ReTuningWithPrefabrication_PAPER.pdf

Re-tuning existing houses with prefabrication

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Everett E Henderson Jr 2010-04-20 Professor Charlie Hailey


This paper discusses existing houses and their value, with attention to prefabricated systems and a short overview of prefabrication. A case study will be used to show how tuning can be applied to existing structures in order to better suit the current occupants and how prefabrication can assist in the process of retuning.

Existing houses are some of the most sustainable structures because resources have already been used to create the house. They may have a sound structure yet still be lacking in several ways. A concern with many existing houses is that they may not have been thoughtfully designed to be flexible and many of the programmed spaces are now obsolete and no longer meet the needs of the current occupants. Many houses that were once the idealization of the American dream were designed for a program that may no longer be valid.

Prefabrication in construction is defined as using components not assembled on site. Most houses constructed today have prefabricated components to some degree. Prefabricated techniques range from small components such as brick and shingles to larger components such as the bathtub and sink; however prefabrication could play an even larger role as entire walls and assemblies can be constructed off site to be assembled in factories. Prefabrication can offer advantages with respect to sustainability, economy and still remain site-specific. Prefabrication as an off-site construction in a factory setting allows for thoughtful and precise use of materials with little waste or weather delays in the manufacturing of the components.

Tuning a space can be the simple function of controlling amounts of light, views, sounds and smells. Tuning also has the ability to create a new occupiable condition, redirect traffic flow patterns, enclose more or less space, create conditioned spaces and create flexible multifunctional spaces. Tuning of the house with its new and existing spaces involves making decisions as to what needs to be expressed. Rethinking the whole rather than just adding to the building allows for sensitive tuning of the interior to the exterior as a valid solution to creating insightful spaces. Rather than destroy the structure entirely, the designer should rethink the existing spaces and improve them for immediate and future use. The Hexenhaus (Witch House) renovation is an excellent example of retuning an


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existing house. Alison and Peter Smithson worked with Axel Bruchhuser to redefine the spaces of the house. The use of simple prefabricated components was used to modify the existing house to be better suited for its occupants.

Image: Moving Hand based on Leonardos technique. (pencil on paper) Everett E Henderson Jr 1992


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The Great American Dream House

There is the potential today for new ways of thinking about design and construction

that did not exist sixty years ago. For example, sixty years ago a houses life was not

considered beyond its original design. The house was designed to sell the new American

culture with specific criteria relating to the American Dream. The dream that was being sold

was, in a sense, the naming of spaces. There was a focus to remove women from the

factories and get them back into their homes by providing new updated kitchens and all new

appliances. Men were also given a new space called a garage (Wright, G. 2005). This

tailoring of spaces was extruded from an apparent agenda that would sell the idea of the

dream house. Today there exists technology not imagined when houses were constructed in

the middle of the 20th century. This new technology can have spatial implications.

Prefabricated housing technology in particular now has the potential to get closer to the The

Great American Dream House (Nichols 2006).

The Dream House of the 1940s 1960s was sold as an idea rather than just bricks

and mortar. Leisurama is a good example of this marketing. President Nixon was promoting

the idea of the new kitchen as something that every American had available to them. Nixon

and Khurushchev battle it out at the 1959 American Exhibition in Moscow. This exchange is

commonly known as the "Kitchen Debate" (http://www.leisurama.info/multimedia.html). The

Leisurama house was sold by Macys department stores. It was marketed as a summer home

and the appliances, furniture, silverware and toothbrushes all were part of the inclusive

package. Many of these part time summer homes have been remodeled and added to due to

the fact that they are now being used as full time homes. (Leisurama, Figure 1). Many

houses of the era have been reworked to meet the needs of the new owner. Sadly many

other houses of the 1940s and 1960s have been destroyed to build newer houses.


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(Figure 1)

Prefabrication as a new tool, again

Prefabrication has been used in some form or fashion for well over 100 years. Bricks,

doors, and window assemblies would fall into the simplest forms of prefabrication. These

components were likely made off site and imported to the site to be installed. If this concept is

taken to the next level, larger units such as wall assemblies and whole bathroom modules for

example, can speed construction as well as precision. In 1944 it was stated that Any unit or

combination of units manufactured or cut to size before being brought to the building site

can, in a literal sense, be called prefabrication. As well as Prefabrication in the truly

industrialized sense is a very special approach to the problem of the "house"-an approach

made possible NOW, for the first time, when industry, research and material exist in the right

relationship to one another, making possible on intelligent application of these resources to

the needs of housing. (Arts and Architecture 1944, 29)

Architects in the United States since the early 1900s have been interested in the idea

of the prefabricated house (Herbert 1984) (Bergdoll 2008). Designers (to no avail) have


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proposed many different systems. Prefabrication to this day involves only new construction,

new houses from scratch. Prefabricated building systems are many. These systems range

from heavy pre-cast concrete systems, like the ubiquitous parking garage, to the lightweight

structural insulated panel systems. Some prefabricated systems today have the additional

design component of disassembly for reuse or recycling, which also allows for ease of repair

of components (Sobek 2002).

