Global Implications of Prefab Housing: How SUMMARY Studio Addresses Housing Challenges
SUMMARY studio stands out as a pioneer in prefab housing and modular design, reshaping how we think about construction in the 21st century. Their latest project in Vale de Cambra, Portugal, exemplifies the studio’s commitment to merging pragmatism with experimentalism, delivering innovative solutions to contemporary housing challenges. By utilizing their patented GOMOS System, a prefabricated modular approach, this project tackles pressing issues such as speed, cost-effectiveness, and adaptability.
Photography by Fernando Guerra, Published by bowerbird
In doing so, it not only fulfills the client’s vision but also sets a new benchmark for sustainable and efficient construction practices, offering insights into the future of modular housing on both local and global scales.
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SUMMARY studio has gained recognition for its innovative use of prefabrication and modular systems. Could you share how the founding principles of SUMMARY—pragmatism and experimentalism—shaped the approach to this new project in Vale de Cambra?
One of the driving forces behind our architectural practice is the acceleration of construction. We are aware of the global housing deficit and the need for improvements in construction methods. Consequently, we are constantly researching ways to speed up and simplify the construction process.
Undoubtedly, experimentalism is at the core of our work. Our team is always testing out new ways to improve the construction process, either by experimenting with new materials, questioning technical solutions, or importing systems from other areas of knowledge into architecture.
This was what we aimed to present in our participation in the 2016 Venice Biennale with the installation “Infrastructure-Structure-Architecture.” There, we demonstrated how a box culvert, as a system, can be adapted to an architectural building system and address the needs of more efficient and quicker construction.
Specifically, our project in Vale de Cambra allowed us to apply the knowledge gained from previous experiments with modular systems in a new context. The modules (the same we presented at La Biennale) were integrated into a new urban environment, addressing a whole new set of requirements while overcoming some construction limitations. The client’s requirements for an efficient and cost-effective construction process were fulfilled. All elements were built offsite and assembled in the final location with a substantially smaller team and at a quicker pace.
The project had bold requirements from the outset, emphasizing speed, cost-effectiveness, and flexibility. How did these factors influence the decision to leave parts of the project undefined, and how does this add to the building’s adaptability over time?
The undefined aspects of the project stem primarily from the initial client brief rather than the characteristics of the construction system. Given that the ground floor is dedicated to services and commercial areas, in direct contact with public space, it consists of prefabricated structural panels along its entire perimeter, complemented by a central wall. This floor is designed in an absolutely flexible manner, allowing for the possibility of changing the number and arrangement of interior partitions or eliminating them entirely, transforming this entire area into an open space.
The upper floor is entirely composed of three-dimensional prefabricated modules – the GOMOS System – for housing units. In this case, the partitions are mainly defined through carpentry elements, thus enabling future easy redefinitions.
The ground floor is described as highly flexible, allowing for the addition or removal of compartments. How did you ensure this level of adaptability while maintaining structural integrity and usability for various functions?
It’s a large compartment (over 700 square meters) that can be subdivided or used as a single office or commercial facility. Currently, it’s divided into two spaces: a bakery and a grocery store with independent entrances. New partitions can be added and existing ones removed, except for the peripheral wall and some elements from the central one.
This flexibility in use stems from the intention to accommodate different functions according to future needs. It’s achieved through the use of a point structure that ensures this type of Plan Libre. The required infrastructure is located in the back-of-house area, and the public facade is a continuous glass panel that unifies the lower level of the building.
The use of the GOMOS System units on the first floor is central to the project’s design. Could you explain the advantages this modular system offers, particularly in terms of acoustic separation and individual entrances for the housing units?
Though the project was designed and licensed as a collective housing building, the use of GOMOS ensures independence to each housing unit and enforces some of the main advantages of individual dwellings: clearly separated entrances and complete acoustic separation between the different units.
Formally, it also allowed an exploration of composition: each housing unit is able to have somewhat different positions and orientations. These formal variations create an identity that contradicts the anonymity that the use of a modular system might entail.
What is particular in this modular system is that it combines the rapidity and simplicity of installation with an unusual constructive resistance and quality – all the modules are made out of high resistance concrete, the insulation layer is located inside the walls (avoiding any chance of damage) without any thermal bridge, and the technical installations (for water, electricity, bathroom…) are done from the factory.
