Separating common structural and infrastructure elements from interior non-permanent spatial systems has been posited by many as a way of providing a flexible framework for adaptable buildings that facilitate changes over time, responding to occupant evolution without destructive and wasteful demolition. The PSSHAK (Primary Supports Structure Housing Action) kit system presented to the UK government by a group assembled by John Habraken in the early 1970s deployed the author/architect's theories in a practical application for the design and construction of affordable housing.
Structural walls supported a centralized organization with kitchens and baths defining interior zones within a rigorous row-house masterplan. The entire system was regulated by a 30cm grid to dimensionally coordinate the production of «kit» components. The grid also framed potential arrangements for users to organize their interiors while respecting overall design parameters, to at once engage occupants and implement coherence throughout the scheme. Linking design with fabrication and construction, the kit of parts strategy was developed to optimize logistics, material supply chains, construction methods, and procurement approaches as multiple projects would use these common elements and their mass production would generate economies of scale.
Habraken underscored housing allocation’s complex process requiring efficiency and purchasing power for the collective while introducing freedom in planning personal systems for the individual or the household. Linking productive master planning and individualized microplanning remains a difficult challenge as the housing industry is dictated by a general-contractor or developer model that, in the name of profitability, will resist the progressive separation of supports and infill which limits their role to either common elements or to providing interior elements on a far more informal basis, cutting their margins.
A system like PSSHAK requires a profound systemic transformation of the housing sector. It has been marginally supported with open building being implemented in theory but has proved to be challenging in practice. Habraken's theories behind the PSSHAK are today reframed by an era in which all housing stakeholders are looking to increase productivity and provide quality affordable housing.
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| Basic dwelling unit and its adaptable parameters |
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