Arguably, Japan has the deepest history of factory produced housing. Massive post war rebuilds combined with significant investment in industrial progress, notably in automation, and with modular building traditions anchored in local vernacular to spawn a prefabricated building industry worth 21 billion dollars in 2021. Known for flagship companies Misawa and Sekisui, Japan's prefabricated builders include other well-known players, Panasonic Homes, Toyota Housing Corporation and Tamahomes that share the market. Sekisui's (14000 units / year) model based on a skeletal dimensionally coordinated volume defines the basic concept of standardization leveraged toward varied aggregations. Other recent experiments including companies like MUJI partnering with well-known architects demonstrate the industry's willingness to propel new trends. With 15% of all new homes being prefabricated, Japan remains a strong force of house manufacturing.
While industrial development and reconstruction forged the industry, high-technology narratives in the 1960s drove a unique outlet for Japanese prefabrication. Metabolist architects imagined mass-produced housing pods or capsules plugged-into vertical collective infrastructure. This dynamic form of urbanism would comprehensively reform city building. The recent deconstruction of Kisho Kirukawa's Capsule Tower in the spring of 2022 formally put an end to this futuristic vision.
Beyond metabolism in architecture, Japan influenced global manufacturing with the most successful and comprehensive theory of production which continues to inspire efficiencies in the construction industry: the Toyota Production System. The theory, developed by Eiji Toyoda and Taiichi Ohno, proposes to reduce waste at every step of a process and led to Toyota becoming the most proficient car producer in the World. As disruptive as Henry Ford’s model was, the Toyota collaborative model outlined principles that were applied in other sectors and are now sometimes referred to as lean manufacturing or construction. Manufacturing parts or subassemblies for buildings can follow similar principles of elevating teamwork and eliminating waste.
Ageing population is a structural probable that will affect prefab construction as well as housing demand in Japan. Declining national needs have encouraged producers to look outward to conquer other Asian markets with increasing housing demand. Japan’s sector uses some of the most advanced manufacturing techniques and continues to be a model for other countries looking to increase prefab’s uptake.
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| Three key ideas of Japanese industrialization applied to building |
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