THE EVALUATION. OF THE TECHNICAL
AND SPATIAL ASPECTS OF SELECTED
TYPES OF PREFABRICATED
MODULAR CONSTRUCTION

Thesis for the Degree of M.‘ U. P.
MICHIGAN. STATE UNIVERSITY
GERRY E. FEIN
1972

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ABSTRACT

THE EVALUATION OF THE TECHNICAL AND SPATIAL
ASPECTS OF SELECTED TYPES OF PREFABRICATED
MODULAR CONSTRUCTION

BY

Gerry E. Fein

Since primitive times man has been searching for
better ways and materials out of which to build structures.
One of these ways is a fairly new development, prefabricated
modular construction. We proceed to take a look at this
new method and its present state of development in Western
Europe and North America. Chapter I deals with an overview
of prefabricated modular construction and Chapter II goes
into greater technological detail. Both chapters examine
the differences and similarities, the good and bad of both
Western European and North American systems.

An integral part of this thesis is the quest and,
finally, the creation of a criteria by which the functional
and social space of a structure or structures can be
evaluated by the proximic values of a society. Chapter III,
with the help of Dr. Edward Hall's proximic's and spatial

ideas from Kevin Lynch and Christian Norberg-Schulz,

Gerry E. Fein

contains a criteria for the evaluation and design of
micro- and macro-space.

In Chapter IV, with the aid of this criteria for
the evaluation and design of micro- and macro-space, there
is an examination of and an evaluation of various examples
of prefabricated modular developments and some of their
site plans. Chapter V deals with an urban environment of
the future, an environment that is created entirely out of
prefabricated modular units.

The Summary and Conclusions makes some essential
points: that there are only two types of prefabricated
modular systems in use, the panel system and modular unit
development, and that the modular unit type of development
is being perfected in North America and the panel system
is mainly being used in and developed by Western Europe
at this time.

To reduce the cost of building a structure and to
achieve the highest efficiency one has to take the whole
structure into the factory. Presently, there are only two
types of plumbing systems being used in the world. The
archaic and often used system of pipe runs in conventional
buildings that dissipate odors out onto the roof, and the
other, Sovent, which is a system that eliminates one whole
pipe run and dissipates all odors internally without the
distasteful discharge into the atmosphere associated with

the conventional method. Sovent has had applications for

Gerry E. Fein

modular unit development because it allows for the
flexibility and configuration of modular units.

Only a small percentage of the various internal
layout possibilities in the three cases presented in this
thesis were used (approximately 8 per cent). Thus bearing
out some of Dr. Hall's contentions on proximics and
arriving at the conclusion that society can plan effectively
in advance for particular cultural habits and preferences
to a fairly accurate degree.

That new, flexible, and durable materials must be
found on the success of prefabricating modular units on
site or in a factory.

Without the use and perfection of prefabricated
modular construction the technologically advanced countries
of the world are going to have a difficult time in keeping

up with or creating new housing for their people's needs.

THE EVALUATION OF THE TECHNICAL AND SPATIAL
ASPECTS OF SELECTED TYPES OF PREFABRICATED

MODULAR CONSTRUCTION

BY

\“
I)

Gerry E1 Fein

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF URBAN PLANNING
Department of Urban Planning

1972

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My thanks and appreciation to Professor Sanford
Farness for his timely advice and encouragement, the faculty
in the Planning School, and my parents for without whom I

would not have gotten this far.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
INTRODUCTION AND GOALS . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter
I. AN OVERVIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF
PREFABRICATED MODULAR CONSTRUCTION IN
WESTERN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA. . . . . 12

Western Europe. . . . . . . . . . . 13

The Federal Republic of Germany . . . . 13
United Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . 18
Norway. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Switzerland . . . . . . . . . . . 22
France. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

North America . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Moshe Safdie. . . . . . . . . . 28
Operation Breakthrough . . . . . . 33
Other Work Being Done in the United

States . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

II. THE TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF PREFABRICATED
MODULAR CONSTRUCTION. . . . . . . . . 51

Panel systems a o o o o o o '0 o o 51
Prefabricated Modular Units . . . . . . 55

III. MICRO- AND MACRO-SPACE AND OUR ENVIRONMENT . . 65

Micro-Space. . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Macro-Space. . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Notations on a Criteria for the Evaluation

and Design of Micro- and Macro-Space. . . 74
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

iii

Chapter

IV.

Habitat, an Example.

V.
VI.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Inc.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

iv

Triad, by Hodgson House
"Okal-House" System Micro-Spaces
Operation Breakthrough, An Evaluation of
the Micro- and Macro-Spaces Created.
FCE-Dillion,
Levitt Building Systems,

Inc .

A GLIMPSE INTO A FUTURE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

AN EVALUATION OF THE MICRO- AND MACRO-SPACES
CREATED BY PREFABRICATED MODULAR
CONSTRUCTION

Page

82
83
86
9O
91
102
105
110
117

123

INTRODUCTION AND GOALS

The following work will try to set forth, among
other points, an overall view of the present state of
prefabricated modular construction in Western Europe and
North America. The two areas of greatest concern,
information, and progress in modular development are in
Western Europe and North America. Both of these areas
(excluding the Soviet Union) have done the most research
and practical work in construction systems and therefore
have the most to offer this effort.

Next, the examination and consideration of the
technological aspects of prefabricated modular construction
which will be looked at and discussed in some length.
This, most naturally, leads into the type of space and
environment that is created by the use of modular units.

Rarely has there been any criteria in our society
for the society or individual to be able to evaluate
architecture and the functional and social space that is
created by structures, there have been mainly aesthetic
and economic criteria. The time and necessity have come

for society to evaluate the functional and social spaces

created, more accurately put, how does society relate it
to the needs and values of the society? Social and
functional space must be combined with the value of
aesthetics for evaluation.

Through the readings of such people as Norberg-
Schulz, Christopher Alexander, Edward T. Hall, Moshe
Safdie, Le Corbusier, Kevin Lynch, and others there will
be an attempt to put thoughts and create a notation on a
criteria for the evaluation of functional and social
space. If anyone has been guilty of an overall lack of
concern and awareness of the need to be able to measure
the value of space and its effect on an area, it is the
urban planner. He, as well as architects, needs to have a
means by which he can judge his thoughts and designs before
committing thousands, maybe millions of dollars to a task,
not to mention the countless lives and generations that
are affected by his decisions.

After the creation of a notation on a criteria
for the evaluation and design of functional and social
space there will be an examination and evaluation of actual
modular micro- and macro-spaces that exist in Western
Europe and North America. Also,there will be created some
spaces for the purpose of showing how the criteria can be
used before a structure has been built.

What of the future? There shall be created a new

unique form of urban environment through the use of

prefabricated modular technology. Through the synthesis

of information gathered and through research, it will be

endeavored to create this future urban environment.
Throughout this thesis there will be terms peculiar

and relevant to prefabrication, architecture, and space.

So it is well to have them well defined so their meanings

will be clear when they are used. To that end this author

has compiled the following glossary of terms that are felt

to be essential, they are:

Architectural Space.--" . . . it is related to the
space schemata of man's individual and public world. . . .
Architectural space, therefore, can be defined as a
concretization of man's existential space"1 (existential
space will be defined later). Also, the functional and
social space created around and in a building by its very

form.

Artifacts.--They are man-made objects which embody

symbolic meanings.

Districts.--They are medium-to-large sections of
the city, which evoke in an observer a two-dimensional
extent which he can enter "inside of," and which can be
perceived to have some identifying characteristics in

common throughout that district. These identifiable

 

1Christian Norberg-Schulz, Existence,_s ace and
Architecture (New York: Praeger PubliShers, l§§5), p. 37.

characteristics from the inside are also used as exterior

reference points when they are visible from the outside.-

Eggg§.--Edges are the linear elements not used or
considered as paths by the observer. They are the
boundaries between two phases, linear breaks in continuity:
shores, railroad cuts, edges of development, walls. They

are lateral references rather than coordinate axes.

Equipotential,§pace.--

Spatial formulations in current usage proceed from
a definition of space as a volume and are concerned
with its geometrical characteristics. Instead, the
definition could be extended to cover changing patterns
of relationships. The matrix in which these relation-
ships exist can be called Equipotential Space.

The determining characteristics of Equipotential
Space are continuity, flexibility, and articulation.
Instead of being planned for a few specific purposes,
Equipotential Space can be modulated at will for any
purpose.

Existential Space.--Is in part, man's image of the
environment. It cannot be defined in terms of geometry
alone, the notions of proximity, centralization and closure
therefore work together to form a more concrete existential

concept, the concept of place, and places are the basic

elements of existential space.

Functional and Social Space.--Is that space that

man uses in his everyday life for work, recreation, eating,

 

2Renato Severino, E ui otential Space (New York:
Praeger Publishers, 1970), p. .

and sleeping. This space is created by a structure or
structures and can be internal or external depending upon
its orientation to and in conjunction with a structure or

structures.

Imageability.--That quality in a physical object
which gives it a probability of evoking a strong image due
to its specific functions as well as its spiritual meaning;
dependent upon the observer's cultural content and on the

form quality of the object.

Intimate Distance.--This distance has two phases:
a close phase and a far phase. First, the close phase is
the distance of love-making and wrestling, comforting and
protecting. In this phase is physical contact or the very
high possibility of physical contact and involvement, and
both parties are very aware of that fact. Some senses
become more aware and others become diminished; distance
receptors are greatly diminished except for olfaction and
the sensation of radiant heat, both of which are more
sensitive. Sharp vision becomes difficult except at the
outer limits, close vision, if possible, greatly enlarges
and stimulates most, if not all, of the retina. Vocali-
zation is usually kept at a minimum at this distance.

The other phase, the far phase, is from six to
eighteen inches. Most parts of the body are not easily

brought into play; heads, thighs, and pelvis cannot make

contact, but hands can reach out and be able to touch each
other. Features, especially the head, are enlarged and
distorted. The ability to focus the eye easily is an
important feature of this distance for most Americans. At
this distance the voice is normally held at a very low
level or whisper. Most Americans do not consider the use
of intimate distance in public, by an adult, proper.
Crowded place, such as subways and department stores can
bring strangers into intimate contact, but subway riders
and shoppers have defensive devices which take any of the

real intimacy out of the contact in public places.

Landmarks.--

Landmarks are another type of point-reference, but
in this case the observer does not enter within them,
they are external. They are usually a rather simply
defined physical object: building, sign, store, or
mountain.

Le Modular.--Created by Le Corbusier, the "modular"
is a measuring tool based on the human body and mathe-
matics.

A man-with-arm-upraised provides, at the determining
point of his occupation of space--foot, solar plexus,
head, tips of fingers of the upraised arm--three
intervals which give rise to a series of golden
sections, called the Fibonacci series. On the other
hand, mathematics offers the simplest and also the
most powerful variation of a value: the single unit,
the double unit and the three golden sections.

3 .
KeVin Lynch, The Ima e of the City (Cambridge:
The M.I.T. Press, 1960), p. 1%.

4Le Corbusier, The Modular (Cambridge: The M.I.T.
Press, 1954), p. 55-

The measure consists of two series, the red and blue.
The numbers of the "modular" are measures; they are facts
in themselves. These measures are related to numbers and

posses their properties.

Modular.-—This is a building component--bathroom,
kitchen, apartment unit, wall and floor units, etc.--that
are repetative and equal mathematically and in design.
These modular units are usually prefabricated for quick
assembly on the site and a reduction in the overall costs

of a building project.

Nodes.--"Nodes are points, the strategic spots in
a city into which an observer can enter, and which are the

intensive foci to and from which he is traveling."5

Paths.--Paths are channels such as pedestrian
walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads, streets, and
highways. The observer usually moves along these, more or

less frequently depending upon the circumstances.

Personal Distance.--Originally applied by Hediger
to denote the distance consistently separating the members.
of what is called non-contact species. It has been
adopted by Edward T. Hall and the definition expanded.

There are two forms of personal distance. The

close phase is from one and a half to two and a half feet.

 

5Lynch, p. 47.

There are no visual distortions at this distance. A
kinesthetic sense of closeness is present partly because
there is the possibility that each person can do something
with the other's extremities. The three-dimensional quality
of objects is pronounced. Texture and clarity are at their
heights.

The far phase is from two and a half to four feet.
This is also known as keeping someone at "arm's length."
This is the area that is just outside the easy touching
distance by one person to a point where two people can
touch fingers if they extend both arms. Topics of personal
interest and involvement can be discussed at this distance.
All details of the other persons anatomy can easily be
perceived. The voice is at a moderate level. No body heat

is perceptable from this distance.

Prefabricated.--This refers to any unit or com-
ponent part of a building that is made previously to its
introduction on the structure itself. A prefabricated
unit can be made at the building site, such as the modular
units that were poured on the site of the Montreal World's

Fair for Habitat, Expo 67.

Proximics.--This is a term coined by Professor
Edward T. Hall and it stands for the interrelated
observations and theories of man's use of space as a

specialized elaboration of culture.

Public Distance.--The close phase at from twelve
to twenty-five feet affords the opportunity for an alert
person to take evasive of defensive action when called
upon to do so. Vision becomes flat and the voice gets
louder.

The far phase is from twenty-five feet or more.
This is the distance automatically set around important
public figures. But this distance is not restricted to
just important public figures, it can be used by any person
on a public occasion. Subtle details of the face and
voice are lost so everything must be exaggereated to be

effective.

Social Distance.--There are also two phases of
social distance. The close phase is from four to seven
feet. Another person is perceived as normal in size.
Details of the other person's body are clearly perceived,
and a person's gaze may shift from eye to eye and eye to
mouth. This is the spatial distance of impersonal
business, many people use this distance while at a social
function or in dealing with previously unknown business
associates.

The far phase of social distance is from seven to
twelve feet. This is the distance at which formal business
and social events take place. At the far phase of social
distance, the finest details of the face, such as the

capillaries in the eyes are lost. All other parts, in

10

detail, plus texture of the body are readily visible.
The full figure is in view, and the gaze is concentrated
towards the area of the eyes and mouth. The voice level
rises at this distance, and shouting can have the effect
of reducing social distance to personal distance.

A proximic feature of social distance (far phase) is
that it can be used to insulate or screen people from
each other. This distance makes it possible for

them to continue work in the presence of another
person without appearing to be rude. Receptionists
in offices are particularly vulnerable as most
employers expect double duty; answering questions,
being polite to callers, as well as typing. If the
receptionist is less than ten feet from another
person, even a stranger, she will be sufficiently
involved to be virtually compelled to converse. If
she has more space, however, she can work quite freely
without having to talk.6

Spagg.--"Space is therefore the product of an
interaction between the organism and the environment in
which it is impossible to dissociate the organization of
the universe perceived from that of the activity itself."‘7

To differentiate the concept of space further I
will put down five concepts as distinguished by Christian
Norberg-Schulz: the pragmatic space of physical action,
the perceptual space of immediate orientation, the

existential space which forms man's stable image of his

 

6Edward T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension (Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., I536), p. 116.

 

7Norberg-Schulz, p. 17.

11

environment, the cognitive space of the physical world and
the abstract space of pure logical relations.

Each one of these concepts is a different part of
man's awareness.

Pragmatic space integrates man with his natural,
"organic" environment, perceptual space is essential

to his identity as a person, existential space makes
him belong to a social and cultural totality, cognitive
space means that he is able to think about space, and
logical space, finally, offers the tool to describe

the others.

The abstraction of architecture and planning into
the concepts of space for evaluation purposes enables one
to understand and further evaluate those professions. This
inquiry into the technological and environmental aspects
of prefabricated modular construction is useless without
the creation of some sort of criteria for one to be able

to differentiate between good and bad, and not just

esthetic differences but functional differences as well.

 

8Ibid., p. 11.

