Refabricating Architecture Review - WordPress.com

Jill Lekse

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Professor Marie Sorenson, AIA

EDAD 760 Thesis Prep Refabricating Architecture By Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake STATE TOPIC construction methodologies impacts

SUMMARIZE ARGUMENT Kieran and Timberlake begin with an evaluation of the process engineer and analyze how his mindset can be applied to architecture and manufacturing. The authors then begin a comparison of the architect as a master builder to the product engineer and contractor, focusing on the role of assembly, which leads into their review of how systems can be used to both design and regulate. Invisible processes are discussed next in the context of shipbuilding and airplane and car manufacturing before their application to architecture is discovered. The next two segments juxtapose the ability of architecture to act as a commodity or provide mass customization and combine the two into an argument for fabrication over construction. DESCRIBE WHAT IS BEING ANALYZED THE PROCESS ENGINEER AND THE AESTHETICS OF ARCHITECTURE Architecture now is either an art or a commodity and architecture as commodity is driven by principals of economy and value. Architects can borrow the tools of the process engineer because the process of making, which has become more and more mechanized, is no longer a linear event. 1. Art vs. Commodity 2. Hand vs. The Machine 3. Quality and Scope vs. Cost and Time 4. Integration of Making Processes 5. The Car 6. Integrated Component Construction ROLE REMINDERS IN THE NEW WORLD The architect should be a master builder capable of controlling the form and materials of the design while understanding that though the material scientist has a vast knowledge of new materials they are designing for purpose over style. The same can be said of the product engineer who packages parts of the whole before shipping, but is more concerned with efficiency. The modern architect must make use of this knowledge and find a way to consolidate these ideas into a pleasing design. 1. Filippo Brunelleschi 2. Building Materials 3. Components 4. Airplane Assembly 5. Integration of Materials 6. Integrated Components ENABLING SYSTEMS AS REGULATORY STRUCTURE Even though the process of creating and constructing architecture has become extremely complex it is still a largely linear process rather than borrowing from manufacturing and producing elements simultaneously. There is also a discrepancy between the way architecture is using 3D modeling software versus how airplane manufacturers are using it, which is to model the results of design decisions while architects are only using the software to represent buildings. 1. Modularity 2. Hierarchical Systems 3. Sequential vs. Simultaneous 4. Conceptual vs. Physical Framework 5. Representation vs. Simulation 6. Design Tools 7. “Effectivites” PROCESSES WE DO NOT SEE The process of shipbuilding and how it has evolved from a bottom up system to one that now uses the assembly of “grand blocks” that are manufactured off-site and have significantly reduced the amount of time spent on the construction site. Airplane manufacturing operates in the same way by assembling pre-made modules, and the authors argue that if architecture were to follow this framework it could be revolutionized. 1. Part-By-Part Construction

2. Shipbuilding 3. “Grand Blocks” 4. Smart Modules (Military Applications) 5. Airplanes 6. Cars 7. Joints ARCHITECTURE The goals of modern architects to achieve some greater architecture through new processes of fabrication have failed because the focus was too narrow, and by not taking into account both fabrication and final design the resultant architecture has fallen flat. Design has moved from mass production to mass customization, and by using new technologies and incorporating new materials architecture has grown complex and a way to combat that complexity is through constructing parts in a factory setting. 1. Modern Architectural Theory 2. Off-Site Fabrication 3. Mass Production 4. Mass Customization 5. “Necessary State of Mind” 6. Collective Intelligence 7. Material and Form 8. Union Labor and Design 9. Building Infrastructure MASS CUSTOMIZATION OF ARCHITECTURE A comparison between Ford’s Model T and the Dell computer is made with the question of which path architecture should follow; one of systematic production or mass customization. The authors then present a list of pre-fab building systems ranging from door systems to entire modular buildings, making the argument that architecture can achieve both the systematic approach of Ford with the customization of Dell. 1. Ford Automobile 2. Dell Computers 3. Snowflakes 4. Duke Doors 5. Assa Abloy Doors 6. Levine Walls 7. Pierson Vanity 8. Cornell Bathroom 9. Pierson Modular Buildings EVOLUTION, NOT REVOLUTION The authors imagine a future where the Boeing 747 assembly plant in Everett, WA has been repurposed to instead manufacture complex building components. In this fantasy the construction of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House is completed in three days: the first day is delivery, the second is assembly, and the third the owners are handed the keys. 1. Component assembly DESCRIBE WHAT COUNTS AS EVIDENCE / HOW THE ARGUMENT IS CONSTRUCTED Kieran and Timberlake use their analysis of shipbuilding and car and airplane manufacturing as evidence that the way architecture is being constructed is stagnant when compared to models of other complex systems. The specialization in the fields that support architecture, particularly material sciences and product design, have diminished the architects ability to retain full command over the design.. However, Kieran and Timberlake do not advocate for the architect to return to the days of the Master Builder, rather that they interpret the knowledge provided to them from specialists and internalize it into their design capabilities. Throughout the book images of familiar objects and buildings are made graphically iconographic which, when presented with text, provide the reader with clear diagrammatic depictions. The use of pre-fabricated modules or components is presented as a way for architecture to benefit from the advances of manufacturing as well as a way to add customization to an off-site product. In addition to the manufacturing processes of complex systems the authors also look at the process of quilting as a simultaneous framework that allows for several people to work all at once creating chunks that are later assembled into a finished product. The works of Le Corbusier, Robert Venturi, and Frank Ghery are analyzed and their different approaches to construction and assembly are compared to that of cars, ships, and planes. DESCRIBE WHAT IS MISSING FROM THE ARGUMENT 1. What contemporary architects are using modules or components and are they doing it successfully? When does a designer start thinking about modules, early in the design or are they later fit in? 2. What are the downsides to modules /components?