When it comes to prefabrication and industrialized building systems, it seems everything old becomes new again. Ideas from the past get fresh imagery and are wrapped up in an era’s vocabulary to argue for innovation in architecture and construction. Adaptability is one of these reemerging concepts that entices architects to envision ways of making edifices flexible enough to respond to both minor organizational changes and major modifications required for retrofitting according to evolving requirements. The plug-in rhetoric of Metabolist architects in post war Japan posited capsule living as the future of adaptability. Inhabitable manufactured pods would simply be attached or plugged into a collective infrastructure. These functional commodities could either be moved, replaced, or altered over time. Architecture was viewed as peripatetic.
Kisho Kurokwa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower epitomized this concept for generations of architects. Ultimately, it proved marginal and ephemeral with the building coming down in April of 2022. Still, the plug-in concept captivates architectural education and design strategies. Peoples Architecture Office of China has renewed these strategies on recent projects including their plug-in school and plug-in tower. The Plug-in Tower closely mimics the systemic separation of support services from their appended mass-produced dwelling pods. The mega spaceframe structure, an oversized version of the famous MeroTM space frame node, is intended as an adaptable framework espousing any site; the office’s proprietary plug-in panelized sub-assemblies compose prismatic inhabitable spaces within the steel web. The factory-made panel is described as including all mechanical necessities along with interior and exterior finished surfaces. Other functional systems and circulation elements are added-on to create a total comprehensive building.
The prototype is represented as a single-family dwelling without permanent foundations as the steel trellis structure can be anchored to any site; the plug-in dwellers could disassemble the house and take it with them wherever they decide to live. Further, the space frame structure can grow vertically and horizontally adapting to suit changing requirements. A contemporary version of ideas explored during the latter half of the twentieth century, the romanticized mobility and architectural interchangeability reveal more about the theoretical artefacts produced by the profession than it does about tangible applicable adaptability for housing.
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| Plug-in prototype from Peoples Architecture Office |
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