a+u 669: Prefabrication Matters examines four practices using prefabrication to respond to rising building costs, environmental load, labour shortages and the housing crisis.
About This Book
The issue's premise is that architecture includes the design of the building process itself. It follows SUMMARY in Portugal, which uses prefabrication to deliver bio-based buildings that can be taken apart; ELEMENTAL in Chile, developing biochar concrete units with Holcim so residents can build for themselves; People's Architecture Office, combining prefabricated plug-ins with renovation to revive empty houses in China; and Ensamble Studio, whose Ensamble Fabrica lab and plant run design and construction together.
Projects are accompanied by conversations, an interview with Alejandro Aravena and essays by Samuel Gonçalves, Giuseppe Resta, and Antón García-Abril with Débora Mesa.
Key Features
- Four practices: SUMMARY, ELEMENTAL, People's Architecture Office and Ensamble Studio
- Interview with Alejandro Aravena
- Essays by Samuel Gonçalves, Giuseppe Resta, and Antón García-Abril with Débora Mesa
- Projects from Portugal, Chile, China, the United States and Spain
- Bilingual English and Japanese text
What You'll Discover
- Prefabrication with bio-based and demountable materials
- Net-zero biochar concrete and incremental self-build housing
- Plug-in prefabricated units for renovating vacant buildings
- Integrated design-and-build models from Ensamble Studio
- How designing the process can reshape architectural practice
About the Journal
a+u (Architecture and Urbanism) is a monthly architecture journal published in Tokyo since 1971, known for its bilingual monographic and thematic issues on international practice.
Specifications
- Format: TBC
- Dimensions: 219 × 292 mm
- Pages: 160
- Language: English and Japanese
- ISBN: 4912019730662
- Publisher: Shinkenchiku-sha
Perfect For: Architects, landscape and urban designers, students and readers who follow international practice through a+u's thematic issues.