Flexible Housing:

Modularity and free plan

A solution to monotony of nowadays living and
low quality standardized constructions

Niccolò Brandini - Préparation à la thèse

25/07/2016
2
 Niccolò Brandini - Préparation à la thèse
Joint Master of Architecture - Professeur: Philippe Bonhôte - Assistante: Blanca Vellés
25/07/2016

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 Index

I - Flexibility - Why?

1 - Introduction

1.1 - Features

1.2 - Uniqueness

2 - Disadvantages of Flexibility?

3 - Modernism and flexibility

Case study 1: Weissenhofsiedlung

4
 4 - Participatory design

Case study 2: Funktionsneutrale Räume

5 - Technology

Case study 3: Next 21

6 - Financial
7 - An opportunity for the future

II - Flexibility - How?

8 - Oppose obsolescence

9 - “Heavy” and “Light”

Case study 4: Überbauung Hellmut-

strasse

Case study 5: Montereau

Case study 6: Maison Loucheur

10 - Technology

Case study 7: Adelaide Road Estate

5
 Case study 8: Diagoon Houses

Case study 9: Cala Domus

Case study 10: Quinta Monroy

11 - Scales

Case study 11: Habitat 67

12 - Big Scale

Case study 12: Ville Radieuse

Case study 13: The Free University of

Berlin
13 - Small Scale

Case study 14: USM modular furniture

14 - Prototypes

Case study 15: MIMA House

Case study 16: Rotor House

III - Conclusion
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7
I - Flexibility - Why?

8
1
Introduction
Flexible housing is the topic of this research
so it might be useful to try to give a small defi-
nition of what a “flexible house” is. After a lot
time spent in researches and on the books I
came to the conclusion that we can’t give a
unique and alway accepted definition of it, I
will try anyway to state my explanation:
A flexible house can be defined as “a house
9
that at the design stage is conceived to
change over its lifetime in both terms of social
use and construction.”
In the first definition flexibility has already giv-
en the possibility to be linked to other terms
and topic such as “construction” and “social”
but a flexible house is more than that since it
is also strictly linked to topics like “economic”
and “environment”.
Starting with the first two terms we can say
that every construction and every house have
a certain degree of flexibility which can be de-
termined in two different ways
The first one is the ability for adaptability, or
the be able to fit multiple and different social
uses.
The second can be find in the opportunity for
flexibility, or the possibility to change physical-
ly.
It is clear that the possibility for a common use
space to be flexible socially and physically is
important, so it come spontaneously the ques-
tion: why the possibility to be flexible has nev-
er been fully accepted and in many cases also
opposed?
10
The reason can be found in the short term
economics which lead the real estate market:
the general tendency is to design and build
estates that fits a specific type of household at
a specific point in time.
Many argues that flexibility costs money but
many others think that the initial cost of achiev-
ing flexibility is more economically valued in a
long term situation thanks to the users’ higher
appreciation of the house, a minor inhabitant
fluctuation, and more in general because th e
house is more responsive to the needs of the
users and of the market.
In this way we can say that this feature is par-
ticularly important for the social house sector,
where both lodgers and landlords are given a
much wider choice, which normally is almost
non existent in this particular sector.
1.1
Features

So, how to achieve a good, not expensive,
customizable private living space that fits ev-
erybody’s needs and tastes in order to let us-
ers freely express their personality and indi-
viduality?
A space to be truly customizable should have
a series of attributes:
1) Flexible:
The ultimate goal of a completely customiz-
able space is of course the flexibility in both
form and function. Nowadays once the space
is built is really difficult (if not impossible) to
redefine its form and/or its function

11
2) Temporary:
Needs change, families change, tastes change
and of course evolve. To be stuck in the orig-
inal configuration while the world around and
people are changing is against our primary
purpose: evolving in order to survive and to
ameliorate or kind. That’s is the reason why
arts, sciences, architecture, cities and every
other humans product are different from the
past ages. Evolution and temporary solutions
are the key to success.
3) Reversible:
Once a choice is made we should be always
able to come back to the previous state. Not
always in fact choices are right or immutable
in the time and the reversibility of the process
is an important attribute of the customizable
architecture.

12
4) Individual:
Architecture as always been the perfect com-
promise between individual needs, construc-
tive limits and economical advantage. Until
now only rich people have had the possibility
to take decisions in the design process thanks
to their financial means. Nowadays, however,
due to highly standardizing society people’s
need for expressing their individuality is in-
creasing exponentially. This need for individ-
uality as been translated by many companies
in the creation of products lines that have as
13
objective the satisfaction of the client though
the expression of the individual’s choices.
Mobile phones can be customized thanks to
interchangeable covers, car’s interiors can
be chosen in advance, advertising always re-
member us that the product we are buying re-
flects our needs and our personality. Speaking
about architecture illustrative is the exampleof
company such as IKEA and AUTODESK that
have launched application that allow custom-
ers to take decision about the configuration of
the inner space of their house.
5) Modular:
Which is the best constructive method to ap-
ply in order to achieve a perfect customization
of the living space is maybe the most difficult
issue of the process. Modularity can help us in
this way since the nature of a modular system
allow us to fit many possible solutions in one
basic system.
14
6) Fast:
The perfect customizable space as been al-
ready described ad “flexible”, “temporary” and
“reversible”. Anyway without a “fast” changing
all these three adjectives are useless since
changes in the living space should follow as
fast as possible the changes of users’ needs.
A gap between the changing of the needs/
functions and the spatial configuration should
be as short as possible.
 7) Easy:
The easiness of the process is of course one
of the most important points. As for rapidity
easiness allows people to adapt their own liv-
ing space when a change in their life occurs.
Nobody is willing to change the parameters of
a system if the befits of the new configuration
are smaller than the energy and time spent in
the process itself.
15
8) Affordable:
The changes in the layout should of course
respect the principle of cheapness. Nobody
is willing to make changes in the spatial and
functional setting of a dwelling if the process is
extremely expensive.
16
1.2
Uniqueness
“Flexibility” and “modularity” are two concept
that can be applied to architectural objects, in
the same way “customization” can be thought
as the translation of these two concept in the
sociological, psychological, human sector.
17
Why is customization so important for some-
one? Why it can be positive for everyone?
Which are the process that rules our need for
(self)uniqueness and individuality and thus
encourage us to differentiate ourself from the
mass and customize our belongings?
All these questions are at the center of psy-
chological and anthropological studies and in
particular way of all the branches that explore
consumer behavior.
Owning a house or a living space (not every-
body as the money to for a house) that reflect
our uniqueness is not far away from other ty-
pologies of consumerism: a home is in fact
an object that is subordinate to psychology’s
laws. Because of that we can consider Lynn
and Harris studies (1997) about the “Need for
Uniqueness and Consumer Behavior”
In their study the two authors try to discuss
how consumers use goods and services in
order to distinguish themselves from others,
which are the relationship between attributed
need for uniqueness and consumer disposi-
tions. They found out that personal need for
uniqueness is strictly related to “consumers”
desires for scarce, innovative, and custom-
ized products. We can understand that ma-
18
jority of customers want to communicate their
uniqueness to others members of their group
buying and owning products that aren’t owned
by many people.
Also Tian, Bearden and Hunter (2001) are of
the same advice since they define a consum-
er’s need for uniqueness as “the trait of pur-
suing differentness relative to others through
the acquisition, utilization, and disposition of
consumer goods for the purpose of develop-
ing and enhancing one’s self-image and social
image”.
Tian goes further and explains how consum-
ers try to achieve uniqueness. They can:
1) “Make a creative choices counter con-
formity by seeking social differentness from
most others but making selections that are
likely to be considered good choices by these
others” objects and possessions can help people to
achieve the “status” they want.
But at the same time they can also
While studying need for uniqueness, Snyder
2) “Make unpopular choices counter con- and Fromkin (1980) found out that people de-
formity, selecting and using products and
brands that deviate from group norms and
thus risk social disapproval that consumers
withstand in order to establish their different-
ness from others”

And in the end consumers can

3) “Avoid similarities since the possession

that become common among others is not
useful, so they have to move away from the
norm and re-establish their difference.”

Now that we have clear that consumers tend

to pursue uniqueness we should focus on how

19
fine themselves in terms of their possessions
and what these possessions communicate to
others.
Beik (1988) believes that the objects we own
influence our identities and also express our
identities to others. He also says that inten-
tionally or unintentionally we regard our pos-
sessions as parts of ourselves. We can so
comprehend that the image that we have of
ourselves is not limited to our body but also
internal processes, ideas, experiences, plac-
es and more in general to things to which we
feel attached. To conclude: possessions affect
the extended self because these objects are
a part of the creation, enhancement and pres-
ervation of a sense of identity. “Possessions
help us at all ages to know who we are”
Snyder (1992) teach us how people’s posses-
20
sions communicate uniqueness. He discuss-
es how rare and hard to find or to customize
a products “provide a vehicle for establishing
ones specialness when the need for unique-
ness is activated”. Two reasons are given by
Snyder for our need to be somewhat different
from others even thanks to our possessions
(that as we see before are like and extension
of our body). The first is because our society
“rewards people who are different but not to-
tally different (as in deviant)”. Secondly, we
all want to in some way perceive that we are
separable from “the masses”. We do not like
feeling that we are identical to everyone else.
2
Disadvantages
of Flexibility?

Free plan, adaptability and flexibility have
been the topic of many architectural initiatives,
dissertations, thoughts and experiments for
the most part of the 20th century. Flexibility
had and has many supporters as opponents.
The opponents often criticize flexibility as an
amusements for bored architects, a myth diffi-
cult to achieve or even a “boring neutrality” for
those who are not able or not willing to take a
decision in matter of style, space and more in
general design.
It’s true that in many cases the different at-
tempt to achieve flexibility have been relegat-
ed to the experimental one-time project, more
often a prototype than a real project.
During all the past century the detractors

21
have been countless. We can paraphrase the
words of James Stirling which in opposition to
the numerous flexible projects in his activity
years was sick of the boring and meaningless
faceless flexibility.

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3
Modernism
and
flexibility
If Stirling was openly against flexibility it is true that
only few years before the Modernist Movement
had a complete different idea about the topic.
Some of the major modernist architects openly
supported the “flexible” ideology. Let’s just think
about the all the research about the different and
new kind of habitations, with the man and his need
at the center of the design process. Comes to the
mind the experimental period at the beginning of
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the 20th century when architects were actively
questioning the “old” way of living and wanted to
find a new approach to the building, and more in
particular about the house, thinking about it like
something that can adapt and change overtime,
fitting the wishes of the tenants.
Let’s take the case of the apartment block in Weis-
senhofsiedlung designed by Mies van der Rohe
in 1927.
Case study Weissenhofsiedlung - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
1 Stuttgart - Germany - 1927

1.1 - Weissenhofsiedlung, site plan

24
 Case study
1
In this project, well known to all architecture
students, the German-American architect
stated is thoughts about the delicate relation-
ship between architecture and time.

He thought that human made artifacts, archi-

Architect: Mies van der Rohe tecture and buildings are usually conceived
without thinking at their future and , more im-
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
portant, at the users’ future. Since the life of
Year: 1927 a building can be long compared to the initial
Work Type: New building intentions of the designer, of the users and of
the constructors, he wanted that the functions
Context: Urban periphery for which the building was designed in the first
Type of Building: Apartment house place were not fixed and everlasting.

Number of units: 24

Strategy: Light form

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Case study
1
In this case the use of the free plan and more
in particular of the wide structural grid helped
him to achieve a great degree of flexibility and
customization. With just two load-bearing col-
umns in the interior of the units he managed to
eliminate from the inside unnecessary walls,
leaving the possibility to use the interior space
in a more open way. Another special feature of
the space is that all the services are arranged
around a single core.

