Modified PRO/con Package House System

Conceptual Study

Jones, Partners: Architecture

PRO/con
package building system
It seems like everybody has a container- terms of their arrangement on the site and the tolerances
based housing scheme these days. Stack achievable by local construction methods. This is in contrast
them up in interesting patterns and voila: to the traditional approach to modular pre-fabrication, which
Instant architecture. The result is inherently stipulates an exactitude of fit between pre-fabricated elements
clever and can be spun towards greenness that is rarely achievable in the field. We call it a loose modularity,
or social critique. Yet, aside from some obeying the lumpy logic of raisins in a pudding or nuts in batter.
notable temporary constructions and
building-art installations, none of these The PRO/con system is environmentally responsible. The
schemes have been built so far. There are adaptively re-used, discarded shipping containers sit lightly on
lots of reasons for this, but the most the land. While it is in the nature of the PRO/con system that
compelling—and architectural—reason is it can use a variety of foundation systems, from jacks or loose
that these containers are not in fact simple cement blocks to continuous footings, the whole structure may
bricks that may be arranged any old way. also be perched simply on friction piles to minimize the impact
In fact, what makes those examples art on the site and allow the natural conditions to flow freely by
installations rather than architecture or underneath. The containers can be stacked or minimized to
even legitimate buildings is that they use respond to specific climatic conditions, site contingencies, or
the containers merely stage set props, to respond to the changing needs of its clients—challenging
totally ignoring their tectonic reality and the impulse towards pocket mansions and other wasteful
structural integrity. schemes that seem to characterize so much suburban
development these days. In addition to its obvious flexibility
It is a respect for the tectonic integrity of the container that and expandability, PRO/con can anticipate and accommodate
sets the PRO/con system apart. For Mies, architecture lay in second-hand or after-market container adaptations that could
bringing “two bricks together carefully.” The Program Container, effectively recycle technologies and appliances otherwise
or PRO/con, system uses the 20’ ISO shipping container constrained by planned obsolescence. In this way the dwelling
carefully—as a basic building block to create an almost limitless could be considered to be continuously evolving: the loose
variety of basic buildings. The system takes advantage of the modularity of the PRO/con housing system has no expectations
container’s unique fusion of structure and enclosure to provide for completeness that the user must either fail or chafe against.
cost- and time-savings during construction, and relies on the
highly developed global infrastructure of the shipping industry From the ready-cut housing that supported Western expansion
to facilitate its storage, transport and modification. at the turn of the century to the development of the 4x8
prefabricated panel that has propagated the American suburb
In the PRO/con PACKAGE HOUSE system, homeowners since the 1940s, the dream of the factory-made house has
build up their dwelling from a collection of individual fully been largely advanced through the agency of the module.
outfitted, program-specific containers, such as kitchens, baths, However, despite the continued proliferation of modular units
closets, home offices, and children’s rooms, which are ordered in construction, very few examples of fully prefabricated
online, shipped to the site and there assembled to the structures have been considered successful by both the market
homeowner’s specification. A PRO/con PACKAGE HOUSE and by the designers. Most efforts fall within the limitations of
can be arranged in any number of configurations that take overly rigid systems with a factory-determined flexibility and try
advantage of local construction economies, combining the to mask their modularity with flimsy suburban decorative frosting.
production and cost efficiencies of factory fabrication with the The PRO/con system features the module—the container—
specificity and flexibility of on-site construction. celebrating its harmonic proportions, geometric and material
strength, and economic and environmental integrity—secure
The success of the PRO/con system is based on its in the confidence that the result will be a better dwelling and
acceptance of a “loose fit” between the factory-built units, in enduring modernism.
 1. 20’ ISO shipping container

The PRO/con Background

Architects and builders have been fascinated with the to progress in this direction. The early promise of
idea of prefabrication and modular construction for a prefabrication and modularity was disappointed by a
long time, and there have been many attempts to bring vicious codependency between public acceptance,
such a system to market over the years. So far, mobile volume production, and distribution infrastructure. None
homes and pattern-book houses are the only lasting of the three could exist without the others. So public
products of that interest, and though commercially acceptance awaited the promised price reductions and
successful they leave a lot to be desired. Yet there convenient availability, while those reductions and
continues to be great pressure towards the development convenience in turn depended upon a large public
of a viable prefab modular construction model; it could demand to fund their development.
even be called the natural trend for the building industry
 a. standard ISO corner fitting
b. 10ga. corrugated weathering steel
wall and roof panels
c. container post (outer)
d. container post (inner)

FLOOR/UNIFORM LOAD
101 psf
a b
(40 psf required by code)

ROOF/UNIFORM LOAD
300 psf RACKING/SHEAR LOAD
(20 psf required by code) 16,800 lb
(680 lb required by code)
STACKING/AXIAL LOAD
211,670 lb/post
(500 lb/post required by code)

RACKING/SHEAR LOAD c d
33,600 lb
(1,600 lb required by code)

a
END WALL LATERAL LOAD
366 psf
(20 psf required by code) b

SIDE WALL LATERAL LOAD

234 psf
(20 psf required by code)

The PRO/con breakthrough bypasses that chicken-or-egg trying to force trees onto an assembly line, the steel fabrication
dilemma, because it makes use of an existing industry that industry was developing the means for substantial local
has solved this problem beyond the wildest dreams of the variation with real flexible strength. While the building industry
early prefab pioneers. If such an industry had to be set up was trying to sell the world glued-on decoration as an antidote
from scratch it would never happen. The PRO/con idea snuck to cookie-cutter monotony, the transportation industry was
into existence because while the building industry was trying refining a globe-girdling storage and delivery system that
to develop a modular, pre-fab building strategy that might opens the door to a planet’s worth of choice. So in effect, the
be suited to mass production—like cars or sneakers or shipping industry has already done all the hard work in the
ipods—the cargo industry was perfecting the steel ISO development of a mass-produced space-containing module
standard shipping container. While the building industry was for economical construction.
The rules of the game
That there might be “rules” for the use of shipping durability, participation in a global infrastructure of
containers would not be obvious from the various transportation and storage, and not least of all, formal
examples of architectural re-use in the media these days. nobilty imparted by the discipline that a respect for all
In fact, it is the system of rules and the shipping industry’s this imposes.
promulgation of them that has allowed the use of the ISO
standard shipping container to become so widespread— The first rule for the use of containers is that the corner
that has made it the standard. This may seem obvious, fitting, or “corner block,” rules. The entire shipping container
but so far architects who have dabbled with this “medium” system is based on the location of these fittings in space
have shown little appreciation for it, and thus have missed and the way they receive and transfer forces through the
out on the containers real advantages of strength, monocoque construction of the container. The rule is that
forces may be applied to containers only at the corner The second rule is that the container may not be cut apart
fitting. This determines how they may be stacked or indiscriminately. Because the container is a monocoque
otherwise arranged. Thus, the container is not designed structural entity it depends on the integrity of its surface
to bear loads at other locations, such as along the top for its strength—this is how it is able to have such a good
side rail, nor is it designed to be itself supported anywhere strength-to-weight ration and hold such heavy loads so
besides the corner fitting. Thus it itself may not be efficiently. Consequently, there are only certain places
cantilevered or held along its bottom rail. Apparent where holes may be cut in the skin of a container. The
examples of this practice in other architect’s systems container acts like a beam, and so, like a beam, it can
depend on the use of additional structure which demotes only tolerate limited reductions in material along its neutral
the container to a decorative gimmick. access and where the stresses are otherwise minimized.
1. 20’ ISO shipping container
2. infill construction 2 1

