Prefab

Prefabricated house have done a lot to earn their reputation for being cheap and ugly, and indeed, the prevailing vision of prefab—endless rows of cookie cutter structures built with cheap materials and substandard construction methods—is, unfortunately, fairly accurate. But now and throughout prefab's history, there have been many exceptions to the rule. Ground-breaking proposals from architects and designers such as Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Jean Prouve, Albert Frey, Buckminster Fuller, Sir Richard Rogers, Archigram, Kisho Kurokawa, and Philippe Starck, have emerged since Sears, Roebuck & Co. first marketed their Houses by Mail to the general public in 1908. Prefab examines the fascinating history of prefabricated housing over the last century to reveal a wealth of practical and attractive alternatives to the status quo.

Prefab's primary focus is the work of more than twenty-five contemporary architects and designers who are exploring the myriad possibilities that prefabrication offers for housing for the future. From the poetic construction of Shigeru Ban to the industrial minimalism of KFN's portable structures, from the fantastical digitized aluminum prototypes of Greg Lynn to the stylish functionality of IKEA's prefab apartments, Prefab presents a series of innovative homes and concepts that boldly demonstrates how far this much maligned building technique has come, and how fat it can go. In doing so, Prefab endeavors to inspire a change in the way people think of housing and the way the architects, builders, developers, and financial institutions approach it—and ultimately, the way individuals live in it.

Prefab houses have done a lot to earn their reputation for being cheap and ugly, and indeed, the prevailing vision of prefab-endless rows of shabbily constructed cookie cutter structures built with cheap materials-is, unfortunately, fairly accurate. But now and throughout prefab's history, there have been many exceptions to the rule, as evidenced by groundbreaking projects from architects and designers from Le Corbusier to Buckminster Fuller, the Eameses to Philippe Starck. Prefab takes a look at prefabricated housing's fascinating history and imagines its promising future by presenting a group of innovative homes and concepts from over 30 contemporary architects and designers including Shigeru Ban, Thomas Sandell, David Hertz, Greg Lynn, and KFN. By showing how far this much maligned building technique has come, and how far it can go, Prefab endeavors to inspire a change in the way people think about housing, and the way architects, builders, developers and financial institutions approach it--and ultimately, the way individuals live in it.

Allison Arieff is a writer, senior editor of the architecture magazine dwell, and co-author of Trailer Travel. She is also the editor of several books on art and culture, including Airstream: A History of the Land Yacht and Hatch Show Print: The History of a Great American Poster Shop. She lives in San Francisco

BRYAN BURKHART is the designer and co-author of Airstream: The History of the Land Yacht and Trailer Travel: A Visual History of Mobile America. As creative director of his own firm, Modernhouse, he has designed books for Taschen, Chronicle Books, and Gibbs-Smith Publishers. Arieff and Burkhart live in San Francisco.