Happily employed for one year:)

Hi Everyone !!!

The day has arrived !!! It has actually passed, and it was a day when I was employed in the
design practice for an entire year....I cannot express enough how lucky I was getting this job,
fresh out of college, and on my first interview.

And although it is a junior position, I am learning everyday (how to put together bespoke kitchens that is)

So lets celebrate!!!

Curriculum Vitae

creating a Portfolio

Here is the sample of my portfolio:

Creating business card

Add caption

original image i got inspiration from, i love love love shabby chic

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  I then traced over it in autocad
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  combined original picture with autocad trace
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  and added my info,..

 Prefabricated housing : the history and the future

           Topic of my dissertation. At first I thought it would be mind-numbingly boring, but the deadline to choose the topic was closing in so I just went for it. It turned out to be quite interesting and at the end I got pretty decent mark for it. Given that english is my second language.

           Lets start with the history. The need for quick development arose with the end of WWI. 1919 saw the Housing and Planning act- homes for heroes and with it a boom in building industry. Some big names from architecture industry got involved: Le Corbusier with Casa Citrohan in 1922.

Casa Citrohan: Picture scanned from: Le Corbusier, Towards a new architecture

Buckminster Fuller with the Dymaxion house. And Jean Prouve with Meudon house.

Dymaxion house, picture scanned from: Ford, Edward R, The details of modern architecture

Turns out, the industry wasn't ready yet and only couple of the prototypes were constructed.
However, the need really came after WWII. After the blitz, almost quarter of the housing in Britain was left unhabitable. And this is when Winston Churchill, prime minister at the time, introduced Temporary Housing Programme. The scheme aimed to construct large amount of housing units in short amount of time.

It is important to note, that prefab is not one type of building, but rather series of building types of basic structure houses pre-manufactured in pieces with cladding in different materials.

During the War the industry came up with steel mass production for airplanes and guns. This production seemed like the most natural choice for the house industry at the times. 

As early as May 1944, Ministry of Works exhibits aluminium bungalow in Tate gallery.The prototype (called Portal bungalow, after the minister, Lord Portal) was an all- steel product, consisting of four parts welded together. 

Portal bungalow in front of Tate Gallery, May 1944, picture scanned from: Palaces for the people/ prefabs in post-war Britain

 

There were four main types of prefabs: 

Steel – framed and asbestos/ cement clad ARCON

Timber – framed UNI- SECO

Pre cast concrete Tarran

             And Aluminum AIROH, which proved to be most successful.

During my research, I found one very well preserved prefab in St Fagans museum in Wales. This was the aluminum type and it stayed furnished in the 1950s fashion. 

Aluminium Prefab, Picture taken in St Fagans Museum of Welsh life

 

Temporary housing programme didnt delivered what it promised, cost spiralled out of control and not enough houses were built. But surprisingly, prefabricated housing changed the face of British housing. Anybody who ever lived in prefab will tell you that despite the downsides, this kind of living created much needed community feel directly after the war. There are several groups of people trying to save the post- war prefabs from destruction. 

Prefabrication seems to be the future of the building industry as well. Imagine your dream house, put it together in a catalogue, go to the factory for a preview.  It can be assembled in about a week on the pre-prepared foundation. 

 Huf Haus of Germany offers exactly this. Its customers, David and Greta Iredale are retired couple in their 80s. Both coming from creative backgrounds they are ready for the next challenge, having build their first house in 1960s. 

             Their Huf Haus was built in four days time, with some electrical and plumbing fixtures missing. They both were very satisfied with the result. 

Huf Haus for Iredale couple, aired on Grand Desings, channel 4, 28.1.2004

I personaly like compact living, believe it is the future. There is no free space left for construction in most major cities and we need to work upwards and be compact. I am happy to see some architects and design companies directing their energy in this way. Here is couple of inspirational examples: 

This Hong Kong based architect Gary Chang, who turned 330sq feet space into 24 rooms, including home cinema. As he explains, it is small area, but small area means efficiency.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB2-2j9e4co

furniture is fixed to ceiling tracks

home cinema

Or Barcelona based Christian Schallert, who  lets architect Barbara Appolloni build lego-like furniture to expand this tiny apartment. She was inspired by the Japanes simplicity and minimalism. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juWaO5TJS00

all appliencies hidden inside of wall

If you would like to see some more inspirational stories, there is a series on You tube called Small Space Big Style, that explores small living in different parts of America. Some of those people have ingenious space saving ideas. Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7z2bNU9oGA