I'm surprised by all the negativity here; this seems like a fairly practical version of Buckminster Fuller's ideas around prefabricated buildings - achieving significant savings in materials, labour and time.
This is a practical demonstration of a streamlined factory-based building construction system. The general idea has been around as long as the industrial revolution, but it seems to me that their impressive execution of it really marks the start of a major technological shift.
I don't believe that the objections come down to the principle of prefabrication itself, but the execution. In Europe and the Anglo-sphere, we've learned the hard way that when we try to regiment human lives to rigid efficient clean modernist boxes... it doesn't work and there are social consequences. Our buildings, our homes and our workspaces must conform to us, and not the other way around.
I have trouble believing that social consequences are relieved through the unique designs of houses that people live in. But even that isn't the point, there is no reason that each house can't be unique and prefabricated.
Agreed. My point was simply that I don't believe it's prefabrication itself that folks are taking issue with. It's the fact that we're talking about a sterile, impractical and dehumanising box.
Comments
I'm surprised by all the negativity here; this seems like a fairly practical version of Buckminster Fuller's ideas around prefabricated buildings - achieving significant savings in materials, labour and time.
This is a practical demonstration of a streamlined factory-based building construction system. The general idea has been around as long as the industrial revolution, but it seems to me that their impressive execution of it really marks the start of a major technological shift.
I don't believe that the objections come down to the principle of prefabrication itself, but the execution. In Europe and the Anglo-sphere, we've learned the hard way that when we try to regiment human lives to rigid efficient clean modernist boxes... it doesn't work and there are social consequences. Our buildings, our homes and our workspaces must conform to us, and not the other way around.
I have trouble believing that social consequences are relieved through the unique designs of houses that people live in. But even that isn't the point, there is no reason that each house can't be unique and prefabricated.
Agreed. My point was simply that I don't believe it's prefabrication itself that folks are taking issue with. It's the fact that we're talking about a sterile, impractical and dehumanising box.