Mies was so keen to test the new possibilities

resulting from this new layout that he want-
ed others architects to define the plans of the
“raw” and unfinished building, leaving them
the possibility to work totally freely: on the
ground floor we can find a two living rooms
1.2 - Floor plan evolution through years

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 Case study
1

1.3 - Facade

27
Case study
1
apartments designed by Lilly Reich, on the
first floor of another unit we can find an apart-
ment for a childless couple designed by Franz
Schuster. These are just two examples of the
different typologies that can be found in the
project. Other expedients, more technological-
ly such as sliding partitions for the bedrooms
and ateliers can be found at the first floor.

28
 Case study
1

1.4 - Floor plan with and without internal configuration

29
As we have seen in the first case study thanks
to the frame construction technique and the
disposition of the services in a single core,
Mies managed to create a space which layout
can be changed and rearranged according to
the future inhabitants at very contained cost.
30
Some argues that this kind of Modernist way of
thinking is not really sincere and that the idea
of flexibility can be seen as the symptoms of
the super ego of the architect: usually the ar-
chitect job is over when the building has been
completed and when the tenants take posses-
sion of their property, with flexibility though the
architects is still projecting his control into the
future of both the building and the occupants.
4
Participatory design
In the last chapter we have seen how flexibility
can be achieved by increasing the architect’s
power and control over the design process
and its future. Another way of achieving flexi-
bility can be found, on the contrary, in the re-
duction of the architect’s control.
By decreasing the designer’s role and impor-
tance in the decisional process, and at the
31
same time increasing the design power of
the users, we can conceive flexibility as the
means with which obtain people’s identifica-
tion in an environment that truly belongs to
them and that can be truly appropriated.
If users are actively taking decisions in the de-
sign process, the result of the project won’t be
a preconditioned architectural space but a pri-
vate space that will fit and fulfill the occupants
needs and expectations. The question is licit and that’s why the ideas
of flexibility, and participatory design are in-
Because if flexibility is truly about users taking complete or useless without the concept of
control of their environments after the reloca- multi-usability.
tion, it is also true that it can be about user’s
control over the design stage, which can be
seen as the first step of their new life in their
new house.

But if the participation is the place where the

users’ needs and the building technique meet
at a precise time, what happens when a new
user take possession of the house? What if
the dwelling that was perfectly thought and
designed to fit the needs of the first user, is
now totally unsuitable for the needs of the
second tenant?
Can we think about this possibility as the Achil-
les’ heel of the participatory design?

32
33
Case study Funktionsneutrale Räume - Walter Stamm
2 Winterthur - Switzerland - 1987

2.1 - Floor plan

34
 Case study
2
In this study case the Austrian architect Walter
Stamm introduce the concept of “multi-usabil-
ity”. For this competition the project scheme
is developed around the idea of the future oc-
cupation of the house by a second user which
replace the original one.
Architect: Walter Stamm The maximum flexibility is here achieved
thanks to the neat division between the “heavy”
Location: Winterthur, Switzerland
zones (services, technical equipments) and
Year: 1987 the “light areas which don’t have a specific
Work Type: Competition function but can be bedrooms, living rooms,
atelier...
Context: Urban

Type of Building: Apartment house

Number of units: 1 or 2

Strategy: Light use

35
Case study
2
range of possibilities for the further appropria-
The multi-usability is here understood as a tion of the free space. The staircase and the
project design where the walls are no longer equipments are also contained in the central
intended as internal partitions but more as zone.
furniture. Furniture can be moved and rear-
ranged to please the occupants, in the same The flexibility is here also achieved trough the
way removing or adding a wall in Stamm’s possibility of subdivision of the main house
design does not requires heavy or intrusive into different apartments. The smallest sur-
works. face is the one of the studio apartment of 34
m2, it’s also possible to divide the house in two
The plan is clean and the architect’s de- dwellings of 185 m2 and 245 m2 or even in 4
sign and intentions are only understandable units of the same size.
thanks to the few, small, punctual load-bear-
ing elements between the two main walls. The
rhythm given by this few elements only sug-
gest a spacial grid divided by module of 60,
90 or 150 cm which allows the tenants a wide

36
 Case study
2

2.2 - Floors plan

37
5
Technology
As we have seen a certain logic in the dispo-
sition of the basic house elements in the plan
helps the flexibility of the original configura-
tion. To obtain flexibility the clarity of the plan
is also important: a neat distinction between
those elements that are fixed and those that
are open to change and variation is strongly
recommended.
Services are one of those elements which
38
need to be upgraded more often to fight the
obsolescence of the building, a solution which
allows this upgrading with the less disruption
is in fact the most welcome.
The constructional principle that fits the best
all these demands is this theory of “Supports“
developed by the Dutch architect John Hab-
raken. In this theory the “support” or the base
building is differentiated from the “infill” or the
 Support and Infill Scheme by John Habraken
39
interior of the residential construction. This dif-
ferentiation between the support structure and
the inner core allows alteration and changing
only in one sector, in this way the main struc-
ture, the most expensive and long lasting, is
preserved, while the most perishable can be
easily replaced or uprated. The Habraken the-
ory gave birth to a new approach to modular
and flexible architecture that is now known as
“Open Building”: the guideline of this move-
ment can be summarized in:

• the use of modern construction techniques

• the use of prefabricated elements
• the separation between the base building
and the infill subsystems
• facility in assembly and disassembling
both the support and the infill
40
 Support and Infill

41
Case study Next 21 - Osaka Gas and SHU-KO-SHA architects
3 Osaka - Japan - 1993

3.1 - Exterior view

42
 Case study
3

Architect: SHU-KO-SHA architects The residential complex of NEXT21 is an ex-

ample of participative design and modular/
Location: Osaka, Japan
flexible architecture. The building respects the
Year: 1993 ideas of Habraken and the guidelines of the
Open Building movement.
Work Type: New Building

Context: Urban

Type of Building: Apartment flat

Number of units: 18

Strategy: Heavy technology

43
Case study
3
The goal of the architects was to create a
building able to respect the residents needs,
to do so the approach to construction is based
on the modular system and the differentiation
between the support and the infill: the long-life
elements such as the common structure (col-
umns, beams and floors) and the short-life of
the private dwellings (partition walls, services,
technological systems) which as we have
seen can be rearranged and replaced without
interfering with the integrity of the support sys-
tem.

3.2 - Services location and prefabricated modules assembly

44
 Case study
3
We can clearly see this kind of differentiation
in the aesthetic code of the building, from the
exterior views it’s clear the distinction between
the prefabricated/modular white support struc-
ture and the darker infill exterior partitions.
The great complexity and intuition of this build-
ing method lie in the modularity of every com-
ponents, from the outer structure, to the walls
that can be replaced and moved anywhere
thanks to the extremely versatile assembly
system.

Even the systems are easily accessible and

replaceable since they are located in raised
floors or suspended ceilings.

3.3 - Floor plans

45
Case study
3

3.4 - Transformation of a unit into two separate dwellings

46
 Case study
3

3.5 - Details of the raised floors with the technical services

47
6
Financial
The last research area of flexible housing is
the financial one.
The common sense tells us that flexibility and
modularity are more expensive on the short
term because of the biggest effort in the de-
signing process and because of the quantity
of technology used to achieve the desired re-
sult (especially to obtain a certain degree of
flexibility), but if we think about the long period
48
we can say that flexibility is economically con-
venient because we can more easily limit the
obsolescence of the systems and technical in-
stallations.
Although not so many rigorous studies have
been done to study the subject and the data at
our disposal is still very little.
Anyway all the qualitative research show that
if technological systems, services strategies
and a good spatial principles are used the
buildings under analysis seem to last longer.
They will also be less expensive in the long
term because the refurbishment cost and the
frequency of the maintenance will be substan-
tially less expensive.

49
7
An opportunity
for the future
If all the arguments we have outlined are con-
vincing and show the upsides of flexibility it’s
clear that flexible houses have not yet con-
quered the housing market.
There are few cause to this situation, the first
can be found in the idea that housing, like ev-
ery other good sold, bought or exchanged in
nowadays marketplace is a perishable good.
Houses are seen as a disposable commodity,
50
in fact when people experience a changing in
their life or personal circumstances just aban-
don their house and move in the next one.
The second main cause can be the program-
matic obsolescence and inflexibility of the ma-
jority of the contemporary housing assets.
This might be due to the excessive demand
over supply in the house marketplace (espe-
cially the private sector), which determines the
extraordinary rapidity with which the property
is sold and bought, relieving in this way the
developers and constructors to increase the
quality and to innovate. Their main goal is to
sell the property, built in the most economic
way, as fast as possible.
Since in nowadays market the room’s num-
ber is more important than the total surface
or even of the size of each room, the houses
tend to be designed as small as possible just
to meet the standard imposed by the law. This
means that not only the quality of the space is
extremely low but that even any further pos-
sible change in the house layout is impossi-
ble due to the cheap construction techniques
(the internal partitions are load-bearing, the
systems are fitted in the walls and they are
extremely difficult to be renovated)
51
But maybe the most chocking thought is that
the private housing sector has been built on
the principles of obsolescence and inflexibility.
If the house is inflexible this means that when
the occupant needs will change, and even-
tually they will, he will have no choice but to
leave his house since it doesn’t comply with
his desires. This will keep the housing market
in a permanent state of huge demand and of
high prices.
All of this won’t happen if flexibility were ap-
plied: the occupant will find that thanks to cus-
tomization and flexibility all his needs are be-
ing met, he will so stay longer in his house and
won’t move out of it. But this scenario would
cause a huge decrease in the demand and
so a drop of the prices... on which developers
and builders base their gains!
The solution in this case is only one and it’s
to show that flexibility and customization add
value to the property and so developers can
ask for more, increasing of a little the price of
the building.

52
53
II - Flexibility - How?

54
In the first section of this research I have tried
to outline why flexibility is important on the ba-
sis of a social, economic, and environmental
facts. In this second part I would love to high-
light how flexibility is achieved.
Before starting it might be useful remember
just one time the definition of flexible house:
A flexible house can be defined as “a house
55
that at the design stage is conceived to
change over its lifetime in both terms of social
use and construction.”
This definition is on purpose very wide since
in it sits the possibility to intend flexibility as
the opportunity to change layout both before
and after the occupation. If we try to push a
little bit further the interpretation we can also
say that flexibility allows the possibility of in-
stallation of new technical equipment or to
completely change the use and destination of
the building.
Starting with a so ample definition it’s clear that
flexibility can be achieved in many different
ways, it’s then correct trying to define some
categories of how flexibility can be achieved.

But before concentrating on the definitions it

might be useful talk about basic methods with
which it’s possible to achieve useful alterations
in the initial layout and so to obtain flexibility

56
 further future expansion.
• Thinking about the installation of services
and technical installation in an easily ac-

8
cessible way to be sure that in the future
when they will need a refurbishment the
works wont be excessively heavy and de-
structive.
• Avoiding the strict functionalism, for exam-
Oppose obsolescence ple designing small rooms which can be
accessed or used only in one way.

