Home Delivery: Wrapping It Up With The Cellophane House
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.11.08
Four years ago I was invited to speak about prefab housing at a conference in Austin, Texas. I was building prefabs at the time, and was one of the early bloggers about modern prefab; I thought I knew just about all there was to know about the subject.
Then Steven Kieran and James Timberlake got up to speak and I quickly learned how little I really knew, how they were a generation ahead in sophistication. I first learned terms like "mass customization" and "chunking"; followed analogies to the automotive, aircraft and shipbuilding industries, and fell in love with the first drawings of the Loblolly house, which I have followed in these pages ever since. I saw that prefab wasn't just about building in a factory, but was about reinventing the way we build, not just where.
"Chunking" is what car manufacturers do; they have subassemblies that are put together into modules, and then put together into the finished product. Builders already do a bit of that, buying pre-hung doors and nail-in windows. KieranTimberlake take it to the next level on the Cellophane House:
"All of the components of the house including the wall partitions, stairs, bathrooms, NextGen SmartWrap™ facade, and walkways are fabricated independently and simultaneously, so the assembly of individual housing components is not dependent on the completion of the others. We refer to these as “sub-chunks.” These sub-chunks are individual housing components that are part of a larger portion of the building. For example, the louvers on the roof and its adjoining stud wall are assembled at the same time, which is not possible in typical construction. Each aluminum frame chunk is filled with the completed sub-chunks. A traditional stud wall can take weeks to construct if it is built in succession, but the partitions and panels in Cellophane House take just a few days to assemble."
The chunk's structure is an extruded aluminum section that can be put together with reversable connections, so that it can be taken apart and rebuilt in different forms. The design is built around standard lengths, so modification is easy (compared to conventional deconstruction).
Such a flexible system also allows for "mass customization". The architects write:
"A common perception of “prefab” housing is that originality and site specificity are lost in the manufacturing process. A goal of our project was to design a system of building that has a flexible set of rules that enable multiple outcomes, as opposed to one that relies on repetitive details. Throughout design development, we aimed to eliminate “one of one” situations, where a single design solution is applied to a unique scenario. The connectors we designed to use with a commercially available frame extend its capabilities beyond its intended use, and the end product can be scaled and customized to meet the needs of the individual consumer. "
The house is wrapped in NextGen SmartWrap, a concept that the architects first demonstrated in 2003. They imagine printing a wall to suit, with light diffusing patterns and photovoltaics printed in as required. The idea of filling it with phase changing materials and illumination are not quite ready for prime time, but probably soon one will be able to order up a wall with all kinds of thermal storage and insulation, lighting and power generation much like you do a custom T-shirt.
I am impressed but unconvinced by the stairs, made of acrylic, lit from within with LEDs, and fitted together with mortise and tenon joints requiring no fasteners or adhesives; They seem like they were done because they could be done, but do not really fit in with the philosophies of using reuseable materials.
I suspect that there are many who would say that this house is the antithesis of green design, using elaborate computer programs and Building Information Management technologies to design, expensive aluminum sections to build, and the most sophisticated plastic and silicon high-tech cladding on the planet.
On the other hand, you can take it apart with a wrench, it generates its own power, and the basic structural system can essentially be used forever. It is also a demonstration of pushing the technological building envelope to the very edge; like so many things that came out of the space program that are now part of our everyday life, there are ideas here that in ten years will probably be part of every building. ::Cellophane House at ::Home Delivery
Other Posts in this Series on MoMA Home Delivery:
Home Delivery: The Micro Compact Home Comes To America
System3 House Installed at MoMA Home Delivery Exhibition
Home Delivery : BURST*008 : TreeHugger
Home Delivery : Digitally Fabricated Housing : TreeHugger
More on Kieran Timberlake in
Kieran Timberlake + Living Homes= LBS
What Makes a Building Green? Kieran Timberlake Architects
The Wired Home Goes Green: First Pix of Loblolly House
Loblolly House: Pictures at Last
Loblolly House in Architectural Record
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Stair of the Week: Clayton St House by Mork-Ulnes Design
- SEED [pod] Incremental Housing from Binary Studios
- A Clean Break: Modern Prefab Comes to Philadelphia
- Prefab? High Concept? Green?