The PRO/con Idea

The PRO/con system is a way of building using ISO conTAINER rooms.
standard 20’ shipping containers. In the
PROgram/conTAINER system the containers act as But this is not what makes the PRO/con system special.
building-blocks; stacked up or arranged in various ways Instead of just using only the containers themselves as
these “blocks” can accommodate a wide range of different enclosures, like other systems—and therefore limiting
program arrangements on just about any size, shape or room sizes to the size of the container, PRO/con uses the
type building site. Each container is outfitted with the containers as building blocks to frame larger spaces
fixtures and furniture for one PROgrammed room, like a between. This is possible because the containers have
private office, bathroom complex or storage room, and strength left over, even after stacking them up, for
the overall structure is the sum of all these specific supporting additional structure—floors, roofs and walls—
 1. 20’ ISO shipping container
2. gabled truss roof
3. 2x10 shed roof
4. 12” TJI buit-up roof
5. steel frame modular roof system
6. steel frame modular floor system
7. 14” TJI floor
8. 2x12 floor
9. slab on grade 2

between the containers themselves. By using the space cost effective but architecturally sophisticated building.
between the containers as well as inside them, a full Right now, PRO/con is a system of design, not a product.
range of room sizes are possible. These larger rooms We are working on turning it into something you can just
are available to serve more loosely programmed activities order up and have delivered (see the PACKAGE HOUSE
where the greater area is more useful. presentation later in this submittal), but at this time you
can only get a PRO/con house through a streamlined, but
The result is not necessarily prefab, nor totally modular: still conventional, architectural design and construction
rather, it is an intelligent mix of both, avoiding the process.
shortcomings of each, while capitalizing on their strengths,
to create a speedily constructed, durable, highly flexible,
 this proposition of a “loose modularity,”
when approached from the perspective of
architecture, and its natural respect for
the container’s tectonic integrity, does not
preclude a certain discipline
within the range of possible configurations.

The PRO/con Difference: FLEXIBILITY

Even though it is made from standardized boxes, the the owner’s desires, PRO/con allows the homeowner to
PRO/con system is inherently flexible. PRO/con does not think creatively outside the box. The ultimate layout is
restrict the owner to a limited series of floor plans, with limited only by imagination, budget and the requirements
different decoration options, but leaves the arrangement of the local building department.
open-ended within the limitations of the container’s
structural logic. By combining the advantages of modularity And this flexibility is enjoyed not only during its initial
and prefabrication (of the more involved parts of the arrangement, but when the time comes to change that
building that benefit most from production within a factory arrangement in response to changing needs. Because of
environment), with the creativity of custom-designed the nature of the fittings which join them, and the flexibility
architecture (for the “loose” spaces between), tailored to of the construction between, individual PRO/con units may
 1. 20’ ISO shipping container
2. modular program liner
3. steel frame
4. conduit/ pipe chase
5. rigid insulation

1 2 3 4 5

The PRO/con Difference: SPEED

You expect a prefab, modular construction system to go programming and contractual matters, a month or so of
up fast, and PRO/con is no different, even though it is design and documentation, and then, depending on the
not necessarily prefab, and not completely modular. locality, between a few weeks to a few months for the
Starting with its delivery via the well-oiled building permit and Contractor selection process. Once
machine/infrastructure of the global shipping industry, that’s all taken care of the prefabrication process itself
and continuing with the smoothly coordinated efforts of can take as little as a month of time before delivery to the
the riggers and local contractors that erect it, the PRO/con site. So, it all adds up to as little as four months from
package building can be ready for occupation in as little phone call to move-in date.
as a month after delivery, depending on its size and
complexity. Before that, count on a couple of weeks for Because it is based on the shipping container (all of its
 1. steel frame roof panel
2. steel frame floor panel
3. floor/roof panel bundle
4. EPDM roof membrane
5. rigid insulation
6. hydronic cooling system
7. hydronic heating system
8. corrugated steel decking
4 5 7 8 9
9. finish ceiling
10. corrugated steel decking

1
2

3 7

parts are either containers or fit inside containers), the on site. Finally, because it is a loose modular system, no
PRO/con system is well-suited to travel and very effort is wasted in trying to make pieces that fit together
inexpensively shipped anywhere a container can go (the so well in the controlled environment of the factory work
means for handling all the components of the system together the same way in the field. The PRO/con system
exist wherever containers are found). And once the leaves room for the contractor to adjust to the actual
containers are in place they provide the foundation and conditions on the site.
framework for the rest of the construction, so that this
remaining work can be tailored to make use of the best
local methods and procedures—whether all prefabricated
and just assembled in the field, or all built conventionally
The PRO/con Difference: STRENGTH
While it may not be the first thing you notice about it, the The key to its strength and light weight is the efficiency
biggest difference between the PRO/con package building with which it puts its steel to work. Essentially structured
and other modular or prefabricated products, is its strength. like a monococque auto racing body, its geometry
The all-welded-steel ISO standard 20’ shipping container compensates for the thinness of its material. The folds of
is the result of years of development and refinement, corrugation stiffen its walls, and the walls themselves
designed to withstand the most brutal handling on the serve as beams, so that the container spans freely between
docks and high seas. Structurally, it is at least twice as its corner fittings without the need for additional structure.
strong (and in some places eight times as strong) as any Though the PRO/con system cuts holes into those
building code requires, yet it is no heavier than comparably wall/beams, the openings are strategized to work within
sized rooms of conventional construction. the container’s natural order to preserve its strength.
Where, due to program requirements, such strategizing strength to share. Because they operate like beams
is not possible, the holes may be reinforced to regain themselves, and have the convenient corner fittings
any sacrificed strength. The PRO/con system uses this for tieing them together it is natural for them to carry
strength not only to stack up the arrangements of additional structure that can be tied right into the
containers, but to help support the additional large system they use for their own purposes.
spaces between them that are the system’s trademark
and key to its tremendous flexibility. This is possible
because the containers are designed to bear much
greater loads internally and in stacking arrangements
than any building codes require—in essence they have
 c f e c