As we have seen the biggest obstacle to flex- On the practical side the flexibility on private
ibility is its opposite: rigidity. Rigidity in the individual houses can obtained through a se-
building sector can be identified as obsoles- ries of principles:
cence can be avoided in three simple ways:

• Reducing the load-bearing partitions (es- • Spatially: as we have already seen there
pecially the interior ones) and more in gen- is a strict correlation between the amount
eral avoiding all the layouts and building of space and flexibility, especially there
techniques which exclude the possibility of is an important association between the

57
 amount of undefined/low specification
space and the degree of flexibility that it’s
possible to get from a project. Let’s think
for one moment at the borderline situation
of the “loft” in which the almost totality of
the space is undefined.
• Construction: obviously there is a link be-
tween the building technique and flexibility,
we already talked about the importance of
an accessible technological system for ex-
ample. The systems should be placed in a
separate zone, and not integrated into the
masonry. Once the system, which are the
most perishable part of a building, need to
be changed or upgraded the property own-
er won’t be forced to call in anybody else
than the electrician or the plumber. If in-
stead the systems are placed into the walls
or in the floor he will be forced to hire also
the carpenter to demolish the walls and the
58
tiles to complete the job which in this way
will be much more expensive and intrusive
• Design: the most simple but often forgot-
ten design schemes are fundamental to
get flexibility. For example the good dispo-
sition of the staircases, the entrance and
the services cores can allow future flexible
scenarios. In the end the most important
design key feature is avoiding load bearing
partitions in the interior of the house.
One other set of features that allows flexibil-
ity can be found in the typical design of the
commercial offices. These building are almost
always designed without knowing the future
owner, this means that the basic “support”
needs to be adaptable to every future occu-
pants and also to fits his needs and demands.
• Plan: The office is the classic example of
“support” and “infill” structure. The external
structure is the static and inflexible part of
the building, while the inner core, the “in-
fill” can change accordingly to the will of
the owner. In the plan we can also find the
presence of the inner core, a zone where
vertical circulation and the most part of the
services are placed. Between the inner
core and the outer structure the space is
indeterminate. It can be filled with movable
partitions such as cubicles.
• Services: all the services are carefully or-
ganized to allow future flexibility, upgrad-
ing and changes in the office layout. The
vertical services such as ducts and pipes
are placed into accessible cavity walls.
The wiring are into the raised floors or
false ceiling.
59
All these principles have been used in the
design and construction of the “Immeubles
Lods” by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Here the of-
fice building technology and planning princi-
ples are used to achieve maximum flexibility
in the housing complex
Using this five principles (three taken from the
private house and two from the office building)
makes the difference between a conservative
design and a flexible design.
It is now time to develop a classification of
methods by which flexibility may be achieved
in housing. We can classify flexible houses
in two macro categories, the first divides the
building by “use”, the second by “technology”.
A detail of the assembly system, is visible the prefabri-
A view over the site
cated floor and ceiling.

60
“Use” refers to the way that the design affects
the way the house is occupied, and more in
general refers to flexibility in plan.

“Technology” refers to building issues, espe-

cially technical solution with which all the ser-
vices are installed in the construction and in
the way they affect or facilitate flexibility.

Every category is subdivided in other two sub-

cathegorie: heavy and light.

61
9
“Heavy” and “Light”

Light refers to planning which allows certain
degree of indeterminacy: this allows users to
adapt the plan accordingly to their need and
will, in this case the architect works in the
background. Heavy is used to describe typol-
ogies of flexibility in which the design is used
in a more specifically ad determined way. In
this way is the architects who fix certain rules,
determining how spaces can be used over
time and his presence and work are more in
the foreground.
To be more specific we can also add that light
use demands more space while the heavy ap-
proach is generally used where the space at
the architect disposal is less and the different
rooms have to be multi-functional.

62
Light Use:

The light use category is strictly linked to the

changing conditions and needs of the tenants.
Often the occupation and destination of the
rooms are open to interpretation by different
users groups. The indeterminacy of the light
use plans is its strong point.
Usually the approach is the one in which the
architect provide a physically fixed, but social-
ly flexible layout. Otherwise the strategy is to
provide the occupants a raw space (like in the
loft case) that can be divided and appropriat-
ed accordingly to the need of the inhabitants.
It’s true however that a simply raw space is
not always enough to determine a flexible
space, in this case the designer has to fix at
least some foundation such as the position of
the entrance, the services and the circulation.

63
Case study Überbauung Hellmutstrasse - ADP Architektur und Planung
4 Zürich - Switzerland - 1991

4.1 - Exterior view 4.2 - Interior view

64
 Case study
4
The indeterminacy of the light use in the plan
definition is used in the 1991 Zürich project
by ADP in the best possible way. The projects
was conceived by the housing cooperative,
the architects and the future tenants which
helped in the design process. Another suc-
Architect: ADP Architektur cessful case of participatory design which had
as goal the construction of a communal living
Location: Zürich, Switzerland
facility.
Year: 1991

Work Type: New building The project plan is divided in three main
zones. In the first one at the top we can find a
Context: City center series of room divided by load bearing walls,
Type of Building: Apartment Flat the room use is not assigned and the occu-
pants have also the possibility to add further
Number of units: 34
partitions. Below the first zone we can find a
Strategy: Light use service zone: here the indeterminacy is al-

65
Case study
4
most total since the spaces can be used as
bathrooms or kitchens. The last zone contains
what usually are kitchens and living rooms,
however this space can be totally closed and
became a self-catering apartment. Under this
last zone there are the external staircases and
the balcony which are shared for access at the
floors by the tenants.

The strong point of this project is the possi-

bility of almost infinite apartment rearranging
solution. In the picture 4.3 we can understand
that simply closing few opening in the parti-
tions the size and shape of the apartments
in the floor will change drastically offering the
tenants a huge palette of living solutions.

4.3 - Possible layout configurations

66
 Case study
4

4.4 - Typical floor plan, at the center the services zone

67
Case study Montereau - Les Frères Arsène-Henry
5 Surville - France - 1971

5.1 - External view

68
 Case study
5
The building 10-storey high designed by Les
Frères Arsène-Henry in the 1971 is one of
the first example of participative design. The
construction technique has many common
point with the one of the free plan office: the
long spawn concrete floors allow to free the
Architect: Les Frères Arsène-Henry plan from any vertical load bearing elements
(there are no pillars in the interior). The only
Location: Surville, France
two fixed elements are the central inner core
Year: 1971 for the staircase and the elevator, and on the
Work Type: New building inside of the four living unit there is a service
core of 0,9 by 1.8 meters.
Context: Suburban

Type of Building: Apartment Flat All the units are dimensioned over a module
of 900mm. The different elements and rooms
Number of units: 37
can be shaped accordingly to the module and
Strategy: Light use its multiple: the barrooms (900 and 1800)

69
Case study
5
the bedrooms (1800, 2700 and 3600), living
rooms (2700, 3600, 4500).

The architects studied and designed ten dif-

ferent base typologies from which the future
tenants could choose their house’s inner plan,
however when the design process really be-
gun the tenants themselves took the decision
related to their dwelling. The only rule they
had to respect was the 900mm module.
In the end none of the architects plans were
used and over 40 apartments no one had the
same plan.
The technology used in the project to assem-
ble the inner partitions is hollow core chipboard
35cm wide and screws, which made the “instal-
lation” process extremely rapid and economic.
5.2 - Plan before internal subdivision

70
 Case study
5

4.3 - Section 4.4 - Different unit’s interior configuration

71
72
Heavy Use:

While the notion of light use is linked to the

notion of participative design, allowing to the
tenants to make decision in both the design
phase and later in their life in the building, the
idea of heavy use is more connected to the
architect’s desire to maintain control over the
entire building’s life.
The heavy use techniques are so linked to
the architect’s will to maintain control that it is
strictly linked to many of the most important
name in the 20t century architecture panora-
ma.
There are extremely few examples of hard use
projects, they mostly are confined to demon-
strations and one-time projects. They are
almost always combined with a strong theo-
retical base then with a strong interest in the
user’s experience.

73
Case study Maison Loucheur - Le Corbusier
6 France - 1928/29

6.1 - Plans: on the left the night configuration, on the

right the day configuration

74
 Case study
6
Le Corbusier’s Maison Loucher was designed
by the architect in the 1929 because the
French government needed a great number of
prefabricated and cheap houses. The project
however was never built

Architect: Le Corbusier Le Corbusier was active on the research of

new typologies and in flexibility since the first
Location: France
years of his career, we remember the other
Year: 1928/29 experimental modular housing project: mai-
Work Type: Public competition son Dom-ino.

Context: Suburban In this case study the building is spitted in two

Type of Building: Semi detached separate dwelling, the symmetry ax is a stone
wall which also is one of the few elements
Number of units: 2
that touch the ground. The habitation is only
Strategy: Heavy use 46 m2. Here the heavy flexibility strategy is

75
Case study
6
achieved thanks to folding beds, sliding timber
walls and partition separating that separates
the kitchen from the living room/bedroom. The
only fix element is the central bathroom core.
Accordingly to Le Corbusier’s calculation the
different day and night settings are the equiv-
alent of almost 71 m2 into the raw surface of
46 m2.

The house was designed to accommodate a

family with up to 4 children and was supposed
to be transported from the factory on a truck
and to be assembled in only few days.

6.2 - Section

76
 Case study
6

6.3 - Axonometric projection

77
10
Technology
We have already seen how we can achieve
flexibility through the attention to future uses
during the plan design phase. At the same
time it’s also true that flexibility can be ob-
tained through technology.
In the “Heavy” use for example technology
is an important part of the architectural pro-
cess and of the resulting project: the architect
78
doesn’t leave so much control to the (future)
tenants by developing a plan type that can be
modified, but instead determining the use for
each space and then installing in it techno-
logical devices. The role of this devices and
technical solutions is to provide different us-
age solutions to the tenants: folding beds can
disappear and leave place for a dining table,
sliding doors and vertical partitions can sepa-
rate and unite different areas.
If it’s true that certain projects are strictly
linked and overawed by technology, it’s also
true that a correct use of technology doesn’t
preclude the possibility to approach the proj-
ect accordingly to the “Use” approach. Let’s
think for example about the use of technolog-
ical solutions such as long spawn structures.
Already at the beginning of the 20th century
the use of concrete columns and structural
frames allowed Mies van der Rohe and Le
Corbusier to achieve the “free plan”. Or as we
have seen with other case studies the use of
metal frames and light but long floors allowed
architects to eliminate internal supports and
load bearing partitions.
In the Technology case, as if for Use we can
divide the approach in two sub categories.
79
Heavy Technology:
Heavy technology are those technologies
developed purposely with the objective of
achieving flexibility and that are central in the
design phase and features of the dwelling.
There are really few examples of project which
make use of heavy technologies systems but
in the most part of them the emphasis of the
design has shifted from the social implica-
tions to the construction and technical ones.
More in general we can say that the focus of
the project is the technical solution itself and
its display (rather than achieving an efficient
space quality through technology).
The theoretical base of the heavy technology
designs can be found in John Habraken’s re-
searches. In his book “Supports: an alterna-
tive to mass housing” (published in 1961) the
Dutch architect highlights the main character- a valuable social condition and not a simple
istics of an adaptable house: the separation display of technical skill.
between “Support”, or the base building, and One of the most known and accomplished
“Infill” (as already seen in chapter n. I.5). In his project that use heavy technology solutions
many writings Habraken harshly criticizes the and participative design is the Adelaide Road
mass housing buildings stating that the low Estate.
quality/higher profits had as consequences
to “reduces the dwelling to a consumer article
and the dweller to consumer”. His responses
to this kind of low level architecture are basi-
cally two, the technical one (support and in-
fill) of which we already talked in the NEXT
21 building in Osaka - case study 3 - and the
social one consisting in the possibility of in-
habitants to have a meaningful participative
role in the design process. But maybe his big-
gest intuition is about the possibility to link the
social program to the technical solution and to
have them always coupled since the technol-
ogy solution should be just a mean to achieve

80
81
Case study Adelaide Road Estate - Hamdi & Wilkinson
7 London - UK - 1979

7.1 - Exterior view

82
 Case study
7
The project of eight small three-storey blocks
fitting 44 units is the response of the Greater
London Council to the fast changing housing
requirements in the 70’s. Here the Habrak-
en’s theory of Support and Infill are practical-
ly interpreted by Hamdy and Wilkinson which
Architect: Hamdi & Wilkinson through their Primary Support Structures and
Housing Assembly Kits (PSSHAK) give a
Location: London - England
quick answer to the city council needs for re-
Year: 1979 arrangeable housing solutions. Thanks to their
Work Type: New building design program the two architects were able
to quickly adapt to specific demands even if
Context: Urban the design progress and drawings were at a
Type of Building: Detached house well advanced status. The process start with
the construction of the basic structural shell
Number of units: 44
(Structure) and of main electrical and me-
Strategy: Heavy technology chanical systems. At strategical points both

83
Case study
7
the walls and the floors can be opened to al-
lows multiple combinations between floors
and living unities. The Infill kit is then put in
place: vertical partition, doors, bathrooms and
WCs were specifically designed by a Dutch
company to be easily installed or replaced in
a dry process without no need of additional
plaster work.
A participative design strategy also took place:
the future tenants were able to visit the emp-
ty shells, then they had two weeks to auton-
omously define the disposition of the interi-
ors and to review it with the architects which
helped to refine them and to keep the costs
low.
In this project we can see how the participative
design can also work at a larger scale and in the
7.2 - Different plan layouts

84
 Case study
7
public sector, the architects here are no more the
experts directors of the design process but more
consultants and “enabler” of the future tenants
needs. The architects don’t talk but listen instead.
The units have been hardly changed over the
decades and the flexibility of the design as dras-
tically dropped. The cause of this failure can be
found in the inattention of the local authority of
passing the “instruction” for the adaptation of the
infill to the subsequent tenants.

7.3 - On top: advertising for participative design, at the

bottom aids for tenants to plan their dwellings.

85
Case study Diagoon Houses - Herman Hertzberger
8 Delft, Netherlands - 1971

8.1 - Exterior view 8.2 - Original master plan

86
 Case study
8
The 1971 Diagoon housing project of the
Dutch Architect Herman Hertzberger was in-
tended to be as the architectural meeting
point of concepts such as “incomplete build-
ing”, participative design, free plan, modularity
and user’s customization.
Architect: Herman Hertzberger The project was originally intended to be much
more bigger: the starting idea was in fact to
Location: Delft, Netherlands
urbanize many developing parcels (for a to-
Year: 1971 tal than almost 100 units) accordingly to the
Work Type: New building ideas of modularity at the urban scale and free
plan at the building scale.
Context: Suburbs The units as imagined in the original mas-
Type of Building: Terrace house ter plan are aligned along 4 major axes, the
repetitive sequence of the module, which
Number of units: 8
is composed by two mirrored living units, is
Strategy: Light technology sometimes broken by a change in the rhythm

87
Case study
8
and in the orientation of the houses or the dif-
ferent aggregation of the smaller modules.
Unfortunately only eight of the expected units
were built, three of them are turned by 90° to
the others, showing how the flexibility of the
design allows also different urban layouts.
Basically the house consist of a structural
skeleton in which the only fixed elements are
two services cores arranged around a central
void that provides skylight to all floors:
The first core accommodate the staircase, the
entrance and the toilette.
The second one is for the kitchen at the ground
floor and the bathroom at the first one.
The interiors are free of vertical partitions and
on every floor the users can organize and ar-
range the living space as they please by add-
8.3 - Typical Interior Configuration

88
 Case study
8
ing/removing partitions or simply changing the
use of the space.
Starting from the ground floor we can find the
entrance, a storage room and a smaller ga-
rage or a larger garage that in many cases
has been converted by the users in another
room or in a office. Rising of an half storey
the kitchen is the core around which the other
spaces originates, here the totally free-parti-
tions space has not been designed by the ar-
chitects so that users could decide by them
selfs the amount of space to give to the dining/
living room or in alternative to split the floor to
create a closed bedroom with a balcony.
On the first floor the space vocation is once
again to be determined while on the second
floor the central core containing the bathroom
8.4 - Different floor plans layouts and section

89
Case study
8
suggest a floor division which can be accept-
ed separating the space into individual bed-
rooms or ignored originating a big night zone.
On the top floor the big terrace can be used
as solarium or as some tenant did as a green-
house.
The peculiarities of interior design of the floor-
plans, the extremely functional section and al-
ternation of spaces allows multiples interiors
configurations are not the only strong point of
the design: a great number of external spaces
such as the balconies, the central void space,
the upper terrace, can be appropriated or
closed so that the internal surface jump from
the starting 100 m2 to almost 140 m2.
The indeterminacy of the space is so strong
and central to the design that also on the out-
90
side the property limit has been just outlined
by a short row of concrete bricks that can be
used as flowerpot or as foundation for a fence.
Hertzberger research support the thesis that
every form and space can be red and inter-
preted in many ways. This multi-purpose atti-
tude affects not only the spaces’ functions but
also the images and the mental associations
in the users consciousness.
The architects in fact research the perfect “ar-
chitectural dimension”: if its true that a totally
open free space could be the best solution for
the individual’s expression and freedom, it’s
also true that such a high degree of freedom
can lead the user to a paralysis due to the al-
most infinite choices he has to choose from.
 Case study
8

8.5 - Different floor plans configuration

91
92
Light Technology:
Light Technology can be defined as the tech-
nical apparatus that enables flexibility in a
way that is not controlled by the background
of construction techniques. So if Heavy Tech-
nology is deterministic and works in the fore-
ground of the design process then Light Tech-
nology is definitely indeterminate and works in
the background (we know that is there but we
can’t see it). More in particular Light Technol-
ogy works in three complementaries ways
1. Strategically placing the services cores so
that kitchens and bathrooms can be locat-
ed in specific zones but not permanently
fixed.
2. Allowing this services cores to be easily
accessible for being updated in the future.
93
3. Distributing services and technological
systems across the floor-plans and fake
ceilings so that they can be accessed in
every plan arrangement.
The way most houses are wired has always
been an obstacle to flexibility: in most of the
cases in fact the wiring and the services run
along the internal partitions which cannot be
moved and so limits flexibility in plans dispo-
sition. The installation of pipes and wires in a
raised floors as for the “open office” plans are
a valuable technical solutions that however
has the downside of being more expensive.
Case study Cala Domus - PCKO Architects
9 Newhall, Essex - England - 2000

9.1 - Site plan

94
 Case study
9
In the PCKO’s houses in Newhall (UK) the
problem of the servicing has be resolved by
the concept of “Living Wall”. The project con-
sist in 74 units (apartments, houses, work-
spaces) which are all equipped with a central
structures called “Living Wall”. In the central
Architect: PCKO Architects zone of the house there is a dedicated space
in which are located all the technical systems
Location: Newhall, England
both horizontal and vertical: pipes, wiring but
Year: 200 also space for recycling and garbage are all
Work Type: New building condensed in this strip that runs trough all the
house. The kitchens and barrooms (the spac-
Context: Suburban es of the house which requires the most in
Type of Building: Detached house terms of services) are also attached or extend
into this wall.
Number of units: 50+

Strategy: Light technology

95
Case study
9

9.2 - Facades. In blue the accessible “Living Wall”

96
 Case study
9
The zone has been provided with internal and
external access so that when it comes the
time for a renewal, a refurbishment or simply
a changing in the house layout, the technical
systems can be changed, replaced or moved
without having to demolish parts of the house.
In fact the Living Walls act lice a fuse: it ad-
sorbs most of the complex technological
changes that are required to have an adapta-
tion of the interior layout.

9.3 - Section, in yellow the ”Living Wall”

97
Case study
9

9.4 - Floor plans

98
99
Case study Quinta Monroy - Alejandro Aravena, ELEMENTAL
10 Iquique - Chile - 2004

10.1 - Site plan

100
 Case study
10
This project originates from the need to house
100 families that for almost 30 years occupied
illegally a small but central portion of the Chil-
ean city of Iquique. The local government pro-
vided the developers with 7500$ subsidy with
which the designer had to pay for the land, the
Architect: Alejandro Aravena infrastructures and of course the construction
costs for each unit.
Location: Iquique - Chile
With this small amount of money usually in
Year: 2004 Chile the developers can built only 30 m2 of
Work Type: New building dwelling.
The designer team wanted to house all the
Context: Urban families in the relatively small site area which
Type of Building: Semi detached houses in this case was a true challenge consider-
ing that land price is higher close to the city
Number of units: 100
center where the site is located. The typology
Strategy: Light use choice is one of the biggest problem to solve:

101
Case study
10
a typical southern American isolated house ty-
pology would have allowed to install only 30
families.
A row typology, even if extremely restrained
would allow to house only 66 families. Fur-
thermore the problem with this typology is that
whenever a family wants to add new room to
the house, as custom of all the American peo-
ple, this would have blocked access to light
and ventilation to the other families and would
have forced the circulation into private rooms.
In this case the correct answer to the prob-
lems of future expansion and limited budget
is to use a high rise building typology arranged
in a row. The House is actually split in half:
the first one, of almost 40 m2 on three levels
was completed by the developers, the second
10.2 - Exteriors before and after expansion

102
 Case study
10
half of the same surface amount was not built
at all, it is in fact the void space between two
units. Its role is the real key for the success
of the design. This “unfinished” space is in ef-
fect intended to be built and customized by the
tenants which would expand the house and
so increase their values accordingly to their
needs, family changes and work opportuni-
ties.
The initial building has to provide a support
rather than a constrain the future expansion, it
also has to avoid the possibility of the negative
effect of self construction. This small base uni-
ty has yet to meet all the needs for the future
expansion, meaning that the services and the
technical systems have to be accessible and
functional enough to support a family living in
10.3 - Interiors before and after tenants’ installation

103
Case study
10
40 m2 and later in 80m2. The floor plans are sim-
ple but responsive: the services are staked on
the three levels, the rooms are big enough to
be divided without interfering with circulation,
the vertical partitions are light and movable so
that the interior configuration can be changed
by the tenants and used as future walls for the
expansion. The construction respect the limits
imposed by the budget: the materials are sim-
ple, prefabricated and modular elements are
easy to transport, maintain and to customize
with additional material bought by the families.
The principles of customization and appropri-
ation of the space are pushed to the limit in
the “future extension” where nothing has be
determined and the owners have to configure
the internal space and of the facade of the
10.3 Floor Plans

104

second half. The result is various and lively:
at the ground floor the undefined space can
be used as another bedroom or as a working
space or even a small shop. Rising up a floor
at the side of the kitchen most of the families
have preferred to install a new bedroom while
at the upper floor the choice is between a sec-
ond living room and a bedroom. The facades
10.4 - First floor plan, the base structure and the future extension
105
Case study
10
are colorful and miscellaneous, compensat-
ing the lack of colors of the public space. The
Master plan is rich of semi public spaces for
children but very poor of green spaces in or-
der keep the costs low. The high density and
the modular typology perfectly fit every orien-
tation: the attention to the details has made
possible for all the units to have a great num-
Case study
10
ber of solar light exposure and a good natural
ventilation.

With this project Aravena showed how it’s pos-

sible to rethink the role of social modular hous-
ing. In the first place he was able to promote
social development giving abusive tenants the
possibility to have their own house with just
the small amount of money of the government
subsidy, furthermore with the right typology he
managed to keep them close to the city center
where the job opportunities are better.
At the same time he provided houses that
they would have never been able to buy with
their own money and guaranteed thanks to
the modular cheap typology an economical
returns to the initial investment: the house val-
10.5 - Scheme of the expansion due to economic reasons

106
 Case study
10
ue after the customization and adding by the adapted to new problems and challenges
occupant has double after only one year. In but has maintained its features of modularity,
this way social housing is no more a social
expense (usually the value of social houses
drops continuously) but a profitable specula-
tion for developers, the public administration
and of course the people.

