Prefab Houses

Once regarded as a cheap and easy solution, prefab houses are now seen as synonymous with ambitious design and sophisticated detail. This updated edition features a unique compilation by well-known international architects, such as Albert Frey, Jean Prouvé, Shigeru Ban, Renzo Piano, and Norman Foster.

Standardized with Style

The amazing story of the prefabricated house

A prefab is a mass-produced house, constructed in a factory and assembled on–site in a few days or weeks. Once regarded as a cheap, easy solution for urgent housing problems, the prefab has evolved to become a synonym for ambitious design and sophisticated detailing solutions.

The amazing history of prefabricated houses started in England in the 1830s with a building kit for emigrants moving to Australia. Even today, prefabricated houses provide a high percentage of living spaces in many countries of the world.

This book covers prefabs from the USA via Europe to Asia and Africa, giving insight into the various industrially prefabricated components, the difficulties of delivery to the building site, and the intricacies of assembly and completion. As well as tracing the link between modernism and industrialization that evolved to produce the latest prefabricated solutions, it also features a unique compilation of one-off prefabricated houses by well-known international architects, as well as successful dwellings manufactured off-site for everyday modern living.

The authorsArnt Cobbers studied art history, history, and musicology, and did his PhD in medieval church architecture. He lives as a freelance author in Berlin, and has written several books, mainly about history and the architectural history of Berlin. His monographs about Erich Mendelsohn and Marcel Breuer were published by TASCHEN.Oliver Jahn studied literature, philosophy, and linguistics. He has worked as a freelance writer for Die Welt, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Rheinischer Merkur, as an editor at Suhrkamp Verlag, and as design and architecture editor at Monopol magazine. Currently he is director of architecture and design at Architectural Digest magazine.The editorPeter Gössel runs an agency for museum and exhibition design. He has published TASCHEN monographs on Julius Shulman, R. M. Schindler, John Lautner, and Richard Neutra, as well as several titles in the Basic Architecture series.Prefab Houses. 45th Ed.Hardcover, 15.6 x 21.7 cm, 1.15 kg, 512 pages

ISBN 978-3-7544-0470-6

Edition: English