The modules are produced in the factory under very controlled conditions, leaving for the construction site complete and ready to install. This feature not only accelerates the building process, but also avoids constructive mistakes as well.
By using precast concrete as both the structural and finishing material, SUMMARY has reduced the need for additional resources and manpower. Could you elaborate on how this approach minimizes environmental impact while also speeding up the construction process?
The predominant material in the structure and composition of the building — reinforced concrete — is clearly visible throughout the intervention. There is, therefore, no need for additional claddings, either inside or outside the building. This fact contributes to a reduction in costs by eliminating additional materials and the labor inherent in their application.
This saving of means and resources also results in an acceleration of construction time: the different components of the building are assembled in situ in their final shape and finish, simultaneously solving structural, insulation, and finishing issues.
At the same time, it is crucial to assume the impact of our designs, without cynicism. While using local extracted resources and reducing claddings, manpower, and energy associated with this construction site, the project is essentially based on concrete. This is indeed one of the most harmful materials on the planet.
However, the project was developed with this acknowledgment. The high resistance of the whole structure, its flexibility in terms of occupation, and also its possibility to be disassembled and reassembled exponentially enlarge the life cycle of this material. That is another way to approach sustainability.
The project strikes a balance between collective housing and individual living spaces. How did you reconcile the design to meet the legal requirements for a collective housing building while offering the benefits of single-family homes?
This fortunate circumstance comes from the site conditions as well as the openness of the client’s commission brief. The existing slope allowed us to separate the residential program from the commercial area and solve the parking needs of each individual unit at the upper level.
There are no vertical connections between the two floors; stairs or lifts are not present. This freedom in layout for the housing units on the upper level was achieved since we didn’t have any constraints in terms of orientation or structural support. Therefore, the ground floor works as a “structural table,” upon which these six freely placed objects stand.
The empty space legally required was used to separate these six housing units. After all, this legal restraint was an opportunity to individualize the dwellings within this collective housing building permission.
One of the project’s most striking elements is its use of prefabrication for both the structural and insulation components. How did the collaboration with companies like Farcimar streamline the process from factory production to on-site assembly?
The building system was developed by a team of companies in very different areas, from concrete prefabrication to industrial automation. The main objective was to create a building system entirely produced in the factory, transportable and of quick assembly.
The proximity to industry is thus essential to develop and test these ideas.
We are currently working with different prefabricated systems, based on concrete, wood or steel. But our approach is always similar to the one we applied with Farcimar: we work side by side with the manufacturers, we visit the factories to understand all the constraints related to their production lines, and we allow adaptations of our designs to simplify the production process. This is always a negotiable process and an opportunity for mutual learning between architecture, engineering, and manufacturing. We believe that this horizontal approach is the most efficient way to create something relevant.
SUMMARY studio is known for addressing contemporary architectural challenges, particularly in simplifying construction. How do you see this project contributing to broader trends in prefabrication and modular housing, both in Portugal and globally?
According to the United Nations, we’ll need to build 2 billion new houses in the next 50 years. This represents an unprecedented increase in construction over such a short period. Additionally, several portions of the globe are now facing a labor shortage in the construction sector. This imbalance between supply and demand can only be solved through industrialized methods, such as prefabrication, allowing us to “build without builders”. This project is just a small example that clearly fits into this line of thinking and action.
It implies a redefinition of the traditional approach to design – maybe that’s why so many architects simply reject prefabrication and any alternative construction methods. It inverts the “normal” process of thinking about architecture, as we don’t start designing by drawing the building. We must first understand the system, how the elements are manufactured, transported, and assembled, and only then can we start giving shape and image to our design. In other words, traditionally the form determines the construction. In prefabrication, on the contrary, the construction system determines the form. Logistics are part of the design, and its optimization is not just about making construction simpler, faster, and more economical. It is essential to ensure that it is done using less energy, fewer resources, creating better and safer labor conditions, and allowing for design for disassembly and reassembly. These factors will be absolutely determinant in the evolution of the construction industry in the coming years.
