Prefabs: The history of the UK Temporary Housing Programme (Studies in History, Planning and the Environment Series)

The book looks at the emergence of the prefab as a unique housing form. It examines the reasons prefabs have survived way beyond their design life of fifteen years, when other post-war housing types have been demolished. There is no other single text that sets the temporary housing programme in context. BOOK COVER......Page 1 HALF-TITLE......Page 2 TITLE......Page 5 COPYRIGHT......Page 6 CONTENTS......Page 7 PREFACE......Page 9 INTRODUCTION......Page 10 THE ARCON BUNGALOW......Page 11 THE UNI-SECO......Page 16 THE ALUMINIUM TEMPORARY BUNGALOW......Page 20 REACTIONS TO THE PREFAB......Page 25 NOTES......Page 30 THE EMERGENCE OF THE BUNGALOW......Page 34 CRITICS OF THE BUNGALOW......Page 39 THE VALUE OF SURVEYS TO DETERMINE THE DESIRES OF USERS......Page 40 GOVERNMENT REPORTS ON HOUSING......Page 42 THE PUBLIC VIEW OF POST-WAR HOUSING......Page 45 NOTES......Page 48 BACKGROUND......Page 52 HOUSING FOR THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY......Page 53 HOUSING FOR US WAR WORKERS......Page 58 THE USA BUNGALOW FOR THE TEMPORARY HOUSING PROGRAMME......Page 59 SWEDISH PRECEDENTS......Page 62 UK PRECEDENTS FOR THE PREFABRICATED BUNGALOW......Page 65 NOTES......Page 67 THE IDEAL OF THE FACTORY PRODUCED HOUSE......Page 70 LE CORBUSIER AND THE MASS-PRODUCED HOUSE......Page 73 GROPIUS AND THE MASS-PRODUCED HOUSE......Page 75 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PREFABRICATED HOUSE IN THE UK......Page 78 UK DESIGNERS AND ‘A MACHINE FOR LIVING IN’......Page 81 NOTES......Page 85 HOUSING NEEDS AFTER WORLD WAR II......Page 88 PARLIAMENTARY DISCUSSION OF POST-WAR HOUSING......Page 91 THE BACKGROUND TO THE TEMPORARY HOUSING PROGRAMME AS DISCUSSED IN PARLIAMENT......Page 93 WHY ‘TEMPORARY’ BUNGALOWS?......Page 95 THE FIRST EXHIBITION OF THE PORTAL BUNGALOW......Page 98 CRITICISM OF THE PORTAL PROTOTYPE......Page 103 Was the Emergency Factory Made House Necessary?......Page 104 Problems with the Plan......Page 105 The Methods of Construction and Prefabrication......Page 109 NOTES......Page 110 STARTING UP......Page 114 INTERVENTIONS BY THE GERMANS......Page 116 PROGRESS OF THE TEMPORARY HOUSING PROGRAMME......Page 120 WINDING UP......Page 128 ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES......Page 130 THE EXTENDIBLE HOUSE......Page 133 NOTES......Page 138 7 BUILDING HOMES......Page 143 NOTES......Page 153 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 156 INDEX......Page 161 In comparison with today's architectural aesthetics the prefab is small, boring and probably unworthy of extensive study.