In a recent conversation with Andrew Waugh (to be released soon-ish in an upcoming podcast), our attention turned to cars (it turns out us both like them) and how architecture in the traditional sense is the exact opposite of cars in the way they manufactured.
Cars are the epitome of mass-customizable products: they're all based on a common platform, but the end-user can specify them to their liking, in some cases down to the colour of the seats' piping, often at a reasonable cost. It's pretty crazy to think that the cheapest brand new car that one can buy costs less than $10,000 and yet still offers a reasonable amount of customization. Carmakers have truly become masters at reducing costs thru extreme rationalization and yet still make the consumer feel like their car is special. It's been said that Nissan only produces a vehicle of the exact same specs every 7 years! Given that 7-8 years is the normal lifespan of a given model, it means that there are only a couple of cars in the world of the exact same specs, down to the smallest bolt, as your shiny new 2020 Tesla Model Y.
If we apply the same thinking to architecture, most buildings are the equivalent of a hand-built, custom-designed car, assembled in a driveway with imprecise tools by a pretty crafty person who has to figure out how to fit all the different parts together. It takes a long time to design, even longer to build and there is no predictability as to the cost of construction as too many variables are unknown when the process starts. I won't even mention the regulatory hurdles of getting approvals just to get a building permit.
It's no wonder that architecture has remained a service that only comparatively wealthy people and institutions can afford.
What if we turned that idea on its head and start thinking of architecture as a mass-produced, mass-customizable product that can be designed more effectively, customized easily, manufactured in plants and assembled quickly on-site? Prefabrication has been around for decades, yet it has miserably failed to live up to its promised potential.
Why is that and how can architecture be mass-democratized?
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