CHAPTER I

AN OVERVIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF
PREFABRICATED MODULAR CONSTRUCTION

IN WESTERN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA

Building systems differ from country to country.
While one country stresses component prefabrication
another will stress modular unit develOpment. Until
recently, however, it was unique the way prefabrication
developed in North America as compared to Western Europe.

Throughout the fifties and sixties most Western
European nations took a "systems" approach. In other
words, they concentrated on developing and prefabricating
panels; floor panels, wall panels, and ceiling panels.
Though in North America this was taking place, to a
degree, research and development was concentrating on the
overall modular unit concept which is epitomized by
Safdie's Habitat.

The early European systems were limited, as all
panel systems must be limited, because the greatest amount

of cost reduction possible is only 25 per cent. They were

12

13

only dealing with the shell of the building, a modular unit
development gives you a chance at the other 75 per cent of
a building's cost, plus a greater freedom in architectural
design. A panel system is a building block system of
right-angles, vertical lines and sharp corners. Outside

of the Soviet Union (which is not included in this
overview) almost all the work being done today in the

field of prefabricated modular construction is in Western
Europe and North America, and these are the two areas

that will be discussed for an overview of this field.
Western Europe

The Federal Republic
of Germany

Not surprisingly, the Germans are the most
advanced in this field at the moment in Europe. For a
number of years they have felt they were behind other
European countries and that their housing problem gave
them no choice, they embarked on a large scale development
of prefabrication systems.

The programme initiated by the Neue Neimat Group
of Housing Societies could help Germany's system
builders to catch up with their neighbours. It may
also suggest a valuable organizational method for

other countries which already suffer from an uneconomic
profusion of housing systems.8

 

8"Germany--Prefabrication Programme," rena/
Interbuild (January, 1968), p. 34.

14

Their program is called NH65 and tries to employ
the minimum amount of constructional components, while
allowing a large variety of urban planning and internal
layout. This housing system was developed in conjunction
with some of German's leading manufacturers. To meet the
needs of the German people a flexible series of units had
to be developed. Units that could take care of the family
as well as the single person, to be able to provide
shelter in various environments: in the inner city, in
the suburbs, recreational units, and rural areas.

So the series of units that they developed can
build anything from a single family type dwelling to a
high rise building. There will be greater details on
this system later, but it is a system based on a unit of
room-size slabs with supporting cross walls and solid
facade panels.

The way in which NH65 is marketed is unique:

Since NH65 is simply a master programme, the choice
of constructional system lies with the client. When
this has been selected, the building programme is then
adapted to the specific requirements of each prefab-
rication system. Slightly varying measurements and
room sizes will result from the constructional differ-
ences between the various systems. To gain maximum
advantage of serial manufacture, the client's choice

of systems for any project should obviously be limited
as far as possible.

 

9"Germany-~Prefabrication Programmer" P- 35-

15

So far the reactions to NH65 by builders and
architects has been favorable. The simplicity of
manufacture and the ease of assembly has appealed to
them all.

Another German system is also interesting. It
is called "Suspended Towards the Sun." This system
applies two basic concepts; one being the idea of prefab-
rication, and the other, the highly desirable idea of
detached dwelling amenities in high density housing.

The structure takes on a pyramidal form with a
high concentration of dwellings of various types. The
title of this project comes from the fact that all the
apartments are oriented towards the south. The basic
system is totally prefabricated except for the foundations.
A mast is erected with main cables attached to it. Along
the cables a space net is hoisted into place and then
pre-tensioned. The floor slabs are then put in place by
crane and the walls are erected on them.

This is the basic idea behind the system used.

The system results in many economies; an economy of space,
structural economies, construction economies, and an
economy of construction time.

It is a most ingenius system. An idea in building
attempted by and adopted from the great Italian architect
Pier Luigi Nervi, and presently being employed by Moshe

Safdie as well. Suspension systems offer varity of form

16

and spatial placement, and their structural possibilities
are just being realized.
Null-Punkt (in German it means Zero Point) is a
system deriving its name from the mode of connecting
the load-bearing members. Another name for this system is
the "Six-Point System." One of the principle advantages
of this system is that the points of least stress, zero
stress, occur at the weakest points, and that the maximum
stress occurs at the point of maximum structural strength.
The chief advantage claimed for the system is the
separation of jointing from the points of convergence
of vertical and horizontal load-bearing members.
Jointing is at the position of minimum stress, while
maximum stress occurs at the point of maximum
structural strength, at the prefabricated intersections.
Since these are prefabricated, their reliability can
be taken for granted, and reinforcement for special
conditions is unnecessary: the cross-section of the
framework members can also be at a minimum.10
Zero Point has a few notable advantages. It is
easy to handle, it is relatively light and stacks con-
veniently for transportation. It does have limitations in
height and depth; with a limit of seven units for height
and three grid units for depth. But length remains
flexible and this is in where lies its great advantage.

With its possibilities for factories and multiple-dwelling

units and the ease of expansion inherent in the system.

 

10"Germany----Six-Point Star System," Arena/
Interbuild (March, 1968), 36.

17

Research into the Null Punkt system has lead
people to believe that it has possibilities in town
planning projects:

Using an enlarged version of the corner star unit,
it is suggested that raised levels could be constructed
to accommodate groups of houses with gardens, shopping
centers, parks, or technical installations. Temporary,
or even permanent, roads could be built, using units
based on a 10M module, to relieve congestion on
existing roadways.11

The Null Punkt system, as so many of the German
systems, are well packaged and marketed. Like the NH65
system, Zero Point offers the client a catalogue from
which he can choose the exact system he desires. From
this catalogue he can give accurate specifications and
unit prices, plus recommended equipment such as kitchens
and bathrooms.

But in Germany, however, the most popular building
system, and the most durable, is the "Okal-House" system.
This system produces 2,000 units per year, more than any
other system of building in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Okal-House system has achieved two things: the
production of prefabricated components using conveyor belt
techniques, and a system that is flexible enough to be
able to be arranged in fifty different housing designs.

Why is the Okal-House system so successful? Their

secret for success is that:

 

11"Germany--Six-Point Star System," p. 37.

18

The manufacturer found that one of the most
difficult problems with the prefabricated house was
to strike a balance between the high quality production
of the individual elements and the actual assembly of
the parts; in other words they had to compromise with
ease of handling. Allowance was therefore made for
minor tolerances.12

To be sure that each unit was erected properly and
as quickly as possible the manufacturer hired a special
four-man team. This team was paid per house and team
members were all craftsmen.

These are four of the basic German building
systems now being used. These systems are, on the whole,
more advanced than their European counterparts. The other
building systems are elementary in design and scope, and
as you will see, the rest of European systems, with a few

minor exceptions, are of the panel kind and are far from

being totally prefabricated.

United Kingdom

So much of British time, resources, and energy are
wrapped up in their effort in building New Towns, that they
are found lagging in the development of prefabricated
building systems is therefore not surprising. What they
have is far from being unique and on the main you find
panel systems in use. A brief description of a few of the
more prominent systems will give you an idea of their

present state of development.

 

12"Germany—-The Trouble with Variety," Arena/
Interbuild (January, 1967), 28.

19

An architectural competition was held for the
design of industrialized housing using steel. This
competition was sponsored by the very powerful European
Coal and Steel Community which is able to influence
housing construction in Britain and on the Continent.

One of the designs is by a British architect, Robert
Fawcett. These units were designed for all income groups;
upper, lower, and middle income units.

The units are made from corrugated thin steel
sheet containers. The structural system is stressed skin,
which avoids the duplication of material required by the
conventional frame and panel system where the frame steel
gives no cladding effect and the panel steel gives no
support to the frame.

A variety of housing patterns can be created with
this system:

The two components can be used in three major
patterns. First, a variety of one-, two- or three-
story houses, as single units or grouped as terraces,
squares and blocks can be erected by simple use of the
link and canister.

Second, combinations of links and canisters in
grid patterns three storeys high (8 metre levels)
where major concrete decks with their own supports
are introduced complete with services and access,
enabling a further three levels to be placed on top.
This produces a lightweight tower of potentially great
height.

Third, the link can also be used as a node point to
form a rectilinear space grid. That is, from each
link, canisters go in any four directions and a
further link can be placed over or below the original
link to provide changing levels. It is possible to
design the structure on sloping gradients by using

20
different lengths of canister and placing them in
various arrangements.13

Another British system has been nine years in the
perfecting. The original system is called the Mark 36,
by Terrapin, and their new development is known as the
Mark 45. They claim it to be a major breakthrough in
British industrialized housing and building techniques.

The new system differs from the old in a number of
ways. The new system is built to permanent specification,
the structures are completely extendible and relocatable,
and there is a greater flexibility and durability built
into the system. This includes dimensional coordination
of individual units, a new roofing material, suspended
ceilings and self-finished members. The system can be
arranged in one and two story units.

Mark 45, despite all the manufacturers claims, is
essentially a panel system. And so is the Integer system
of industrialized housing. This system uses external wall
panels and structural steelwork. There are seven housing
designs and two finishes: luxurious and standard.

These examples give you the general idea of the
type and state of British efforts in prefabrication. They
are not comensurate with the developments in Germany or in

the United Stated and Canada and can benefit by original

 

13"United Kingdom--Living in a Stressed Skin
Canister," Arena/Interbuild (January, 1967), 21.

21

research and development that could ideally take place in

conjunction with the continued building of New Towns.

Norwa

A system designed by the Norwegian architect Erik
Hultberg is one of the most interesting and promising for
the future needs of man. The site at Skjetten lies 20
kilometres east of Oslo, and by the time the project is
completed in 1974 it will contain some 1,750 dwelling
units. About two-thirds, or 1,100 units will be two-
story row houses.

What is exciting about Hultberg's plan is that each
house may be different as is required by its occupants, he
has created an adoptable and expandable building system.
”The resulting buildings will be a product of the needs
and desires of the occupants and the physical form of the
house will reflect their way of life and aspirations."14

All houses are developed on the same building
system, from which several thousand variations are possible.
The width of the site is always the same and the length
differs slightly between three variations: type S with
access from the south, type N with access from the north,

and type NS with access from both sides.

 

14Erik Hultberg, "An Adaptable and Expandable
System for Row Houses,” Ekistics, XXXI, No. 183 (February,
1971), 178.

22

Each site is divided into a grid with squares of
two sizes. The large central square, 4.40 x 4.40 m.,
is common for all houses regardless of type. Stairs
and bathroom-utility rooms, . . . , are always adjacent
to the central square. The rest of the site is in
principle divided into squares, 3.00 x 3.00 m.15
Each one of the row houses is built upon a concrete
slab. This is made possible because of the very cold
temperatures in Norway, so foundations, which are difficult
to dig, do not have to be built. The load-bearing parts
of the construction are the party walls and the laminated
beam and columns along the center line of each house.
Prefabrication is achieved in the outer wall
sections, which are manufactured in a factory and shipped
to the site. These prefabricated sections are mounted on

the structural members. All of the internal partitions are

flexible and any internal arrangement is possible.

Switzerland

Swiss prefabrication in building systems is similar
to that of the Germans. Many of the systems are designed
with the German market in mind. Norm-Modul is a Swiss
precast concrete constructional system developed by two
Swiss architects. So far it has been used on various
sites in Germany, and now the fully proved system is being
used on two projects in Zurich. A freight building is

being built for Swissair and is near completion, and the

 

15Hulberg, p. 176.

23

other, only in the design stage at present, is a research
laboratory.

Norm-Modul is intended mainly for industrial,
scientific, and office buildings, and is aimed specifically
at projects where future development is envisioned. A very
limited amount of freedom is given to the designer, in
that he can decide on the materials for the cladding and
the nature of the windows. The rest of the structure is
predetermined.

Norm-Modul is designed with only three main
elements. The structure is based on point loading,
which gives much greater flexibility than the usual
load bearing crosswall in precaste concrete construction,
say the designers. The building is very carefully
detailed so that it can expand at any point. '

The elements of the Norm-Modul system are usually
cast in a factory, but this can be done on the site. Any
type of service, no matter how complex, can be integrated
into this system. Unless special reinforcing is used the
height of the system is three stories, with the reinforcing
eight stories can be attained.

Three principal members make up the Norm-Modul
system, the column, with its variants, the beam and the
decking elements. A number of secondary elements of a
sophisticated nature complete the system.

Thermal insulation is incorporated in the design.

The electrical supply is distributed in the basement
and from there, it is carried up in ducts which run

 

16"Switzerland--'The Mail Order System is Here,'"
ArenaZInterbuild (January, 1967), 24.

24

through a core in the building. . . . Rooms are planned
so that partitions can be placed anywhere on the 1.20 m
grid without any difficulties from pipes or radiators.
Gas, vacuum, high pressure air, steam and water, and
any other services used by laboratories are carried up
in the core and then, as with the electrical supply,
are distributed in the ceiling/floor space.
A range of fourteen different types of partition
is available. These vary greatly in cost, sound
insulation and flexibility, but all can be fully
integrated into the system.
While this is a sound and specialized building
system you still have the same situation that is prevelant
in Western Europe, that is, a prefabricated system but not

a modular unit development.

France

The Office Public d'Habitations a Loyer Modere of
the Department de Bouches-du-Rhone initiated a project
just outside of Marseille, and the method of construction
chosen was the Fiorio system. The system is most unique
and worthwhile looking at because of the materials used in
construction.

Loadbearing walls have a hollow burnt clay core
which takes advantages of the lightness of clay products
and their good thermal insulation. Each panel consists of
an external layer of concrete with a self-cleaning
external finish, a 17 cm or 22 cm brick core containing
seven voids and an internal 1.5 cm coating of plaster.

The brick on the sides of the panels is left bare, ready

 

17"Switzerland--'The Mail Order System is Here,'"
p. 25.

25

for joining to the next unit. External windows are
incorporated in the panels, which are story-height.

All units are prefabricated in the factory in
horizontal steel molds. Each unit weighs approximately
250 kilograms per square metre. Partitions are story-
height and have a 5 cm thickness of brick with two plaster
coatings. Transportation and handling of the prefabricated
units is an integral part of the overall construction
process:

Panels are transported on lorries with trailers
adapted to carry them vertically. The panels are
unloaded on the site at the foot of each building in
racks designed for this purpose. They are then placed
in tower cranes. An erection rate of 1.5 dwellings a
day was achieved.18

This French system does have certain aspects which
are different—-the hollow burnt clay core-~but, on the
whole, here is, once again, a panel system for building.
Panel systems of building all need supporting structural

members to be placed on, thus reducing the effectiveness

of their attempts at prefabrication.

Netherlands

What building in general and the prefabrication
systems in particular needed was development of new and
flexible materials. Designer J. W. H. Jordan built a

prefabricated bungalow using as much plastic as possible

 

18"France-—-Fiorio System Used in Marseille,"
Arena/Interbuild (January, 1966), 29.

26

to provide the lightest possible structure. All this
research--which there is not enough of--was part of an
overall development program towards the building of
lightweight prefabricated units on a large scale.

Internally, plastics, have been used as far as

possible for the sanitary equipment. A plastic wash basin
is used to give maximum reduction in weight. But there are
many problems, mainly because the state of plastic
development for building is new and the developments
limited. Panels of plastic are used for the walls, but
then the problems begin. To quote the designer J. W. H.
Jordan:

There is a good selection of available wall panels,
but there is as yet little to be had in the way of
flooring and roofing. I should like to use sandwich
panels for these, too, provided with a polyester
surfacing. In the experimental bungalow I have had to
solve the problem by conventional means. Hopeless!
The ideal roofing would consist of panels which inter-
lock with the wall panels. Sealing could then be done
with mastic and you would no longer need to use
bitumen.19

The use of plastics in building, specially modular

construction, has yet to be fully explored. The possi-
bilities are great, and at present the only work that is
being done in the prefabrication of plastic fiberglass
bathrooms of plastic panels is an operation breakthrough.