longitudinal section

g
h h a

c f e c

a b d a

plan

The PRO/con Difference: COST

The bottom line is that flexibility plus speed plus efficiency world), which drives prices way down. By beginning
and strength equals cost savings. Starting from a proven from such extreme economy, PRO/con is able to splurge
system like the ISO shipping container that over the a little on other parts of the construction without ruining
years has worked off all the fat, and then adding only the bottom line.
what is necessary for its new use, is the recipe for the
Yet, this is no Frankenstein solution or smorgasbord
leanest faire in contemporary small and medium scaled
proposal. PRO/con blends the unique contributions of
building. The container brings with it a built-in global
the two worlds intelligently, so that their requirements
infrastructure and the benefits of the largest volume
complement each other and the result is seamless. The
mass production (in the least expensive part of the
building’s actual inexpensiveness is not obvious in the
 a. bath/closet 1. photovoltaic array
b. kitchen 2. roofdeck/solar panel service access
c. bedroom 3. pre-fab roof panel
d. dining 4. pre-fab skylight panel
e. music area
f. living room
g. entry
h. home office

1 2 3 4

aerial view

finished product. Limited production and work on test both the container and the adjacent portion of the infill
rigs so far indicates an average price of about $40k per between the containers, assuming a conventional
container module can be taken as a rule of thumb, or construction or middle level prefab. Obviously more
between $100-$120/square foot, amortized across a complex schemes, or schemes which use more
typical medium-sized installation. This rule of thumb expensive infill material systems would be more
price has increased dramatically in the last year due to expensive; also, smaller schemes might be
increases in material costs throughout the building proportionally more per container and larger schemes
industry, but still represents a substantial savings over less.
other most other methods of construction. It includes
 5. shade hood end enclosure

5
6. sliding panel partition-chalkboard
7. pre-fab gym floor
8. anodized aluminum sliding door system
9. kitchen PROgram conTAINER
10. pre-fab ceiling panel
11. exposed connection fittings/lights

view from north

6
7
interior view

C03.03/1 DWELL HOME PRO/CON

(also shown in preceding spread)

Client: Dwell magazine/Nathan Wieler and Ingrid Tung panels for roof and floor on driven steel piles; aluminum sliding glass
door and solid door interior partition system.
Site: gently sloping clearing on heavily wooded multi-acre
property in North Carolina Project Text: While a PRO/con home can be arranged in any number
of configurations to take advantage of local construction economies,
Program: single family residence: 6 PRO/con units, for two bedroom the one shown here has been tailored to meet the specific needs of
suites, office, kitchen; living/dining/family and decks in space between the clients. This residence therefore combines the production and
cost efficiencies of factory fabrication with the specificity and flexibility
Size: 2,750 sq.ft.
of on-site construction.
Cost: $250,000
The success of the PRO/con system is based on its acceptance of
Completion: Spring 2003 (competition) a “loose fit” between the factory-built units, their arrangement on the
site, and local tolerances. This is in contrast to the traditional approach
Notes: 20’ ISO standard containers and steel framed prefab infill to modularity, which stipulates a level of exactitude that is rarely
 8 9 10 11

interior view

achievable in the field. By combining the containers with a prefabricated on the site and allow the natural conditions to flow freely by underneath.
panel system of 8’x20’ panels that can be deployed for the floor, wall, Heating and cooling are provided by a system of solar panels
ceiling, or roof, the space between the containers can serve as a accessible by a roof deck also manufactured from the prefabricated
generous open space, or, as shown here, can be flexibly subdivided panels. The containers can be stacked or minimized (as in the garage
to provide a sunny and expansive master bedroom, living room, violin unit) to respond to specific climatic conditions, site contingencies, or
rehearsal space, and children’s den. Using transverse partitions that to respond to the changing needs of its clients — challenging the
double as convenient chalkboards for creative inspiration, this large impulse towards pocket mansions and other wasteful schemes that
but divisible interstitial space is also capable of an infinite set of seem to characterize so much suburban development these days.
flexible options. For added convenience, the panels can be stacked In addition to the expandability demonstrated here in the inserted
in a shipping-container block for transport. children’s rooms, PRO/con can anticipate and accommodate second-
hand or after-market container adaptations that could effectively
The PRO/con system is environmentally responsible. The adaptively recycle technologies and appliances otherwise constrained by planned
re-used, discarded shipping containers sit lightly on the land. The obsolescence.
whole structure is perched on friction piles that have a minimal impact
interior view, upper level

exterior view

MODERN MODULAR URBAN PROTOTYPE

Client: home shoppers, Modern Modular website Project Text (excerpt): We were approached by Modern Modular to
contribute designs to their list of products by a stable of associated
Site: anywhere, but assumed urban wasteland architects. In order to demonstrate the broadest possible range in the
least number of examples we combined the size and location variables
Program: single family live/work: 4 PRO/con units, for one bedroom
into three prototypes. This one here is the smallest, designed for an
suite, office, kitchen; laundry, living/dining/family
urban wasteland type site most likely to be available for live/work type
Size: 1,000 sq.ft. applications. It enjoys loose spaces between the containers both
indoors and outdoors on the two levels, allowing even greater flexibility
Cost: $150,000 for the work type and set up, from messy work such as auto mechanics
downstairs to cleaner office type functions upstairs. The downstairs
Completion: Fall 2004 (website)
open work bay is supported on either side by plumbed containers
Notes: 20’ ISO standard containers and steel framed prefab infill available for laundry or wet shop type applications.
panels, aluminum sliding glass door system for loose space between
on second level.
a. kitchen/breakfast
b. bed/bath
c. laundry/wet shop
d. outdoor work/carport
e. home office/shop
f. living room

d
entry elevation

d
side elevation rear elevation

b c

f d

a e

upper level plan ground level plan

 interior view, upper level

exterior view

MODERN MODULAR SUBURBAN PROTOTYPE

Client: home shoppers, Modern Modular website Project text (excerpt): designed to fit the standard 50x100 lot in
suburban subdivisions, this version of the Modern Modular family of
Site: anywhere, typical suburban tract prototypes goes well in any neighborhood. Posing as a Case Study
House, it challenges the rest of the block to match its pragmatic,
Program: single family lresidence; two bedrooms, kitchen, dining,
streamlined elegance. It sits on the lot lengthwise, rather than across
family, laundry/storage
its width so that the residual yard space is shaped like an ‘L’. In this
Size: 2,000 sq.ft. way a more continuous gradient of privacy is created from the sheltered
space in the rear to the public yard alongside the driveway. Within
Cost: $200,000 the house itself, the disposition of the PROgram conTAINERS around
the central loose-fit interior space of the living areas recapitulates on
Completion: Fall 2004 (website)
the interior of the dwelling the (sub)urban spatial dynamics of the
Notes: 20’ ISO standard containers and steel framed prefab infill exterior, giving a continuity of experience similar to that which
panels for roof, slab on grade for floor; sliding glass door system for distinguishes the suburban development as a whole.
loose space enclosure, steel framed roof deck with fiberglass decking.
a. bed/bath/closet
b. garage
c. living area
d. family/dining
e. kitchen
f. entry
g. laundry/shop

backyard elevation

entry elevation

a a

c d
b

g f e

plan
 a. family room
b. library
c. lliving room h. garage
d. dining i. storage
e. entry j. roof deck
f. kitchen k. bedroom
g. laundry/office l. master closet/bath interior view

exterior view

MODERN MODULAR RURAL PROTOTYPE

Client: home shoppers, Modern Modular website for upper level walkways; aluminum sliding glass door and storefront
glazing for open area enclosure.
Site: anywhere, rural areas or larger suburban lots
Project text (excerpt): this instance of the PRO/con system takes the
Program: single family residence: three bedrooms, family, library, abundance of area on the site as license for a more attenuated,
home office, storage, kitchen, dining rambling layout. Instead of the more common “diatomic” scheme, this
version explores the tectonic implications and spatial dynamics of a
Size: 2,400 sq.ft.
cross-grain container disposition. Forming ‘L’ shapes around an interior
Cost: $250,000 residual space with figural coves at the main living areas, this
arrangement of containers echoes the greater freedom and variety of
Completion: Fall 2004 (website) its rural siting. By spreading its bulk out over the landscape the design
organizes that landscape into yards, which it addresses with its long
Notes: 20’ ISO standard containers and steel framed prefab infill
facades, dividing front from back, north from south, and sponsoring
panels for roof, slab on grade for ground floor, steel decking and ply
related activiy spaces immediately outside its living coves on the inside.
 e
long elevation

k j
k

upper level plan

f
c
a h i
g
b d

e
ground floor plan
 a. ISO crane as it comes off truck
b. crane uprights unfold 1. ISO PRO/con unit as deliverred
c. crane bridge/lifter deploys 2. empty truck bed after crane picks unit
d. crane lifts PRO/con unit from truck 3. crane deploying unit onto site
e. PRO/con unit deployed into site along rail 4. PRO/con units installed on site

4
3

d
2

c
1

The future of PRO/con

In the future, PRO/con will look like this: a web-based products and the programs those products serve. So,
design, procurement, delivery, assembly and for example, it would be possible to purchase a Sears
construction, and resale brokerage network. Both Kenmore kitchen container, or a Steelcase office
proprietary and aftermarket PROgram conTAINERS container. These containers would be marketed like the
would be available through links to the websites of the products that are presently sold by these companies.
companies that offered them. These would be Among the companies offering competing versions, with
companies like Sears, Whirlpool and Sub-Zero, Ethan different options and for varying budgets, there would
Allen, Microsoft or Apple, Sony or any one else that be the sort of choice we have come to expect as
makes the products that fill the built environment, and consumers. The design of a home would proceed first
they would provide full containers based on their with the collection of the various program specific
containers that would eventually be brought together on which would allow the containers to be offloaded from
site to produce the dwelling—an overt mapping of the the trucks at the street and moved into the depth of the
needs and desires of the occupants, conspicuous lot directly without swinging them over adjoining lots.
consumption on display. Shopping for these containers By the time the new industry had matured to this degree
would occur online, through a centralized portal for this PRO/con would be more involved in arranging the delivery
purpose, as well as on the specific linked websites of of the various containers to the site, designing their
the companies offering the containers. In order to arrangement and the spaces between, and then
maximize the benefits of this choice and flexibility both assembling them, rather than in the design or construction
initially and in the future, the best method for deploying of the actual PROgram conTAINERS themselves.
these units would be a linear rail mouned slide system,
PRO/con PACKAGE HOME “TOWER” PROTOTYPE

Client: The Hammer Museum/UCLA the “Unprivate House” show that the Hammer had brought out from
MoMA and was the occasion for this series of three designs. In this
Program: student housing, with hobby/activity specific module units installation the stack of PROgram conTAINERS sits atop a slewing ring
arranged around central multi-level free space that allows them to rotate as a whole in order to tune the relationship
of the tower to the elements. In addition, the space between, where
Size: 14 container units stacked 7 high
the looseness of the “loose modularity” idea is emphasized, is devoid
Cost: $320,000 of fixed floors. Instead a vertical void space is circled by the stairs
providing access to the stacked containers. Floors are introduced
Completion: August 2000 (exhibition) across this void as needed. When not deployed internally, they double
as re-positionable sun-shades on the exterior. Using the same
Notes: This demonstration of the PRO/con PACKAGE HOUSE
continuous track system as the RDU PRO/con design shown later in
system was intended to maximize the critical impact of the idea—sort
this presentation, these floor panels are able to traverse the entire
of a bambi vs. godzilla approach to the premise of the “LIve
vertical perimeter (profile/section) of the tower in order to provide
Dangerously” show at the Hammer Museum, which supplemented
flooring or shade wherever needed.
 1
2
3
4

a. party deck
b. down to parking
c. whirlpool laundry PRO/con unit
d. full height loose space
e. American Standard restroom PRO/con unit

4 3 2 1

ER!

ER!

c e
d c
ER!
d
e
A

ER!

ER!

ER!

b
ER!

GE !

