The revolutionary building process of the Cité de la Muette 1931-1934
Project published in 10 Stories of Collective Housing
August 17, 2015
Drawings by a+t research group
Lods and Beaudouin aimed to revolutionize the building process using prefabrication and dry assembly and with this in mind they based their work on a complex system of pre-study phases which involved engineers and architects working alongside manufacturers and builders. On completion of the design process they had a wide range of compatible components available which they could interchange at will. Replacing the concept of construction with that of assembly and likewise the trade of builder for that of assembler was for Lods and Beaudouin a way to ensure savings in terms of time, improvisation, errors and materials.
When they explained their building system in the magazine Chantiers (1/2 March 1933) they described the framework and the components: a light steel frame which was reinforced using columns and pre-fabricated concrete slabs and other, also pre-fabricated, facade components. This was a hybrid system yet the components were all closely inter-related*.
*Robert Weddle. “Housing and Technological Reform in Inter-war France: The Case of the Cité de la Muette” Journal of Architectural Education Volume 54, 3, 2001.
Text and drawings by a+t research group
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