I don't see why this idea would be bad. i mean, they do this in Japan already and the house is good for the enviornment, saves space, and is self-sufficient. i'd definitley buy one.
Im sorry but why does Eco housing have to be modern style? My wife and I plan to build an eco house which will have a classical country style, but will be built with natural and modern materials. Why do we always have to see eye sores like the one in the picture which cannot blend with nature in regard to taste?
I'd be interested if it was affordable.
It's nice to see that KieranTimberlake's innovative building approach is being rolled into the Living Homes ine. The Living Homes KT series are very interesting for their design as well as the price (starting at $215/sqf). I'm looking forward to seeing what Living Homes and Kieran Timberlake can do in the next few years.
Doug
http://www.theprefabs.com
It hinges on the reality of this house being able to persist for a very long time, or the likelihood of it's being disassembled and the components readily reused in another building or project. Will the materials last well enough to justify the effort to reuse them?
Best of all is to build well and thoughtfully, so that the building is cherished, looked after and able to persist for centuries in one place, with periodic modification, maintenance and updating. Your life cycle analysis changes enormously when the structure lasts for three hundred years versus forty years.
There's a lot of embodied energy in aluminum, mine tailings, transport costs, etc. Future building components might also be so much better that there is little need or desire to reuse these pieces.
I can take most houses apart with a hammer and a pry bar. Do it carefully and most of those parts can be readily reused without a great deal of thought and effort. 2x4 platform framing IS an industrialized system building approach. Months to build walls? Not on any of my crews.
There can be advantages to offsite building fabrication, but it's not inherently superior to site built approaches. Often the efficiencies and economies are illusory or outweighed by higher transport costs, and the problems of contending with site irregularities. Despite advances, building is still an approximate science.
A great Dutch architect published a book about twenty years ago about his successful implementation of mass-customization, where a small palette of materials let to nearly infinite variability and allowed for changeable personal expression in buildings. Really fine work.
It's not an environmentally friendly house if there is a place to park a car in it.
i would just like to respond to Mark Kiernan as to why eco homes "have to be modern style":
the designer in me wants to just say that we are living in modern times not country times, we are using the materials and methods of today not yesterday...but i'll also offer more of an explanation that relates to the way i design...
louis sullivian once said "form follows function", in other words, a designers major concern is how a house works, not what it looks like, so the simple geometric shapes, modern materials and large expanse of windows have to do with materials efficiency, using the best material/tool for a certain function & a better use the sun and wind
much of the style older homes typically have did serve a function at one time, however, things have advanced and much of those methods have improved (and therefore no longer look like they once did ie. divided light windows (a personal pet peeve) vs. large pane windows, sun shades etc.) or become outdated and are currently used purely as decoration which i think most would agree is a no-no for an eco home
that isn't to say you couldn't make a home that has a country style that is better for the environment than a typical home but better isn't our goal we want to do the best we can with what we have
good luck on your house but be aware of what you're putting into it and avoid things that aren't necessary and just for looks
Mark Kiernan:
that is your opinion, personally i would much rather live in a house like this rather than a county style house. that is the design that this firm feels comfortable with, research other firms if you do not like it.
Im sorry but why does Eco writing have to be modern style? I plan to write a book that will be in Olde English, which blends so much better with nature in regard to taste. Why can't more contemporary writers write in Olde English?
.. Seriously, though, we can't expect 21st century designers to just repeat the designs of yesteryear. We don't expect in in clothing, music, art (well, some do;) or other areas, so why are so many people resistant to the architechture of our times?
As for blending into nature, the architects point out that Cellophane House is designed to fit into the urban fabric of their home city, Philadelphia. Frankly, as a city dweller, I'm tired of seeing endless streams of prefabs that ape the conventions of suburban tract homes or mountain/beach/wherever retreats.
