PRODUCTION LINE
FOR BUILDING?
MR.
IR. R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER addressing the U.I.A. Congress in London in July last year drew attention to the progressively im- proving utilization rate of the world's resources both "metallic and meta- bolic." but stressed the need for a 100 per cent utilization of these resources in a world of expanding population.
re-
It is not the intention here to discuss Buckminster Fuller's theory, but to use this oversimplified state- ment of part of it as a text for a brief examination of the building industry in its use of resources.
There are limited
limited material sources in the world and these are ever-increasingly being exploited as the needs of the world's populations expand. The resources of the world need to be utilized in economy and the present unusable materials need to be made usable.
extreme
It is an economic axiom that to live on capital leads to ruin, but this is what the world is doing.
The building industry, a large user of material resources, could and should offer an economy, in a world policy of maximum utilization of resources and non-spending of re- source capital.
In the short space of a magazine article, it is not possible to delve deeply into this question, but it may he examined, at least, from two points of view: the economy of materials in systems of construction, and the wastage of materials in the techniques employed.
The use of the framed structure as opposed to load bearing construc tion reduces the weight of building material, but with the large factors
of safety employed in structural design, a considerable weight of material is introduced into structures without performing any work. The structural designer is tied to codes and regulations, which, in the light of our text, need rationalization. Factors of safety may be reduced, under satisfactory conditions of supervision and by subsequent test- ing; the aim of design should be a safe structure with no factor of safety.
by
Prof. W.C. GREGORY,
B. Arch. A.R.I.B.A.
It is not only in structure that weight of material is significant but also in cladding and partitioning and though there are many develop. ments in this sphere, they are not being adopted to significant extents, mainly because they do not substitute. all the features of existing techniques.
Economy to-day should not be assessed in terms of money, but in untilization of resources, since we are more likely to run out of the latter before the former. This is not a view that is tenable by the in- dividual, since traditional methods are normally cheaper. but should be held at international and national levels, where large scale research and procedures may be instituted to bring this into effect.
The ultimate objective should be to re-establish the building industry on a scientific basis; if the same scientific effort used in space flight was applied to the development of building industry it could change beyond recognition.
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER VOLUME 17, NUMBER 2
There is also, still in existence, a general feeling that one should build for posterity, and as much as one enjoys and obtains stimulation from seeing the buildings of the past, we cannot afford to preserve more than a few of the best. Thus most build- ing should be regarded as expend- able within a relatively small span of years, and when no longer fulfiil- ing its function, it should be capable of being melted down, as it were, and the material re-used in new forms. This is the attitude that has been accepted with the motor-car, in theory, if it is not altogether occuring in practice. The motor-car is being continuously melted down and re-built with less use of material and greater efficiency in operation. Could not the same principles be applied to building?
Development of building tech. niques employing the minimum quantity of material of types that allow for ultimate maximum reutiliza- tion is slow, not only because of the comparatively limited research ac tivity occuring at present in this field but also to the innate conserva- tism of the building industry.
It cannot be expected of the ar- chitect working in practice to do this full scale research; as in other industries, he is a user and natural recipient of the research results of others; he contributes to develop- ment in his application of research.
The research that is being carried out to-day is confined largely to details and the improvement of in dividual products. There are insuf ficient breaks-through, as has occur. red recently in the case of the material, foamed styrene, and not in the problem of the conservation of resources in the context of world economy. Where is the Harwell or
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