The use of plastics for all facets of a building-~walls,

floors, ceiling, etc.--would reduce weight, transportation

 

19"Netherlands--Stee1 and Plastics," rena/
Interbuild (March, 1966), 37.

27

costs, erection costs, and overall building costs. An

idea that needs further research.

Italy

Generally speaking, systems in Italy are based
upon the same steel frame and panel system that is common
throughout most of Western Europe. One such system is
called the Moviter system, and it is a steel loadbearing
structure with wall panels.

The great Italian architect, Pier Luigi Nervi, has
not gone into and developed prefabricated units, but a
number of his ideas have been adapted to prefabrication.
The suspended structural system mentioned earlier in
Germany is a derivative of a system developed by Nervi.
Nervi was one of the first to use pre-stresses, prefab-
ricated concrete for his structures. One example being
his airport hangers at the Roman airport, unfortunately
destroyed in world War II.

Europe is just now awakening to the full prospects
of modular prefabrication, and a great deal is due to the
influence of Operation Breakthrough in the United States

and the fantastic works of the architect Moshe Safdie.

North America
In discussing developments in prefabricated modular
construction in North America it will be divided into

three parts: the first part being a description of Moshe

28

Safdie's work in the modular field, the second part, an
outline of the work being done for Operation Breakthrough
under the guidance of the United States Department of
Housing and Development, and finally, a brief glance at
some of the other work being done independently in the
United States in the field of prefabricated modular

construction.

Moshe Safdie
Whenever you think of Moshe Safdie you automatically
think of Habitat at the Montreal's World Fair--Expo 67.
And Habitat is the epitomy and prototype for prefabricated
modular construction. Safdie first started working on a
Habitat type environment while working on his architectural
thesis at McGill University. His graduation and subsequent
envolvement with Expo 67 was fortuitous; for both the
future development of modular construction and the overall
urban plan of Montreal. " . . . I felt we had to find new
forms of housing that would re-create, in a high-density
environment, the relationships and the amenities of the
house and the village."20
Before Safdie designed Habitat he studied the
various European building systems then in use. He came to

the inevitable conclusion that they were all just panel

systems that required conventional steel structuring and

 

20Moshe Safdie, Be ond Habitat, edited by John
Kettle (Cambridge, Mass.: 1970), p. 53.

29

finishing. Thus leaving out a possible 75 per cent
further reduction in building costs. Safdie began to work
in earnest to develop a modular system that could be
totally prefabricated in a factory.

I concluded, any system that didn't permit you to
take 75 per cent into the factory was automatically
obsolate. I also felt that the limits on these
systems forced the architect to produce a vertically
stacked cellular beehive of an apartment building.
All the components met at corners, and corners are
always the weakest point in the structure. Only in
the U.S.S.R. was there further experimentation:
instead of prefabricating panels, they were prefab-
ricating whole rooms.

So I came to the conclusion, as others have, that
in order to take that 75 per cent into the factory,
you had to deal not with panels but with volumes of
space. You had to prefabricate cells of space in the
factory, and put your mechanical services, plumbing,
bathrooms, whatever else there was, into them in an
assembly line procedure. You would then assemble the
modules on site and, if connections were simple, you
would have a 95 per cent-factory-produced building.

But the politics and the limitations of scale at
Habitat soon diminished his hopes. Instead of one thousand
units it would be 160 units. A lot of the material he
required did not exist, so he had to create the material.
Not only that, but the techniques and equipment to create
his structure had to be created also.

One of the most enduring contributions that Safdie
gave us from Habitat was the module. He considered the
module his major challenge. The structure would be made

up of box-like modules of identical size--a major decision

 

21Safdie, p. 112.

30

with far reaching consequences. The modules would be
produced in a factory, and they would be grouped in an
intricate three-dimensional structure. It is of great
interest and a help to us to examine some of Safdie's
insights and thought processes:

Establishing the size of the module was a long
process. If it was to be the size of an entire
dwelling, it would be too heavy to lift. Another
disadvantage was that there would be very little
flexibility in design; a module a quarter or a third
of a house could be combined in many permutations
to achieve a variety of house types. Next we
investigated small modules, a room size, sixteen by
sixteen; the problem there was that then we would
need a large number of connections, and connections
are where the money is; it would also increase the
number of crane lifts. So we reached the conclusion
that the module should be a complete one-bedroom house
or one-half, one-third, or one-quarter of a large
house. That meant a module of about six hundred
square feet.22

Because of plumbing considerations and the

structural properties involved, a three-foot-six-inch
grid as the dimensioning matrix was established for the
entire system. It meant that the length of the module

had to be twice its width plus the overlaps for utilities
and the inclusion of stairs. The final modular dimensions
came out to be seventeen-feet-six-inches wide and thirty-
eight feet-six-inches in length. This gave Safdie an

area of just over 670 square feet, and about 640 square
feet of floor area inside the walls. He considered this

the minimum size for a one-bedroom unit.

 

22Ibid., pp. 102-03.

31

Safdie considers one of the great failures of
Habitat is in materials. He wanted to be innovative, to
use plastics wherever and whenever possible.

WOrking on Habitat I became increasingly aware of a
basic shortcoming of the building industry. Its
whole tradition is to build with what materials
happen to be available. Every other industry defines
its requirements and then develops the material best
suited to the problem.23

But Safdie's success was in his example of what
could be done with prefabricated modular construction.
From Expo 67 and Habitat Safdie went on to do two other
very important modular developments; one in Puerto Rico
and the other in Israel.

Because of the economies of scale of Habitat a
great reduction in the project's cost was not achieved.
But in Puerto Rico he was designing and building for five
thousand units, and he had learned alot from Habitat:

By far the most important conceptual development
of the Puerto Rico project was the great reduction in
the number of pieces that make up the system. In
Montreal the modular boxed units formed approximately
half of the total number of precast pieces; in
addition, elevator cores, street sections, access
stairs, and other pieces had to be manufactured. A
substantial percentage of the Habitat costs was in
these additional pieces. Dramatic savings could be
achieved if, in some way, these units could be reduced
in number. It was from this that we evolved the idea
that the module, by virtue of its shape, could
accommodate some of the functions that had been
provided for by the additional pieces in Habitat. If
the shape of the roof of the module made it possible
for it to act as a stair, one could eliminate the
access stairs. If the roofs of some of the modules
could form a pedestrian street, one could eliminate

 

23Ibid., p. 104.

32

separate street sections. The module that was
eventually designed formed houses, created the internal
circulation, created the system of passages, exterior
stairs, and pedestrian streets on its exterior
surfaces, and practically eliminated the need for any
additional pieces.2

Also contributing to his success in Puerto Rico
was the fact of a mild climate to work in and build for,
and the advances state of the art of concrete building in
Puerto Rico.

The Israeli project is still in the state of
construction. It will be fifteen hundred units when
completed. It too uses the art of concrete. The buildings
are grouped in various size clusters and provide a roof
garden for every dwelling unit. An integral part of the
structure is a rotating dome, which adjusts to the time of
day and to each season. Being built on a Jerusalem hill-
side enables Safdie to achieve some of the same economies
in prefabricated pieces that he achieved in the Puerto
Rican project. An interesting aspect about the two projects
is that the one in Puerto Rico is basically backed by
private industry and the one in Israel is government

backed; but there is no lose in quality or economy for

either project.

 

24Ibid., p. 196.

33

Operation Breakthrough

A unique American program that for the first time
in our long history of building and construction affords a
reward for research and development to the building
industry. It is our chance to experiment, and possibly
provide, the answer to America's critical housing problem.

Operation Breakthrough was started in the summer
of 1969, under the leadership of George Romney, Secretary
of the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development, and his department. HUD sent out Requests
for Proposals to more than four thousand organizations.
The response was very gratifying. A total of almost 600
proposals were received from institutions and firms that
included many that were new to housing, but most of the
companies new to housing teamed up with experienced housing
producers. All of the proposals were sorted into two
categories: (a) complete housing systems that were
essentially ready for production, and (b) advanced com-
ponents, concepts known as "soft-ware," or needing further
research. Each of these categories were evaluated by
boards composed of experts from various fields connected
with housing, i.e., architects, engineers, land planners,
production specialists, and financial and management
experts.

A list of four criteria for the evaluation of the

proposals was made up:

34

1. The building system, or technical factors,

2. Management,

3. Financial capability, and

4. The site system or factors that relate the housing
system to the building site and create a complete

and attractive environment.

From this list of criteria a decision was made,
and:
On February 26, 1970 Secretary Romney announced
the selection of 22 Housing System Producers from among
the 236 in this category. They all employ, to varying
degrees, industrialized techniques ranging from complete
production of modules in a factory, to on-site assembly
of completed panels and other components, to on-site
poured concrete systems. Taken together, these
systems attempt to accelerate the industrial revol-
ution in the production of housing. Their generally
conventional appearance is necessary to contribute to
current marketability and consumer acceptance.25
Operation Breakthrough has a great deal of meaning
for the future of planning in the United States. For one
of the stated objectives of Breakthrough is to develop a
sound basis by which future communities can be planned to
satisfy the cultural requirements of America's society.
The materials used in the twenty-two various
systems is as follows: seven of the systems selected use
concrete; six use wood; five use metal as structural

framing; two use plastic foam-core panels or modules; and

 

25Manufactured Housing in the 1970's (Ann Arbor:

Institute of Seience and TechnoIogy, 19755. PP. 10-11.

35

and two utilize plastic fiberglass materials. The 22
systems will be built in 10 prototype sites across the
United States.

These sites were selected in order to give maximum

market exposure to these systems and to maintain a
controlled research atmosphere on approximately 3,000
units. Each of the housing systems will be monitored,
tested, and evaluated in terms of site and production
technology, as well as market acceptance.

The prototype site communities will be occupied by

residents on an intended racial, social, and economic
mix basis. They are being planned by eleven pro-
fessional site-planning firms, who were selected from
a national competition in which they demonstrated
innovative design and planning capability.26

Later on in this thesis there will be a description
in detail on the type of systems used and the environment
that is trying to be created. Now, however, it will
suffice to just list the twenty-two companies awarded
Operation Breakthrough sites and the type of units
proposed.

The Aluminum Company of America: Consortium
members and/or participants; Alcoa, Urban Design Associates,
Ryan Homes, Urban Systems Research and Engineering, Inc.,
The Perkins & Will Partnership, Collins & Kroustadt;
Slayter Associates, Inc., Andrew T. Kostanecki, Inc., Rohr
Corporation, Sectional Structures, Inc., Tappan Co.,
Bryant Air Conditioning Co., Amstore Corporation, and

Crossgates, Inc. They have proposed townhouses and multi-

family walk-up garden apartments.

 

261bid.

36

The townhouses and garden apartments are constructed

from factory-built, three-dimensional modular service

cores that serve two living units. The modules, in

conjunction with floor, wall, ceiling and roof panels,

define economical space that can be freely planned

and enclosed with a wide variety of exterior'

materials.27

Ball Brothers Research Corporation: Consortium
Members and/or Participants; Ball Brothers Research
Corporation, Borg Warner Corporation, Building Officials
Conference of America, Inc., Elliott H. Brenner, AIA,
Leo E. Zickler, American Fletcher Mortgage Co., American
Testing & Engineering Co., Board for Fundamental Education,
Oxford Development Corporation, Tectron, Inc., Floyd E.
Burroughs & Associates, Ball Corp., Bradley & Bradley,
Architects; Jack E. Goldberg, Weing Miller & Associates;'
Applied Decision Systems, Inc., Bolt, Beranek & Newman,
Inc., George Foley, Harbridge House, Beryl Bernhard, The
Foundation for Cooperative Housing, Blyth & Company, Inc.,
and The National Urban League. "Ball Brothers has extensive
experience in aerospace and electronics fields, and has
developed an industrialized building process. Other
consortium members will provide specialized competence in
design, planning, mechanical subsystems, and community
involvement."
Henry C. Beck Company: Consortium Members and/or

Participants; Balency-MEM-Us Corporation, William R.

Morris, Henry C. Beck Co., Raymond D. Nasher Co., Borg

 

27 28

Ibid., p. 97. Ibid., pp. 99-100.

37

Warner Corporation, R. G. Greene Development Co., Keyes,
Lethbridge & Condon, and Sulton & Campbell. This is
basically a precast concrete system. It will use factory
built concrete and floor panels, which are assembled on-
site into all types of housing: single-family detached,
townhouses, deck-house, and high-rise.

Boise-Cascade: Consortium Members and/or Par-
ticipants; Dalton-Dalton-Little, Frank Hall Association,
Computer Applications, Inc., National Building Agency,
David Crane Association, Brevard Engineering, MIT-Urban
Systems Laboratory. Boise-Cascade has a production
capacity of over 1,000 dwelling units per week. They
suggest a "product line" of housing units instead of the
usual single unit. The company will have six basic
building types: one-story single-family units; two-story
single-family units; multi-family garden apartments,
townhouses, low and mid-rise apartments and community
buildings.

The units will be constructed in factories on an
assembly line basis utilizing three fabrication
systems-panels, volumetric modules and a combination
of utility cores and panels. Both wood and steel
will be utilized as structural materials, separately
and in combination.2

Christiana Western Structures, Inc.: Consortium

Members and/or Participants; Christiana Western Structures,

Inc., B. A. Berkus Associates, and Mutual Ownership

 

291bid., p. 103.

38

Development Foundation. Christiana Western Structures
can produce 6,000 housing units per year. This company
uses a system of shop-fabricated, wood frame panels for
walls, partitions, carports, and garages. Both interior
and exterior finish materials are shop—applied, while
windows and doors are shop-installed in the conventional
manner. This system is used for single-family detached
and attached dwellings, and can be used for low-rise
multi-family structures.

Descon/Concordia: Consortium Members and/or
Participants; Descon Management Corp. Limited, Concordia
Management Limited, Philip David Bobrow, Arch., Maurice
Gamze, Mechanical Engineer-Gamze, Korobkin & Dolphun
Associates, Professor Colin H. Davidson, Industrial Systems
Spec., Univ. of Montreal, Seymour Glouberman, Prof. of
Philosophy, Neal Mitchell, Structural Eng.--Neil Mitchell &
Associates, Kenneth Mabuchi, Hackett Housing Systems, Inc.,
Paul Spindell, Systems Analyst, Michael Brill, Arch.-
Researcher Buffalo Org. for Soc. & Tech. Innovation, State
University of New York, and George E. Buchanan, Arch.
Their system utilizes readily available components or
assemblies fabricated by utilizing standard manufacturing
processes. "The structural system utilizes a factory-

produced reinforced concrete panel system, which is

39

applicable to all housing types except single-family
detached units."3o

Forest City Enterprises, Inc.: Consortia Members

and/or Participants; Forest City Enterprises, Inc., Forest
City Materials Co., Thomas J. Dillon & Co., Inc., Top Roc
Precast Corp., and Barbites-James & Assoc.

Forest City will utilize a system of housing
construction employing site erected precast concrete
bearing walls with precast concrete floor panels.

The system has been employed in high-rise apartment
construction and has been designed for total flexi-
bility permitting it to be used in single-family
multi-level detached homes, row or townhouses, and
multi-family, low-rise configuration. Prefabricated
wood framing is used for infill exterior walls, all
interior partitions, and the roof.31

Hercules, Inc.: Consortium Members and/or Par—

ticipants; Hercules, Inc., Modular Structures, Inc.,
Armstrong & Salomonsky, Architects, Harlan, Betke & Meyers,
Incorporated, and the University of Utah. They propose
two systems of housing: for single-family attached,
detached, and low-rise dwelling units, a conventional
factory-fabricated wood framed volumetric module is
proposed, while high-rise structures would use metal
module frames and panels around which lightweight concrete
will be poured.

