INTRO

This is the 3rd century that architects are facing the idea of prefabrication. For a long time people have used it and they always considered it as the new big thing in architecture. 

But throughout history we see that it never became widespread and used by everyone, instead it was used only to supply a short period of time for a specific demand or for special needs such as natural disasters, the consequences of war or public events.

Now, trying to find the reasons for this gap between dreams and reality, it is essential to look up the main examples of prefabricated construction until today. 

This will help us to comprehend what happened before, the reasons why they built and maybe to not get trapped in the same mistakes of each system that got relegated in that specific time frame and it didn’t have the power to become widespread.

Now, unlike previous times, the visions of architects are not stopped by the issues related to building technology, but still prefabrication is being applied in a ‘traditional way’. The contemporary modular and prefabricated architecture looks like the actualization of Walter Gropius Cooper House or the Mobilcore System of the 1950’s, not much has changed.

So what would the conceptual idea be that will drive the prefabricated and modular construction of the years to come? 

How is it possible to interpret the present Bahraini condition to elaborate a modular architecture solving the needs of contemporary Bahraini users? 

And how to survive to obstacles and new needs of the future?

Rizzardi, P. (2015). ‘A story of Fast Architecture’, MIlan: Jamko

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Housing is a social condition that is able to determine the welfare of its inhabitant. The housing location and quality, which is influenced by the social environment, economy, culture, defines the life of the inhabitant. Welfare, security, assuredness of infrastructure, housing quality, environment quality and the human resources are the elements that should be sustainable. Housing as a physical function, is a shelter that is designed with physical building quality. As a social function, it is reviewed based on the inhabitant’s behavior (both individually and socially) with its environment.

The constant changes of material, location, and way of living, mandates the approach to implementation of flexibility by creating architecture that can change in size and needs without compromising the quality of the architecture. Considering the “house” as a product, it should be designed to cater the necessary needs of the end users in which it represents the latest achievements of social, scientific and technological progress in order to be adapted to the contemporary life.

In the past few years, Bahrain has focused on the elaborating innovative concepts for housing projects. Modularity is one of the concepts than can successfully integrate the objectives of the contemporary living. Modularity in design is a design approach that subdivides a system into smaller parts called modules that can be independently created and then used in different configurations. A modular system is characterized by functional partitioning into discrete scalable and reusable modules, modular interfaces and making use of industry standards for interfaces. The benefits of modular design are flexibility in design and reduction in costs, which is the aim targeted for large housing projects.

 

DESIGN CHALLENGE

For this year, the students are asked to develop an efficient module of a housing unit which can be set in a various innovative configuration solution in Bahrain which will receive acceptance socially, environmentally and physically. Culture traditions and social habits define who we are and how we live but, these also evolve and adapt to new technologies, and lifestyles. The students are asked to study what is permanent and what has changed in family life? - What is the perfect module that will respond to the current needs of living and how to adapt this concept within the Bahraini lifestyle? Rethinking the meaning of personalization within the housing community and reaching the inhabitant’s satisfaction.

In the past 5 years, surveys made to Bahrainis on housing related topics reveal an extraordinary and consistent resistance towards a repetitive dwelling design as living solutions. The main concerns relate to the desire of personalization, the need for future extension (extended families) and overall desire for self-building. The challenge in this project is to explore the potentials of the latest manufactured construction methods and techniques to take the advantages of such technologies to a different level in which the manufactured solutions can overcome the problems facing the housing projects in Bahrain.