Industrialized building systems, prefabrication, offsite construction and factory-made architecture are all related to the idea of generating edifices more efficiently by using methodologies used in the manufacturing of complex objects. The pitch is simple and chronic: if factory production was deployed to offer greater quality products, cars, phones, furniture, etc. at an affordable price, the same principles should be harnessed for buildings. Even with this conceptual clarity, comprehensive factory production is still only employed for a fraction of constructions. A recent uptake and renewed interest is largely driven by acute circumstances; labour shortages, rising costs, environmental imperatives and new digital tools and technologies.
One argument for offsite construction’s pervasive marginal application is that onsite construction is already highly industrialized. Pieces or parts that are actually fabricated on the building site are limited; architects specify manufactured components that are coordinated and installed by specialized trades according to contractual documents (plans and specifications). While it has been proven that this process is inefficient and repeats the same arduous and discord hindered processes, it does allow for flexibility, making changes and adjustments during construction. Further, iconic onsite industrialized building strategies have been largely standardized systemizing construction and their stakeholders’ fidelity.
The light timber platform frame, the steel skeleton and the reinforced concrete flat slab are directed to residential, commercial and high-density construction dictated by years of use and coordinated democratization. The three structural systems, emblems of onsite construction, employ straightforward, shared, understood and easy to detail connections which are taught in schools elevating their status as acquiesced types. Manufactured systems, like modular volumetric systems are evaluated against these basic frameworks. Their intrinsic flexibility is their greatest asset while their relative stability, predictability and stringent compliance to building codes makes them low-risk for builders. In a sense, they are a type of industrial vernacular, a shared knowledge applied according to scale (low-density residential = timber platform frame), their conformity to laws (fireproofed collective housing = flatslab reinforced concrete) and their pertinence for particular types (hi-rise = steel skeleton). Although these definitions are fluid and depend on contextual specificities, the three systems exemplify the success of entrenched on-site systems’ flexibility with high levels of embedded normalization.
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| Timber frame (Levittown); Steel skeleton (Reliance building); Flat Slab (Ford Motor co.) |
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