Home Building Corporation: Consortium Members

and/or Participants; Home Building Corporation. This

company uses factory-built modular units. These units are

 

30 31

Ibid., p. 107. Ibido' p0 1090

40

twelve feet wide for highway transportation. They also
provide a field-installed transition section which becomes
the central hallway in a single-family unit. The principal
material used is wood, but other materials can be used as
costs permit.

Keene Corporation: Consortium Members and/or
Participants; Keene Corp., Warner, Burns, Toan & Lunde,
Grumman Corp., Node 4 Associates, Inc., Formigli Corp.,
Alvin E. Gershen Assoc., Inc., 3H Building Corp., Robert
Hughes Associates, Ltd., Lennox Industries, Inc., Portland
Cement Association, Ryan Incorporated, and Wickes Corpo-
ration. The system is known as the Townland Housing System
and it is quite unique.

The TOWNLAND Housing System stresses the life
style that can be expected by its occupants and
provides not only for the creation of housing units,
but also for the creation of "synthetic land," thereby
creating elevated pedestrian "streets" and individual
earth-filled "backyards." This created land provides
sites for a variety of residential, commercial, and
institutional needs. The amenities and architectural
variety of private dwellings are combined with the
land economy of high-rise construction and the cost
advantages of lightweight framing.32

The Townland Housing System uses two main subsystems: a
main precast concrete structural frame and a lightweight
prefabricated housing and modular, mechanical core units.

Also, for rapid construction, the system can be used to

rehabilitate depressed urban areas with a minimum of

 

321bid., p. 113.

41

dislocation to the existing tenants by the use of air
rights.

Levitt Technology: Consortium Members and/or
Participants; Levitt Technology Corp., B. A. Berkus
Associates, Inc., The Stanly WOrks, Auerbach Corp.,
DunhamrBush, Inc., Hamilton-Howe, Inc., and Simpson
Timber Co. Levitt is a name that has been associated
with housing for a long time. This is their first venture
in prefabricated modular construction. They propose a
factory-built, volumetric, module housing system with
flexibility in unit arrangements and floor plans. A
various number of unit arrangements are possible; town-
houses and both low-rise and high-rise apartments can be
constructed. There are two basic modular types; "wet"
modules, these include baths, kitchens, and heating and
air-conditioning units, and ”dry” modules, which are
essentially living spaces. Wood-framed sectionalized
housing modules are factory produced, and a structural
frame allows for a variety of elements.

Material Systems Corporation: Consortium Members
and/or Participants; Material System Cor-oration, U.S.
Material Systems Limited, U.S. Financial, and Skidmore,
owings & Merrill. Material Systems Corporation uses a
construction system based upon the technology of composite
materials. They use a system which consists of applying

fiber-reinforced resins and fillers in molds in an on-site

42

factory to produce prefabricated structural and decorative
panels and other building components. These units are
assembled on the job site.

Their choice of using composite materials allows
them an almost unlimited choice in final appearance,
depending only upon available designs.

Module Communities Incorporated: Consortium
Members and/or Participants; Module Communities, Inc.
(MCI), Celanese Corporation, American Standard, Inc.,
Industrialized Bldg. Systems, Inc., Paul Weidlinger,
Consentini Association, U.S. Trust Company, Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill, Hudson Institute, The National Urban
League, Institute for Urban Environment--Columbia Uni-
versity, Urban Action & Experimentation Program (UAEP)
Columbia University, Architects' Renewal Committee in
Harlem, Urban Technological International, Association of
United Contractors of America, F. D. Rich Company, and
Royall, Koegel & Wells. M.C.I's main objective is to
provide low-cost, high-volume housing production. Their
system uses Tracoba precast concrete, and uses an on-site
or near-site factory. They produce concrete panels and
slabs and can construct a variety of structures; single-
family units, townhouses, and garden or high-rise
apartments. Variations of the various elements are
possible.

National Homes: Consortium Members and/or Par-

ticipants; National Homes Corporation, Edward Durell

43

Stone & Associates, Edward Durell Stone, Jr. & Associates,
Semer, White & Jacobsen, Preager-Kavanagh-Waterbury,
Cosentini Associates, and Computer Applications, Inc.

The basic module used is a fourteen-foot wide factory-
produced volumetric module system, and they will be used
to mainly build townhouses, garden apartments, and low-,
medium-, and high-rise buildings. The high-rise system
will utilize a separate structural system for support,
even though the modules can be stacked to a height of six
floors. Flexibility is built into the system. There are
three basic modules; the living module, the utility core
module, and the bedroom module. Each module incorporates
the architectural and structural elements relevant to its
specific function or functions in the dwelling unit. The
modular units are brought to the site by truck where they
are combined horizontally and vertically to form complete
building units.

Special exterior modules can be used to give
occupants their own suitably protected and oriented out-
door space in all climate extremes. These can be con-
sidered environmental modules which add new dimensions of
light and shadow, an important aesthetic element.

Pemton, Incorporated: Consortium Members and/or
Participants; Pemton, Incorporated, InterDesign, Incorpo-
rated, Lorimer, Chiodo & Associates, 3M Company, Jacus &
Amble Engineering, and Community Involvement & Development

Associations, Inc. A brief description:

44

This firm proposes a factory-produced volumetric
module (UNIMOD), utilizing stressed-skin plywood
technology. Plywood panels are held together by
polymer bond that causes the panel to act as a single
structural unit in resting loads. The system in a
single panel unit contains the framing material,
sheathing, and interior finishing materials, thereby
reducing the weight considerably. The flat plywood
stressed-skin panel is efficient and easy to handle
and suitable for roofs, floors, and walls.33

The system is designed to mass produce homes, and
to develop total environments and functional communities.
The modules can be arranged in an unlimited variety of
ways, and, internally, the rooms may be made any size.

The modules can be arranged to create single-family homes,
townhouses, and low-rise and high-rise apartments. The
modules may be stacked to make two or three-story
structures. Higher stacking of modules requires additional
structural support.

Republic Steel Corporation: Consortium Members
and/or Participants; Republic Steel Corporation, Bob
Schmitt Homes, Inc., The Tappan Co., American Standard,
Inc., Climatrol Industries, Inc., and Emerson Electric
Company. Not surprisingly, steel is the principal
structural material. A variety of detached, single-family
dwellings for families with low to moderate incomes can
be provided by combining the components in different ways.

The system is made up of components that can be mass

produced and assembled on-site. All subsystems in the

 

33Ibid., p. 122.

45

Republic system are manufactured independently and
assembled in the home preassembled.

Rouse-Wates: Consortium Members and/or Partici-
pants; Rouse Development Co. of the Rouse Co., and Wates
Systems, Inc. (USA) of Wates Ltd. (London, England).
Concrete panels are produced in a factory on-site. This
system incorporates a concept of "community building" for
the development of the total environment. This system was
first developed by Wates Ltd. of Great Britain. Story
high, precast concrete wall panels are joined with room
size precast concrete floor panels at the site. Low-rise
and high-rise structures can be created, and there is a
flexibility in the arrangement of units. Rouse—Wates
proposes an overall and comprehensive job of community
planning, including the separation of automobile traffic
from pedestrian paths, cluster units to create more open
space, and the arrangement of facilities for twenty-four
hour use.

Scholz Homes, Incorporated: Consortium Members
and/or Participants; Scholz Homes, Incorporated, and
Stiles-Hatton, Incorporated.

Scholz Homes, Inc. uses a factory-built, sectional

housing system shipped to site for assembly into a
variety of floor plans. The system is adaptable to
single-family, or garden type, multi-family living

unit configurations by stacking the sectional units
side-by-side or upon each other. The primary structural
material is wood, and each modular unit is a complete
structural component in itself. Completed house or

apartment sections include "in-place" plumbing,
heating, and electrical components. All of the

46

exterior wall surfaces, integral floor deck systems,
and ceilings, with all interior millwork and cabinetry,
are completely finished.34

An unusual feature of this system is that a
structure can be erected in one day with the use of a
mobile crane.

Shelly Systems: Consortium Members and/or Par-
ticipants; Shelly Systems, Inc., Banco Popular de Puerto
Rico, Shelly Engineering Corporation, Hampton Development
Corporation, Shelly Equipment & Finance, Caribilt Con-
struction Corporation, Shelga Corporation, Carlos Alvarado,
Housing Management Consultant, Dr. Luis E. Mora, Prof. of
Structural Eng. University of Puerto Rico, 0.8. Home &
Development Corporation, Dr. H. R. Stanton, Prof. of
Soc-Econ., Clark Univ., H. R. H. Construction Corporation,
Dr. N. P. Loombay Prof. of Mgmt. (City College), Urban
Systems Research 5 Eng., Inc., Robert Phillips (Chartet
Mortgage Co.); Dr. August Komendant, Prof. of Advanced
Concrete Structures (Univ. of Pa.), and Dr. S. K. Sc hiff,
Prof. of Psychology (Univ. of Chicago). A module system
based on precast concrete building block modules that are
erected in a checkerboard pattern. This staggered pattern
provides spaces between the modules that are the same
size as the module itself. These spaces, when enclosed
on the ends, provide livable areas, thus effecting a

reduction in costs by elimination of the duplication of

 

34Ibid., p. 128.

47

walls and slabs. The system allows for internal flexi-
bility, and can be erected to twenty-two stories.

Stirling Homex Corporation: is a producer of
factory-built housing for low- and middle-income families.
There are two building systems:

The low-rise system employes a factory-produced,
wood framed, modular system consisting of three or
four modules, varying with the number of bedrooms.
Each module is approximately 12 feet wide by 9 feet
high by 24 feet long. At the site, modules are
stacked to form two-story individual and multiple
dwellings.

Sterling Homex will also furnish a concrete and
steel high-rise building system capable of rapid_
application to any selected site. This system employs
an integral steel-frame concept which does not require
a supporting or supplementary megestructure. The high-
rise product, manufactured 90 per cent in the plant,
will be erected by applying a unique, newly devised
reverse-sequence erection system. The lightweight
modules will be assembled at grade level, starting
with the top or roof loor and ending with the bottom
floor. Erection can proceed at the rate of one floor
per day.35

TRW Systems Group: Consortium Members and/or
Participants; TRW Systems Group, Bldg. Systems Development,
Inc., Kaufman and Broad, Inc., and Mid-City Developers,
Inc. This is a panel of modular system manufactured off-
site, but when required, however, panels can be produced in
an on-site factory. Room-sized modules can be produced
and they are capable of various configurations. Because
of a unique wrapping process, services will readily be
incorporated into the module under factory scrutiny.

Fiberglass reinforced plastic, cellulose honeycomb, and

 

351bid., p. 132.

—— fl —— "—

 

‘- kl

 

Still:

392'.

are

C011

dev

48

gypsum board are also used in the panel and module con-
struction. Site planning is for a planned unit develop-
ment.

Operation Breakthrough is thorough and compre—
hensive. All the various areas of industrialized housing
are being explored, and the production of units has begun.
Comparatively, the rest of prefabricated modular building
development in the United States is scattered and not as
advanced. Much of it is theory, a few are fact. These
are the possibilities that will be explored next.

Other Work BeingyDone in
the United States

 

Triad, a three-bedroom modular house produced by
Hodgson Houses, is technically advanced and unusually
aesthetic. This modular system was designed by architect
Edward M. Coplon, and it consists of two modules; in one
are the living areas, free and open, and, the other, a
bedroom wing, separated and quiet. Inserted between the
two is a glass-ended entry and dining unit. The architect
has created an open and free space, with large window
areas.

The house includes insulation and utilities, major
kitchen appliances, plus interior and exterior finishing.
The cost, not including foundation set-up, transportation,
and land is under $15,000. The units are shipped by truck

up to a 400 mile radius. Even including the extra costs,

 

'—.tl

 

 

49

the total price of the modular house is still a great deal
less than that of a conventionally built home.

Factory fabricated multi-family housing, by Housing
Research Incorporated, proposes to manufacture apartments
in the form of two wholly finished components, which are
hauled by truck to the construction site. There they are
assembled around a third manufactured component containing
all the utilities, services, kitchen and bathroom. The
individual units are structured to permit stacking one on
top of the other.

The heaviest unit weighs about five tons and can
be lifted into place by a twenty-five ton crane. A
housing development of 100 units, positioning the units
on prepared foundations, can be completed in 25 working
days.

The basic elements, therefore, are a central
utilities core, a living-dining unit and a bedroom unit,
all manufactured away from the construction site. The
manufactured units are sized for highway transport, which
dictates a maximum width of twelve feet. The core unit is
12 feet square and the other two units are each 12 feet
wide and 30 feet 8 inches long.

Expotential Space, by Renato Severino, a professor
of architecture at Columbia University, is theory:

The determining characteristics of Equipotential

Space are continuity, flexibility, and articulation.
Instead of being planned for a few specific purposes,

Equipotential Space can be modulated at will for any
purpose.

w-.—

 

'..Ll

 

50

Inherent in a model of this methodology are two
independent and complementary subsystems, both of
whose components are industrially produced. The
components of the first subsystem define and structure
the physical limits of a volume or territory in pre-
determined scale incremently.

The components of the second subsystem provide the
necessary environmental conditions and apparatus that
allow these volumes to be used according to a par-
ticular program. We will speak of our methodology
as a system of Equipotential Space and of its two
subsystems as Frame Components and Function Objects.36

Severino calls for a mass production of both Frame
Components and Function Objects. The materials chosen
should enable the unit components to be fabricated and
easily transported.

But Severino's own models show a problem, one of
repetition. His environments lack interest and differ-
entiation. His universal call for standardization reduces
our freedom of choice and his theoretical efforts show no
solution to this problem.

The modular units being built as part of Operation
Breakthrough and the work being done by Moshe Safdie offer
a great promise for the future of industrialized housing.
Discussion has been the overall view--what exists--but
what of the critical technical aspects of prefabricated
modular construction? Are the hopes and dreams feasible?

It shall be seen.

 

36Renato Severino, Equipotentialggpace (New York:
1970), p. 27.

 

‘...Ll

CHAPTER II

THE TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF PREFABRICATED

MODULAR CONSTRUCTION

Within the two basic systems of prefabrication
there are technological aspects and characteristics that
they have in common. In both the panel system of pre-
fabrication and in the modular concept there are many of
the same materials and equipment in use. Structurally
there are great differences and requirements. The two
groups will be discussed individually, without going over
every system mentioned in the first chapter, but instead,
dealing with basic characteristics and important aspects
of materials, construction technique, components,

structural aspects, and design capabilities.

Panel Systems
These types of prefabrication systems are prevalent
in Western Europe. They all have one very important and
basic thing in common, they all require a structural

system of support to place the panels on.

51

A

 

 

 

‘—"

52

The panels themselves are made out of almost every
conceivable material. Everything from concrete, wood,
steel, glass, and plastics are used. There are also many
ingenious methods and materials that are used to build the
supporting framework and structures for the panel systems.

”Suspended Towards the Sun" is a case in point.
This German system has adopted an idea of Pier Luigi
Nervi's into a prefabrication system. All loads are
carried by vertical cables, hung from secondary suspension
cables, which are connected to main suspension cables
directed into the mast and anchored in these masts.

With the exception of foundations, the structural
system is completely prefabricated, the space net
itself being preassembled and then raised up the mast.
The construction procedure is simple, commencing with
the erection of the mast and the main cables attached
to it. The space net is then hoisted into position
along the cables. After the system has been pre-
tensioned, the floor slabs are laid in by crane and
the walls erected onto them.37

Systems using suspension cables have been used,
and are being presently employed, but mostly for modular
units, not usually a panel system. That is why this case
is so unusual.

Other panel systems have a number of basic things
in common. A foundation has to be put in, and this is

done in the conventional way. The structural support is

usually built out of structural steel or concrete beams

 

37"Design-Germany--Suspended Towards the Sun,"
jArena/Interbuild (January, 1968), 20.

