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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Projects of Carl Koch,
By
This review is from: At home with tomorrow,
This is a very interesting, first-hand account of housing projects undertaken by Carl Koch up to 1958. It begins with questioning the very concept of what a house is and its significance; why are houses important and how do they shape our lives?
Koch then begins his exploration of the "Industrial House" and attempts by other architects at mass-produced, modular housing: R. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House, the Neff Airform House, and Koch's own Acorn House (designed with Huson Jackson and John Callender). The Acorn House never took off, despite a great design, and Koch then became involved with the famous Lustron steel house project. His view from the inside of the potentially revolutionary Lustron design and its subsequent demise is fascinating; his work on redesigning and updating the original Lustron model is a case study in the evolution of building forms and manufacturing techniques. Koch then explores community development on a large scale with his work at Conantum, a planned co-operative project of individual pre-fab houses designed by Koch. At Conantum he put his money where his mouth is, buying a lot and building his own home there. Finally, Koch met success on a nation-wide scale with the Techbuilt House in 1953. Realizing that the main floor of a house was the most expensive level to build and that the attic and basement were cheap to build, Koch simply eliminated the main floor and stack a high attic on top of a partially-exposed basement. A four-foot module was used for the design of all of the pre-fabricated building components such as the walls, roof, and floors. The entire house could be delivered ona truck to a prepared foundation and erected in a few days at most. Then the interior finish work could be done in a fully enclosed and sealed structure. This book is great for anyone interested in the history of pre-fab architecture, modular building, or mid-century modern design. It's a unique account of what was going on at that time by someone who was there, right in the thick of it, churning out new ideas every day.
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