!
2"!

street elevation plan

 x

PRO/con PACKAGE HOME “SHORT STACK” PROTOTYPE

Client: The Hammer Museum/UCLA consumption continues the contemporary spirit of the suburbs—
keeping up with the Jones’s—into the age of amazon.com and google.
Program: single family residence; 3 bedroom, kitchen, dining, In this version of the PRO/con idea, the loose space in between the
den(s), garden/shop rooms PROgram conTAINERS is not fully enclosed but instead outfitted as
a sort of habitrail connecting the entries to the various containers,
Size: 8 container units stacked 3 high
offering a critique of the familial (NOT) nature of the contemporary
Cost: $280,000 nuclear family, by eliminating the spaces typically claimed for “living”
and “family” activiities. The proposition is that the family unit is more
Completion: August 2000 (exhibition) like a grouping of individuals, holed up in their individual, themed
spaces and participating in the public realm online, rather than in the
Notes: This demonstration of the PRO/con PACKAGE HOUSE
livingroom. Thus this is a reductive demonstration of the PROgrammatic
system was designed to maximize the critical impact of the idea, so
basis of the PRO/con idea.
the conatiner units are shown with corporate logos that demonstrate
the nature of the contents. This modular form of conspicuous
 a. Martha Stewart entry PRO/con unit
b. down to parking
c. Kenmore kitchen PRO/con unit
d. loose space below longitudinal bridging units
e. Miracle Gro garden PRO/con unit
f. Home Depot Home Shop unit
g. Sears Bedroom PRO/con unit
h. Lionel Trainset PRO/con unit
i. Mattel Barbie bedroom unit
1 2 3 4 5

g. Sears Bedroom PRO/con unit

x. diagonal support for out-of-system placement

5 4 3 2 1

T.O. CONTAINER!
EL. +25'-6"!
(+306.00')

i g
T.O. CONTAINER!
EL. +17'-0"!
(+204.00')

h g

E
e f
T.O. CONTAINER!
EL. +8'-6"!
(+102.00')

d d
D
T.O. DUNNAGE !
EL. +2'-0"!
(+24.00')

EL. +00'-0"!
(+0.00')

b d d
C

T.O. CONC.!
EL. +5'-9 1/2"!
(-69.50')

transverse section
B

1 2 3 4 5

a c
T.O. CONTAINER!
EL. +25'-6"!
(+306.00')
A

T.O. CONTAINER!
EL. +17'-0"!
(+204.00')

b
T.O. CONTAINER!
EL. +8'-6"!
(+102.00')

x
T.O. DUNNAGE !
EL. +2'-0"!
(+24.00')

EL. +00'-0"!
(+0.00')

T.O. CONC.!
EL. +5'-9 1/2"!
(-69.50')

street elevation plan

PRO/con PACKAGE HOME “RANCH HOUSE” PROTOTYPE

Client: The Hammer Museum/UCLA the living/family area overlooking the access up to the roofdeck and
down the open garage below. The informality of the layout of the
Program: single family “starter home” containers shows the dynamic possibilities of the residual spaces
between, sized just beyond what would be necessary for mere
Size: 6 container units
circulation in each case in order to encourage an empowering
Cost: $180,000 engagement and use. In dramatic contrast to the highly specific
internal configurations of the containers, designed to support particular
Completion: August 2000 (exhibition) activities, these loose spaces between are more than relief valves to
the container’s potentially rigid specificity; they are goads to creativity
Notes: This demonstration of the PRO/con PACKAGE HOUSE
and self-expression.
system was designed to maximize the critical impact of the PRO/con
idea. It features a loose “Venice Hospital” compositional arrangement
with the loose or free space between the PRO/con units meandering
from the front of the house to the back., with larger eddies that provide
 a. Disney entertainment PRO/con unit
b. down to parking
c. Kenmore kitchen PRO/con unit
d. Microsoft home office PRO/con unit
e. Sears bedroom PRO/con unit 1 2 3 4 5 6

f. Sears nursery PRO/con unit

g. Sears bathroom/dressing PRO/con unit
h. loose space between units

6 5 4 3 2 1

K
T.O. RAILING!
EL. +13'-3"!

J
(+159.00')

T.O. CONTAINER!
EL. +8'-6"!
(+102.00')
g f

h e
I
T.O. DUNNAGE !
EL. +2'-0"!
(+24.00') H
EL. +00'-0"!
(+0.00')
G

T.O. CONC.!
EL. +5'-9 1/2"!
(-69.50') e
F

transverse section
d
E
D

1 2 3 4 5 6

h c
C
B

T.O. RAILING!
EL. +13'-3"!
(+159.00')
a
T.O. CONTAINER!
EL. +8'-6"!
b
A

(+102.00')

T.O. DUNNAGE !
EL. +2'-0"!
(+24.00')

EL. +00'-0"!
(+0.00')

T.O. CONC.!
EL. +5'-9 1/2"!
(-69.50')

street elevation plan

 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
8'-0" 18'-4" 8'-0" 8'-0" 18'-4" 8'-0"
F.O.

F.O.

F.O.

F.O.

F.O.

F.O.

F.O.
01/A2.00
03/A3.02
A

A
F.O.(N) CMU F.O.(N) CMU
4'-2"

4'-2"
F.O.
B

B
F.O.
BEDROOM

12 T @ 11"! 12 T @ 11"!
BATH

UP DN
13 R @ 6.7" 13 R @ 6.7"
9'-11"

9'-11"
424
CLOSET
STUDY/ GUEST ROOM

STUDY/ GUEST ROOM

04/A3.00
ENTRY
04/A3.00

CL OF STL.
422
C

C
CL OF STL.
CLOSET
ENTRY

OPEN TO BELOW
03/A2.01

02/A2.00
420
9'-11"

9'-11"
BEDROOM
BATH

DN 12 T @ 11"! 12 T @ 11"! UP
13 R @ 6.7" 13 R @ 6.7"

418

F.O.
D

F.O.(N) CMU F.O.

F.O.(N) CMU

SILVERLAKE PRO/con
F.O.

F.O.

F.O.

F.O.

F.O.

F.O.

F.O.

04/A2.00
03/A3.02
8'-0" 18'-4" 8'-0" 8'-0" 18'-4"
18'-4" 8'-0"

7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Client: Jean Young Jones stacks, serving as the living room for the unit and, in the upper reaches,
as the circulation area, transected by the stairs and catwalks that
Program: Duplex residence; each unit with three small bedrooms, provide access to the containers. Per the PRO/con system, the
kitchen, media, library and central living atrium containers house the dedicated program-specific functions of the
Size: 2,800 sq. ft. apartment, such as kitchen, bath and bedroom. Also per the PRO/con
system, the living space is left largely undefined spatially, awaiting
Cost: $280,000 empowering definition by the activities of its inhabitants. The living
spaces and containers are oriented in opposite directions, with glazing
Completion: August 2001 on one side only, so that the building enjoys two different exposures.
No additional structure is required to enable the containers to span
Notes: This demonstration of the PRO/con housing system
over the parking at the base; the containers are rigidly joined at the
arranges twelve 20ft ISO shipping containers into four three-story
corner fittings with proprietary connectors to create a composite beam,
stacks to create two, two bedroom apartment units. Each of the units
capable of spanning even greater distances than required here.
is organized around a triple height space enclosed between the
ELEMENTAL CHILE