 

‘...kl

 

53

and posts. The placement of these steel and concrete
supports is by crane. These cranes are also used to
place the various panels in place.

Panels are transported on lorries with trailers
adapted to carry them vertically. The panels are
unloaded on the site at the foot of each building in
racks designed for this purpose. They are then
placed by tower cranes. . . . 8

The lighter the panel material used, the cheaper
it is for transportation, ease of erection, and speed of
construction. Concrete has been used for a long time, and
through research and development the strength has been
increased and the needed thickness decreased. Thus a
savings in weight, time, money, and transportation costs.
This is why the research and development of plastics is
so useful and important.

Panels, like modular systems, sometimes have core
or component systems. These cores or component systems
are self-contained units that have utilities, electrical
wiring, heating and air conditioning units, and sometimes
even kitchen facilities. An example of this is the
previously mentioned Swiss system, Norm-Modul.

There are a number of secondary elements of a
sophisticated nature that complete the system. . . .
Gas, vacuum, high pressure air, steam and water, and
any other services used by laboratories are carried

up in the core and then, as with the electrical
supply, are distributed in the ceiling/floor space.39

 

38"France---Fiorio System Used in Marseille," p. 29.

39"Switzerland--The Mail Order System is Here."
p. 25.

—x.'——-v....————

 

‘...Ll

 

 

54

When panels are mentioned, it is not just wall
panels that are being thought of, also being referred to
are floor panels and ceiling panels. But the real key and
common denominator of all the panel systems ia a mathe-
matical system of proportion creating a grid or matrix
which allows the system consistancy, flexibility, and the
ability for expansion.

The Norm-Modul is once again a good example, this
time of a grid system. It is based on the following.

The structure is planned on a module of 7.20 m
and the planning grid is 1.20 m. This secondary
dimension is displaced by 60 cm on the larger
structural grid, so that the partitions never have
a joint with the columns, and internal planning is
completely free. The vertical planning dimension is
half the standard planning module, that is 15 cm.

It is possible to increase the storey heights in
increments of 15 cm, but the usual storey height is
about 4.20 m.40

Another grid system is the adaptable and expandable
house by the Norwegian architect Erik Hultberg:

Each site is divided into a grid with squares of

two sizes. The large central square, 4.40 x 4.40 m,
is common for all houses, regardless of type. Stairs
and bathroom-utility rooms, . . . are always adjacent
to the central square. The rest of the site is in
principle divided into squares, 3.00 x 3.00 m.

All the panel systems base their mathematical
matrix's on the vertical height, the desired story height,
and the horizontal distance, which can be based on any

number of things. Usually the horizontal distance is

 

4°1bid., p. 24.

41Erik Hultberg, p. 176.

__, 'w—wvv.___

 

'..LJ

 

55

based on a flexibile grid that can easily be used to
create the desired spaces, whether a living space,

working space, or learning area.

Prefabricated Modular Units

Modular units are much more complex and require
different construction techniques, equipment, use of
materials, components, and design concepts.

Modular units are three-dimensional while panels
are two-dimensional. There is great significance in this
simple and obvious fact. All things change because of it;
the mathematics, components, weight of units, strength of
materials and types, design possibilities, and possible
savings in overall construction costs.

An obvious problem that a three-dimensional
modular unit has is its great weight--the Habitat modules
weighed about eighty tons each--and how to put them in
place.

Establishing the size of the module was a long
process. If it was to be the size of an entire
dwelling, it would be too heavy to lift. Another
disadvantage was that there would be very little
flexibility in design. . . . Next we investigated
small modules, a room size, sixteen by sixteen; the
problem there was that then we would need a large
number of connections, . . . it would also increase
the number of crane lifts.42

The resolution of the problem of the modules

weight and flexibility in design was solved jointly. The

 

42Moshe Safdie, pp. 102-03.

 

‘_LJ

 

56

module would be a complete one-bedroom house or one—half,
one-third, or one-quarter of a larger house. Its weight
of eighty tons was lifted by a completely new technique
using the basic principles of physics. The problem of
lifting is really two problems; one is the problem of the
units weight and, the other, the problem of lifting this
weight to the required height called for in Safdie's plans.
The solution was the use of two cranes; together they
could lift an eighty ton unit 120 feet in the air. In
Safdie's words,

We suggested getting another, smaller crane, then
we would put the two cranes opposite each other and
the box in the middle, connected them both to the
cross bar on which the box would be placed. This
would give each crane the proportion of the load it
could carry, i.e., it would be proportional to the
distance from the end of the cross bar to the box.43

Safdie and other architects have adapted this

method in the construction of modular unit developments.
In the future the idea has been considered that the giant
Sikorski helicopters could be used as sky cranes to more
easily and quickly lift modules into place.

Modular units can be structural units themselves--

they support their own weight and the weight of the units
above them--or they can be plug-in units. Plug-in units

are modular units that are not structurally supporting

and because of this they require a structural system such

 

431b1d.. pp. 126-27.

 

‘-‘J

 

 

57

as that of panel systems. Hence, with plug-in units the
frame work is there but instead of constructing each unit
and floor separately as you go along, the modular units
are put into place intact and complete.

Because of the different structural requirements,
however, these various units are constructed out of
different materials or the same materials which are used
in different ways and in different quantities.

Architect Robert Fawcett in his design for the
architectural competition sponsored by the European Coal
and Steel Community was required to use various forms of
steel. He came up with a module using corrugated thin
steel sheets with a stressed skin structural system. But
he had no choice in his materials. Others have found the
choice of materials to meet their needs limited, but a
choice is possible. For Habitat Safdie was also faced
with this decision:

Once we established the module there came the
question of material. We thought about various
plastics, fiberglass, and combinations of materials.
But the plastics were too expensive, they were
unpredictable technically, and above all, they
melted at low temperatures. We considered steel
too. Sheet metal had to be fire-proofed and, once
fire-proofed, it became extremely costly and heavy.
That led to concrete.

Concrete, unfortunately, is a very restricting
material. It can take hardly any tension, it's
relatively heavy and porous, and the most advanced
methods had to be used in order to be able to

consEEuct a complex three-dimensional building at
all.

 

44110111., p. 104.

 

'...kl

 

58

Such is the state, however, of technical advancement
in the United States, including the building industry,
that Safdie was able to build modular units in Puerto Rico
only six years later with walls of concrete half the
thickness of Habitat.

Materials used for Operation Breakthrough give a
good idea of the general direction being taken; seven
systems use concrete, six use wood, five use metal as
structural framing, two use plastic foam-core panels or
modules, and two use plastic fiberglass materials. The
ideal material for building prefabricated modules exists
today, but only in laboratories, for as yet it is too
expensive and experimental for general mass use. This
material is a member of the hydrocarbon family of polymeric
materials. It would have approximately one-fifth the
weight of concrete, twice the strength of steel, it would
have compressive strength and density, it would be able to
provide insulation, and it would be able to be impermeable
to water.

Ball Brothers Research Corporation, a participant
of Operation Breakthrough, has come up with a new variation
on the use of plastics, a very interesting one. They are
building a system with a foam plastic core, structural
panel system which can utilize standardized doors, windows,

and other hardware.

——v fir —-—— ——

 

kl

 

 

59

The aluminum extrusion serves as both the edge of the
panel and as a major component of the panel locking
system. After foaming, and before the panel is
allowed to cool completely, the exterior surface is
covered with a coat of epoxy matrix and stone
aggreate. Internal surfaces may be pre-finished with
either paint, wall paper or integrally surfaced
hardboard.4

The TRW systems group is also a highly advanced
plastic/fiberglass system. The units have a unique
wrapping process, services are easily incorporated into
the modular under factory conditions. Utilized is fiberous
glass reinforced plastic, cellulose honeycomb, and gypsum
board. The TRW system is highly flexible in configuration
and interior design.

But the use of new material and ideas has taken
the greatest leap forward in the area of components and
interior prefabrication. From Habitat came a number of
advancements, none more technically advanced and practical
as the prefabricated modular bathroom.

From the outset I had hoped to have the bathroom,
kitchen and partitioning system as pre-manufactured
components. Fuller designed a prefabricated bathroom
in the thirties for his Dymaxion house, and there had
been attempts at prefabricated kitchens, but none had
been commercially produced. The Habitat components,

I felt, must conform with codes, or a revised code,
and had to be within industry's capabilities.

The bathroom had to come as a complete room. We
rejected metal because we realized the tooling cost
would not be realistic for a 160 units. Eventually

we concluded that gel-coat fiberglass was the best
material.46

 

45Manufactured Housing in the 1970's, p. 100.

46Moshe Safdie, pp. 107-08.

 

'_Ll

 

60

When bids were sent out they got only one offer,
from Reff Plastics and Tielemans in a joint venture. For
sometime Reff Plastics had been working on their own
fiberglass bathroom. Safdie and Reff Plastics designed
the prefabricated fiberglass bathroom over a period of
time together. Following Expo, the bathroom was modified
to overcome the difficulty of shipping it. It was changed
from two to three sections that fit into one another so
that it could be shipped in a small package. The bathroom
was put on the market after Expo and sold for approximately
six hundred dollars. Later, the Crane Company bought out
Reff Plastics and put the fiberglass bathroom on the
international market.

A prefabricated kitchen was desired for Habitat,
but the total units were not of a practical number and the
technology was not quite ready. Presently, prefabricated
kitchen units are appearing, noticeably in Operation
Breakthrough.

The Descon/Concordia system utilizes prefabricated
kitchen element. Both kitchen and bathroom components are
made up of modularly coordinated elements to provide a
variety of assemblies and arrangements in order to meet a
great variety in unit layouts.

The Levitt system consists of two basic modular
elements, a wet module and a dry module. The wet module
is the unit that contains baths, heating and air condition-

ing equipment, and kitchen elements. These kitchen

 

'....kl

 

 

61

elements can be completely prefabricated in the factory,
delivered to the site, and placed on the foundation by a
crane.

Both the Shelly Systems and Rouse-Wates build
modular units that contain almost completely prefabricated
units, including the kitchen elements as well. They are
put together at the factory and put into place on-site by
the use of cranes. The Levitt system is a more complete
system of kitchen facilities, while the other systems
require work done--to a degree--when put into place.

There are many new types of kitchen and laundry
equipment for use that did not even exist six years ago
when Habitat was being created and modular development
really began moving in North America. Now Operation
Breakthrough and other prefabricated modular systems can
use these new and more compact units to completely pre-
fabricate a kitchen. There are thirteen units, and while
some are mundane and others, perhaps a little bit
unnecessarily exotic it seems, they all go to make up a
desirable kitchen for any typical American who is used to
the middle-class and affluent way of life. Other, full-
size units are available too, but these units because of
their compactness offer a unique opportunity for modular
and core development. They are:

1. Water purifier, by Westinghouse, $130
2. Toploading washer, by Maytag, $289

3. Chafing dish to cook food or keep it warm, by
Oster, $40

 

'_.£I

 

62

Sub-Zero, $450

Ready-when-you-are tea-maker, from Hammacher
Schlemmer, $140

unit, by Ronson, under $100

\Dm N1 mm 05
o 0

Sears, $50

. All-in-one mini-kitchen in one compact unit, by

Tall and skinny trash compactor, by Tappan, $229

. Super-flexible "Quintisserie" is a five-in-one

Side-by-side refrigerator/freezer, by Topp, $189
. Lightweight countertop dishwasher, by Kenmore for

10. Latest toaster/browner/oven, by General Electric,

$40
11. Trash compactor, by Amana, $230
12. Microwave oven, by General Electric, $400
13. Compact washer rolls around on casters, by
General Electric, $21947

A large number of the modular systems rely on a

core. This core contains some of the essential elements of

a unit, if not all of them. Typically, a core contains

the heating and air conditioning units, plumbing, electrical

wiring, waste disposal unit, and sometimes kitchen
facilities.

Most of the equipment in a core unit is pre-
assembled in a factory, while connection are made on
The core is lifted into place by a crane and acts as
another modular unit in construction. Ball Brothers

a core in their system.

site.

uses

A central core, containing the heating, bathing,

air handling, food preparation center, and waste

provisions for the dwelling, is prefabricated and

delivered to the building site as a complete modular
unit. The building concept permits the erection of

single-family attached dwellings, multi-family

 

47
Compact," House and Garden (February, 1972), 68-69.

"Ingenious Equipment--New, Electric, Versatile,

 

Ll

 

63
low-rise dwellings, and the possibility of high-rise,
multi-family dwellings.

Many systems use a variety of core modules, some
with less or more contained in each one depending on the
system. But the more that can be prefabricated and
assembled into a core unit at the factory the closer a
building system moves towards total prefabricated modular
construction. Other systems in Operation Breakthrough and
Western European systems rely on cores, they are an
integral part of systems building.

A unusual and very important system is plumbing,
and modular construction can, depending upon the mathe-
matics of the grid system employed, make the use of the
typical and often used plumbing system impossible. Moshe
Safdie found this to be true while working in his plans
for Habitat.

One of the problems of piling up boxes in a complex
three-dimensional pattern is the plumbing. In con-
ventional building each fixture has a vent to the
atmosphere to eliminate the vacuum that is created
when the water is sucked out of the toilet, tub, or
sink. These vents are traditionally carried to the
roof, where the odor is dissipated. If we had used
this conventional method little pipes would have stuck
up in people's gardens and vented the stink of the
neighbor below. We asked our mechanical engineers,
Huza-Thibault and Nicholas Fodor, to tackle the
problem; they suggested Sovent, a system that had been
developed in Switzerland. It had never been used but
its inventors claimed it could eliminate the need for

a vent. It is a funnel-shaped piece of pipe that
stirs up the water as it goes down the drain and mixes

 

48Manufactured Housing in the 1970's, p. 100.

_—-w ———w "——

 

 

64
it with air so that it does not create a vacuum in the
trap.

The Sovent system has great potential for the
whole building industry. It serves a necessary function
for traditionally constructed buildings as well, it saves
one complete pipe run. This system is now owned by the
Copper Pipe Manufacturing Institute and only permits its
use in projects that have the entire plumbing system in
copper.

At the heart of the new impetus of prefabricated
modular construction are two things; one is the new
materials being developed and the technical ability to be
able to apply them, and the other is the mathematics of
prefabricated modular construction, or the grid system.
This grid system is nothing more than the application of
production line techniques and the practice of standardi-
zation to create for the first time a true building
industry. An industry that does not build piece meal, a
building here, a development there. It can now build a
structure or group of structures anywhere in North America
using the same knowledge and production techniques without

reinventing them every time.

 

49Moshe Safdie, p. 119.

 

‘_.LI

CHAPTER III

MICRO- AND MACRO-SPACE

AND OUR ENVIRONMENT

"Space, the final frontier." Says Captain
James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. Functional and
social space is the last frontier of architecture, the
last holdout against critical evaluation and a criteria for
the social and functional needs of man and the space he
creates by his structures. Since the primitive periods
of architectural design there have been aesthetic criteria
and evaluations. Requirements and functional needs were
incorporated into a design, or at least the reasons for
the buildings existence--its functional purpose--were
supposedly put into the design of the structure. The
social and functional needs of man for the internal layout
and external design were supposedly considered and
evaluated. However, there has been no criteria of
effective notation for the evaluation of a space created
before a structure is built. The worth of a structure

has previously only been measured by how it meets a

65

 

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66

number of non-spatial criteria. That criteria being one's
judgment of an architect's work on aesthetic and economic
standards in use at that time. Even then when people are
evaluating the space created by, and the spatial relation-
ships of people to the structure, they notice it as if by
accident. If an architect is successful it is attributed
to the aesthetics of his building not to his understanding
of functional and social space, nor is it assumed that he
created the feelings that surround the use of that space
about his structure intentionally. How can society judge
the spatial affects that a structure creates without
having to actually build that structure?

Now that society is approaching that new frontier
and is about to cross it. The tools for the creation of a
criteria for the functional design space are at hand.
Through the works of such men as Edward T. Hall, Christian
Norberg-Schulz, Christopher Alexander, Kevin Lynch, Moshe
Safdie, Le Corbusier and others we will put down a notation
for a list of criteria to evaluate architectural space.
Distances, perception and man's role in space and his
cultural habits, which vary from society to society, are
taken into consideration. Society must know in advance if
a housing project or planned development will succeed on
the social/functional level. Society cannot afford the
disasters of urban renewal housing projects and the money

and lives wasted. Our time is not great, and our resources

 

 

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are 1

. .
39:15

spa:
ques

I 1
162:

67

are limited. Our society must be able to make rational
decisions based on hard information.

In such an overall evaluation of architectural
space one must come to the modular concept and the
questions it might create. Will modular construction
tend to create a repetative and dull environment? Can
the modular form of construction create desirable internal
layouts of space, with variation enough to meet the
differences inherent in every population? Will modular
units be of a high quality, use quality materials, and
allow for flexibility of external design? And, will the
external space created by modular units be able to meet

man's social functional needs?

Micro-Space

Now man uses space and shapes is just another
aspect of his particular culture. An object such as a
building does occupy space, define that space, but it
also creates a relationship to and defines the space
around it. Proximics is the term Dr. Edward T. Hall has
coined to describe man's use of space in relationship to
his culture.

Man, like all animals, has a minimum space
requirement, without which tensions and hostility develop.
Dr. Hall's studies gives us an insight into this phenomenon,
and using his research for a basis one can begin to

develop a logical system for evaluating the architectural

 

‘_kl

 

 

 

68

spaces created by a structure. Dr. Hall has been delving
into the urban environment too, and this has lead him to
some interesting observations and conclusions.

Today, one's unconscious picture of one's self--
the life one leads, the minute-to-minute process of
existence-~is constructed from the bits and pieceS'
of sensory feedback in a largely manufactured environ-
ment. A review of the immediate receptors reveals
first that Americans who live urban and suburban lives
have less and less opportunity for active experiences
of either their bodies or the spaces they occupy. Our
urban spaces provide little excitement or visual
variation and virtually no opportunity to build a
kinesthetic repertoire of spatial experiences. It
would appear that many people are kinesthetically
deprived and even cramped. In addition, the automobile
is carrying the process of alienation from both the
body and the environment one step further. One has
the feeling that the automobile is at war with the
city and possibly with mankind itself. Two additional
sensory capacities, the great sensitivity of the skin
to changes in heat and texture, not only act to notify
the individual of emotional changes in others but
feedback to him information of a particularly personal
nature from his environment.50

In Dr. Hall's research he has found that there are
four distances, each having a close phase and a far phase.
They are mathematically discernable and consistant, varying
only by culture. Most of man's actions comprise a spatial
aspect. ITo further his intentions man has to perceive
spatial relationships and then be able to create a concept
for the evaluation of space.

The closest distance is intimate distance. This
ranges from contact to about six inches, and is associated

with comforting and protecting, lovemaking and whispers.

 

50Edward T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension (New York:
1966), p. 59.

 

‘._.Ll

 

70

The far distance is from six inches to eighteen inches.
Both of these distances are not used by Americans in
public, except in crowded places such as on a mass transit
line. And if people are forced into an intimate distance
they react defensively to protect themselves and disallow
any real intimacy out of the contact.

Personal distance in the close phase is from one
and a half to two and a half feet. Vision is not distorted
at this distance, but a feeling of closeness does exiSt.
Texture is extremely clear at this distance. The far phase
is from two and a half to four feet. This is the distance
of discussions and personal interest, the anatomy is
easily perceived and the voice is level.

From four to seven feet is the close phase of
social distance. Impersonal distance is carried out at
this distance, while details of another person are clearly
perceived. The far phase is from seven to twelve feet.
This distance can have an interesting use, it can be used
to insulate or screen people from each other, enabling
them to continue their work.

The close phase in public distance is from twelve
to twenty-five feet. The voice rises and vision becomes
flat. An alert person has the opportunity to take evasive
or defensive action when required. The far phase is from

twenty-five feet or more. This distance can be used by

 

LI

71

anyone at public occasions and is the distance auto-
matically set around important public figures.

These four basic distances are the beginning of a
basis for an evaluation of micro- and macro-space. They
tell us a great deal about concrete distances and how man
reacts to people at these distances. Yet this is not
enough, Dr. Hall's research must be intergrated with other
concepts to bear fruit. How does man perceive a space?

In his book, Existence, Space and Architecture,
Christian Norberg-Schulz puts forth the idea that space
is not a particular category of orientation, but an aspect
of any orientation. So, to have man carry out his
intentions, man has to understand spatial relations and
unify them. One way of looking at space still omits
certain aspects.

From remote times man has not only acted in space,
perceived space, existed in space and thought about
space, but he has also created space to express the
structure of his world as a real imago mundi. We may
call this creation expressive or artistic space, and
it finds its place in the hierarchy next to the top,
together with cognitive space. Like cognitive space,
expressive space needs a more abstract construct for
its description, a space concept which systematizes
the possible properties of expressive spaces. We may
call this "aesthetic space." The creation of ex-
pressive space has always been the task of specialized
persons, that is, builders, architects and planners,

while aesthetic space has been studied by architectural
theorists and philosophers.51

 

51Christian Norberg-Schulz, ExistenceL_Space and
.Architecture (New York: 1970), p. 11T’

 

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72

A criteria for structures and the space that is
around them must be a combination of the functional
requirements of that space incorporated with aesthetic
values. Individuals, however, usually interact with other
individuals and/or groups and we must progress to a
notation that includes and encompasses man and groups

occupying larger areas of space.

Macro-Space

Both Kevin Lynch and Christian Norberg-Schultz
deal, in part, with areas of expressive space. They break
up an area or city into its various component parts.

Lynch into districts, edges, imageability, landmarks,
nodes, and paths; Norberg-Schultz into places (proximity),
directions or paths (continuity), and areas or domains
(enclosures). It seems that Norberg-Schulz has reduced
Lynch's notations and simplified them.

These notations suffice for already existing
spaces and structures, but what of the yet unbuilt
structures and spaces? These require a notation for
prediction. A combination of Hall's theories with a way
of looking at larger areas of space offers a method of
establishing a criteria for areas immediately surrounding
a structure, an area that could encompass part of a city
or a city itself.

What is trying to be achieved for micro- and

macro-space is a specific orientation and therefore an

__‘

 

‘...LJ

 

73

evoked feeling from the various spaces. Man's structures
and spaces have been created on purpose for a specific
purpose, and the creation of a notation for the evaluation
of space will be a guide towards this end. People must be
observed as Dr. Hall has done, note the proxemics of a
culture, and create micro- and macroespaces accordingly.
Norberg-Schulz sees space and function as: "Space is
therefore the product of an interaction between the organism
and the environment in which it is impossible to dissociate
the organization of the universe perceived from that of
the activity itself."52
As Le Corbusier called for, we must link man, the
person, to the spaces that are being created. His scale
of functional and social space, his individual measure-
ments and his proxemics for the paths, nodes, districts,
edges, and domains or enclosures of micro- and macro-space.
Geometry and grids are not the measures that are
going to be dealt with, it is the integration of mathe-
matics with culture to arrive at proxemic values.
Geometry and grids alone cannot solve a problem that is

rooted in social and cultural variations.

 

52Norberg-Schulz, p. 17.

 

‘_..k)

 

74

Notations on a Criteria for the Evaluation

an Design of:Micro- andMacro-SEEEE—_-

By the use of some basic examples, with the
potential for their variation and inter-changeability,
this author will create a criteria to be used for the
creation of functional and social space with an archi-
tectural structure or structures.

How does one go about evaluating the space created
around a structure and what impact does it have on the
surrounding area of the city?

There are two spatial concepts to be dealt with--
micro- and macro-space--when evaluating a structure and
the space created around a structure. Under micro-space
there are five types of space possible, and they are
derived from Dr. Hall's work:

1. Intimate Space

2. Personal Space

3. Social Space

4. Public Space

5. Or any Combination of the Spaces Above

Under macro-space the five types of spatial

arrangements are:
l. Nodal Promintory
2. Focal Point to be the Basis of a District
3. Edge
4. An Enclosure
5

. Path

75

Presume it was desirable to build a government
complex, and as part of this complex of structures a
large outdoor square is to be an integral part. First,
if there is complete control over where one will be able
to build (in reality highly unlikely) our structure or
structures, what type of macro-space is desirable to
create?

Can one design the structure or structures to be
able to influence the area in which it will be located to
create the desired effect? An enclosure, a focal point
to be the basis of a district, a path, etc. Any one of
the various types of macro-space requires a thorough
researching of an area to determine its consistency: does
the area consist of single-family detached dwellings; is
it an area of high-rise apartments; is it some combination;
there are numerous possibilities. Will the structures that
are going to be erected be able to physically or mentally
dominate an area, like the John Hancock Building in
Chicago. Will it be so economically important so as to
attract further development of the same or similar aspects?
All of these are decisions that are based on a value
judgment of what exists by a architect or planner.

Drawing a sketch or map of the area with the object in
mind of determining the paths, landmarks, edges, districts,
and nodes that exist is a necessary requirement. Once

this is done one is then able to determine the impact of

76

one's project by superimposing one's plans on the area
that has been thoroughly mapped, and by so doing so to be
able to determine if one's project will be in a position
to create any of the five types of macro-space. For
instance, the new government complex in Boston is large
enough and economically important enough to dominate that
part of Boston and create a district. By placing the
plans for this complex on a map of the area and examining
its economic impact before construction, one would have
been able to determine that this would be the case.

These are judgments, but not necessarily subjective
judgments. Economic and physical impact can and have been
examined by Kevin Lynch in this manner, and correct
conclusions have been reached on determining the effect
a structure or structures will have on a district of a
city.

In the government complex that is going to be
built, let it be said, for example, that a government
district can be created by the building of a complex of
structures. In this governmental complex it has been
already decided to create an imposing public square which
will be the focal point of this project, and to be the
take-off point for future development in this area to
create that governmental district.

Finally, one must evaluate the space and determine

its potential for fulfilling its social and functional

77

space requirements. Its design potential can be determined
and social/functional value for its use as a public space
by two means, they are: one is by one's "aesthetic"
judgment of the architects' or planners' designs (form,
shape, proportion, perspective, color, materials used,
etc.); and two, by the application of Dr. Hall's research
into proxemics that gives us definite measurements and
conditions for each of the previously mentioned distances.
As stated before, the close phase of public
distance is from twelve to twenty-five feet, and the far
phase from twenty-five feet. If the architect has created
a large dominating public square it will obviously be
over twenty-five feet. But within the total volume of
that space the architect will have tried to break-up the
area by the use of such materials as plants, shrubs,
trees, benches, a monument, etc. All for the purpose of
trying to create a closer feeling within the public
space, and yet have it remain a public square. Does he
have areas that provide rest but are so arranged with the
landscape so as not to force conversation upon someone,
but to have a distance that does allow for social contact
if desired? The use of the far phase of social distance,
from seven to twelve feet, will accomplish this aim.
These areas surrounding and yet being a part of the overall
total square will make for a well used public square

that will fulfill its intended purpose.

78

A less obvious example is that of a restaurant
that desires to create intimate spaces for dining and a
complex of personal and social spaces for dining in larger
groups. It is the creation of self-contained enclosure,
which is entirely separate from the surroundings outside
of the restaurant walls.

With the use of the intimate and personal distances
it is possible to create the intimate dining areas from
contact to up to four feet. If these areas are separated
from each other and appointed with the right decor and
lighting, one has created a space to meet its required
function.

It is a bit more complicated to create the larger
areas. The spatial delineations for areas of this type
are from one and a half feet up to twelve feet. With the
emphasis for design on the upper extremities an area of
up around twelve feet will be ideal for the larger groups,
and four to seven feet for smaller "social" groups. Part
of social distance is:

Another person is perceived as normal in size.

Details of the other person's body are clearly
perceived, and a person's gaze may shift from eye

to eye and eye to mouth. This is the spatial distance
of impersonal business, many people use this distance

while at a social function or in dealin with
previously unknown business associates.

 

53Dr. Edward T. Hall, p. 116.

79

Here is the offer of a guideline. A guideline
such as Le Corbusier offered in his book Le Modular but
freer in form and content. Le Corbusier's matrix are
mathematically precise, based on the human form. The view
that is held is based on the human scale of culture and
man's actions at precise distances.

The use of materials and aesthetic design are
always in the judgment of the designer, and therein lies
the major reason for employing a particular architect or
planner. But his use of space can be evaluated and
checked to see if his plans meet certain basic criteria.

Another example is a proposed project, here the
object is to redesign a park to create a path from the
university on one side and a shopping district on the
other side. Included are spaces for playing, open spaces,
and intimate and social spaces for interaction.

The creation of a path is a relatively simple
matter. Since paths are the channels along which a man
normally, occasionally, or potentially moves, the creation
of a walkway through the park to link-up both of the sides
is the answer. This pathway must have only one logical
conclusion; one side or the other, with no major deviations
or turnoffs other than to social or play areas.

The interaction spaces, those intimate and social
spaces, can be based on the data provided by Dr. Hall.
With the actual vegetation and materials based upon the

aesthetic judgment of the designer. No space is entirely

80

isolated from the space next to it; a wall divides that
space but those spaces still interact. Dr. Hall has
found that different cultures have different space
perceptions, and our society is made up of a great number
of ethnic groups. All efforts must take their various
cultural differences into account, balanced on the other
hand by the fact that structures-~their use and occupancy--
can always be subject to change. One must be flexible. A
person must design and plan for sensory awareness.
How far can we afford to travel down the road of
sensory deprivation in order to file people away.
One of man's most critical needs, therefore, is for
principles for designing spaces that will maintain a
healthy density, a healthy interaction rate, a proper
amount of involvement, and a continuing sense of ethnic
identification.54
With this awareness a person can plan apartments,

parks, towns, districts of cities and be able to evaluate

space before he builds.

Summary

Any system in design for an evaluation of space
must be based on our two criteria: aesthetic judgment and
proxemics. With proxemics one can deal effectively with
variations in culture--black and white, German and American,
oriental and western man, etc.--and plan internally and
externally for spaces to meet a particular function that

the space is required to be used for.

 

54Ibid., p. 157.

81

In this case form does follow function. Each one
of the distances; intimate, personal, social, and public
with their close and far phases, has a function. The
form our designs take should reflect these facts, the study
of proxemics. Spatial form can be evaluated on a
functional basis, depending only on the function desired
of a space. Certain inalterable measurements exist for
each culture, they measure space in a tangible way and
can be translated into numbers. The use of the criteria
presented to evaluate space on a proxemic basis will
greatly enhance our ability to build accurate spatial
groupings without relying on the designer to have
intuitive knowledge of who he is building for. When the
designer or architect has been right you have a Falling-
water, when he has not understood you have urban renewal
housing projects like the Robert Taylor Homes on the south
side of Chicago. The possibilities are great for the use
of proxemics in architecture and planning, and our society

would be remise to pass up this chance.

