Prefab Houses is TASCHEN's history of the factory-made house—from kit cottages shipped to the colonies in the 1830s to one-off experiments by some of the best-known architects of the past century—now reissued as a compact hardcover in the publisher's 45th anniversary series.
About This Book
A prefab is built in a factory and assembled on site in a matter of days or weeks. Once dismissed as a stopgap answer to housing shortages, it has become a vehicle for ambitious design and careful detailing. Arnt Cobbers and Oliver Jahn follow that story from England—where some of the first kit houses were made for emigrants bound for Australia—through the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa. Along the way they explain the components, the logistics of getting a house to its site and the craft of putting it together, and trace the alliance between modernism and industrial production that shaped the field. Alongside architect-designed prototypes, the book also looks at well-made off-site housing built for ordinary everyday living.
Key Features
- Houses by Albert Frey, Jean Prouvé, Shigeru Ban, Renzo Piano and Norman Foster, among many others
- Coverage spanning the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa
- Updated edition, edited by Peter Gössel
- Part of TASCHEN's 45th anniversary series, alongside titles on Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Case Study Houses
What You'll Discover
- How prefabrication began as a colonial export trade—including kit houses made for settlers in Australia
- Why modernist architects saw industrial production as the future of the house
- The practical challenges of prefab building, from transport to final assembly on site
- How off-site construction moved from emergency housing to a mark of design ambition
About the Author
Arnt Cobbers is a Berlin-based art and architectural historian whose doctorate focused on medieval church architecture; he has written widely on Berlin's buildings and is the author of TASCHEN monographs on Erich Mendelsohn and Marcel Breuer. Oliver Jahn trained in literature, philosophy and linguistics, worked as an editor at Suhrkamp and as design and architecture editor at Monopol, and now directs architecture and design coverage at Architectural Digest in Germany. Editor Peter Gössel runs a museum and exhibition design agency and has written TASCHEN books on Julius Shulman, R.M. Schindler, John Lautner and Richard Neutra.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Dimensions: 156 × 217 mm
- Pages: 512
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783754404706
- Publisher: TASCHEN
Perfect For: Architects, students and builders interested in prefabrication and modular housing, and anyone after an accessible, well-illustrated history of the modern house.