School built by Camus system at Pantin, France
virtually a State-owned factory, oper- ated by the civic authority who also act as the contractor for erection of the dwellings.
Organisational Changes
With these vast proposals for ex- pansion, the organisational arrange- ments of Raymond Camus et Cie have undergone some changes to give
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greater centralisation of depart ments into the Paris headquarters. For example, the research division, or CRIC (Centre de Recherche pour le Developpement de l'Industrialisation de la Construction), has been ganised and moved from its labora- tories just outside Paris into the company's headquarters offices. Since its formation, CRIC has been largely carrying out physical research into such development problems as weathering. joint strengths, material testing, and quality of finish, but with the com- pletion of this programme, the de- partment will now concentrate on their second raison d'etre, the inves- tigation of new materials, ideas and products. In effect, CRIC will now carry out a role of co-ordination and organisation over the separate labora-
tories and research of each licencee. working from the headquarters offices in Paris.
Where special problems are posed. public laboratories with specialised equipment are used. An example of this was the investigation of earth- quake phenomena in connection with the plans to introduce Camus into Japan, and an interesting result of
these first tests, in their simulation of earthquake conditions, was that the foundation structure holding the panel in the laboratory actually broke before the joint.
With this reorganisation of CRIC. the French company is now organis- ed into a number of divisions, formed to deal with such responsibilities as factories and equipment: design and development: architectural liaison: liaison with the external companies. connected with the organisation: and the administration.
The system itself is stated to be the earliest of its type to be developed in France and currently the most widely-used in that country. Design- ed to provide not only multi-storey blocks of flats but also low-rise semi- detached houses and single-storey patio dwellings, it gives a high degree
Completed panels at Montesson factory
of flexibility to architects both in the variety of expression and the range of external finishes.
Basically, it features the produc- tion in the factory of precast concrete room-sized panels which are trans- ported to the site complete with cast- in doors, windows, thermal insula- tion, internal and external finishes, services, ducts, ventilation holes and conduit runs. Staircases and land- ings are also factory-made, complete with a variety of finishes such as tile. mosaic or granolithic.
Montesson Factory
A typical factory, provided in 1955 and now producing about 2,000 dwellings a year, is that at Montesson, on the outskirts of Paris.
Here the components for at least six different designs of dwellings can be manufactured at the same time. Indeed, about 1,500 different types of
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Low-rise housing at the French Cesson-Vert-St. Denis project
Far East Architect & Builder August, 1966
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