CHAPTER IV

AN EVALUATION OF THE MICRO- AND MACRO-SPACES
CREATED BY PREFABRICATED

MODULAR CONSTRUCTION

There are many unanswered questions about pre-
fabricated modular construction, especially about the
quality of design and the quality of the space created.
Will the structures created be repetitive in their
architectural design? Will the internal and external
space meet the requirements and have the flexibility to
be able to be of equal quality and sell as well as
standardly built dwelling units? With the use of the
criteria for the evaluation and design of space there
will be an effort to find out some of the answers to
these questions by examining some examples of prefabricated
modular construction. To remind the reader of that

criteria we will reiterate it once again, it is:

82

83

 

 

Micro-Space Macro-Space
l. Intimate Space 1. Nodal Promintory
2. Personal Space 2. Focal Point to be the
3. Social Space basis of a District
4. Public Space 3. Edge
5. Or any Combination 4. An Enclosure
of the Spaces Above 5. Path

HabitatL an Example

Habitat is unique, unique in many ways, and a good
place to begin because it is one of the first substantial
examples of prefabricated modular construction in North
America. The basic premise of Habitat is highly unusual,
it was not constructed by a developer to make a profit in
the housing market but, instead, was part of a country's
exhibit--Canada's--for their own World's Fair. So
innovation and experimentation were possible and design
quality was of critical importance. For this example of
Canadian housing would be seen by millions of people from
all over the world.

Internally (micro-space) Habitat was typical, the
room sizes and partitions were set and inflexible. For
at the time Safdie was " . . . unable . . . to work out a

dimensioning system that worked both inside and outside

84

the house. Yet a comprehensive dimensional system is
critical to the success of any building system."55

Therefore the internal structure is typical of
affluent apartment dwellings. The basic module is about
640 square feet, a one bedroom unit. The various rooms
are similar to what we all are accustomed to. The living
room meets the requirements for the two phases of social
distance, for the living room is the social room. The
two phases of social distance span from four to twelve
feet, and the living rooms of Habitat meet this size
fairly closely. Obviously the width is greater than four
feet, but the common habit for a North American is to move
his chair into the desired position to meet the social
requirements on hand.

All of the other rooms are the same in that they
are typical of the various sizes that we have become
accustomed to. The kitchen is of practicle size, while
the dining room is approximately at the close phase of
social distance--four to seven feet--and can be arranged
in a more intimate manner. The more intimate arrangement
would correspond to personal distance, or from two and a
half to four feet. Bathrooms are of intimate size, they
are not designed for personal interaction.

Externally (macro-space) Habitat comes alive

socially, functionally, and aesthetically. The most

 

55Moshe Safdie, p. 104.

85

talked about and unique feature is the garden that every
dwelling has. This garden offers a place to retreat to

and be alone, a place of intimate space, and yet a place

to socialize with friends. The rooftop garden gets much

of its feeling about intimate and social space from the
natural materials that make up this garden. Their use of
grass, shrubs, flowers, and the tenants own gardening
inclination created space of privacy by their size, any
where from a foot and a half which is the intimate distance
to the social distance maximum of twelve feet. The various
arrangements of the natural materials dictated the quantity
and juxtaposition of the spaces. Public distance was only
a possibility at first glance, for the garden does have

the size (it is over twelve feet wide and long) but the
spatial arrangement of the natural materials divided the
space into other proxemic distances.

The architectural space created by Habitat is also
very successful. At first glance Habitat looks in chaos,
but a definite spiral pattern of boxes piled one upon
another soon emerges. The integration of function and
environment is as close as possible.

In Habitat, because the building is air conditioned
and this requires water-cooling, we were able to have
fountains in the landscape that the kids could play
in. The cooling of the building and the playing of
children were integrated with terraced pools and

sprays of water. In the same way the grouping of the
houses in space created complex and changing patterns

86

of sunlight. The public responds by saying Habitat
is like a scul ture! But no, Habitat is environment,
not sculpture.

Habitat was designed to be a focal point for a
whole district, the actual creation of a symbol for the
Montreal World's Fair, Expo 67. By placing Habitat on an
island, built upto 120 feet in the air, landscaped and
prominant by its visibility and seclusion, the world soon

agreed with Safdie and Habitat became the symbol of

Expo 67.

Triad, by Hodgson House

Triad, a three-bedroom modular house that is
delivered by truck, is built by Hodgson Houses. This
particular design is by the architect Edward M. Coplon,
" . . . is composed of two modules; the living areas, in
one, are free-flowing. The other, a bedroom wing, is
closed off, quiet. Between the two, Coplon inserted a
glass-ended entry-dining unit."57

The pictures of Triad in House and Garden are
professionally done, the interior decor perfectly matched

and coordinated with the most modern styles in furniture,

but does the spatial arrangement of this modular house

 

561bid., p. 167.

57”A Three-Bedroom Modular House That Arrives by
Truck," House and Garden (February, 1972), 62.

87

      

I :11"

.. mm...

 

 

88

meet the standards and criteria created in the notations
on a criteria for the evaluation of space?

The three bedroom units are not unusual, there are
two standard and one master bedroom. With only an inch
difference between the two standard bedrooms there is no
real difference at all. One is nine feet six inches by
eleven feet three inches, and the other is nine feet six
inches by eleven feet two inches. These standard bedrooms
offer the usual opportunities for the social functional
use of space; a bed, desk, draws, shelves, and a chair
will all fit comfortably while leaving room for walking
to and from various pieces of furniture only.

Think of the bed as a minature room, offering
unique spatial aspects within a larger room, the bedroom.
If one does this you can then break the bedroom down into
two main size components, each with their two phases.

The bed encompasses the two phases of intimate distance;
the close phase being from intimate contact-~1ovemaking and
wrestling--and the far phase from six to eighteen inches.
The rest of the bedroom adheres closely to the two phases
of personal distance; the close phase being from one and

a half to two and a half feet--a sense of closeness exists
at this stage--and the far phase which is from two and a
half to four feet. The later distance the distance that
topics of personal interest can be discussed. Both of

these distances, the intimate and personal distance, are

89

well suited for the size of a bedroom. They fit form to
function very well.

The master bedroom is eleven feet two inches by
fourteen feet ten inches. The bed in this bedroom serves
and accomplished the same purposes as the bed in the other
bedrooms. The difference here is, however, that there is
a good deal more space left over in this bedroom which
therefor pushes the spatial aspects into the social
distance. The two phases of social distance are from four
to seven feet and from seven to twelve feet. This is the
distance of impersonal business, formal business, and
dealing with unknowns--an extremely unlikely distance for
a personal bedroom for two intimate people.

The living room and dining room run together, with
only a free standing closet to break up and define the two
spaces. Individually, the living room is eleven feet two
inches by nineteen feet seven inches, and the dining room
is eleven feet eight inches by thirteen feet six inches.
With the elimination of the free standing closet the
dimensions actually read eleven feet eight inches by
nineteen feet seven inches for the dining room. In any
event there is a very large free flowing space that has
been created. This space encroaches on the boundaries set
for the far phase of social distance and the close phase
of public distance. Unless furniture is used to create

smaller more personal distances, the effect of these

90

rooms with their large dimensions will be one of creating
an impersonal and formal feeling. A place where conver-
sation and closeness will be impeded. Not the exact ideal
for a dining and living room, is it?

The rest of the modular house consists of two
bathrooms and one kitchen. All of these rooms are
unexceptional in size, are no way unique, and tend to be
acceptable for the purposes they were built for.

The Triad modular house meets one of the two
criteria, it is aesthetically pleasing, but it does not
fulfill all the social and functional needs in its spatial
arrangements. With one small alteration the Triad house
could better meet these requirements. The creation of a
free-standing wall between the living room, dining room

and entrance way is all that is needed (see sketch).

"Okal-House" System Micro-Spaces

The "Okal-House" system of Germany is the most
popular in the Federal Republic, can it be because of the
desirable living arrangements its internal layout creates?

The houses are produced in two basic types, with
type two being supplemented by a terrace, a study and a
dining nook. On the whole, fifty variations in internal
layout are possible. The interesting thing is, however,
that 76 per cent of their scales have been for only four

of the designs.

91

With the great flexibility of the layout of this
system one has people being able to create their own
social and functional space arrangements. That only four
of the possible fifty internal design variations were used
substantiates Dr. Hall's belief in proxemics. The spatial
requirements and preferences of the German people are
remarkably consistant, they chose only 8 per cent of the
possible variations in internal living patterns.

Operation Breakthrough, An Evaluation of the
Micro- and Macro-Spaces Created

Within the site at Kalamzoo, Michigan, chosen by
the United States Department of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment for its Operation Breakthrough examples in this area
are seven different housing systems: the Levitt Building
Systems, Inc., Inland-Scholz Housing Systems, Hercorform
Marketing, Inc., Material Systems Corporation, Republic
Steel Corporation, FCE-Dillion, Inc., and National Homes
Corporation.

The Operation Breakthrough site is situated just
on the outer eastern edge of Kalamazoo, thus tending to
separate it from the main influences of traffic, congestion
of people, and the poor quality of the housing and
commercial structures in Kalamazoo. One can see from the
drawing of the site plan that the site is insulated from
the surrounding area by trees and open land. The site is

internalized, it looks inward upon itself. Through the

 

       
   
 

 
    
 

  

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ETHE COMMUNITY

CHOOLS
pring Valley Elementary (Kdgn—ard Grade)
. 530 Mt. Olivet Road
. 2'buke Elementary (4th—6th Grade)
191.? Birch Avenue
3 Northeastern Jr. High (7th-9th Grade)
2433 Gertrude Street
4 New Central High School (10th—12th Grade) MOSEL ST-
W. Drake Fload

COLLEGES and UNIVERSITIES
5 Western Michigan University

W. Michigan Avenue
6 Kalamazoo College

Academy Street
7 Nazareth College

Gull & Nazareth Roads

 

RIVERVIEW DR.

8 8395132513» Lutheran ~ VALLEY lake
2500 Gull Road - AND ”A s
> 9 Sunnyslde United Methodist "
2800 Gull Road

10 Eastwood Church of God
2929 E. Main Street
11 East Main Church of Christ
2528 E. Main Street
12 St. Mary's Roman Catholic
939 Charlotte Avenue
‘13 Galilee Baptist
908 Gull Road
The Kalamazoo Directory of Religious
Organizations and Fellowship Centers
will be provided on request.

SHOPPING
14 Kalamazoo Downtown Mall
15 Parchment Shopping Area
16 East Main Shapplng Plaza
Pharmacy
1502 Gull Road
18 Sgger Market
1 4 Gull Road

PARKS and RECREATION

19 Spring Valley Park 8 Lake
Adjacent to Community

20 Eastern Hills Golf Course (City)
Gull Road

21 Kindleberger Park (Parchment)
Park Road

22 Rivervlew Park
Kings Highway
Recreation Park
Lake Street

24 Milham Park & Golf Course
Lovers Lane & Kilgore

HOSPITALS

Borgess Hospital

1521 Gull Road

Bronson Methodist Hospital
252 E. Lovell Street

 

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102

further use of landscaping and a closed system created
for the purpose of better showing-off the seven different
types of modular units, they have created an enclosed
district with the focal points being each of the seven
groupings of the prefabricated modular units.

The site plan is a good plan. It accomplishes the
main objective of showing-off the various housing systems
in the best possible environment. Hence, the reason for
creating an enclosed district. The internal layout of
the site is one of no choice, one drives into ten dead-end
courts where one has to make a U-turn to go out. Each one
of these courts is used as an independent area--an
enclosure--within the overall site to show-off a different

housing system or a combination of the housing systems.

FCE-Dillion, Inc.

Within the total site plan there is only one
modular high-rise structure, and even this structure is
only four stories high. Even at four stories, however,
the high-rise is noticeable, and its placement near the
main club house and swimming pool is no accident. Together
they make up a focal point, not the one and only physically
dominating focal point which is visible and recognizable
at a distance outside of the site or district, but a focal
point for those coming into the site and living on the

site.

103

There are two main roads; one road, St. Albans
Way, passes right by the high-rise and club house, and the
other road, Inverness Lane, has the only unobstructed
view unhindered by trees or dwelling units along the line
of sight looking towards these two structures.

The nine other courts are too insulated and
protected by their landscaping and inward orientation to
be able to see and recognize the FCE-Dillion high-rise and
club house from a distance to become their focal point by
sight. But by the placing of three main recreational
areas (swimming pool, baseball field, and multi-purpose
sports area) on either side and in back of the high-rise
and club house (see the site plan) there is generated a
physical stream of people towards, and a mental attitude
towards, this area. Thus creating the image of a focal
point without actually being an imposing and dominating
structure.

To increase this effect of having the club house
and high-rise as a focal point a number of automobile and
pedestrian paths were created. There are three main paths:
the two previously mentioned automobile roadways, St.
Albans Way and Inverness Lane, and a pedestrian sidewalk
(number four on the site plan) which runs from St. Albans
Way through the entire length of the site to the north,
and ends at the Levitt Building Systems dwellings units.

This pedestrian pathway runs along the left side of the

104

club house, swimming pool, high-rise, adventure playground,
and passes by on the right and left side five out of the
seven bulding systems on the Operation Breakthrough site.
The pedestrian pathway turns-off leading to the various
dwelling units and play areas, and is the only path that

a pedestrian or bicycle rider can take to reach any of

the previously mentioned places. This is an especially
good example of what Keven Lynch refers to as a path, and
to what has previously also been labeled as a path in

this criteria.

The FCE-Dillion high-rise is a four-story structure
built for the elderly. There are only one-bedroom and
two-bedroom units. Internally there is nothing unusual
in the size of, and the layout of, the units. The bed-
rooms, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and dining area all
are of typical standard American sizes. That size being
what is expected by, and has been internalized by, our
culture for the use of social and functional space in an
apartment.

Both units have the same size rooms. The bedrooms
fulfill their purpose of providing for intimate and
personal space. They are all approximately ten feet by
twelve feet. The living room/dining room occupies one
continuous space and meet the general requirements of
social and personal space by being approximately eleven

feet by sixteen feet all together. What is unique is the

105

fact that this four-story high-rise has elevators,
necessary to fulfill its function as housing for the
elderly. Also of interest and functional use for all
people, not just the elderly, is the balconys they have
that are the entire length of each apartment. With access
to the balcony in each two-bedroom apartment from the
living room and both bedrooms, and in the one-bedroom unit
from the living room and bedroom.

On the whole it is an interesting structure
fulfilling its social and functional spatial requirements.
Not in an exciting and new way as far as the internal
layout is concerned, but exciting and radical in the fact
that this is a prefabricated modular high-rise. A high-
rise with eight inch thick concrete walls that are put
into place minus six inches out of the eight inches and
the rest of the concrete is poured in later when the
structure has been assembled. Thus providing for a
lighter and easier load during construction, shortening
construction time, and literally, providing a high degree

of sound insulation.

Levitt Building Systemsinnc.

The Levitt Building Systems dwelling units ring
the Operation Breakthrough site to the north and north-
west. Shannon Court is the northern most cluster of
Levitt dwelling units. Here there are thirty-four units,

both townhouses and garden apartments. As we observed

106

earlier, all of these units look and are oriented inwardly
--towards Shannon Court. The landscape on the inward
side of the units and the outward side of the units on
the south have a lot of trees and shrubs to block out the
ugly site of the court and its parking lot. But on the
outward side of the northern units it is essentially clear
of trees and shrubs. This has been done for a good
purpose, it allows a clear view of Spring Valley Park and
Lake. This enclosure has created around Shannon Court a
small district, a show piece for Levitt Building Systems,
Inc., inside a larger district. This is true for all of
the seven housing systems. Together they create "New
Horizon Village" on the Kalamazoo site, which is a district
showing off Operation Breakthrough. The site (district)
offers the unusual opportunity for marketing prefabricated
modular dwelling units, for each builder has his own
district, all within the context of the larger district
which is "New Horizon Village."

Internally the Levitt townhouses are well planned.
There is a noticeable difference there room sizes compared
to the other developers units. Room size is larger,
living rooms and combination kitchen/dining rooms. This
is a good change. All to often the kitchen has been
thought of as a "personal" room, yet it is not, it is a
"social" room where many members of the family may be in

contact with one another. With the inclusion of a dining

107

room the effective size of the kitchen has been extended.
The dining area itself is ample enough to avoid giving a
closed or crowded feeling or the feeling of intruding on
the kitchen.

