Responding to the preceding issue of arcCA, “Prefabiana,” Harry Newman, AIA, of Thousand Oaks, sent us an article from the Chicago Sun-Times, written by architecture critic Rob Cuscaden and dated August 8, 1971. The article describes Newman’s proposal for a prefabricated high-rise apartment building. We excerpt a portion of the article here.
“High-rise buildings today are still essentially handicrafted products,” says [young Chicago architect Harry] Newman. “They’re produced piecemeal in the field and under adverse conditions. And as they become increasingly expensive, the amount of living space is reduced accordingly.”
Newman’s plan is to attack the problem head-on by radically altering the whole structural concept of the high-rise, which has basically remained unchanged during the past five decades, except for facing materials. It is still a massive, usually rectangular, structure supporting huge dead loads of materials, its bulk designed to combat the tremendous wind pressures that build up against the face of the structure.
Newman would do away with the “permanent building” concept and replace it with a structural frame consisting of three vertically extended hollow core members, which would include elevators, stairs, ducts and utilities.
This triangularly-figurated frame would receive and support individual, self-contained living units, or pods, which when mounted in place become a part of the building.
The three cores are made of prestressed concrete or structural steel sections and may be prefabricated and assembled at the site, or poured in place if concrete. The framework would include platforms that can extend outwards to receive the pods, which are delivered by helicopter and wenched [sic] into place. The pods are then secured and the services quickly plugged in . . . .
“And think of the travel and moving possibilities,” enthuses Newman. “A vacation or job transfer would simply mean unhooking your pod, having it airlifted wherever it was needed, and attaching it into a similar structure . . . . You could move your complete home from Rogers Park to Hyde Park in a matter of hours—without lifting a single chair!”
Originally published 1st quarter 2008, in arcCA 08.1, “’90s Generation.”