Client: Elemental/Universidad Catolica de Chile providing the maximum number of the necessary units for a verifiable
low cost, without sacrificing the community spirit of the existing
Program: Low income multi-family housing neighborhoods. This unique high-rise slab version of the PRO/con
system is able to make community-scaled gestures from the aggregated
Size: 1 city block
container-sized modules. The Immeubles Villas type voids that are
Cost: $500 (per unit) left in the layout in a wholly natural way per the PRO/con system are
able to be used for future expansion or outdoor space at the upper
Completion: November 2003 levels of the slab. No additional framing is required except for the
breezeways, which are hung from the corner fittings of the level they
Notes: J,P:A refused to go along with the sponsor’s poorly
serve. Even the vertical circulation is supported by stacked containers—
concealed interest in romantic yuppie loft style low-rise units that
not inside, which would violate their structure, but between. The
could be gentrified for the sponsor’s friends, proposing instead a
stacked containers supporting the stairs are then available also for
scheme using discarded 20’ ISO containers in a Immeubles Villas
community storage or micro-retail spaces.
type pattern with an actual demonstrated cost effectiveness for
MCLEOD RESIDENCE

Client: Whit and Kristy McLeod

Program: Single family residence

Size: 1,650 ft2

Cost: $70,000

Completion: July 2005

Notes: An asymmetric doublestack six container PRO/con

installation in Arcata, California for a well known custom furniture maker
who works with recycled materials. In fact, the do-it-yourself spirit
pervades the design for this project, from glazing systems to the
mezzanine decking, all inspired by the unique skills of the owner/builder.
MOLOKAI PRO/con

Client: Dr. Richard and Kim Markham

Program: Single Family Residence

Size: 2,800 ft2

Cost: $320,000

Completion: February 2005

Notes: This project represents a rare use of 40’ containers in the

PRO/con system. Aside from this, though, the standard PRO/con diagram
is scrupulously followed: a double stack of containers supporting between
them the floor and roof of a larger central space. Since this installation
is two stories, the containers is also support a mezzanine structure in
this open middle space.
PRO/con DESERT HOUSES

Client: David Glean

Program: remote desert vacation house prototype

Size: various

Cost: $100,000 per unit

Completion: August 2003

Notes: two prototype PRO/con installations intended for remote

desert sites off the grid demonstrate the tectonic range possible
within the system and the extent to which conventional construction
between the PRO/con units could vary without compromising the
architectural integrity of the result.
HIGH SIERRA MOUNTAIN HUT PEARSON VACATION CABIN

Client: University of California at Berkeley/The Wiener Family Fund Client: Scott and Andrea Pearson

Program: Wilderness base camp/hostel/warming hut Program: vacation house; two bedrooms, kitchen, living, family

Size: various Size: 1,200 ft2

Cost: $80,000 Cost: $150,000

Completion: December 2003 Completion: January 2004

Notes: This structure is intended to stand forth on the site with Notes: Classic two level PRO/con installation, off the grid, next
utilitarian directness.” Containers in triumphal arch formation provide to a ski slope. In this case the requisite sloped roof is hidden behind
the housing for the campers and shelter the community space under the upstanding placard parapet in order to preserve the architectural
the vaulted space, anchored at each end with monumental wood integrity of the triumphal arch composition.
fireplaces
P03.10/1:ROOFTOP DWELLING UNIT (RDU) PRO/con

Site: undisclosed rooftop in SoMa area of San Francisco Project Text: This residence for a software developer (computer hacker)
is sited in the undiscovered rooftop landscape of San Francisco’s
Program: single person residence: parasitic, surreptitious live work “multi-media gulch,” a neighborhood of the South of Market (SOMA)
environment, with kitchen/bath and bedroom PRO/con units area.
Size: 720 sq.ft. The fully pre-fabricated unit will be delivered to the site by Skycrane
helicopter and placed upon an arrangement of steel dunnage, like
Cost: $100,000
that used to anchor billboards. This dunnage transfers the loads of
Completion: Winter 2004 (design) the new structure to the host building’s structural hardpoints. A rotating
subframe and slewing ring assembly rests immediately upon this
Notes: PRO/con units housing bedroom and kitchen/bath with anchoring, stabilizing dunnage and, in turn, supports the basic PRO/con
fully glazed steel framed living/working space-between; fully encircling module of two containers. The living and working space is glazed on
translucent and opaque segmented track mounted sunshade; slewing all free sides (including acrylic plank flooring), using an orbiting track
ring on steel dunnage and rolling screen assembly for flexible sun and privacy control.
 01

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
F.O.CF

F.O.CF

F.O.CF

F.O.CF

F.O.CF

F.O.CF

F.O.CF
FIN. GR.-FLR.!
EL. -11'-08 "

B. O. CF!
EL. +10'-08"

FIN. GR.-FLR.!
EL. -02'-08 9/16"

B. O. CF!
EL. +02'-02"

T. O. CONC.!
EL. -00'-00"

01

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
F.O.CF

F.O.CF

F.O.CF

F.O.CF

F.O.CF

F.O.CF

F.O.CF
01

P05.02/1:YUCCA VALLEY PRO/con

01

Site: on existing cmu “ruins’ on sloping terrain in the middle existing cmu “ruin” foundation walls; double glazed G+U sliding door
of nowhere system; weathering steel stairs, railings, decks sunshade structures;
painted corrugated metal exo-skin sunshade surface
Program: vacation residence: PRO/con units, housing bedroom
suite, kitchen, library/office; living space in fully glazed space between; Project Text: The first decision was to leave the new house out there
traveling roof deck; all arranged on dunnage above existing ruined in its exposed portion of the site, doing nothing to tie it in to the
basement walls landscape or mitigate its presence. Access to the site is by a seasonal
trail, a dirt road that wears out and wanders, and the parking area is
Size: 1,600 sq.ft. just where the four-wheel-drive vehicles stop driving. The advertising
principal enjoys the authenticity it earns for his Land Rover.
Cost: $200,000
This is more than value engineering, though. It is a statement of
Completion: Winter 2005 (design)
opposition to the environmentally expensive comforts of Palm Springs.
Notes: PRO/con units; weathering steel framing and dunnage; The clients want to know they are no longer in town when they occupy
this outpost. They want to be in the desert, with nothing around, The containers provide the primary vertical structure and are
nothing to do but service the solar collectors and traverse the roof consequently highly structured spatially. Spanning between the widely
on the rolling deck. The program includes an office space, as well spaced containers is the site-assembled horizontal structure, which
as living and sleeping areas, a kitchen and dining area, but the office provides the floor and ceiling of larger open areas. These open areas
is not connected to the mother ship. It has computers, but no internet are more loosely programmed for living and sleeping. This system of
connection. The clients of course have cell phones, so the fact that “loose modularity” makes possible a greater range of spatial dimensions
there is no land line is less remarkable, but it helps emphasize that than would be possible in a system based solely on containers, yet
they are away. retains the discipline inherent in the module by maintaining a strict
proportional affiliation between the two types of space. Special features
This particular version of the PRO/con system embodies the system’s and modifications that adapt the standard model to the extreme desert
mobility, flexibility and discipline. The containers arrive at the site environment include deep glazing hoods on the south elevation and
with their program elements already built in; typically those with more a loose vented exoskin that prevents sunlight from striking the surface
exacting constructional requirements that benefit most from of the container.
construction in a factory setting, such as the bathroom and kitchen.
 interior view

