Industrialization

In the 19th century there was already very present the idea of the industrial production in the near future. The increasing society would need to be supplied with products and houses, which can be accomplished with industrialization: mass producing. When it comes to architecture modern architects were aware of this idea and interested on how to achieve it, since it wasn’t as simple as with smaller objects. They also realized that industrialization also meant incorporating more finished construction elements but less artisanal work. In the 1950 industrialized elements and techniques started to be incorporated speaking of realm of architecture, first openings and then prefabricated products which became part of the system.

Le Corbusier: Ozenfant’s Workshop, Paris, 1922

The saw tooth roof is a solution from the industrial world.

Ernst May: Siedlung Paunheim, Frankfurt, 1926-29

Communist architect sets up a system of industrialization of construction: precast-concrete panel that allows building the walls fast and saving money.

Unité d’Habitation, Marseille, 1947-52

Le Corbusier proposed the reconstruction of Europe by means of his Unité d’Habitation, a collective housing solution base on 18-sotrey slab block for about 1600 inhabitants which would locate on parkland in suburban areas. The impelling idea was to build a reinforced concrete rigid frame and after this, he wanted to incorporate the prefabricated housing units. The housing unit consists of a duplex apartment with access through a central corridor. Le Corbusier introduces the concept of dry construction, that is to say, the fast assembly of a house without using wet techniques such as brickwork or the application of plaster. He also wanted to standardize all the sizes of the Unité d’Habitattion to be able to repeat them industrially.

"A house is a machine for living in", Le Corbusier

La Cittá Nuova, Antonio Sant’Elia

This is an example of futurism architecture, it was the result of machine + industrialization

Molded Fiberglass Chair, Charles and Ray Eames (1948)

The first industrially produced plastic chair presented in the 'Low-Cost Design' competition in 1948'