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Wiktor Kidziak
Inter 6
Looking at precedents of how industrial processes have informed design opportunities, projects such as Dymaxion house show how using prefabricated aluminium panels can enable to bring affordable and high quality housing to the masses. Creativity and experimentation in the manufacturing of the asbestos cement house on Cuba and Metabolist Capsule Tower show how prefabricated flat with an integrated furniture can be used as a cheap accommodation in high density scenarios. Inspired by Buckminster Fuller, my intention is to combine the efficient, minimal use of material strategy with something that can stack vertically in dense urban environments like Metabolist structures but at the same time allow for more variation and range of different types and programmes which these precedents failed to bring. When doing initial tests we tried to find a folding mechanism that allows to create both structural skin and enclosure within one folding operation. We started to vary typologies, cutting out patterns and looking the relation between the efficiency of the material to the amount it can enclose. The more successful geometries were those with hexagonal sections as they allowed for the most efficient strip area to volume ratio and could produce arrangements with variable gaps between the pods that could act as ventilation shafts or light wells later in the housing project. We discovered pleating-locking mechanism to make a rigid folded geometry that can not be unfolded and investigated how it can be applied to a range of geometries.For 1:1 prototype we have chosen a geometry that would best demonstrate the structural performance of the panels that in an assembly form a rigid frame and skin of an enclosure. We have chosen to make it from 12 double-layered identical panels to standardise the manufacturing process and connection details. The order of the process was as follows from the marking of the pattern, cutting it out and folding with custom-made machine, we were able to stack it very efficiently on a pile and fit into regular van for transport to the school where we assembled it together in 14 hours and 500 rivets into single structural skin. By doing this entire exercise we learned that it is possible to quickly produce elements that are very thin quite precise but at the same time material quality and precision were actually lacking a bit to make it fully usable, so in reality this would have to be more accurate industrial process from durable strong material such as steel.When I started looking at the ways of packing and clustering of my geometries I realised that through this I can set up strategies for the quality of the housing project, that later on help negotiate between density, packing and minimum access to ventilation and light.These are further studies to see how residential (in blue colour) can cluster around public spaces (in red colour) that support the housing project. Or in larger clusters understanding how corridor systems (in blue) might resolve internal circulation of the cluster allowing for access to natural ventilation and light.Study of the angles and maximum spans of pods from the concrete core define a three-dimensional grid and variable trajectories along which the prefabricated modular pod is clustered to create a structure that is flexible in turning solid and void spaces into different programmes over time. The vertical section is explaining how the design fits into dense urban fabric and creates new programmatic functions (in blue colour) above street level. Highlighted in red are the concrete core circulation shafts that are used as anchors for the attaching steel pods.The construction drawing is showing a sequence of the assembly of completely prefabricated steel pods that are brought to the site on a truck lifted by the crane to snap with the concrete core and ready to be inhabited within few hours.Horizontal section through multiple apartments show that with the help of the industrial manufacturing we can deliver a high-quality housing system that mixes a range of types and programmes in dense urban scenario.