a+u 2026:06 Feature:Prefabrication Matters
Content
The June issue of a+u explores prefabrication. Architecture and construction are facing increasingly severe challenges – rising building costs, the need for environmental load countermeasures, a shortage of engineers and laborers, and the separation of design and construction. Meanwhile, the world’s population is growing every year, and the housing supply remains insufficient. In the pursuit of solutions, this issue focuses on the practices of 4 groups who are experimenting with prefabrication: SUMMARY (Portugal), ELEMENTAL (Chile), Ensamble Studio (Spain), and People’s Architecture Office (China/United States). SUMMARY focuses on prefabrication as the foundation for realizing designs that use bio-based materials and are prepared for disassembly. ELEMENTAL attempts to construct basic units made of biochar concrete, enabling people to build structures themselves. People’s Architecture Office regenerates vacant houses – which are difficult to intervene in –by combining prefabrication and renovation. Ensamble Studio promotes design-build at “Ensamble Fabrica,” a laboratory and manufacturing plant where design and construction intersect. What these innovators share is the belief that architecture is not only realized in the finished building; it is also the design of the process itself. Each of the initiatives documented here reflects the potential for prefabrication to address the changing needs of both architecture and the people it serves.
Conversation:
The Current Context of Prefabrication
Antón García-Abril, Samuel Gonçalves, Kozo Kadowaki, and James Shen
Essay:
The Future of Something That Isn’t New
Samuel Gonçalves
SUMMARY
11 Cabins in the Woods
G-5 Houses
Grandstand Building – Aveiro Training Complex
4 Modular Kindergartens
Rice Husk House
Essay:
Survival or the Wasteland: Why Prefabrication Matters
Giuseppe Resta
Essay:
To Build Or Not to Build?
Alejandro Aravena
ELEMENTAL ＋ HOLCIM
Net-Zero Biochar Prefabricated Concrete
Interview:
Power to the People – Alejandro Aravena Talks to Samuel Gonçalves
Alejandro Aravena, Samuel Gonçalves
People’s Architecture Office
Courtyard House Plugin
Shangwei Village Plugin House
Porcelain Studios Plugin Revival
Plugin Houses for the Unhoused
Essay:
What Future(s) for Prefabrication
Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa
Ensamble Studio
Ensamble Fabrica
Parla 5x
Ensamble WoHo + AMMA
Oceana Innovation Hub
Ensamble Studio
Missing Pieces
Ensamble Studio + MIYAKE DESIGN STUDIO / ISSEY MIYAKE
The Paper Log: Shell and Core
Article Tie-Up:
The Paper Log: Shell and Core