Witold Rybczynski on Prefab

You might have heard Witold on NPR's Day to Day today. It's worth a listen. Basically, he provides an overview of the prefab market. I'm wondering. what do you think of his conclusions?

Marshall

Well, I am mixed about what he has to say. I think people are looking for good design that, yes, is not so expensive but that they can "order up"like they do a car. He mentions ipod or iphone and he's right, we want hip, cool houses and either don't have the knowledge, the money or the time or even hootzpah to approach an architect for a custom job. We want to buy it like we buy most things. Trying to get anything done from scratch this days seems insurmountable sometimes. So, prefab is a very attractive proposition. Is it cheap--well no, it's not. Is it cheaper than some alternatives, yes. It gives the buyer a degree of input that is satisfying, some sense of coolness that they wouldn't ordinarily have. We all thought it would be cheaper and it is when you really get into the business of duplication as Michelle Kaufmann and the others have done, but it's not cheap--because we don't really want cheap. You look at these boards with people asking about whether Duravit toilets are comfortable or not. Duravit ain't cheap. We want good design, and cheap is a dead end . . . how cheap can you go? Even Charles Eames got tired of that game. We do shop at Target but not exclusively. I see prefab housing like buying that new mini cooper. I get to figure out the color, whether it has a sports transmission, what kind of tires it has, etc. It's great and it's controlled input that is still very satisfying and I suppose it creates a connection between me and my object because I have had a say in what it looks like. I think that the prefab market fullfilled what a lot of folks were looking for, a reinvention of a housing market, we're not a huge chunk of the population, but large enough to want modern houses that we were not finding and we weren't particularly wealthy, so prefab fits the bill. We do have enough money to be particular about what we want. So, yes I agree with him that it's not cheap but I don't think that is really the point if we are honest about it. Deb

I had to read a few of Witold Rybczynski's books in architecture school. One must remember that his approach is biased towards an anti-modern design sentiment (if I am remembering him correctly). So I can see why he might take a critical approach to pre-fab. I know pre-fab has a long way to go, but I just don't see the housing market continuing to be dominated by site built construction in 50 years. Especially if energy costs continue to rise at the current rate. If nothing else think of the embodied energy in your home. I don't think it will be as streamlined as buying a car, but more oriented towards modular building systems that can create many designs, but can still get the benefit of being created in controlled envirionments, reduced waste, more precision, and more integration of new technologies and materials. I listened to the article once, but was interupted about 10 times, so I have to listen to it again before I comment on the actual story.

i had asked marshall last year about many issues that were brought up in this interview- from 09.06.06: "I am wondering where the value of these houses come in- I certainly appreciate the design and the ideas, but it seems like the total costs are disproportionate to the finished product. Considering this idea has been tried many times in the past with varying levels of success, but ultimately failure, (http://home.earthlink.net/~ronusny/) i think it would be difficult to achieve the scales of efficiency to make these truly affordable, if we use automobile production as a model for a customized affordable product, for example. ... i am just wondering what the appeal is and what the production number would be to start driving manufacture and consequently sale costs down, if that is even the intent." i still think, based on this interview that there are too many unrealistic expectations for this type of product and ultimately, a hybrid of prefab and site built will appear that takes advantage of the strengths of both systems. Right now- a 1700 s.f. MKD house for $300+ s.f. plus land, utilities, foundation and sitework? Of course, I wish everyone involved success, as they are very well thought out designs, but i question whether the business model has had as much attention in terms of longevity- In any case, very interesting interview and discussion!