New ways of thinking about architecture involve, not our evolved minds, but rather the

new tools that have been developed over this short amount of industrialized time as well as

the new goals of sustainability about how to connect materials and form spaces. In the past,

prefabrication was used, but it was thought of as an end product to create a house in its

entirety (Graff 1947)(Arts & Architecture 1944)(Gilbert 1984). The tools today can include the

use of computers and the ability to illustrate new spaces before they are constructed.

Building Information Modeling for example (BIM) allows for not just an illustration of the

house, but also for the energy modeling, materials specified, as well as coordination between

the construction disciplines. Prefabrication today in the beginning of the 21st century offers

site specific design for off site construction with these new tools (Anderson 2007). The

artist, craftsman and designer now has the potential to be close to the tools they are using

(Wright 1901).

The Craftsman as Tuning Device

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. (Maslow)

Unless we know the tools, we cannot possibly control them nor begin to sense the limits and possibilities out of which solutions can emerge. (Robertson 1972).


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I will venture to say, from personal experience, that not one artist in a hundred has taken pains to thus educate himself. I will go further to say what I believe to be true, that not one educational institution in America has as yet attempted to forge the connecting link between science and art by training the artist to his actual tools, or, by a process of nature-study that develops in him power of independent thought, fitting him to use them properly. (Wright, F.L. 1901, 89).

A tool can be seen as a physical tool as well as a process of thought. Tuning the

capability of using a tool in conjunction with the thought process with very calculated

outcomes. A carpenter that has years of experience with a hammer will be able to understand

and see how materials will be affected with the use of the hammer on different nails and

different woods; more so than a novice. Once the tool and the thought have been used in

sync, then the craftsman is able to provide a continuous feedback loop. This means that they

are able to be more precise with respect to the outcome of the actual product. The end

product can then be closer to the craftsmans wishes.

The new craftsman of the 21st century needs to be in control of their tools. The closer

the craftsman gets to their tool(s) in understanding, the more they will be able to control the

end product. If a disconnect exists between the craftsman and the tool, then the end product

suffers as well as the spirit of the craftsman. (Sennett 2008). The perception of beauty can be

directly related to the craftsman and how in-tune they are with their tools. If the craftsman

controls the tools they have, they can express more correctly what they are trying to state

(Yanagi 1972).

Peter and Alison Smithson thought in terms of multifunctional spaces in their work.

They referred to this idea as conglomerate ordering. Conglomerate ordering is to build it

like a farmer when hes making a decision - well if I have to do all that work, I also want it to

do that and that and that. Everything should have multiple uses. (Smithson, 48)


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The craftsman, to have more control over the end product, must, if not create his or

her tools, at least completely understand the tool they are using. Letting the tool control the

end product exist in almost every level of life; for example all too often PowerPoint

presentations almost always look like a presentation created by that specific tool, regardless

of the information that is trying to be delivered. If the program hinders the point that the

presenter needs to get across to the audience, then the program / tool may need to be

reconsidered.

Case Study Illustration

Many houses built in the 1940s to the 1960s were built to a specific program of named

spaces and specific sizes. There is potential to re-tune these older structures with

prefabrication techniques using computer modeling to extend the life of older houses and

make viable and multifunctional once again. These older houses can become a canvas on

which new ideas about spaces and living can be retuned.

The house Hexenhaus (Witch House) for Axel Bruchhuser in Bad Karlshafen,

Hessen, Germany built 1986-2002 and designed by Alison and Peter Smithson will be used

as the case study (refer to Figure 2). The project was not designed specifically as a

prefabricated structure retrofit, but it is definitely a good example of the idea of delicate

tuning of space with the use of off site construction. While this house is not an American

house as described in the Great American Dream House section mentioned previously, I

believe it has potential to shed light on how to view and retune these houses.


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(Figure 2, Stcha 2010)

The gray section of the model in Figure 3 shows the existing house structure, while the

light colored wood shows the intervention within the existing house. The intervention has

been attached to the house to enclose more living space. At the ground level from the

exterior, the existing houses structure has been obscured and the new entries have been

pushed further out. Alison and Peter Smithson made multiple additions to the house and its

surrounding property. This paper focuses on the addition that attaches directly to the house.


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Retuning can involve many needs and wants from new owners. Examples of tuning

can include expressing or concealing, focusing or blurring, restricting or exposing and

filtering. The things that can be tuned are, for example: light, sound, smell, air and view.

Analyzing what has been done on the Hexenhaus, it is clear that the views have been

changed to focus on specific areas, light is now filtered through a series of prefabricated

furniture-quality wood frames that hold insulated glazing and newly conditioned space has

been provided by pushing the living space to the exterior of the house (Figure 4). Figure 5

shows the new space that has been enclosed (in yellow), while the new views (in red) are

extended past where the previous window and door enclosures were previously located.


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(Figure 5, Henderson 2010)

Conclusion

Since existing houses are some of the most sustainable structures because resources

have already been depleted to create the house, prefabrication offers a way to integrate the

past with the present with the craftsman and the sensitive use of materials.


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