interior view exterior view

12th STREET ROWHOUSE TOWNHOME PROTOTYPE

Client: Dr. Richard and Kim Markham enclosed space into which mezzanine platforms are slung, stepping
up the face. In this configuration the PRO/con system has been
Program: Multi-family townhome residences/masterplan; each unit disposed in a classic servent/served partis, with the slung platforms
with open living loft, kitchen and three bedrooms acting as a free section volume served by the stacked containers.
Size: 1,800 sq.ft. each, final build-out of twenty-two units

Cost: $200,000

Completion: June 2003

Notes: Rowhouse application of PRO/con system (end unit shown).

A stack of six ISO 20’ containers, two deep, provides the program-
specific areas and the primary structure, while a lightweight steel
lean-to structure along side fills out the lot with an open volume of
PRO/CON MIL

Client: U.S. Army Transportation Command environment it might face in service in Afghanistan. The modified
PRO/con system addresses this problem in several ways. An additional
Program: Secure remote temporary modular housing layer of thin plate steel is added on the inside face of the insulation,
for example, which acts together with the container’s own walls like
Size: varies
spaced armor, to dissipate the energy of projectiles between the two
Cost: $100,000/module layers. The panels that clad the larger workspaces (between the
containers) are similarly constructed as a steel/foam sandwich.
Completion: September 2003 Additionally, all exterior windows are eliminated and exterior doors
are equipped with armored vestibules. Escape hatches are located
Notes: Requested proposal for adaptation of PRO/con system
in the floor of each PRO/con unit. Grenade skirts protect the crawl
to the specialized needs of the US military, in particular the housing
space beneath the structure (to which the escape hatches lead) when
of civilian contractors (engineers) in remote, inhospitable sites: “The
the structure is set on its leveling jacks. A parasol/sunshade structure
container at the heart of the PRO/con system is built to withstand
doubling as a grenade screen is provided over the whole installation.
tremendous abuse, but was never intended to face the sort of
 discloses a productive looseness of fit in the planned life of
Loose Modularity, Lumpy Logic the suburb that delivers a complex bounty.