The ELEMENTAL project, of which Quinta

Monroy is just one of the examples, can be
defined as a modular design at many scales:
architectural, urban and the worldwide. Fol-
lowing the success of the first project in 2004
Aravena decided to implement and export the
design to other countries: in Monterrey, Mex-
ico, in 2010 and then again in 2010 in Con-
stitutiòn in Chile the design has evolved and
10.6 - Elemental projects in Mexico and Chile

107
11
Scales
Modularity is a multi-scale concept. The archi-
tectural scale is one on the many that can be
treated accordingly to modular logic.
It’s obvious that a smaller scale (furniture, ma-
terials, construction elements) can be seen in
a modular perspective, in the same way the
bigger scales as the urban and the city’s one
can be described as modular.
108
If we think in fact about the concept of “Struc-
ture” and “Infill” theorized by Habraken, it’s
clear that it works perfectly at the urban scale:
the “Support” is the infrastructure, the base
on which modern and ancient city are built,
the “Infill” can be compared to the parcel, the
portion of soil framed by the infrastructures
and the constructions that lie on it. The first
one as for the architectural scale is fix, hardly

Support and Infill scheme
and slowly changeable at great expenses, the
second is more inclined to transformation.
To better comprehend the similarity it’s suffi-
cient to think about the evolution of modern
cities: roads, streets and the communication
axes last in centuries and hold up against bru-
tal changes such as wars, earthquakes, city
renovations.
109
In most of the European cities we can still
find traces of the past: the grid of the romans’
camps has been the module on which to build
and expand the developing cities, the fortifi-
cations of the middle age were often used as
starting point of the city’s plan, the Renais-
sance’s radial cities built accordingly to the
perspective’s rules has kept their initial layout
and even if the buildings have been demol-
ished and reconstructed many time the base
“Structure” is still there. In this case the com-
parison between “Structure” - “Infrastructure”
and “Infill” - “Building” is clear, if we think about
the lifespan of the two groups we can easily
deduce that the first has a long life, while the
second is instead strongly limited.
 Like showed before we can say that the built
environment can be divided in two. On a lager
scale there are the urban designers and town
planners, at the smaller the architects. The ar-
chitect operates on a scale which is strongly
influenced and restrained by the choices done
by the town planner at the upper scale: he has
to respect the street layout and the parcel lim-
its. Inside these imposed limits it has the free-
dom to operate accordingly to his will and the
client’s demands. He can change the building
layout as many times he desires but he can-
not change the streets or the neighborhood
setting. On the other side when the street
network changes the building’s design has to
adapt: the urban designer cannot act without
interfering with the architect’s design. This im-
plies that the relation between the scales (ur-
ban - building) and the operators (urban plan-
ner - architect) is asymmetrical.

Support and Infill scheme - Urban Infrastructures

110

Three Scales of the built environment
But the scales in which our environment is
organized are not only two. Going up on the
scale we can find urban infrastructures (high-
ways, railway lines,...). Between this scale
111
and the lower one the same principles adopt-
ed for the urban-building scale can be applied:
when something changes at a higher level the
consequences will be absorbed by the lower
one. If we think for example at a new highway
or a mayor traffic artery that has to be build
or its layout changed it comes that the street
network at the neighborhood scale has to
adapt to the new changes. But when instead
we change the local street network the higher
tragic level pattern doesn’t change.
The scale sequences relation doesn’t seem to
be symmetrical even in this case.
The scale organization of the built environment
extend downwards: at the building scale. As
seen in the case studies, the inner partitions,
the rooms dispositions and the technical ser-
vices can be changed more or less easily and
always without interfering with the basic build-
ing structure and shape. All these changeable
elements represent the “Infill” while the build-
ing structure is the “support”.
Building with different infill configurations
Even here, between these two scales the
same relationship seen before is effective:
we can change the inner “infill” partitions and
its distribution without although changing the
building “support” structure. But when doing
mayor changes to the external structure, to
the higher scale, we expect also changes at
the lower scale, on the “infill” (it’s impossible
112
to extend a facade without being forced to
change the room configuration).
This asymmetrical hierarchy described until
now doesn’t only apply to the building form,
it affects also the technical systems lying in it.
If for example we think to change a windows
in the building’s facade. We can change its
material, the model but we will continue to
use the same opening and won’t be forced to
change the facade wall structure. At the oppo-
site, when changing the wall’s structure, may-
be to get more light from the exterior, we will
be forced to replace the window. At a higher
scale this asymmetrical relationship continue
to affects the scales. Let’s think about sewage.
At the building level we will find the pipes that will
run into the neighborhood infrastructure and all the
different neighborhoods sewage will merge into
the main city’s collector system at the higher scale.
Two levels of conduit organization, on the left the build- The five scales succession, all of these are subjected
ing scale, on the right the urban one. to the modular and flexible principles

In this scheme all the 5 scales are physical:

here we relates to highways, streets, facades,
walls, closets. But this physical scale systems
doesn’t take in account other relationship that
can be defined as “territorial” and that de-
Until now we have determined five scales
scribes the interrelations between two levels
which act on the psychical level: on top there
of the physical system. From this interaction
is the urban structure, the urban tissue, the
between scales originates a number of spaces
building support, the interior infill, the furniture.
or territorial entities. A dwelling, can be defined
113
like the interaction between the building and
the infill. The neighborhood can be described
as the interaction of the urban tissue and the
buildings in it. At a higher scale the town is
the meeting point within the urban structure
and the urban tissue. In the same way at the
smallest scale a room can be thought as the
territorial result of the infill and the furniture
scales.
The five scales succession, on the left the physical
ones and on the right the territorial ones.
114
In the last section we have already described
through many case studies the building scale,
with the next examples we will describe what
take place at the higher territorial scale of the
neighborhood and the higher physical system
of the urban tissue.
Surely a clarification has to be made. If it’s
true that we can talk about modularity and free
plan at the building and dwelling scale, its also
true that the concept of free plan cannot be
always applied at a higher scale. Although the
examples of modular design at the smaller ur-
ban scale are quite few and can be analyzed
accordingly to the criterion used until now for
the building scale.
115
Case study Habitat 67 - Moshe Safdie
11 Montreal - Canada - 1967

11.1 - Aerial view 11.2 - Exterior view

116
 Case study
11
Habitat 67, or simply Habitat, was designed
by the Canadian architect Moshe Safdie as
the Canadian pavilion at the world exposition
of 1967 in Montreal.
The project was intended to show and explore
the capacities of modularity and prefabrica-
Architect: Moshe Safdie tion, it also investigates the possibilities of a
new paradigm of urban development in which
Location: Montreal - Canada
the high rise and density building can be con-
Year: 1967 ciliated with the quality of the suburban home.
Work Type: New building About prefabrication: the entire project is com-
posed of only 354 identical concrete prefabri-
Context: City center cated modules, which assembled accordingly
Type of Building: Urban complex to the different house typologies generates all
the different spatial configurations: the base
Number of units: 158
module is a “box” of approximately 12m x
Strategy: Light technology 5,33m x 3m or 56 m2 and the weight of almost

117
Case study
11
90 tons which at the end of the assembly line
was lifted by a crane and attached to the adja-
cent modules. The different layouts space from
small one room apartments up to the largest
four rooms dwellings. The boxes (the basics
element which acts almost like a Lego brick)
can be juxtaposed in different way, allowing
many shapes, surfaces and open space con-
figuration. Every unit is accessible thanks to a
series of pedestrian bridges that cross all the
structure, the vertical distribution is here man-
aged by three pits of elevators which accord-
ingly to the brutalist ideas and to an economic
reason stops every four floors (so just three
times on the 12 storey building). The public
spaces and services are separated by the res-
idential circulation: in fact they are all situated
11.3 - Typologies plan disposition

118
 Case study
11

11.4 - A typology floor plan

119
Case study
11
at the ground floor. the spectacular design and the other astound-
The economic factor in a modular architecture ing characteristics have made rise the apart-
is one of the most important characteristic, ments demand, which automatically made
Safdie knew that and to keep the construction rise the price of the units. At the same time
prices as low as possible supposed to build
1000 apartments instead of the 158 units final-
ly built. The Federal government, which payed
for the project, didn’t want to spend as much
as Safdie wanted, this reduced the total bud-
get and the fact that the on-site prefabrication
system is cost efficient only on large scale, in-
fluenced negatively the final cost for the single
unit. Another factor that didn’t allowed Habitat
to be a cost efficient project can be found in
the market rule of supply and demand. Habitat
has been the symbol of the Montreal exposi-
tion and was visited by over 5 millions people,
11.5 - Cross section

120
 Case study
11
another factor in the failure of the project’s
cheapness can be found in the unit’s design:
with its numerous exposed walls on one side
it allowed a great lighting conditions to every
tenant, the possibility to have a private terrace
of 20 up to 90 m2, but on the other it made the
building twice as costly to heat.
Even if the project was not economically effi-
cient Safdie had the great credit to use modu-
larity and prefabrication to break the tradition-
al paradigm of orthogonal high rises buildings.
With just a box staking game he provided
each unit with a great quantity of light and air,
a private roof garden and a certain degree of
privacy. All these features are typical charac-
teristics of the suburban house garden, not
of the high rise building. Even if some of the
11.6 - Typologies modules assembly

121
Case study
11
structural and circulation elements, the mate-
rials being used, the strong prefabrication are
typical features of the brutalist architecture
Safdie always stated that Habitat was a “reac-
tion against brutalism”: it proposed a change,
an alternative to the conventional apartment
house typologies, it has been in fact said that
the public and the future inhabitants of Habitat
“found the possibility that high-rise living could
be more like living in a village and have the
quality of life of a house than what they asso-
ciated with the negatives of apartment hous-
ing”. To put it simply the project was futuristic
enough, but it also possessed what other bru-
talist project neglected: a shaggy and lively
humanity that is often missing from visionaries
brutalist and modern schemes.
11.7 - Module’s prefabrication assembly system

122

If its true that prefabrication had many advan-
tages its also true that prefab concrete leave
no space to layout changes. Habitat was in
fact never thought as a modifiable project
and the customization of the dwellings was
a private initiative. Many of the tenants have
bought multiple units and have united them,
many others are the examples of appropria-
tion and customization of the exteriors spac-
es and in general of the terraces. If its true
that a superb design allowed to rethink the
paradigms of high rise buildings and changed
the social aspects of this kind of cohabitation
its also true that the project at its lower scale
doesn’t show all the characteristics of a flexi-
ble project.
123
Case study
11
This missing flexibility although can be found
in the project intrinsic adaptability at a larger
scale. After the Universal Exposition many
were the request of developers from all over
the world which asked Safdie to design their
own version of Habitat. Starting from 1968
the young architect developed many projects
in Puerto Rico, New York, Israel, Rochester,
Tehran. In these projects we can see how the
same design concept (the living module, the
social public spaces, the prefabrication, the
quality of living) can fit to desert, tropical and
compact urban environments suggesting that
“the idea has an innate aspiration to multiply,
adapt, and mutate, rather than stand rooted”.
The Safdie’s Habitat design had also the cred-
Case study
11
it to inspire other modular large scale project
as for example the Kisho Kurokawa’s Nakagin
Capsule Tower (Tokyo, 1972); and, more re-
cently, BIG’s Mountain Dwellings (Copenha-
gen, 2008).

11.8 - BIG’s Mountain site plan and section 11.9 - BIG’s Mountain Exterior view

124
 Case study
11

11.10 - Kurokawa’s Capsule Hotel

125
126
 have been planned accordingly to a well or-
ganized grid layout. The axes orientation, the
parcels dimensions, punctual exceptions and

12
elements were all designed following pondered
rules.

