dwelling reduced the home to a no frills functional unit, a type of micro architecture that integrated home and furniture into an ergonomic whole.

Capsule Tower (left) Capsule Village (right)

Prefabrication experiments - 170 - Geometries - 01 - Kugelhaus (the globe house)

The upcoming series of prefabrication experiments “geometries” will look at ten experiments that linked architecture’s mass production with simple geometric shapes and volumes. This type of unitary construction imagined architecture’s deployment from basic cellular entities clustered into variable and adaptable patterns for horizontal or vertical urbanities. Spheres, cubes, and various polyhedra have been used to interpret factory-made architectures as building blocks for dwellings and cities.

Photographed next to a Volkswagen beetle for Modern Mechanix’s January 1961 issue, the prototype Kugelhaus shared a similar dream of mass production for the common man/woman. Commanded by the Belgian government for emergency shelter situations, the «Kugel» (ball in German) employed the basic geometric principle of the greatest volume for the least surface area. The Kugelhaus combined the geometric principles of the sphere with thin shell construction to reduce weight and optimize interior space.  

A type of integrated capsule architecture inspired by both space age technology and imagery, the “haus” designed or invented by engineer John William Ludowici was geared for transportation by ship, air or ground and required only a straightforward central connection for its central service mast. Analogous to Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Deployment Unit, the circular plan was organised around a central service hub. The small hollow globe would, according to Ludowici, be produced at a fraction of the cost of the era’s comparable dwelling systems and offered an alternative to site intensive construction both in matters of labour and site disturbance.

The sphere’s 12 foot 4 inch diameter made it small enough for shipping and its thin shell construction, a relatively unbelievable 1-inch of concrete made it buoyant enough to be floated into its final position. Site work was limited to levelling and compressing a curved depression; the kugelhaus required no foundations. Divided in two zones, the Kugelhaus’s kitchen, bath, bed and living functions were unified by a uniquely multifunctional area. The Kugelhaus spoke to an increasing interest for architecture to come out of the dark ages and deploy similar production techniques that had made possible the mass production of any day-to-day commodity. Like many other experiments in capsule architecture its complete diversion from local building traditions and cultures rendered it marginally acceptable and it never attained production beyond its development as a prototype.

Kugelhuas - Modern Mechanix issue January 1961

Prefabrication experiments - 169 - Building Kits - 10 - Backcountry Hut system

The rich and culturally diverse evolution of timber framing includes many archetypical strategies for rapidly deploying and setting up mobile, semi-permanent and permanent shelters. From yurts to simple «A» or arched cruck framing and box framing, the unsophisticated assembly of timber members into a variety of building types and shapes continues to inspire architects, industrialists, producers and designers looking to conceive singular building kits adaptable to any site, context or function. Skeletal timber constructions relate to the core of prefabrication/industrialization philosophies as even primitive cultures sought to precut or standardize dimensions / details or both. For instance the master sawyers of Japan employed the «ken» (a recognized span and member length) to regulate vernacular housing.

Whether hunting or fishing cabins, remote shelters, or secondary homes, many have obsessed over the idea of offering a basic building kit simple enough to be deployed quickly and sturdy enough to withstand nature’s severity. The Backcountry hut system revisits to the search for a mass-produced kit-of-parts timber dwelling. Developed in 2015 by the team of Wilson Edgar (company founder), architects Leckie Studio and master builder Crrill Werlen the modular frame structure wrapped with insulated panels shapes the basic «Shell system». The shell outlines the shelter’s volume while infill can be devised to suit any function. The infill «patterns» proposed vary from the typical family cottage to the hunting cabin capable of sheltering multiple guests with a type of loft organization.

The shell is a type of modular hybrid of box, cruck and a-frames, raised sequentially over and anchored to concrete pile foundations. Frames can be arranged in linear arrays from the small 206-sqft floor plates and extended by adding frames.  The structural insulated panel envelope simplifies construction, as it is a completely integrated envelope system. The backcountry hut dwelling scheme is customizable and fully adaptable over time. Any interior layout can be developed as the structural tube like frames require no interior loadbearing partitions. Designed for quick and easy assembly, the structures could be assembled, disassembled and reassembled in any context. The simple timber structure frame reaffirms the cultural/universal romanticism linked to homesteading and adds the flavour of contemporary architecture’s values of sustainability and intelligent design.

Backcountry Hut system axonometric drawing from the company's website http://www.thebackcountryhutcompany.com