Prefabrication experiments - 353 - Montreal, Expo 67 and Operation Breakthrough

One of the most important contributions to the field of industrialized construction was organized in the late 1960s in the United States. Part of a comprehensive investment in studying options for increasing production of low-cost, accessible and mixed housing options, Operation Breakthrough received 600 proposals from all over the world. 

With George Romney at the head and orchestrating his recipe of collaborative capitalism, most of the proposals were from the USA, with some exceptions. Notable entries from Canada included the only foreign prototype to be constructed, Descon / Concordia, along with 5 other proposals: Development International, Optor Tetrahedrons,  Skycell Modular system, Hambro structural systems and Trebron Holdings. 

 

Four out of these six systems were linked to Montréal, Qc. Perhaps owing to the fertile ground Expo 67 had been for the presenting innovative building systems. There is evidence that organizers visited Montreal's prototype and were inspired by some of the work undertaken for the flagship edifice designed by Moshe Safdie. Habitat 67 epitomized state of the art industrialization and its potential to reform multiunit buildings. The four Montreal proposals are among the most ambitious of Operation Breakthrough with Safdie's Development International piggy backing on the architectural success of Habitat. Conceptually similar but formally distant from habitat, the proposal made use of the same type of box unit post-tensioned structure used for Habitat but with elongated 10-sided section-based prisms shaped to stack and interlock into variable aggregations. Descon/Concordia's proposal was certainly the most forward-looking proposal as it defined a complete and holistic system classifying and organising each building system and sub-system into a streamlined supply chain management system that in some ways predicted the platform theory being applied to industrialized construction today. The precast panel system would be used for the development of two sites in Jersey City, New Jersey and St. Louis, Missouri.  

 

The two other Montreal-linked proposals Optor (a megastructure of tetrahedrons with hub like connectors) and Skycell (modular inhabitable cells) were less comprehensive but equally ambitious. While Operation Breakthrough's success was limited to a few experimental sites, the impact on industrialized construction and offsite construction would influence a generation of architects and industrialists. The link to Montreal is an interesting anecdote and points to universal exhibits’ influence in both industry and architecture.

upper left; Deson/Concordia - upper right; Optor Tetrahedrons
below left; Skycell Modular - below right; Development International

Prefabrication experiments - 352 - 9-Tsubo Modular Dwelling

A perfect storm, modernity in architecture federated industrial production, new materials, new methods and posited a radical transformation of classic architectural paradigms. To replace Palladian regulating geometry, modernists considered vernacular principles instead; universal values of sheltering and anchoring informed new housing ideas. From Gottfried Semper to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, to Frank Lloyd Wright and Alvar Aalto, locus became the inspiration to define space, function and aesthetics. Japanese traditions in particular, with ingrained material modularity and connection with nature seemed particularly in tune with modernist values. The influence of modernity on Japanese design culture was equally important, specifically when it came to training architects.  An understudy of Antonin Raymond, Makoto Masuzawa's obsession with the minimal house is iconic of the era’s architectural crosspollination. 

 

Working to respond to the Japanese housing authority's post war building mandates pushing mass-reproducibility, Masuzawa's 9-Tsubo proposal illustrates the relationship between a simple adaptable planning system and similar attitudes that led to Le Corbusier's Citrohan house. The small dwelling was arranged on a square grid (9 square modules made up of 2 tatami mats laid side by side). The juxtaposed 0.9x1.8m tatami mats outline the basic modular unit of 1.8m x 1.8m. This unit multiplied by three in x and y axis shapes the ground floor plan. The double height section turns horizontal space on its end and develops a vertical open space. The «double height» or la double hauteur in the Citrohan house developed by Le Corbusier intended to democratize spatial qualities of a larger more opulent structure.  The timber frame used standard timber dimensions, with panelized infill elements revealing the basic grid geometry both horizontally and vertically. The principle of the tsubo (9, 12 or  15 modules) offers a vision of how architects envisioned mass-production of dwellings; The smallest units of space would be multiplied and scaled to shape larger dwellings made from the same components. Again here the link between the Tsubo, the General Module studied in Japan by architect Ikebe Kiyoshi or even Bemis's modular coordination in the USA were the applied tenets of both the minimal dwelling and architects’ vision for serially produced dwellings. 

9-tsubo house axonometric

 

Prefabrication experiments - 351 - A Tilted Box

Modular volumetric construction's potential customization has been limited to stacking or clustering and has remained one of the factors for its marginal uptake in housing even as its advantages have been made clear. Working with modules that could be twisted, rotated, and even placed vertically has informed so many experiments envisioning inventive solutions for architectural space from premade boxes.

 

Founded in 1967, Misawa Homes is a notable Japanese producer, still recognized as a leader in the field. Their success is based on understanding the local market and investing in research and development. The company's research branch is responsible for exploring innovative technical concepts, relationships with local universities and sponsoring architectural competitions to bridge architecture with manufacturing. A competition underwritten by Misawa in 1971 was published in Japan Architect, garnered much attention and was highlighted by a unique winning entry designed by Mayasuki Kurokawa. Adrift from standardized modular boxes, the design proposed a manufactured volumetric unit completely integrated with functional living elements that would be mass produced in a factory and delivered to any site. Once delivered the module would be set on temporary foundations or a structural base, hinged and then tilted 45 degrees to fashion a two-level living space inscribed by and within the tilted box. Divided into day and night, living spaces adjacent to a wet service wall arranged the ground floor and a stair (parallel to the boxes tilt) lead to sleeping spaces. Furniture elements were integrated and showcase the proposal’s link to the well-established capsule culture familiar with 20^thcentury Japanese architectural prefab. The 45-degree section defined an oblique vertical space directly aiming at a skylight that opened the space inundating the house with daylight or a starry nocturnal sky.  

 

In multiples, each box would be inverted, juxtaposed, and clustered in a linear plan creating a low-density town-house block. Using a volumetric module framework to create spatial quality is perhaps the proposal's most important contribution as to this day prefab maintains the connotation of lacking diversity in manners of organization and architectural merit. Kurokawa's proposal addressed these undertones with an innovative section and a simple modular tilt.

The Tilted Box serial dwelling