In reference to todays discussion about 3d printing - enters Larry Sass

[William Brokhof]

MIT Professor Larry Sass is an acquaintance of mine. In 2006 he Larry Sass spoke at the Dwell On design Conference in San Francisco alongside the who's who of prefab and he is featured in the current issue of Dwell. In my opinion Sass's idea is revolutionary - yet painfully simple. He equates his concept to the Microsoft Word application. Basically, an individual can create a document (in his case a CNC or computer numerical control file) and any printer could print it out. The "printer" in this case was a ShopBot. It cut a stack of plywood into about 986 pieces that were all assembled with a rubber mallet to form yourHouse: Digitally Fabricated Housing for New Orleans. This building was then assembled and exhibited at MOMA in NYC for Home Delivery - Fabricating The Modern Dwelling.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="242" caption="Digital fabrication used to create architecture you can email"][/caption]

Those of you who know a thing or two about construction might have a few questions to say the least. I visited the Home Delivery exhibit several months ago without having known a hell of a lot about Sass's concept. At the time, I thought I had a good understanding of prefab, but I learned a lot at this show. Mainly, there's not very much prefab in production out there that's really worth a damn (my opinion) and what is being produced is a very small percentage of the housing market. Much of the work being done in the field right now is conceptual. I saw the yourHouse, assuming it to be an almost finished product and said to myself, "you've got to be kidding - this thing is like a big plywood sponge".

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="173" caption="Closup of yourHouse wall"][/caption]

In fact, the model house was already showing signs of decomposition from the weather. I had missed the point. The yourHouse is purely a concept. It should be viewed like a fashion model charging down the architectural runway. The very idea that an individual or firm could create any number of products including dwellings, and then share them like freeware or a PDF in your email is astounding. Sure, there will be folks out there who will want to capitalize and offer designs for sale, but there will certainly be the opportunity to create an design conversation like never before. Moreover, fabrication gets real grass roots here folks. No more factory is required. Hook up your laptop to a CNC cutter in the wilds of Africa or rural America and your off!

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="253" caption="The yourHouse interior was like an architectural temple"][/caption]

The idea that we can create incredibly inexpensive, simple dwellings and other necessary items from available materials is amazing. To be honest, the youHouse was my least favorite design at Home Delivery, but it's irrelevant. It's not about the result, it's about the process in this case. Hats off to Larry Sass and his collaborators for their work with digital fabrication. This is huge.

This is a little bittersweet for me. as a Realtor in Jamaica Plain, MA I often find myself working with developers or retail home buyers that are open to these types of advances. Maybe they're not ready for Larry's yourHouse yet but they're open to modern design and architecture and new ideas. The problem is really the city at that point. I've seen some really revolutionary architecture in Cambridge but the City of Boston has hamstrung it's residences by maintaining a completely dysfunctional permitting and zoning process governed by a body that makes decisions based on their mood on that given day. ask any builder to share an anecdote about their experience with the local building inspectors.

I don't know what future digital fabrication has in Jamaica Plain and Boston as a whole, but I'll be keeping my eye on Larry Sass's Fab Labs and looking forward to more inspirational work from him.