The modern dream of the readymade has carried prefab far since it was?rst imagined over 100 years ago, but now with the pressure to be allthings to all people - green, luxurious, and even one-of-a-kind - Kimberly Stevens wonders if prefab can ever live up to its own potential.There’snothing new about prefab—in fact, it’s often referred to as modernarchitecture’s “oldest new idea.” But in its currenttrendiness—widespread glitzy press coverage and the benedicton of amajor new exhibit scheduled to open at MoMA in New York on July 20—ahandful of architects, investors, large firms, and real estate brokersare still trying to prove that the concept can live up to its hype. Historically,the idea of prefabricated building systems has always seemed fresh andof-the-moment. In 1892, Ernest Franklin Hodgson developed aprefabricated building system to sell chicken coops, doghouses, toolsheds, and small summer cottages. Eventually, he introduced largerhomes and garages, a concept met with intense excitement. Later, in1906, Aladdin Readi-Cut Houses produced a kit house of pre-cut pieces.But the real hit came in 1908, when Sears & Roebuck developed thewildly popular “House By Mail” program that took the nation by storm.By 1940, when the program ended, the company had sold over 100,000units. The fervor for prefab was captured in One Week, starring Buster Keaton in 1923, in which a newlywed couple builds their own prefab home with comic results. Today there is once again a sense of excitement and curiosity as modernprefab architecture returns to the mainstream, rescued from its stigmaas cheap or even mobile housing by a new wave of well-designed units.Innovative new ideas have popped up in large numbers, ranging fromEcoshack’s prefab yurts and the Katrina Cottages for Gulf Coasthurricane victims to prefab homes by the furniture company DesignWithin Reach. But there’s also intense scrutiny and skepticismsurrounding prefab, or modular or factory housing, as it’s otherwisecalled. Some argue that while prefab is touted for its ability to bemass-produced, it’s delivered to relatively few. Others note that whileit promises affordability, modern prefab is often expensive {forexample, California developer Steve Glenn’s much-publicized LivingHomes, with designs by Ray Kappe and Kieran Timberlake, generallyaverage well over $200 per square foot}. More question marks surroundsuch issues as durability, comfort, and variety. For the architectentrepreneur looking to sell prefab as a business, it remains unclearif it’s possible to turn a profit. For the time being, as prefab unitsrise in cost, dividends remain small because few houses have beenwidespread sellers. “Ijust think the whole thing is a false promise,” said Los Angelesrealtor Brian Linder. “They’re very difficult to sell. There’s nothinglow-cost about them. Until someone like Honda or Toyota gets involved,I don’t think it’s going anywhere.” Allison Arieff, author of Prefab{2003}, said that people designing 7,000-square-foot prefabs might aswell do stick-built. “Prefab for the sake of prefab isn’t goinganywhere; that would just continue what some have called ‘the curse ofthe prototype,’ whereby a great one-off house is built, but no othersfollow.” Still,Arieff predicts that architects who can master the practical side ofprefab—factories, mass production, shipping, and, of course,marketing—will thrive in the future. And architects, while committed toproving critics wrong about prefab, are also trying their hardest tomake the system worth their while, design-wise. One California firmthat stands out in the quest to effectively exploit the rise inconsumer interest toward prefab is Marmol Radziner Prefab, a divisionof Los Angeles-based Marmol Radziner Associates. The firm has a localfactory to manufacture and package high-end
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