Cellophane House
From Metropolis Magazine:
“After nearly a decade of prefab mania, the movement is still just that; it’s not an industry, not in this country. So, at the outset, I wasn’t especially enthused when Barry Bergdoll announced Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling as his first blockbuster as chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art. Inspired by the 1949 exhibition of Marcel Breuer’s house in the museum’s sculpture garden, Bergdoll has chosen five architecture firms to fabricate houses that would be displayed not in the garden but in the vacant lot just west of the museum. (Never mind that the Jean Nouvel tower that will eventually fill the lot is a more legitimate product of industrial processes than any of those buildings.) But when I checked out the show’s Web site, where the participating firms have been documenting their progress, and took notice of what Philadelphia-based Kieran Timberlake was attempting, I thought, Well, maybe this MoMA show could be a watershed.”
Industrialists Without Factories – KT Takes the Mass and the Production Out of Mass Production
See-Through Philadelphia House- the Inquirer’s likewise contribution
Kieran Timberlake – local architects/industrial explorers of certain note
Kullman – factory-built multi-story bldgs galore
::images courtesy Metropolis::
Filed under: Architecture, DP2008, Industrial Design, Real Estate | 2 Comments
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Just some information on the manufacturer of the Cellophane House and the Kullman Bathroom Pods in the installation…
Made of recyclable materials and equipped with photovoltaic panels for electricity and polypropylene panels for thermal insulation, the Cellophane House will be one of five full-scale prefabricated houses on exhibit in the outdoor space to the west of MoMA’s building. Keeping with its moniker, the Cellophane House will be constructed utilizing mostly translucent materials. Designed to be taken apart as easily as it is constructed, the house ís extruded aluminum frame is bolted together, and glass windows slide into place, eliminating the need for welding.
The project includes the assembly of the 14 sections for the five-story building in the companyís Lebanon, N.J., factory, as well as delivery to the exhibit site. The project also includes two Kullman Bathroom Pods, six-foot by eight-foot bathrooms with an outer shell constructed entirely of glass reinforced plastic (very similar to fiberglass) and connected to a steel frame, designed by Hopkins Architects Ltd. Outfitted with plumbing fixtures by Duravit, the Kullman Bathroom Pods include finished ceilings, wall finishes and light fixtures and are completed in the factory with plumbing, electrical and waste lines ready for plug & play installation once on site. Kullman Bathroom Pods were delivered to the project site, hoisted and set in place along with the house’s 14 sections. Kullman Bathroom Pods are used for multi-story living spaces, hotels, hospitals, student and military housing.
The exhibit opens on July 20, 2008 and runs through October 20, 2008.
“After nearly a decade of prefab mania, the movement is still just that; it’s not an industry, not in this country. ”
This statement is particularly myopic and typical of the design communities refusal to live in reality. Prefab is a big industry in the US and has been for a long time. Just because the vast majority of modular homes and trailer homes manufactured in the US don’t involve architects does not suddenly make it “not an industry”. I’m not saying that is ok, because we all know the design content stinks. But I’m pretty sure the first step to doing something about is not denying it exists.