Big Scale

The territorial scales at which the concept of

modularity and freedom can be applied are
many, as seen they don’t stop at the urban
scale but they affect also the city scale.

Nowadays and in the past the need for a uni-

form spatial solution in order to organize the
territory have been largely utilized.
Already Greeks cities in the 5th century BC,
Mileto urban plan - Grid

127
The Roman added to the grid plan some new el-
ements such as the two main orthogonal roads
which colliding at the center of the settlement
gave birth to the Forum, the main place were all
Timgad, Algeria - 100 BC
128
the most important activities took place.
With the Renaissance the new discoveries
about perspective and representation inspired
the planning and the construction of various cit-
ies plan designed accordingly to symmetry,
rigor and visual axes. Most of them combined
Plamanova, Italy - 1593
the radial form with the grid pattern.

In the 18th and 19th century, due to the mod-

ern fortification systems specifically designed
against the more powerful war machines, the
city shape and layout enhances again, this
time mixing the old patterns with the polygonal
form of the defensive walls. Even if the fortifica-
tion element always represented a restrain to
urban development (view the case of Palmano-
va in which the city didn’t expand beyond the
walls) in other cases, few to be honest, it was
overcome by the force of the rational system of
space organization within its perimeter. Its the
case of Avola, a Sicilian city, that as the others
fortified cities in the 18th century was encircled
by walls, which, under the pressure of expan-
sions couldn’t hold back the urban tissue which
continued to expand following the modular
units and pattern of the older city.
Avola, Italy - On top a 1756 plan, at the bottom, nowadays

129
With the discovery of Americas and the fol- But the grid and the low rise expansion mod-
lowing colonization the problem of how to els are not always a correct answer to the
organize the new planned cities was a great problems of housing and population growth.
deal and valuable opportunity for the urban The American dream, with the promises of “a
developers. The untouched vastness of the house for each family”, as gave birth to a large
new continent was in fact a blank piece of number of urban and suburban problems and
paper on which test the most advanced dis- unsustainable conditions. The sprawl with its
coveries and theories on the matter. The grid low density, the mono-functional vocation and
layout was highly used in both the northern
and souther continents since the beginning
of the colonization. New Orleans, founded
by the French, present an orthogonal layout
in which the squared parcel module as been
subdivided into multiple sub module of rectan-
gular shape. New York, Los Angeles, Philadel-
phia, Toronto, Chicago and other hundreds of
northern American cites are planned following
the grid layout. This system allowed fast, safe,
organized city development and the possibility
to extend the system indefinitely.
Twenty American grids compared

130
the strict dependency from the car has cre-
ated problems of economic and social kind.
Firstly it has increased the infrastructure (sew-
ers, streets, electricity, water) and transporta-
tion cost (the commuting time to and from the
workplace). On the social side it has replaced
the public space with the private one: while in
the city a compact layout can generate casual
social interactions, it’s impossible in the sprawl
An american sprawl
131
to have such relationships between citizens.
Here in fact the public space is replaced by
the private one: the places left place to private
gardens divided by fences. The old meeting
points of the city have been replaced too: here
again the central place or the park has been
replaced by the mall, the main street in which
was possible to walk, talk and eventually do
the shopping has be canceled by the a suc-
cession of malls which enchained expands
seamlessly. The repetitiveness and monotony
of the suburban design has been the object of
many academic researches by psychologist,
anthropologist and sociologist and it seem to
be the cause of alienation and loss of identity
in many people.
In the last two centuries due to the strong
industrialization and the consequent birth
growth, many were the expansion models
proposed by the urban designer. Illustrative
are the English New Towns and the French
Villes Nouvelles. All these past theories have
been discussed for a long time and they all
proved to me more or less valid alternative to
questions concerning the city, its shape and its
expansions. Animated was the discussion be-
tween the member of the Modern Movement
and more in general amongst all the architects
and urban designer of the golden age of the
modern architecture. The number of cities
designed during this period is extraordinary
as for the theories supporting the strategical
choices. Between those the most impressive,
daring, often criticized and that nonetheless
more than any other has influenced the follow-
ing researches are the Le Corbusier theories.
Already his architectural theories were clear
about the role of the city but also about the
dwelling and its position in the urban design
132
process. Le Corbusier starts his reflection de-
fining a problem: the city is chaotic and not
well organized. To put order in it the first step
to do is to reverse the “madness of the sin-
gle-family house” which was the cause of the
“housing alienation” and other social prob-
lems, that, accordingly to Le Corbusier could
been healed thanks to a new collective way
of living. The starting point, also for the urban
design, is always the “machine for living”: this
basic unit is the module on which design the
following scales of the neighborhood and the
city.
The ideas outlined in the first years of his ca-
reer were completed with the project known
as Ville Radieuse in which the Swiss architect
states officially his urban ideas.
133
Case study Ville Radieuse - Le Corbusier
12 1924

12.1 - Ville Radieuse perspective view

134

Ville Radieuse is the name of the unbuilt proj-
ect of Le Corbusier for the city of the future.
An idealistic city which condensed all the main
ideas of the architect in a single design.
The goal of Le Corbusier was to create better
living conditions, a better lifestyle, and thus a
better society. The political and sociological in-
volvements of the projects appear clear from
the beginning.
The ordering principle is radical and strict:
nothing is left as a blank space to be filled,
everything is controlled by the architects. The
order is total, the symmetry organizes the
space and the high standardization along with
the modular repetition of the elements define
a new paradigm of urban development based
on the high density high rise housing typolo-
gies. The site for the Ville Radieuse is not de-
135
Case study
12
fined, as a new city it can be build wherever
since the only requirement is a great amount
of free space. The organization of this big flat
construction site lies in the geometry and more
specifically in the orthogonal grid. Talking
about the geometry rules Le Corbusier once
said that “The city of today is a dying thing
because its planning is not in the proportion
of geometrical one fourth. The result of a true
geometrical lay-out is repetition, The result of
repetition is a standard. The perfect form.”
The main idea of the plan is the division of the
territory in zones. The central one accommo-
dates the residential buildings and the busi-
ness area in which mega skyscraper 200 me-
ters high, put in order by the grid, could house
up to thousands of habitants. These skyscrap-
ers are made up of “Unités”: a prefabricated
Case study
12
modular apartments block of 50 meters in
hight that could lodge 2700 inhabitants. At the
ground floor there are all the main facilities
while on the roof leisure activities. Between
two Unités Le Corbusier leave wide green
spaces to reduce the noise, to increase the
sun light exposure and to give the inhabitants
enough free space for recreational purpose.
The streets between the skyscrapers are huge
and pedestrian free, so that the cars could
reach high speed and move from a point to
another of the city in less time and totally free-
dom. Always true to the zoning concept the
city’s master-plan imagine a northern zone of
governmental buildings, the airport, the train
station and the universities. On the sud the in-
dustrial zone is connected with the other parts
of the city by a circular railway.
136
Even if the radiant city was just an experi-
ment more than a real project it can be said
that the model on which the “Contemporary
city for three millions inhabitants” (as it is also
known) can work as starting point for a more
real project. Is the case of the “Plan Voisin”
designed by Le Corbusier from the 1922 and
then resumed sporadically until 1945: here the
planning guidelines of the radiant city and all
the Le Corbusier ideas about urban planning
were adjusted to fit and adapt to Paris. The
project imagines a new city center plan: the
high rise buildings described in the radiant city
are organized trough an orthogonal grid. Two
main orthogonal roads converge at the cen-
ter of the city evoking Haussmann’s “Grand
Croisé”. The two axes however are not limit-
ed to the city and continue cutting through the
 Case study
12
its outskirts aiming to connect Paris to the en-
tire county and with other important European
capital cities. In this project, where the modular
repetition of the plan are the basic element on
which the new city center is imagined, we can
see how if on the one hand the grid repetition
offers many advantages concerning the land
use and its organization, on the other one is
anachronistic and foreign to the urban context
in which is integrated forcedly. This is just one
of the flaw of Le Corbusier design. If we con-
sider more in general his ideas about urban
design we can summaries it in few principles:

The decongestion of the city center

The augmentation of the density
The central role of the circulation
The importance of the public green space
12.2 - Ville Radieuse master plan

137
Case study
12
The rational land use thanks to the geometri-
cal repetitive order of uniform elements.
At the end nevertheless the radiant city design
and all the other design proposal originated
from it have different lacks:
The Zoning process is in fact based on a class
based conception of life in which different
classes belongs to different city zone and are
housed separately.
The design can work only on unused virgin
land. The Plan Voisin shows how is in fact
impossible to completely rethink and rebuild
from scraps a central portion of the city. The
land values, the historical content of the pe-
rimeter, other factors as the inhabitants relo-
cation is difficult if not impossible.
138
At the same time the idea of the parks and
green surfaces as central in the city develop-
ments suggested the idea of a city in a park
rather than a parkland in a city.
But maybe the most reprehensible aspect
of the totalitarian, repetitive, aseptic grid de-
sign is the presumption to be a valid solution
for every scenario. It can be applied in every
case. From the untouched soil of a continental
upland to the city center of a capital city with-
out even trying to create a dialogue with the
surroundings. Even if confronted to the his-
torical, cultural and social heterogeneous mix
of Paris the design doesn’t change much from
the initial form and simply cut a hole in the city
center without taking in account the adjacent
close-knit urban tissue with its varied civic life.
 Case study
12
Nevertheless its important to remark that Le
Corbusier’s solution and new paradigm of city
strongly and heavily structured accordingly to
a set of geometrical and programmatic choic-
es had the precise purpose to heal the often
dramatic situation of chaos which the contem-
porary cites were dealing with: bad living con-
ditions, traffic congestion, noise, public space
quality and transportation are in fact problems
that still affect our generation and that repre-
sent a huge challenge for the future genera-
tions of inhabitants and urban planners.

12.3 - Ville Radieuse axonometric projection

139
Case study The Free University of Berlin - Candilis, Josic, Woods
13 Berlin - Germany - 1963

13.1 - Site plan

140

In the 1963 Candilis, Josic, Woods won the
competition for the construction of the cam-
pus of the Free university in Berlin. The proj-
ect can be defined as hyper-ambitious urban
scale building of almost 350,000 m2. The con-
cept on which lies is deeply rooted in the ar-
chitectural optimism of the 60s and it’s based
on the idea of transforming the campus in a
strongly interconnected city with its internal
streets, squares, yards, and multiple walk-
ways on the model of the Medina of the Ar-
abic countries. Of extremely importance for
this research is the developing scheme and its
theoretical bases that resulted in the end in a
extremely complex and a multitude of various
“ambiences” controlled by a modular system.
The main concept of the design was a radi-
141
Case study
13
cal rethinking of the educational system that
was intended to be ruled by flexibility and the
possibility for non assigned spaces for evo-
lution and transformation. These ideas were
spatially translated in the quest for horizontal
communication between different disciplines
and of course between students and teach-
ers, resulting in a plan where spaces are de-
centralized and uniformly distributed in a non
hierarchical limitless multilevel grid.
The three architects have been part of Team
Ten and within years of collaboration they
have developed numerous urban theories
which were an alternative and sometimes in
opposition whit the traditional urban doctrine
and the more advanced modernist ones.
Case study
13
At that time the goal for everybody, architects
and urban planners, was the flexibility: Van Ey-
ck’s theories about a form for the mass society
and the Alison and Peter Smithson concept of
relationship between the part and the whole
have ween pointing in this direction. The Team
Ten theories goes in this sense and starting
from 1960 they have published two articles
called “Stem” and “Web” in which they criti-
cize openly the urban planning techniques in
France and in Europe at the time. They insist
on the importance of embedding urban design
in real circumstances (idealistic design such
as the Ville Radieuse are forbidden) and the
respect of new parameters of design such as
flexibility and change. The architectural and
planning tool with which achieve these flexi-
142
bility in design is the “Stem”: a capillary distri-
bution system (like for the plants) that connect
the building to the smallest street on its side
and that continues going up to the biggest traf-
fic arteries. In this way the urban form should
be analysed and conceived through the notion
of mobility and modification: the street would
so have to allow and facilitate change and
growth. With this reaffirmation of the street
Candilis, Josic, and Woods intended to adopt
mobility as the key of urban change and as
the axis that generated urban growth. In the
end the Stem can be thought as a device that
structured dwellings, produced architectural
form and as well structured urban develop-
ment.
The most known project that adopted the

“Stem” principle is the Mirail Plan in Toulouse
(1961) for a great number of social housing.
13.2- Le Mirail site plan
The main site plan is organized on the logic
of fractals: subsequent pieces of urban block
repeated from large to smaller scales, laying
out the spaces, buildings corridors and apart-
143
Case study
13
ments in a branching system of elements.
The second important theory developed by
Woods and published in 1962 is the “Web”.
Here the web is intended as the structuring
force of the urban transformation, a polycen-
tric environmental system that was believed
to be an alternative to the traditional urban tis-
sue. The Web is against the grid of the mod-
ernists which has proven its limits in providing
flexibility and mobility for the rapidly growing
society.
Wood’s web shifts designer attention from
geometric-planning to action-planning with the
purpose to create a continuous limitless pat-
tern in which different practices and programs
can intersect freely. The web is in fact an evo-
lution of the stem, being more homogeneous
Case study
13
can be said that the web is a stem to the next
degree which permits limitless development
of an area unified by a circulation network.

