Throughout the history of modern architecture, mass production, mass customization, and prefabrication have been explored as answers to the problem of affordable housing. As a closed system of logic, the result was either an end (product) that aspired to a stylized image of the future, or an application of means that were limited by the mode of repetitious factory production, coupled with a certain indifference to site and situation.

The chic style of the mass production house as a machine repeated in the landscape, as a well proportioned box supported on thin columns, is over. While the problem has been deeply problematized and the solutions interesting in their logics, architecture has failed to magically spring from their techniques, more often than not reducing the problem of dwelling to one of containment. Beyond the aesthetic and the limitations of more conventional means of production, the problem of the prefabricated dwelling persists, provoking more productive possibilities.

Today, mass customization has become more integrated with mass production, and the effects have made room for an intense optimism. New developments have afforded us the possibility to parse the problem in a different way, to exploit the idea that different parts of a building might be conceptualized according to different means of production. The variable prototype model (VPM) works across a spectrum of means, ranging from the mass produced and the generic, to the customized and innovative use of prefabricated systems, and to the specialized deployment of in-situ components.

As a new model, the Dwell Home will maximize the potentials of production within each of these categories and synthesize their interdependence. Our proposition structures these themes together. In concert they afford and maximize a diversity of use, occupation, and modes of living within a scaffold of means as opposed to ends. As a lively interplay between constants and variables, the architecture of the Dwell Home will be both uniquely situated yet capable of responding to a wide range of other applications. The fantastic act of architecture will (again) be capable of enabling the joy of living, and manifesting the ineffable, the human and the deep complexity of dwelling as a human condition.

Site: Twelve acre parcel near Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Program/Lifestyle: Open plan with informal mix of domestic programs including dining, entertaining and living. Direct connections between indoor spaces, exterior views and light form a strong relationship between the site and residence and enable the use of the outdoor adjacent spaces as extended domestic space. Bedrooms and office/recital room are separate and private.

Budget: USD180,000.

Climate: The average high temperature is 70 degrees F. Average low is 49 degrees F. Annual rainfall is 41 inches per year. Humidity is high during spring and summer.

Concept: The Dwell Home design carefully strategizes and develops the particular design potential of four basic interrelated elements: roof, enclosure, storage and floor. The four categories of building production include mass production, mass customization, prefabrication, and in-situ construction. In order to engineer performance and innovate economically, key elements of the building are separated in order to clearly define their production/assembly roles. The Dwell Home is designed as a variable prototype model (VPM), which deploys and integrates these four levels of building production technology into their particular circumstances, realizing economies in some areas to liberate architecture in others.

Prefabrication

Dwell Home Element: Roof
Inspiration/parallel technology: lightweight gas station canopies, aircraft hangers

A lightweight steel roof canopy is constructed from prefabricated steel trusses to form a 25’-5” structural bay. The number of bays determines the extent of the large roof to accommodate a variety of plan configurations. As an independent element, it can be pre engineered and fabricated, realizing an economy from repetition and ease of on-site erection. Options include insulated roof panels for conditioned space, translucent roof panels for light, and open areas, as well as the ability to incorporate both active and passive solar features.

The Series 7 Stacking Chair
Arne Jacobsen’s classic 1955 design, functional and beautiful, stacks out of the way when not needed. Extra seating can be available at any time.175,000 are sold annually.

Mass Customization

Dwell Home Element: Enclosure
Inspiration/parallel technology: pre-engineered buildings, Issey Miyake’s A-POC clothing line

A flexible array of interchangeable panel types allow for flexibility within the economies of standardization. Prefinished wall panels containing infrastructure, along with factory cut aluminum storefront come in a predetermined lengths according to the Modulor. As a progressive system of proportion, it enables maximum harmonious variation within a constraint of overall coherence. Larger dimensions can be cleanly broken down into smaller dimensions that are all part of a Modulor system. The result is a wide spectrum of possible configurations from a small number of components minimizing the labor of assembly.

Mass Production

Dwell Home Element: Cabinetry Modulors
Inspiration/parallel technology: surfboard blanks, Eames storage units

Variety within repetition: Cabinetry, again sized according to the Modulor dimensioning system, comes in a variety of sizes that can be singular or grouped together to form larger ensembles. The variety of sizes and optional hardware features provides a range of responses according to the client’s needs, and they are fabricated on demand. Costs are reduced through elimination of the one-off, idiosyncratic circumstance.

In-Situ Construction

Dwell Home Element: Post-tension structural concrete slab foundation
Inspiration/parallel technology: Wright’s Taliesin West, Schindler’s King’s Road House

As the most primary act of architecture, the point where the house inscribes itself into the surface of the earth marks it as unique; there is nothing mass produced about it and we have chosen to recognize the need to site each building according to its circumstances. However, this need not eclipse the budget. For reasonably flat terrain, post-tension concrete slab technology remains the most economical response to the problem of foundation and floor finish. Radiant heat tubes are embedded in the concrete slab, which is then smooth troweled and sealed as the finish floor of the house. The elimination of labor costs associated with wood floor framing, along with material costs of floor sheathing and finish contribute to the economy of this well established technique.

Listen to an interview with Eric Kahn about prefarbrication and the Dwell Home project.