And while I agree with the whole, "make it beautiful, and it won't get torn down," ideal, the entire home improvement industry, plus the city of Detroit kind of underlines the unworkability of the whole concept. There are thousands of beautiful buildings rotting in Detroit, minus their copper pipes and wires, that is.
great project... and facade solution... ;)
This is definitely neither green nor economical - energy loss of this house will be huge due to thermal bridges ... Not menitioning metal/glass construction which is extermely energetically demanding and hard to reuse/recycle, compared to wood and other organic materials.
staryosel:
what about sustainability? embodied energy is one topic of a whole list for sustainability. wood is susceptible to insects, rot, and does not have the same structural integrity of steel.also, which do u think would last longer with minimal maintenance?
Just some information on the manufacturer of the Cellophane House and the Kullman Bathroom Pods in the installation. We do build green buildings and green Kullman Bathroom Pods. Rice University is also using the Kullman Bathroom Pods in their Leed certified Student Housing project being built currently.
Kullman, the leading worldwide provider of offsite constructed permanent steel and concrete multi-story buildings, as well as Kullman Bathroom Pods, has been retained by KieranTimberlake Associates of Philadelphia to build the Cellophane House for the Museum of Modern Artís (MoMA) exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.
Made of recyclable materials and equipped with photovoltaic panels for electricity and polypropylene panels for thermal insulation, the Cellophane House will be one of five full-scale prefabricated houses on exhibit in the outdoor space to the west of MoMA's building. Keeping with its moniker, the Cellophane House will be constructed utilizing mostly translucent materials.
Designed to be taken apart as easily as it is constructed, the house ís extruded aluminum frame is bolted together, and glass windows slide into place, eliminating the need for welding.
The project includes the assembly of the 14 sections for the five-story building in the companyís Lebanon, N.J., factory, as well as delivery to the exhibit site. The project also includes two Kullman Bathroom Pods, six-foot by eight-foot bathrooms with an outer shell constructed entirely of glass reinforced plastic (very similar to fiberglass) and connected to a steel frame, designed by Hopkins Architects Ltd. Outfitted with plumbing fixtures by Duravit, the Kullman Bathroom Pods include finished ceilings, wall finishes and light fixtures and are completed in the factory with plumbing, electrical and waste lines ready for plug & play installation once on site. Kullman Bathroom Pods were delivered to the project site, hoisted and set in place along with the house's 14 sections. Kullman Bathroom Pods are used for multi-story living spaces, hotels, hospitals, student and military housing.
The exhibit opens on July 20, 2008 and runs through October 20, 2008.
"Kullman is proud to partner with KieranTimberlake for the building of the Cellophane House," says Avi Telyas, CEO of Kullman. "This exhibit spotlights a movement toward mass customization in architecture, which will bridge the gap between offsite construction and manufacturing industries. Though offsite construction is currently not as prevalent in the United States as it is in Europe, we believe this exhibit will help make the case toward its viability and benefits versus conventionally constructed structures."
About Kullman
Kullman is the leading worldwide provider of offsite constructed permanent steel and concrete multi-story buildings and Kullman Bathroom Pods to a broad range of markets including education, healthcare, telecommunications, hospitality, government, and others. Utilizing Toyota's Lean Manufacturing techniques and Lean Construction project delivery systems, Kullman dramatically minimizes project site disruption, decreases the total project cost, and delivers a complete building in up to half the time of conventional construction. For over 80 years, Kullman has worked as a strategic partner with top architects and construction management firms offering design-build services that deliver architecturally robust buildings satisfying the most discerning clients. Headquartered in Lebanon, N.J., Kullman employs more than 190 professionals and craftsmen who perform many of the usually subcontracted trades in-house, thereby reducing project risks and additional transactions costs, while streamlining project delivery. Kullman's executives and project managers bring over 200 years of offsite construction experience to projects and jobsites. For more information on Kullman, call (908) 236-0220 or visit www.kullman.com.