architects’ . design . laboratory .
The Monomer house is a collaborative project initiated by the architects A D Lab Pte Ltd involving 20 like-minded collaborators of different disciplines in the construction industry who share a common vision of wanting to find a leaner and more sustainable solution for building design and construction. It is a self-organized and self-funded initiative to test the possibility of light weight, pre-fabricated, prefinished and lean modular construction that can be customized, and erected rapidly into many different building types, forms and sizes. The objective of the project is to advance the industry toward adopting DfMA (Design for manufacturing and assembly) in the design and construction process, as well as to make DfMA processes and capabilities accessible to small to medium scale projects.
Design brief & interpretation
The Monomer House is a 2-storey micro dwelling consisting of 2 pre-fabricated, pre-finished modules measuring 2.6m X5.2m per module that are stacked in an L-configuration to maximize usable floor area. The modules use light gauge steel and light weight finishing materials such as aluminum, lightweight boards, wood and PVC to keep the overall weight under 2.5 tons per module making it easy to transport and deploy. The house is also integrated with vertical landscape, smart furniture systems, and photovoltaic cells to make the dwelling unit environmentally friendly and self-sufficient. This, along with the easy assembly method of dry construction with no welding and no wet-works on or off site, allows the building to be quickly erected in a wide variety of site conditions, from the city center to highly isolated places such as the middle of the rain forest or on desert islands.
Demonstrate progressive approach to design
Through this project, A D Lab Pte Ltd is promoting what they believe to be the most sustainable form of design and building for our cities. In reaction to a standard practice of top-down type development where speculative buildings are constructed at one go which are potentially wasteful since the developer needs to commit to construct the whole development and infrastructure without testing market demand and without the freedom to allow for change or flexibility for owners. The Monomer House concept allows for design responsive and a build-on-demand approach to the project. It challenges the build larger is better, economies of scale concept by revolutionising a modular component based assembly system to build. Using prefabricated lightweight units to “assemble” a project in stages in an incremental and aggregated fashion gives the development flexibility to customise and react to varying conditions. The factory-controlled setting of manufacturing of the modular components helps to increase quality of the construction as well as to reduce the cost through reduction of waste and resources.
Instead of designing singular monolithic buildings, the Monomer House is exploring a design process that is based on aggregated modular assemblies, a type of “kit of parts” which responds and customizes to actual needs. The process can be described as a top-down meets bottom-up design approach. The architect designs with a collective assemblage in mind while allowing for the individual aggregates to vary. The process also allows the designer and manufacturers to engage with the individual users in the process of making. For instance, in collective housing projects individual purchasers can make modifications to certain aspects of the design before it gets assembled on site. Also, the developer can have a change to adapt and refine the project as it is built that is responsive to the market. This progressive approach to design furthers the democratization of architecture.