This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Architectural Record logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Architectural Record logo
  • NEWS
    • Latest News
    • Interviews
    • Reviews
    • Commentary
    • Editorials
  • PROJECTS
    • Building Types
    • Interior Design
    • Museums & Arts Centers
    • Adaptive Reuse
    • Colleges & Universities
    • Lighting
    • Snapshot
  • HOUSES
    • Record Houses
    • House of the Month
    • Featured Houses
    • Kitchen and Bath
  • PRODUCTS
    • Material World
    • Categories
    • Award Winners
    • Case Studies
    • Partners in Design
    • Trends & Insights
  • EXCLUSIVES
    • Best Architecture Schools
    • Top 300 Firms
    • Theme Issues
    • Record Houses
    • Record Products
    • Good Design Is Good Business
    • Design Vanguard
    • Historical Archive
    • Cocktail Napkin Sketch
    • Videos
  • CALL FOR ENTRIES
    • Record Houses
    • Guess the Architect Contest
    • Submit Your Work
  • CONTINUING ED
    • Architectural Technology
    • Architect Continuing Education
    • Continuing Education Center
    • Digital Academies
  • EVENTS
    • Record on the Road
    • Innovation Conference
    • Women In Architecture
    • Webinars
    • Advertising Excellence Awards
  • MORE
    • Subscribe
    • Customer Service
    • Digital Edition
    • eNewsletter
    • Interactive Spotlight
    • Store
    • Custom Content Marketing
    • Research
    • Sponsor Insights
    • eBooks
  • CONTACT
    • Advertise
Home » Rediscovering a Prefab Pioneer
Commentary & Criticism

Rediscovering a Prefab Pioneer

August 16, 2008
Jeffrey Head
KEYWORDS Exhibitions / prefab
Reprints
No Comments

One of the results of the current Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art is the rediscovery of historical prefab housing on the opposite coast. The exhibition has stimulated research among members of the Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee leading to the recent uncovering of several forgotten prefab houses in Southern California designed by Konrad Wachsmann.

A partially restored Wachsmann house in Los Angeles.
A General Panel Corp house erected in 1950 in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California.

Photo courtesy David Travers, Arts & Architecture (top); Allen Penwick (above)

A partially restored Wachsmann house in Los Angeles (top); A General Panel Corp house (above) erected in 1950 in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California.

Although the houses are not facing demolition, the research does raise questions about their preservation, especially since prefab houses are not typical candidates for formal restoration or landmarking.

In Los Angeles, low-cost, prefab housing was a major concern to architects and builders responding to the initial post-World War II housing boom. Although many Southern California modernist architects—Richard Neutra, Gregory Ain, Kenneth Lind, and others—experimented with various prefab techniques, the only complete prefab building system during that era was designed by Wachsmann and Walter Gropius for the General Panel Corporation.

The most innovative feature of Wachsmann’s design was the “wedge connector,” a cast-steel mechanism built into the wood frames of the modular three-foot-four inch plywood panels. Since the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the panels were identical, the connector offered multiple configurations while ensuring a connection that was flush and airtight. A filler strip further minimized panel seams.

For Wachsmann, the connector was “the only means of holding the parts of the house together without the use of nails, screws, bolts or glue.” Wachsmann also designed the factory and fabrication processes for General Panel’s facility in Burbank, California in a building previously used for the manufacturing of Lockheed aircraft engines.

Wachsmann worked on the design and construction of the wedge connector and interchangeable building components for several years before production of the panel houses started in 1947. Through extensive planning, Wachsmann was able to define the manufacturing process and automate various stages of construction. As he pointed out, “The only tool necessary for assembling the house is a hammer,” which was used to lock the connector once it was in place.

The result for Wachsmann was that “no measuring device is necessary because every panel or component fits into the next one only by its own predetermined dimensions.” It also greatly reduced construction time and material waste. A 1,000 square-foot, two-bedroom house could be built in less than a day with a crew of eight workers.

Richard Neutra was an early adapter of the system, designing a project for a row house using General Panel components, and later, a two-bedroom house. Neutra appreciated Wachsmann’s sense of precision and his approach to industrialized housing. Wachsmann later became the first recipient of the Richard Neutra Medal from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in 1980 for his contributions to industrialized housing.

General Panel’s plan was to build 10,000 houses per year and eventually develop international production and distribution arrangements, however fewer than 500 General Panel homes were constructed between 1947 and 1950, with most of those built for military housing in Northern California. Metal prefab houses made by the better-known Lustron company were specified for the same vicinity but not built, and like Lustron, General Panel went bankrupt. The recently discovered group of Wachsmann prefab houses are located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. The best known example remains a Hollywood Hills home assembled by former General Panel lead draftsman Rudy Wolf.

AR Subscribe

Related Articles

A Prefab, Rotating Skyscraper Coming to a City Near You?

A Blockbuster Exhibition in Paris Explores the Pioneering Work of Charlotte Perriand

Related Products

If Architecture is a Language, Then a Building is a Story

Modern Sustainable Residential Design: A Guide for Design Professionals

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

More Videos

AR Tremco Webinar


 


 

Events

December 17, 2019

Minimizing Risk in Blindside Waterproofing Applications

Credits: 1 AIA LU/Elective; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 IACET CEU

May qualify for learning hours through most Canadian architectural associations

This course will identify blindside waterproofing product technologies, their differences, the criteria for product performance, and how to design a waterproofing system accordingly. Best practices for mitigating application risks and managing critical areas prone to moisture infiltration will be reviewed, including the sequence of installation and for detailing failure points.

January 15, 2020

Contemporary and Comfortable Designs Using Natural Stone

Credits: 1 AIA LU/Elective; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 IACET CEU

May qualify for learning hours through most Canadian architectural associations

Natural stone is durable, sustainable, and as a currently sought-after design aesthetic, can increase a home’s value. Stone is a material that also never goes out of style! The projects presented in this webinar demonstrate the uses of several types of natural stone, emphasizing the many ways it can be used to create a contemporary and comfortable living or working space.
 

View All Submit An Event

Products

ENR Square Foot Costbook 2020

ENR Square Foot Costbook 2020

See More Products

Tweets by @ArchRecord

Architectural Record

AR December 2019 Cover

2019 December

In the December 2019 issue, Architectural Record reveals the winners of the annual Record Products contest.

View More Subscribe
  • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Survey And Sample
    • Editorial Calendar
  • Call for Entries
  • Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • Renew
    • Create Account
    • Change Address
    • Pay My Bill
    • Free eNewsletters
    • Customer Care
  • Advertise
    • Architectural Record
    • Advertising Awards
  • Industry Jobs

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing