Scalable Modular Apartment Building

156 Pages·2015·18.9 MB·English

Scalable
Modular
Apartment
Building
+
MA Architecture Thesis
Politecnico di Milano
A.Y. 2014.2015 / Supervisor_Joseph di Pasquale / Students_ Ekow
Aseda Inkoom_Abhay Kaushik, Aamir Ahmed Patel_Aleksandra
Makuch_Pablo Muñoz Montaner_Angelo Michele Pagano, Matteo
Piras_Diana Ranghetti, Michele Tomasini_Yifan Zhang
index
#
Index
index
+
ABSTRACT 0
1
SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH 10
1.1 Condition of change 10
1.1.1 Evolutive society 10
1.1.2 Changing necessities 11
1.2 Global life 13
1.2.1 Nomadic existence 13
1.2.2 Glocality 15
1.3 Design that does not fulfill the needs 18
1.3.1 Slow construction and renovation 18
1.3.2 Fixed condition of housing 19
1.4 A new housing conception 20
2
ADVANCED PREFABRICATION 24
2.1 A brief history 24
2.1.1 Early stages of prefab 24
2.1.2 Early Advancement 28
2.2 Case studies 32
2.2.1 Prefab elements 33
2.2.2 Prefab components 34
2.2.3 Panelized structure 35
2.2.4 Advanced prefab 36
2.3 Common thoughts on prefab 37
2.3.1 Architect’s perception 37
2.3.2 People’s perception 38
2.4 Why did prefabrication failed? 40
advanced prefabrication
3
MODULAR ARCHITECTURE 44
3.1 Implication 44
3.2 Case studies 45
3.3 The limits of Modular Architecture 49
4
PREFABRICATION + MODULAR 52
4.1 Hybrid trends - Implications 52
4.2 Case studies 56
4.3 Info graphics comparative 100
5
HYBRID SYSTEMS: MODULAR INDUSTRIALIZED ARCHITECTURE 102
5.1 Hybrid system: a techno-typological innovation 102
5.2 The four “P”: Put in Place, Plug & Play 104
5.3 Real estate value 107
5.4 Augmented technology 108
5.5 Smart building: resources, energy, cost, time saving 111
5.5.1 Labor efficiency 111
5.5.2 Resource efficiency 115
5.6 Mother structure features 117
5.6.1 Urban interface 117
5.6.2 Vertical urbanization 119
5.6.3 Lift as public transport 120
5.6.4 M obility hub 121
5.7 Main features of scalable modular system 121
5.7.1 Flexibility 121
5.7.2 Expandability 122
5.7.3 Adaptability 122
5.7.4 Customization 123
5.7.5 Transportability 123
5.7.6 Instant house 123
advanced prefabrication
6
ECONOMICS AND REAL ESTATE MARKET 124
6.1 Financial Considerations of the modular construction 124
6.2 Financing 127
6.3 Economics and the Value of the House 129
6.4 Labor Markets 131
6.6 Modular makes sense 132
6.7 Interview with Mike Adel 133
7
URBAN CONTEXT 134
7.1 A Brief History of the Collective Settlements 134
7.1.1 The Mid-19th Century 134
7.1.2 The Late 19th Century to the Early 20th Century 136
7.1.3 The Early 20th Century to the Present 137
7.2 The Dynamic Urbanism 141
7.2.1 An Ever-Changing City Environment 141
7.2.1.1 The Fourth Dimension 141
7.2.1.2 An Homogeneous and Heterogeneous City 143
7.2.2 A Dynamic Tribe 144
7.2.2.1 The Instant Neighborhood 144
7.2.2.2 Temporary Co-space 145
7.2.3 The Future Nomad 147
7.2.3.1 Inhabitants as City Creators 147
7.2.3.2 New Living Situation 148
*
BIBLIOGRAPHY 150
abstract
+
Abstract
6
abstract
Do our houses really seem to their house projects implemented
belong to our contemporary times? the latest achievements of social,
Have them the same technological scientific and technological
content of all other tools we use progress of the times.
nowadays such as smartphones They actually tried to imagine
and latest car models? the housing of the future. And
The answer is definitively not ! We they succeed in it. Because
are almost resigned to consider we are nowadays living in the
houses as something structurally materialization of what they’ve
different in terms of modernity thought and immagined almost
compare the other contemporary 100 years ago. Another important
products. People probably think moment of sperimentaion was
that what is necessary in a car or during the sixties and the seventies
in a phone in terms of interface of the last century.