When in 1963 Candilis, Josic, and Woods

13.3 - Web diagram for a Shopping Center, Toulouse,
France, 1963
won the competition for the Free University
in Berlin the concepts of “Stem” and “Web”
were already well know but they have nev-
er been used in any design or in the urban
transformation process. With the project for
the competition they stated one more time
their refusal of the modernist theories and in
particular of the high rise vertical skyscrap-
er like the ones used by Le Corbusier in his
urban plans. As an alternative to these theo-
ries they proposed an horizontal skyscraper
called “groundscaper” which contains in itself

144
 Case study
13
the two principles of “Stem” and “Web”. This
idea of “groundscaper”, on which the site plan
is based on, maintains a high density like a
proper skyscraper but at the same time elim-
inates from the equation the vertical planes
separation typical of the high rise buildings. In
this way the design allows and encourage ac-
tivity, mobility and integration on a horizontal
grid instead of separating the functions as it
happens on vertical buildings. Since the circu-
lation is oriented in a horizontal direction the
project can finally free itself from the machine
dependency (elevators, escalators common
in the modernist doctrine and central in their
designs) and thus encouraged the pedestrian
movements. These concept are valid at the
building scale such as for the urban one, in
13.4 - Stem + Web diagrams for the University design

145
Case study
13
fact the project for the University’s Campus
has a design that cannot be narrowed to the
architectural scale even if the continuity of its
form can make us perceive it as a single unit.
The site plan is in effect based on the previous
stem-based project of Le Mirail in Toulouse
and the scheme for the city center of Frank-
furt-Römerberg in Germany (1963). The com-
bination of the two ideas merged together in
the groundscaper. With is grid layout was in-
tended to be “not a mega-structure but rather
a minimal structuring organization” that allows
the project to grow and change. The design
imagines a three levels grid that allows great
density, fast and easy access to the different
floors and in the end foresee the possibility for
future growth and expansion without predeter-
mined outcomes and boundaries.
13.5 - Frankfurt-Römerberg grid diagram

146
 Case study
13
The program is abundant and diverse: to ac-
commodate the interdisciplinary character of
the teaching institution the design has accom-
plish the main function of encouraging “ex-
change and intellectual regeneration between
people working in different disciplines”. This
kind of approach in fact goes against the typi-
cal departments division usually found in other
universities. The building’s grid is in this way
shaped taking in account the need for mini-
mal organization and for maximum opportuni-
ties, exchange and feedback without howev-
er compromising the tranquility of individual
work.

13.6 - Distribution and void diagrams

147
Case study
13
Most of the public services and activities are
located on the ground floor: auditoriums, librar-
ies, cafes, shops are organized on four main
services spines and are accessible thanks to
ramps and staircases with evident connection
to the outside, the internal circulation is guar-
13.7 - Green rooftop
148
anteed by the walkways designed as stems.
The main technical services are underground
to be easily reached from vehicles. The idea of
flexibility and free use was so rooted into the
architects’ intentions that on the competition
drawings the site ground floor drawing con-
13.8 - Activities scheme

tains only the description of the program to be
assigned to the each grid module, by rejecting
any formal subdivision they stated once again
their will to build a structure as free as possi-
ble. At the upper levels the design imagines all
the activities typically academic such as small
13.9 - Courtyard
149
Case study
13
classrooms, group workrooms, libraries and
administration offices; while at the last floor the
designer have thought about the possibility of
integrating an accessible rooftop with housing
units. This ample and flexible program was
praised by the city council for its extraordinary
flexibility since it allowed the university’s de-
mand for multiple choices in the future.
The proposal, unlike the utopian design of
the modernist took in consideration the sur-
roundings and looked for urban integration:
university’s grid and the urban tissue can find
an integration thanks to the public activities on
the ground level, at the same time the empty
spaces in the grid which usually are filled with
green, courtyards, terraces can be appropri-
ated for neighbors making so possible the in-
Case study
13
tegration of the structure in the existing urban
context of single family houses.
At the end of the competition phase the proj-
ect ‘s design has been changed many time
but its principles remain untouched. What is
different from the original concept is the total
surface occupied by the building: due to the
relative economic and political instability of
the two Germany at that time the budged was
drastically reduced and just a portion of the
original site plan was finally realized.
The Free University building can hardly be de-
scribed as a building in the traditional sense.
Bryan Richards describes it as “a city in micro-
cosm and the ideas in it are ideas for cities.”
Serge Chermayeff characterizes it as “an
open-ended grid system accommodating om-
150
ni-directional growth in three dimensions.”
Candilis, Josic, and Woods described it as “a
system where individuals and groups may de-
termine desirable relationships.”
The street-like circulation, leading into linearly
aligned offices and gathering spaces situat-
ed along the avenues, resembles a city more
than a building.
To summaries we can state that the ground-
scaper in the Free University proposal medi-
ates architectural, environmental, contextual,
and urban approaches to design with the po-
litical agendas of an educational institution so
as to produce dynamic social change.
 Case study
13

13.10 - University facade

151
13
Small Scale

As described by Habraken the scales of mod-

ularity and flexibility can be applied to many
systems and units. The architectural scale
and the urban one have been already debated
in the last chapters but what about the smaller
scale concerning the inner space of the single
unit, the space of a room?
How can we achieve flexibility within four
walls? The five scales succession, on the left the physical
ones and on the right the territorial ones.

152
The answer is “furniture”: the “built” portion
of the raw space delimited by the partitions.
As for the building in the parcel or the inner
space in the building, the furniture respect all
the conditions to be considered as one import-
ant element in the quest for flexibility.
Many are the examples of extremely versatile
building and dwelling design which are how-
ever limited in their flexibility degree due to a
bad or incautious furniture. Especially in the
first half of the last century and among a great
number of modernist designer the custom ap-
proach to interior design was the one in which
the architect himself decided where, how and
in which measure install the furniture. The
belief that the architect, a person who have
studied and that have designed hundreds of
interior spatial configuration, has the right and
the ability to choose the correct spatial con-
figuration among the infinites possibilities was
153
commonly accepted. The result of this way
of thinking was a closed and immutable floor
plan in which the furniture was designed by
the architect. Often construction and assem-
bly techniques made very difficult a change
over time. An example of this general and dif-
fuse tendency can be the Villa Müller by Adolf
Loos (1930): even if the project is extreme-
ly revolutionary for the time and the flexibili-
ty of the space is achieved only thanks to a
great plan design (no heavy technology was
used) the fexibility of the furniture disposition
is low. The house is in fact designed to avoid
any kind of organization in separated floors:
the interior have been structured accordingly
to the Raumplan (spatial plan) which allowed
different spaces to be arranged in a sequence
of stepped areas with different ceiling height
accordingly to their function.
If this maniacal attention to the spatial detail
was given to the floor plan and the ensem- hold other shelving units, the small sofa on
ble of the structure we cannot say the same the staircase are combined with the handrail
about the furniture and its arrangement within structure and the bookshelf on its side.
the villa’s rooms. The architect has expressed
in fact his will to place and install the furni-
ture in a closed system, in an immovable pre-
conditioned layout: the shelves of the dining
room are built in the wall, the big sofa of the
living room as been nestled between two low
bricks decorative walls which at the same time

Villa Müller interior - Dining room shelf Villa Müller interior - Sofa
154
155
Case study USM modular furniture
14 Fritz Haller - 1963

14.1 USM modular system

156

It’s clear that there is a strong relationship be-
tween architecture and furniture, architecture
has the role of supporting the installation of all
the objects and technical systems necessary
to the living of individuals. Living in a world
based on consumerism and programmatic
obsolescence has made possible that even
furniture as become part of a process of fast
consumption. If in the past furniture had an
important role in the budget of a family and it
had to be correctly chosen, designed, adapt-
ed and installed, nowadays the process of
furnishing an empty house has become more
easy, fast and cheap. But at what price? Let’s
for example think about Ikea and its model:
furniture has now become part of mass indus-
trial production, being part of this consumption
157
Case study
14
system means that furniture is no longer per-
ceived by buyers as a long duration commod-
ity but more and more often as a replaceable
consumer good, almost like a staple product
such as food or clothing. The reason can be
found in the manufacturing and industrial will
to make more money more often by simply
producing a great quantity of low quality - low
price furnitures items: for the consumer it’s
not important if the quality of an item is low,
and probably it would have to be replaced with
an identical or similar one after a short term,
the low price in fact is an incentive to the pur-
chase. The figures of the big furnitures pro-
ducers show that this production model knows
no crisis. The standardization of the goods are
not always a problem if the goal of the design
Case study
14
and the production is the quality and the long
lasting life of the furniture item, the same con-
cept as seen can be applied to dwelling and
architectural objects, and often the flexibility
can be achieved only through the adhesion
to concept such as cheapness, prefabrication
and standardization. So, why a same princi-
ples cannot be applied to the smaller scale of
furniture?
USM, a furniture company based in Münsin-
gen (Switzerland) has tried to answer this
question by producing a range of products
that respects the idea of flexibility and long life
duration thanks to modularity, clever design
and a high standard in industrial production.
158
The history of furniture production by USM
starts in 1960 when Paul Schaerer, grandson
of USM founder Ulrich Schaerer, meet with
Swiss architect Fritz Haller. Schaerer will ask
Haller to design the new factory and office
for the family’s company in order to be more
competitive on the market. Haller’s project
for the production site was so innovative and
revolutionary that Schaerer wanted to carry
on the businesses relationship with the archi-
tect demanding for a flexible storage system.
Haller designed what later will be known as
“USM Haller System” for exclusive use in the
USM offices, but in the 1963, due to the clear
qualities of the products, the system went into
production in the USM factory and sold to the
market.
 Case study
14
The System is carefully proportioned and can er ones in matter of minutes.
be configured to fit any space (home or office) The furniture units can be further customized
thanks to its simplicity in design and the ease per application by adding doors, drawers and
with which it can be assembled, disassembled a variety of internal organizational accesso-
and reconfigured following users’ needs. All ries.
the modules of which the product line is com-
posed are made up of just three basic mod-
ular elements: a ball joint, metal tubes that
can be screwed into the ball joints, and col-
ored panels. The simple modular design is the
strong point of the system which allows mul-
tiple configurations and retaining at the same
time a clean aesthetic layout without any frills
or unnecessary elements. The user, without
any kind of formation or instruction can au-
tonomously rearrange the initial configuration,
add, remove parts or split big units into small-
14.2 - The joint of the USM Haller System