The living rooms, especially in the four-bedroom
townhouse, is extremely large. Large enough to achieve
social space, enough space for family activities-~a large
family. One does not own a three- or four-bedroom town-
house without having a large family. Yet the large social
space created by the living room is not large enough to
move into the relm of becoming public space, which is in
its close phase a clear space of from twelve to twenty-
five feet, and its far phase from twenty-five feet. The
bedrooms and bathrooms are standard for the American
market and culture, not in anyway unusual. On the whole
Levitt has created the most liveable dwelling units as
far as meeting the social and functional spatial needs of
man.

More and more of the building systems being put
together have flexible internal design patterns. The
Norweigian architect, Erik Hultberg, created an adaptable
and expandable house which allows for external as well as
internal variations. One Swiss system, the "Norm-Modul”
system, is a flexible system created to meet the various
space requirements of laboratories. Eight out of the

twenty-two companies participating in Operation Breakthrough

108

have designed flexible living systems that allow for
variations on the internal spatial arrangements. They
might not be conscious of the science of proxemics, but
they are following some of Dr. Hall's basic findings in
his study of proxemics. All of these systems are responding
to a public that has argued that the units previously
built did not meet all their needs, their needs on the
functional and social level. Not being sure what designs
were wanted, they responded by offering a number of
possibilities. With the use of proxemics a number of the
less desirable variations could be eliminated and time and
money saved.

To sum-up the application of both of the criterias
for micro- and macro-space is a matrix on the following
page. This matrix rates each of the six examples of
modular construction previously discussed. This rating
is done simply from poor to average to good, and only if

the particular micro— or macro-space is applicable.

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CHAPTER V

A GLIMPSE INTO A FUTURE

URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Prefabricated modular construction is in its
infancy. Yet the art of modular construction has
progressed remarkable fast, and is now reaching a very
sophisticated level. In ten years it has gone further
than the automobile in its first ten years. The comparison
is not an idle one, theywae both innovations of, and the
representatives of, our technical age on the highest
order. It is unfortunate, however, that most people have
not and still do not realize the possibilities for pre-
fabricated modular construction in our technical age,
that the art of building is a science.

It will be possible in the near future to create
an urban environment totally out of prefabricated modular
units. As has been shown, there is at the present the
capability to build units for dwelling, research, com-
mercial, and industrial activities. It is the scale of

these activities, the lack of big markets for industrialized

110

111

housing, the complicated and numerous building codes with
archaic requirements, and the lack of public funding for
pilot research projects have all added up to retard the
previous prefabrication attempts. Now that phase is
over, with Operation Breakthrough and the impetus gained
from Habitat at the Montreal World's Fair we can now look
to the future and its myriad of possibilities.

Our society has the capacity to build any type of
environment it wants to today. The Houston Astrodome
allows people to play baseball indoors, the rocket assembly
building in Houston is so big that it has its own weather,
it actually rains inside this building. Moshe Safdie
sees this capability too.

But society today has the means, in terms of
resources and productive capacity, to build whatever
environment we choose, just as we obviously have the
resources and the capacity to feed the whole world.

We underestimate the real volume of potential food
production we are capable of; just as we underestimate
our capabilities in making our environment. Buck-
minister Fuller has been constantly reminding us what
we could do in terms of productivity if we used our
resources properly. Fuller has been saying, in the
context of an extrapolitical reality, unique to our
time, that environmental systems must be applicable

to the total global population. To provide more for
more with ever decreasing natural resources, we must
rely on the potential of technology. I would add that
fulfilling this “bare maximum" also creates the welcome
burden of having to establish city structures that can
give fulfillment to all.5

From a German building system that produces two

thousand prefabricated modular units a year one can see

\

 

58Moshe Safdie, p. 223.

112

the eventual replacement of the contemporary German
building industry by prefabricated modular techniques.
With a little vision the German experience will become
the American experience, then a world wide phenomenon.

Somewhere in the not to distant future lies a
city, a city completely constructed out of prefabricated
modular units. A new town if you like. This city can be
a linear development, a green belt town, any form at all,
for out of this city-form will rise a modular development.
All sorts of buildings are visible; single-family detached
dwellings, high-rises, commercial and industrial facili-
ties.

A part of this city itself is a prefabrication
factory. All of the structural units are prefabricated
in this factory, non are designed along the panel system--
this is an antiquated method--but, instead, they are all
made into modular units. These modular units are load-
bearing and constructed out of a polymorphic material.
This material has one-fifth the weight of concrete, twice
the strength of steel, it would have compressive strength
and density, it would provide insulation, and it would be
able to be impermeable to water.

The modular units allow for internal flexibility,
choices are limited by the use of the science of proxemics.
Externally there are an infinite amount of design

possibilities; some modular units will be plug in type,

113

mostly for buildings of great height, and the others will
be self-supporting loadbearing modules. Since all of the
units are totally prefabricated in factories, the cost of
units will be greatly decreased. Housing for the poor
will be able to be provided, good housing, housing of good
design and quality material and construction.

The scale of a city is important, we need differ-
ent scales to achieve a certain quality to life. Moshe
Safdie observes this also:

The metropolitan city is a new scale city. Parts
of it have existed in earlier cities but the problems
were different because the numbers were different.

. . . The metropolis also needs a hierarchy. There
should be places on the scale of a thousand families
and on the scale of a million people and maybe there
should be meeting places on the scale of ten million
people. That hierarchy is very important. It's the
lack of hierarchy that really makes our cities so
unworkable. It's the fact that you are a part of
ten million people often, but you are not part of five
families or a hundred families or twenty thousand
people, which are workable communities in which you
can function with a quite different kind of partici-
pation and control over your environment than you can
with ten million people. 9
The city that will be built will have that hierarchy of
scale. There will be areas arranged around central
places; parks, halls, museums, government structures and
centers, schools, etc., in an ever increasing scale to
create a city. But every individual will be able to

interact with other individuals and families on a smaller

 

59Ibid., p. 226.

114

scale, the scale of the community based on a school or a
park area.

The structures of the city will reflect the
different scales of the city. A prefabricated modular
school set in a community park might well be the central
theme or hub of an area, just as a piazza was in Italian
cities. In this neighborhood there will be single-family
detached dwellings, multi-family structures, and commercial
facilities--all with different scales. The scale of the
single-family detached structure will be smaller in height
than that of the multi-family structure, but scale is not
just in height. The commercial facilities might well be
the same approximate height of single-family detached
structures, but its horizontal scale will be much greater,
creating a different feeling and environment.

Perhaps the most unique thing about this modular
city is its flexibility. Any structure, no matter what
type, can be added to with great ease, quickness, and
cheaply when modular units are used. The time of erection
for a new structure or group of structures is greatly
reduced by the use of prefabricated modular construction,
everything is pre-assembled in a factory and shipped to
the site only requiring for it to be put together like
some giant tinker toy. A structure such as a school or
concrete hall may call for an increase in size on limited

occasions, modular units allows for this increase by

115

making it possible to add units based on the modular
principle for these occasions and removing them when they
are not needed. A sort of a plug-in type of arrangement
that lets one add or take away modular units whenever
necessary.

Prefabricated modular construction is not the only
answer for housing and it is not capable of meeting the
housing problems of the present and near future for the
entire world. But it can be the answer to the housing
shortages of the industrialized and technically advanced
countries of Western Europe and North America. Renato
Severino believes the following:

Above all, the emergence of a mass society means a
tremendously enlarged need for architectural production,
a need for millions of homes, schools, and hospitals.
It is important to realize that sheer quantitative
need, now of crises proportions, has always existed.
But there is a new qualitative need. Mass consumption
is very different from mass existence. The new situ-
ation demands that architecture provide not for an
elite but for the masses. . . .

Architecture from now on must be totally integrated
with technology, because that is the only medium that
can be used to provide the necessary production levels
in terms of quality, quantity, and economy. . . . That
advanced technology can be applied to architecture has
already been proven. European experience and recent
American studies have shown that industrialized
building technology can lead to higher quality, faster
production, and reduced costs.60

It is possible and conceivable that a city could
be made up entirely of prefabricated modules. What is

more likely to take place, however, is the reconstruction

 

50Renato Severino, pp. 7, 15.

116

of our present cities, step by step.. And the speed and
quality of this renewal, not to mention the reduction in
its cost, will be because of the use of highly advanced
prefabricated modular units. Even now the first traces

of its use and effectiveness can be found. In New York
City a rehabilitation of kitchens in old buildings took
place by removing their roofs and dropping in by helicopter
prefabricated modular kitchens. All of this taking place
over just a few hours. The full potential and application
of prefabricated modular units has yet to be reached, but

that time is coming.‘

 

 

CHAPTER VI

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The form and content of this thesis remains
essentially intact from its origins even though it has been
evolved slowly and subtly changed. With the addition of
more and more information and the understanding and
insight that goes with it, the original goals have been
slightly altered. Instead of the technical and environ-
mental aspects of prefabricated modular construction, the
author has seen this thesis evolve over time into the study
of the technical aspects of prefabricated modular con-
struction and the evaluation of functional and social
space. It has evolved into the design and functional use
of space in conjunction with prefabricated modular
construction. It became necessary to create a notation
on a criteria for the evaluation and design of functional
and social space, for one cannot talk of space without
being able to define and then apply it so it can be used
for the evaluation and design of structures. Most

importantly, however, the premise of this thesis has

117

118

remained intact. That is, by the study and evaluation of
prefabricated modular techniques, functional, and social
space we can then use this knowledge for the creation of
a spatial notation on a criteria for the evaluation and
design of functional and social space.

It can be concluded from the research into the
present state of prefabricated modular construction in
Western Europe and North America that there are only two
types of prefabricated modular systems in use, the panel
system and modular unit development. That the panel
system is indigenous to Western Europe on the whole, and
that the modular unit type development is being examined
and perfected in North America by such projects as Operation
Breakthrough, Habitat, and the 5,000 modular unit housing
project in Puerto Rico designed by Moshe Safdie.

To reduce the cost of building a structure and to
achieve the highest efficiency one has to take the whole
structure into the factory. And one can only bring the
whole structure into the factory by using prefabricated
modular units, for panel systems require on-site work and
therefore can only effectively reduce the cost of a
building by as much as 25 per cent.

In all the world, for the present, there are only
two types of plumbing systems. One, the archaic.and often
used system of pipe runs in conventional buildings that

dissipate odors out onto the roof. The other, Sovent, is

119

a system that was designed in Switzerland and is now owned
by The CoPper Institute in Denver. This system eliminates
one whole pipe run and dissipates all odors internally
without the distasteful discharge into the atmosphere
associated with the conventional method. Sovent has had
applications for modular unit development because it
allows for the flexibility and configuration of modular
units without creating the problems of unsightly pipes
sticking up on roofs or in gardens. Plus the discharging
of foul odors which could interfere and be imposed on
neighbors due to the design of modular structures is also
eliminated.

We can conclude from the experiences in Norway,
"An Adaptable and Expandable System for Row Houses,” in
Germany, "Germany 0 The Trouble with Variety," and in
Switzerland, "Switzerland--'The Mail Order System is
Here,'" that only a small percentage of the various
internal layout possibilities in all three cases were
used, approximately 8 per cent of the possibilities were
used. Thus bearing out some of Dr. Hall's contentions on
proxemics and arriving at the conclusion that society can
plan effectively in advance for particular cultural habits
and preferences to a fairly accurate degree, all through
the use of the science of proxemics.

The flexibility found in the external design of

space for prefabricated modular units can also be found in

120

their internal design of space. It is necessary to offer
a limited variety of internal variations to attract
renters and/or buyers to prefabricated modular units.
People are demanding more, society cannot give them less.
The use of proxemic studies of various cultures is aimed
at this goal.

That new, flexible, and durable materials must be
found for the success of prefabricating modular units on-
site or in a factory. Two such materials exist now, and
one is just in the dream stages. Plastics are being used
more, both in Western Europe and the United States. A
couple of the consortium members of Operation Breakthrough
are using plastic and have made it an important and
intricate part of their modular units. An on-going
research project in the Netherlands is using plastics to
reduce the weight and cost of panel and modular units.
Moshe Safdie and his design group have developed concrete
half the thickness and weight of the concrete that they
used for Habitat. This is essential if building time,
costs, and flexibility of design are to be achieved by
prefabricated modular unit development. The dream is a
polymorphic material with one-fifth the weight of concrete,
twice the strength of steel, it would be able to provide
insulation, it would have compressive strength and density,

and it would be able to be impermeable to water.

121

After taking a look at the specific work being
done in Western Europe and North America there still is
no clear out way of evaluating an essential part of the
structure, the space that is defined by it. One can
discuss costs, quality of materials, construction
techniques--one can evaluate them--but unless society can
accurately evaluate and design social and functional space
before a structure is built society still will not have a
method for the evaluation and design of a total structure.
To meet this end this author has created a notation for
the evaluation and design of micro- and macro-space.

This was essential, all was meaningless without this.
It would be modular units and panel systems but only a
personal aesthetic judgment and an economic one for
measuring their value without the notation.

With the creation of this notation it then became
possible to evaluate and design spaces. This was done in
both Chapters III and IV using existing structures on one
hand and creating others by the use of the criteria on the
other.

Society must realize it is necessary if we are
going to continue to survive in this world without
revolution and misery, without homeless peoples or people
living in inadequate shelters, that one has to have the
means for providing good quality dwelling units at a low

cost in massive quantities. And to evaluate these units

122

before their construction so as not to waste time, money,
and, most importantly, countless lives that have had their
hopes and aspirations first raised, then dashed, by our
inability to be able to provide the necessities of life.
This is why one can see the advantages, the down-
right necessity and urgency for the further development
and refinement of prefabricated modular dwelling units.
It might very well be one of our few remaining hopes,
already too many people are homeless or inadequately
sheltered. Society has the means at hand, it would be

unfortunate if we did not use them.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Hall, Edward T. The Hidden Dimension. New York:
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Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
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Jeanneret, Charles Edouard. "Le Corbusier." The Modulor.
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123

124

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Von Eckardt, Wolf. Life for Dead S aces. New York:
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Wright, Frank Lloyd. The Living City. New York: Bremhall
House, 1958.
Magazines and Periodicals

"A Three-Bedroom Modular House That Arrives by Truck."
House and Garden (February, 1972), 62-67.

"Design--Germany--Suspended Towards the Sun." Arena/
Interbuild (January, 1968), 19-20.

Drew, Jane E. "Viewpoint--United Kingdom--Home Space in
Relation to Environment." Arena/Interbuild
(January, 1968), 27-28.

"France--Fiorio System Used in Marseille." Arena/Interbuild
(January, 1966), 28-29.

 

"Germany, Six-Point Star System." Arenallnterbuild
(March, 1968), 35-38.

"Germany--The Trouble With Variety." Arena/Interbuild
(January, 1967), 28—29.

"Housing--Germany--Prefabrication Programme." Arena/
Interbuild (January, 1968), 34-35.

Hultberg, Erik. "An Adaptable and Expandable System for
Row Houses." Ekistics, XXXI, No. 183 (February,
1971), 176-78.

"Ingenious Equipment-~New, Electric, Versatile, Compact."
House and Garden (February, 1972), 68-69.

125

"Italy--Stee1 Frame and Concrete Panels, Moviter System."
Arena/Interbuild (August, 1965), 34.

"Netherlands--Steel and Plastics." Arena/Interbuild
(March, 1966), 36-37.

"Research--United States." Arena/Interbuild (March, 1968),
9-130

"Switzerland--The Mail Order System is Here." Arena/
Interbuild (January, 1967), 24-25.

"United Kingdom--Living in a Stressed Skin Canister."
ArenalInterbuild (January, 1967), 20-21.

"United Kingdom--Permanent But Extendable." Arena/
Interbuild (July, 1967), 45.

"United Kingdom--Specialized System for a Specialized
Market." Arena/Interbuild (May, 1967), 41.

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