[First published in PRAXIS 3, NY 2002, this essay presents a The social effect of this spatial isolation varies between a
critique of mass-customization and “continuous differentiation” vaunted privacy and discouraging anomie. Since this
modes of prefabrication. It explains the PRO/con system, which maneuvering room does not necessarily offer any
makes a positive virtue out of the breathing space between the independence or real freedom, the privacy it offers is tinged
modules, as a less repressive alternative] with an offsetting restraint. The issue of “fit” then has a
different valence from this perspective; conformity to the
Americans are historically a mobile people. Space defines them; character of the neighborhood and subordination to the
as the storied vastness was consumed by their transit, and spatial organization of the tract grow from social pressures
transformed from a real frontier to an abstract framework, mobility as well as from the tract’s provenance as a mass-produced,
hardened into cityscapes and highway systems. But the perfected factory-built environment. When the fit becomes tighter and
dimension of American mobility, the remainder and memory of attention is focused on the featured objects that serve as
the pioneer’s original experience of space, is the frozen muzak counters in the well-regulated game of keeping-up-with-the-
of the suburb. This sprawling landscape represents America’s Jones’s, the shrinking interstitial spaces subtly shift roles.
efforts to invent its own ideal geography. The grids and cul-de- The systemic homogeneity of the mass produced pieces
sacs map out a carefully engineered, artificial landscape that on the factory-built game board transforms space into
harbors, in the tug-o-war between individualism and conformity, spacing, and the vague areas of the yards and setbacks
the genetic material of the national character. are drafted as cordons sanitaire, carefully signifying
ownership and control, rather than freedom.
The suburb’s emphatically vague occupation of space recalls
the more heroic indeterminacy of the frontier. The unavoidable The success of mass production, with its multivalent
isolation of those wide-open spaces survives in the suburb’s use insistence on fit — the consumer to product, and product
of space for separation rather than containment. Though to assembly line — resists the proliferation of choice. While
considered wasteful, the tracts cultivate this isolation no less suburban tracts have traditionally offered a range of “models,”
intensely or purposefully than agronomy husbands its acres or distinguished by simplistic variations in “style” and floor
urban speculation wrings the last rentable square foot from plan, the extent of this variety has been less than satisfying.
awkward sites. The yards, setbacks and easements, verges and To realize the economic benefits of a wider product line,
parking lots and driveways and sidewalks are emphatically and liberate the potential variety buried within mass
useful, places for the ceaseless motion that asserts — and production’s own proven manufacturing formula, the idea
thenovercomes — this separation. The traffic across these spaces of modular construction has been advanced.
Modularization is a matter of the spacing and relative fit of the second case, the “choices” become more autographic
components to each other and to the overall intention — a through technology that translates the customer’s random
natural consequence of the spirit of the tracts — and its or gestural commands directly into “unique” components
development has paced that of the tracts. From the ready-cut within a standardized framework; typically this has been
housing that supported Western expansion at the turn of the interpreted formally rather than in terms of performance
century to the development of the 4x8 prefabricated panel that (except where issues of fit are concerned, like sports
has propagated the American suburb since the 1940s, the equipment). As introduced into housing and architecture,
dream of the factory-made house has been largely advanced proposals for mass customization have slighted the former
through the agency of the module. However, despite the model in favor of the latter, lately deploying digital technology
continued proliferation of modular units in construction, very in the name of “continuous differentiation” to pursue a
few examples have been considered successful by both the vanishingly fine modularity. Despite architecture’s avowed
market and by architects. (1) Most efforts struggle explicitly interest in empowering the user, control of this modularity
against this perception, attempting to address the limitations has remained firmly in the hands of the architects, however,
of overly rigid systems with a factory-determined flexibility or so the chief beneficiary of such “customization” has been
mass-produced open-endedness — and consequently have the designer, rather than the user. The key advantage of
been overwrought or undercooked. Either the module the advanced technology of mass-customization has in fact
progressively shrinks, multiplying itself to cover every possibility, been greater freedom in the design process, rather than
or it becomes increasingly specific in order to gain absolute more flexibility or open-endedness in the finished product.
control over a much more restricted universe. In either case,
the expectations trend towards ever-greater levels of neatness With respect to flexibility and open-endedness, architecture’s
and perfectibility. intellectual borrowings have tended to follow an opposite
path to practice’s technical foraging. As technology permits
The curve of desire sketched out in these trends culminates in more precise control over the process of design, architecture
the possibility of “mass-customization,” (2) Mass customization has become increasingly interested in thinking that promotes
combines the economic benefits of mass production with custom the maneuvering room and loose fit that runs counter to this
fabrication’s opportunity to “have it your way.” Two strategies imperious exactitude. With each wave of technology a new
for achieving this convergence have emerged: in the first, “ism,” with a corresponding design methodology, finds its
sometimes referred to as “built-to-order,” a wider than usual way into the conversation; each outdoing its predecessor
(but still finite) array of menu-driven choices about different in its liberation bona fides. Thus the introduction of
aspects of the product is offered to the customer, who can mix structuralism’s liberating objectivity and rigor into architectural
and match among them according to certain rules. In the discourse was shown by post-structuralism’s deconstructive
practice to harbor repressive hierarchical structures, while true indeterminacy. And like the deployment of an increasingly
deconstruction in turn has been forced to face the fact that a fine modularity, the application of exotic software to the task
hierarchy reversed is still a hierarchy. More recently, the of creating an “other” formalism of continuous differentiation,
possibility of a permanent state of “undecideability” has been however “smoothly” flexible or alien, cannot prevent the
raised in order to prevent the promiscuous web of relations results from merely introducing (newly) prescriptive patterns
uncovered by deconstruction from settling into a rigid structure. of occupation. (4)
This progressive loosening suggests that the problem lies
where purpose and freedom collide. A design methodology In fact, among all realms of production, architecture is already
that can accommodate the force of necessity (function, the most definitively indeterminate. Beyond its institutional
program), without becoming repressive of the other, unforeseen identity in the hazy ground between a difference-from-building
purposes and activities, has become the stated goal of practice- and a difference-from-art, architecture is ultimately conjured
oriented discourse. from thin air; no more substantial and determinate than the
space it figures. Space is the ultimate seat of freedom, and
Gilles Deleuze’s “image of thought” has lately been influential most of architectural history has been spent vainly trying to
in architecture theory because of its joyous recognition of the control it. Space itself is uncontrollable, “smooth” in Deleuzian
intractability of this problem. (3) Insisting that only the truly new parlance. For this reason, design, of whatever intentionality,
thing can avoid entanglement in a necessarily repressive web must result in less freedom. Yet architects cannot give up
of fixed relations, he rejects the possibility for real creativity design, just as clients cannot give up expectations of fit.
anywhere but the purely aleatory. Unlike the proponents of And neither can avoid confronting the economic reality of
structuralism or deconstruction, Deleuze studiously avoids the the market and its bias toward mass production.
promulgation of any clear methodology. Yet, aided by his
familiar-seeming terms and abetted by the advent of digital With the assurance of architecture’s ultimately unavoidable
muscle, architects have attempted to forge their own, based indeterminacy, a strategy of loose modularity can be proposed
on these ideas. Despite the impressive complexity of the results, that supports a program of liberation from within the mass
these efforts (as with all digital production, however fine the production ethos. Such a surprisingly direct expression of
“resolution”) remain approximations of the actualized virtuality the multiplicity, and its technological extension into the
Deleuze holds as the strictly un-seekable goal of such machinic, (5) challenges both the creeping absolutism of
production. Like the attempts to define a perfectly general systems of “customization” that rely on continuous
modularity, attempts to create an open-ended “event” space differentiation, and the fixed universe of those that permit
through imaginative “cross-programming,” elaborate choice only within the parameters of a proprietary menu. A
diagramming, or involved mapping strategies cannot escape loose modularity preserves openness by admitting un-
the finite limits of practice: mere complexity does not equal
mandated difference, through the choice, arrangement, extent eliminates all but the most rudimentary impediments to their
and variety of the highly factored, but non-proprietary modules. continual recombination and rearrangement. Since the
Mostly, though, this freedom is an effect of the undetermined interstitial spaces are filled on site, according to project
space around and between those modules. In contrast, most requirements, they remain technically independent of the
programs of mass-customization that promote continuous factory-produced lumps; this “secondary” construction can
differentiation eliminate this interstitial space entirely, and adjust to accommodate the relative permanence of the
with it the literal and conceptual room to maneuver. If freedom particular arrangement. The indeterminate character of the
is a function of these spaces — Deleuze’s lines of flight leak matrix of gaps distinguishes the lumpy strategy from other
out here (6) — then systems that factor it out are free only in approaches to modularity and mass customization.
their initial determination and must be un-free thereafter. For
all of their flowing forms, continuously differentiated spaces Lumpiness avoids an extreme adherence to a mantra of
describe a prescriptive and thus ultimately static environment systematized flexibility that would inevitably become as
with no possibility of post-construction alteration or stifling and inflexible as the form-based efforts of continuous
customization. A system of loosely arranged, discrete modules, differentiation or the finite palette of the “built to order”
on the other hand, describes a spatial porridge of continuing equivalent. Instead it offers a challenge to work with the
possibility that encourages change over time. This underscores leftover spaces, in the loose fit between and around the
another chief difference between the two approaches: unlike lumps. Consequently, a lumpy system has no expectations
proposals for mass customization that understand the home’s for completeness that the user must either fail or chafe
uniqueness to be primarily formal, loose modularity pins that against; it does not view the house as a finished product,
uniqueness almost entirely on performance. The resulting but as a continuously negotiated collection of products and
“homeliness” of the lumpy proposal is a better expression of their accommodation. The “customization” is not exhausted
real domestic value, transforming the meaning of “homely” in the initial purchase or fabrication — or design — however
from ugly to comfortable, if not beautiful. unique, but continues through the transformation of the initial
choice in the “mass” of choices that come after. And by
In such a “lumpy” system, the most difficult, complex elements such continual transformation, the freedom of the wide-open
are fabricated in the factory, while the rest is left for assembly spaces that exists otherwise only in memory, is reawakened
in the field. Rather than the vain wish of a seamless continuum in the tighter spaces between. This is what remains for the
from the factory to the finished installation, lumpiness allows architect; lumpiness allows her to work with it.
gaps to remain that permit literal and conceptual movement
during design, construction, and post-occupancy. The factory-
produced modules maximize the quality control and cost-
effectiveness afforded by their origin, while their self-sufficiency