I don't quite know what my title is yet. I think I am still developing exactly what I am trying to accomplish, but it will be something along the lines of "Is Pre-fab construction desirable for an educational or institutional structure?" But, I think it will have to be more narrow than that. I want to know if it is more than desirable but also preferable.
2. ABSTRACT
Pre-fabricated housing is touted as the way the industry is moving. Tract housing is built so quickly and semi-efficiently, with basic designs and little customization that it does seem to be a step many builders would be willing to take. In other parts of the world, especially less populated countries and areas that don't have much in the way of construction or construction materials, it is more efficient and cost-effective to haul in pre-fabricated pieces and perform the simpler joinery on site. What if the pieces were more standardized to allow for a smaller catalog to create many different uses? Can the standard pre-fab house catalog be used to create educational or industrial structures?
Can pre-fab also begin to address other issues close to my heart, like combatting sprawl, creating spaces that are not only usable but address the needs of its occupants (now and in the future) by also being adaptable, and allowing for reuse after it has completed its life cycle. While I love (maybe hate is the better word?) the idea of planned obsolescence and would like to tie it into my thesis, I am not sure yet the role it would play.
Can The Long Tail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Tail) apply to architecture? The notion that there can be an infinite number of options as defined by the user is very interesting to me. Where now instead of a few huge musicians there can be thousands of modestly successful musicians seems like it should translate well to architecture.
3. PROGRAM
The program will include indoor and outdoor spaces. We have recently worked on two new Columbus City Schools projects, so I could use their program requirements as a starting point if I choose to design an educational facility.
4. SITE
The site will be downtown Columbus. Images are forthcoming.
It is important to me that my thesis address an infill site as opposed to a more loosely zoned site. I think to properly test the ideas, the structure built must be more than one story, and also have a smaller or constricted footprint. If the building can work on a tough site, then I think it will be easier to theorize that it can work on other sites, similar or not.
5. TECHNOLOGY
Sustainability and adaptability are very important. If pre-fab truly is the future of construction, it is vital that it address these technological issues. Also, with technologies changing so quickly, buildings built just 15 years ago are becoming obsolete. (Anyone remember the name of the health center in Columbus, that just last year became obsolete after the city spent millions on the new facility 15 years ago? I think it was on the south side. Google is no help.)
6. RESOURCES
In addition to the basic bibliography below, I think a VERY valuable source will be the book that just came in the mail yesterday.
Refabricating Architecture: How Manufacturing Methodologies Are Poised to Transform Building Construction by Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake.
5 comments:
Carli,
A couple of thoughts...
1. Educational, institutional, and residential projects are vastly different animals. You are very obviously interested in the pre-fab aspects of residential construction... how is the leap to educational architecture made? Not that I think that it is a bad idea, just curious as to your thoughts.
2. The "standardized house catalog" applied to another project type... does the catalog morph to adapt to the larger building type of schools or institutional projects? Is it merely the size of panels that changes? What types of veneers? Large curtain wall systems? High volume spaces such as auditoriums and gymnasiums? Schools encompass such a wide variety of program spaces and none of them work exactly the same from school district to school district. How is the catalog adaptable to the end user?
3. Most importantly... how does the pre-fab nature of the catalog affect the student? How can this system enhance and better a child's education? The sole purpose of building better schools is to better educate our childrem, in my humble opinion.
Also... two key elements in educational design are natural daylighting and acoustics. I believe, if not already, there will be acoustical guidelines written into the code for classrooms. These are meant to make sure students in the rear of the classroom can hear properly. There are studies out there that support/suggest that students in the rear of classrooms have a tendancy to perform lower than students who sit closer to the front of the classroom due to auditory aspects of teaching. For example, young children learning new words and the alphabet... or high school students learning a foriegn language and the correct pronunciation of words...
... just more things that I was thinking about after reading your prelim stuff. As you might have guessed educational architecture is something that I am passionate about...
Carli, Something else that has been recently implemented into the educational aspect with Ohio is LEED. From what I can remember the state is requiring each school to meet a Gold rating as a minimum. Don't hold me to this but I believe it was Gold.
Carli,
You might also look into the differences between the public schools, private and charter schools. It seems like there is a lot of controversy surrounding the public schools and the charter schools - maybe different elements/components differ and contribute to students leaving the school district or maybe that the Columbus public schools are just crime ridden and horrible....
hey carli, its matty....so i was catchin up on your thesis and saw you were doing pre-fab....I remember that Krista did that for her thesis...looks great!
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