Habitat '67 - Towards the Development of a Building System

Rather than talk at great length about the technical aspects of precasting Habitat '67, a task which could be better undertaken by the precasting contractor and the structural consultant for this project, I prefer to deal with the concept of Habitat in a broader sense as a building system. Habitat '67 is a three-dimensional building system, capable of a variety of applications to different sites. In its undertaking, Habitat attempts to indicate the shortcomings of the present pattern of the construction industry and to suggest the direction towards which it should develop. Habitat '67 is a prototype, "handmade" product of a potential, fully mass-produced system. It therefore deals with specific implications to housing and construction using assembly-line methods. Any assembly line requires the use of repetitive elements making tip the final product. The greater the quantities, the