159
Case study
14
But the system adaptability is not only limit- ferent settings, such as offices, shops, muse-
ed to its flexibility and easy of reconfiguration. ums and, increasingly, in the residential sector.
Haller in fact developed three main systems USM products are built to last, which means
that works at different scale. they impact less on the environment as they
are less likely to be replaced over time, being
The “mini” for the private houses and offices, thus extremely cost efficient.
the “midi” for taller buildings, and the “maxi” for
industrial structures. All of these subsystem
however are based on the original three-piec-
es frame system.
In a world that evolves constantly, at great
speed and that demands more often adapt-
ability, the USM System fits perfectly this de-
mands thanks to the easy of customization.
Standardized components offer the potential
to create a range of forms, from open shelving
and storage to functional workstations for dif-

160
 Case study
14

14.3 - A wall of USM furniture

161
162
14
Prototypes

Any valid research has to explore every as- technical, spatial, social solution that is right to
pect of the subject debated. analyze and that can be implemented in more
Speaking of flexibility and modularity is impos- realistic future projects.
sible without taking in consideration the great
number of prototypes and single solution to
the matter. This multitude of conceptual de-
sign, more or less efficient, doesn’t solve en-
tirely the problems linked to the topic but, at
the same time, gives us a great repertoire of

163
Case study MIMA House
15 Mima Architects - Portugal, 2011

15.1 - Exterior view 15.2 - Interior moving partitions

164
 Case study
15
MIMA house is a modular, flexible, prefabricat-
ed, highly standardized, transportable single or
multiple family house designed by the Portu-
guese collective “MIMA Architects”. The concept
of the planning is to offer everybody a dwelling
that perfectly respond to the contemporary soci-
Architect: Mima Architects ety lifestyle and of course to owners needs and
ambitions.
Location: Portugal
In a continuously evolving social environment in
Year: 2011 which families evolves and changes faster than
Work Type: New building before the sole architectural response is a house
that respect the standard of adaptability to the
Context: Suburban site, flexibility of the interiors and cheapness.
Type of Building: Single house The basic house module is a squared structure
of 6x6 meters per side for a total of 36 m2, sever-
Number of units: 1-2
al modules and their fraction can be assembled
Strategy: Heavy technology

165
Case study
15
together to allow different spatial configuration
that can bring the total surface up to 211 m2. The
exterior of the house is clean and simple: the
four facades are almost identical, the corner pil-
15.3 - Module’s plan and elevation
166
lars entirely support the roof so that the exterior
walls are completely transparent and at the in-
terior there is no need for load bearing walls or
additional pillars.
The modularity is an important element of the in-
terior design too: the MIMA’s inside is in fact de-
fined by a fix grid of 1,5 meter. This grid leave a
small gap on the floor in all the zones where ser-
vices are not installed which allows the tenant to
configure the internal partitions as they prefer.
The layout changing process is simple and fast:
the MIMA house comes with an additional set
of movable partitions, two people alone can in
fact in matter of seconds move and install a new
interior walls of 1,5 meter in length and 3 meter
in height. This movable partitions can also be
placed on the exterior walls, that normally are
 Case study
15
all made of glass, in order to assure privacy to the space between columns was standardized
the occupant of the newly created room. The and known as ken, the vertical sliding partitions
customization of the space doesn’t end with the made of paper respected too the modular base
simple installation of vertical elements. The col- unit, the panel used for the floor /tatami) were in
ors and the wooden pattern of these elements
can in effect be changed by the occupants as-
signing to the house or maybe to a single room a
different character that reflect the owner’s taste
or mood.
It has to been said that the MIMA house and
the concept of internal grid and modules are not
new architectural concepts. It was in fact known
and largely used by the Japanese for the tradi-
tional house. In the Japanese construction tra-
dition in fact the house was assembled with a
pool of standard elements of fixed and known
dimension defined by a modular length unit:
15.4 - Different possible interior configurations

167
Case study
15
fact the basic element for the plan design and
had a fixed dimension of 90 cm x 180 cm. This
dimensions and the ratio of 1:2 are the base for
the dimensioning of all the others house ele-
ments.
Respect of a precise assembly and standardiza-
tion in construction elements are also the key
point of the MIMA House.
The construction process is also very innovative
and allows participatory design. The whole pro-
cedure takes only 22 weeks. In the first 4 weeks
the future owner can design his own house,
helped by a specially made design software, the
the site plan layout, the interiors plan and the
arrangement of the services. After this phase in
which the client dialogues constantly with the
architects team the final drawings are ready to
168
be submitted for the permitting phase. Once the
project has been approved by the technical of-
fice of the chosen city or country (MIMA house
can in fact be shipped and build in all the Eu-
ropean Countries) the assembly process starts.
The secret of the low price (the entire house
costs like a new family car) and quick production
lie in the highly standardization and the prefabri-
cation of almost all the house’s elements. Once
the assembly phase is over the site is prepared
and tested to accommodate the half-built house.
This last phase is sensibly faster compared to
the common construction on site since the
only building works that have to be done is the
ground leveling and the laying of the founda-
tions. Once this phase is over only one week will
take to the workers to finish the house. It has to
 Case study
15
be highlighted that the whole process takes real- der to gave birth to a rich social environment. The
ly a small time compared to the traditional build- house at the moment is a perfect example of bril-
ing, the reason has to be found in the flexible liant design that although remains no more than a
standardized construction system of the house. prototype or a “divertissement” for few instead of
If the MIMA house seems to be a real answer to being a solution for many.
the quest for flexibility, cheapness and custom-
ization it’s also true that the design has a lot of
limits.
In the first place only land owners can afford the
construction of the MIMA house, even if the total
cost is really low and respect the cheapness re-
quirement, not everybody has the money or the
possibility to buy a piece of land on which install
his flexible house. Another argument against the
MIMA house is that the built density is really low,
land use really high and that there is now way,
until now, to assemble more units together in or-
15.5 - Possible unit’s assembly configuration

169
Case study Rotor House
16 Luigi Colani

16.1 - Exterior view

170
 Case study
16
Rotor House can be defined as a saving-space
structure, designed to fit an individual and his
needs in a total surface of 36 m2. The house
has only one space which is a multipurpose
flexible living zone that accommodate the en-
trance and a small WC. In one corner is in-
Architect: Luigi Colani stalled a turnable motorized cylinder of only
6 m2 that turning on itself reveal three differ-
Location: Germany
ent spaces that complete the dwelling: a re-
Year: - stroom, a kitchen and a bedroom. The three
Work Type: New building units lodged in the cylinder are controlled by
a switch that allows the user to chose which
Context: - sector has to be opened accordingly to his
Type of Building: Single house needs throughout the day.
The design has been described by design
Number of units: 1
enthusiast as the “house of the future”. But a
Strategy: Heavy technology consideration has to be done.

171
Case study
16
The limits of the design are many and evident:
even if the production is based on standard-
ization and prefabrication (the German soci-
ety Hanse-Haus which control the production
has many request for the house), and the
transport and installation are easy and fast,
the dwelling in exam cannot be considered
a valid solution to the housing problems that
often flexible architecture try to resolve. More
than that: the flexibility and customization are
for only one person, so that the social benefits
of the flexibility are basically wasted and no
good is done to the society which at the con-
trary needs a dwelling to be interchangeable
between past and future tenants.

16.2 - Plan

172
 Case study
16

16.3 - Rotor’s detail and different positions

173
III - Conclusion

174
- “The Only Constant is Change” -
Quote attributed to Heraclitus.
175
As seen flexibility and customization are two
important topic in the architectural academic
world. Unfortunately the tangible part of the
topic is less extended than the written one.
Nowadays many are still the difficulties linked
to subject, especially because of the eco-
nomic factors and the esitancy of the de-
velopers, constructors and architects them-
selves.
It has to be said that even architect’s igno-
rance play a huge role in the lack of neces-
sary and desirable attention that the phe-
nomenon demands. The academic world is
still far away from finding a comprehensive
approach to the disciple: few are the quality
paper on the topic.
This figure is however in line with the number
of flexible project that have been realized.
Once again the cause to this scarcity can be
found in the reluctance of the investors to
spend manpower and money to adopt new
construction techniques and standard even
if their adoption would mean a quality rising.
Since the beginning of the last century, when
the steel and the reinforced concrete have
changed the way to think and build the ar-
chitecture, very few are the project that can
be really said “flexible”. But once again the
structural and technical limits (or the costs)
176
cannot always be used as a scapegoat for
the lack of sensibility to the topic. As seen in
many study-cases, especially the ones which
don’t require a great amount of technology
(light or heavy), many are the possibilities
with which achieve a certain degree of flexi-
bility. The correct use of clever architectural
instruments, languages, styles and precau-
tions can produce extremely satisfying re-
sults: a good section, the alternation of floors,
the simple positioning of services cores in
the right place, the right choice in matter or
vertical partitions and material could in fact
produce effects similar to the ones reachable
through advanced technologies. Illustrative in
this sens in the quote by the Swiss architect
Luigi Snozzi
- “Cerchi la flessibilità ? Continua pure a
costruire i tuoi muri in pietra” -
- “Do you want to achieve flexibility? Keep
building walls made of stone” -
With what seems to be an oxymoron Snozzi
teaches us that flexibility is not always a mat-
ter of physical flexibility but instead a matter of
understanding and conception of the architec-
ture. If the walls are immovable and the interi-
or configuration of the space is fixed, then the
only way to obtain a certain degree of flexibility
is thanks to a correct design of both plan and
section. The concept works at the same time
in another way: if the walls are really immov-
able then they can act like reference point for
the users and then allow them to better move
and live the space.
The Snozzi’s sentence is in a certain way the
confirmation of what asserted before: flexibil-
ity cannot depend exclusively on technology.
Flexibility and the free plan have to be before
177
all a means and not a goal. The true objective
to be achieved is in fact the multiplication and
growth of different social uses: new opportuni-
ties and uses for the same space.
The concept of multi usability.
In a world that changes continuously and in
which the attention to natural and economic
resources is increasing day by day, comes
natural to the good architect to think about
strategies useful to the reduce the wast of lim-
ited resources. Speaking of resources means
also speaking about space.
The density question, for both the architec-
tural and urban scale, is extremely important
especially nowadays. Developers and cities
councils cannot any longer ignore the fact that
a bad urban planning in the last half centu-
ry has badly compromised the integrity of our
territory. But all the question relatives to the
density originates for the growth of the popula-
tion. The challenge for the future generations categories of construction that accommodate
of urban planners and architects will be hous- those groups of population with less economic
ing an continuously higher number of people means than the others.
in our cities. A better strategy for the soil use The advantages to design and to build with
has to be found, until now there have been flexibility are undeniable, its now time to adapt
few answer and none of them seem to work our way of thinking because change is the
properly. On one side the serial construction only constant.
of higher and bigger high rise building and si-
multaneously the shrinking of the living unit.
On the other one the limitless expansion of the
suburban zones characterized by an extreme-
ly low density and high resources consump-
tion. Another option involving flexibility could
be possible: a small surface, well designed
and with the right amount of basic technolo-
gy, can in fact accommodate a higher number
of inhabitants and at the same time performs
different functions throughout the course of a
day. Furthermore flexibility has a great impact
on social housing, and in general on those

178
179

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183
Niccolò Brandini - Préparation à la thèse
25/07/2016