and flexibility of use can not be We think that is again the moment
asked to a house. Therefore our for architects to think forward and
general approach in perceiving imagine a new way to conceive and
the product “house” is to consider live the house. This because houses
it as something structurally old, have been left many steps back
something that can can not be at compare to the boosted progress
the same level of modernity of all of our contemporary life in the last
other products we use today. ten years. Concept like “modularity,
But not always has been like that scalability, reconfigurability,
in the past. For instance in the flexibility, mobility” are composing
twenties and thirties of the last a sort of “way to think” with which
century the modern house was we are use to deal many of our daily
the symbol of modernity and activities.
progress. At that times the most After a decade of Real Estate
important architects in the world ruling the entire phenomenon of
worked and designed outstanding new urbanization, the room for
new architectural figurations, and innovation has been really small
7
advanced prefabrication
and limited to “ecology” and “energy music and travel industry, tourism
saving” items. In other words the and hotellerie are deeply changing
main efforts to innovate housing because of this. All the other
has been concentrated on materials productive fileds should face this
and technologies connected with genetic chanhe of consumers.
the production phase and the life Including housing industry of
cycle of a building. Very few has course.
been done to revolutionize the In future if a family will need an extra
“house” as a product seen by the room for their appartment they
consumer point of view. Is enough expert to take their ipad, choose
for a consumer just to live in a and configure their new room, order
house that needs less resources it and wait some weeks for the extra
to be heated and cooled? What room to be installed in one day time
about consumer’s needs and without any noise or building site
expectations concerning the way troubles. This is where tecnology
this house fits contemporary life will lead.
conditions and social needs? Our approach has been focused
For nowadays users things like exactly in this direction: try to
“building site noise and troubles imagine a product “house” that
for refurbishing”, “wait for year a is able to do something that the
new house”, “stress to choose and actual houses can not do. New
to arrange fornitures”, “rigidity of a functions, new possibilities, a
house in case of extension need”, new level of involvement of the
have become totally unecceptable! consumer into the personalization
Today we search something on and configuration of his own house.
internet, we take our smartphone In this post crisis decade that we are
and we order it on Amazon paying about to live consumers are waiting
by credit card. The following day new products for spent thier money.
we have the thing at opur place. Of If houses will not change and if real
course this will change everything. estate developer will try to sell them
It has already revolutionized the the obsolete leftover stock, they will
8
advanced prefabrication
put their money somewhere else. user to manage his modular house,
If a new product will appear in this as allowed by the new technologies,
filed the user will pay the extra cost is the core of the innovation that
for the extra funtions that this new the reseach group in university has
“advanced house” che provide. proposed.
Therefore the technological Scalability allows the users to
problem is not to find new extend their house according with
processes to built cheeper houses. the changes that occur in their life
The point is conceive and put on the such us marriage, a new baby or
market housing systems that can a new activity. Even when grown
do something new, that can provide kids leave the house and part of
new funtions, in zero time delivery, the space can be rearranged and
and ready to use without any middle separated to be rent becoming a
man. The market will pay extra this source of revenues.
new housing as a premium product. Afterall the main target of this
We have considered the house as an thesis works is to update the
hybrid scalable system composed concept of our houses and to fill
by two elements: the mother the huge gap existing between
structure that is the permanent their nature and the new lifestyle in
infrastructure of the house and a wich we are living today. This has
modular system that is inserted revolutionized our way to live and
into the mother structure that is to perceive the world in the last ten
configurable directly from the user, years, therefore also housing should
industrialized and prefabricated. The be deeply reconceived to satify a
modular house can can be ordered totally changed client and users
and configured directly by the user expectations and needs.
by internet. It can be installed,
extended and reconfigured in one
day time.
The combination of this two
elements and the possibility for the Joseph di Pasquale
9
A Sociological Approach
1
A Sociological
Approach
1.1.1 Condition of change: of creatures change over time,
Evolutionary Society new types of creatures develop
When trying to recognize different and others disappear”. Considering
fundamental aspects in human this, humans have developed a
development, perhaps one of the fundamental ability of adaptation,
most important characteristic is its allowing them to live in different
own condition of change. living conditions and environments:
A basic definition of change can ...“Parents pass adaptive genetic
be understood as: “to make or changes to their offspring… ...As
become different, or to do, use, or a result, the offspring inherit
get one thing in place of another those genetic characteristics that
thing”. Subsequently, if a different enhance their chances of survival…
definition seems to be necessary ...Over time, genetic change can
for the purposes of this thesis, a alter a species’ overall way of
different analysis should be made life, such as what it eats, how
considering the specific relationship it grows, and where it can live.
between the human race and Human evolution took place as new
society. This relationship can be genetic variations in early ancestor
defined through the conception of populations favored new abilities to
evolution. adapt to environmental change and
Evolution can be described so altered the human way of life”....
as “the process by which the Human evolution should not be un-
physical characteristics of types derstood just as an individual pro-
10