18 AMERICANWAY
MAY 15 2007
J O I N T H E R E V O L U T I O N
Architect SteveKieran has been asking that
question formore thanfive years. His final
answer?We can—but only if the construc-
tion industry joins the long-runningparty
we call the industrial revolution.
Think about it.We’vemass-produced
shoes since 1885, cars since 1901, and
airplanes since 1918. But buildings are still
built from the ground up, stick by stick.
Over the past 30 or so years, productivity
Quest¬on:
in almost every other industry grewby80
percent, but indesign and construction, it
droppedby20percent.
SoKieran and his business partner,
James Timberlake, founders of Kieran-
TimberlakeAssociates, began studying
automobile and aircraftmanufacturing for
alternative ideas, and out of their research,
the concept of using a fewprefabricated
components in their buildingprojects— for
clients such as theUniversity of Pennsylva-
nia—was born. The ultimate goal, though,
was toprefabricate an entire project. Un-
fortunately, clientswere skittish. “Buildings
are expensive, andpeople are risk-averse,”
Kieran explains. “Wewere struggling toget
someone to jump off the cliffwith us.”
Thus, they came upwith the Loblolly
House, which required no client persuasion
because itwas a second home for Kieran’s
family. The only constraintwas the site
itself— on the shore of ChesapeakeBay.
For theproject, KieranTimberlake teamed
upwithBensonwoodHomes, a company
Why can’twe construct abuilding inabetter, stronger, fastermanner,
and,whilewe’reat it,make itmore environmentally friendly?
inNewHampshire that fabricates building
panels by using a computer, anddeveloped
basic building components that couldbe
fitted together on-site. Like the body panels
of a car, floor cartridgeswere prewired
for power andwater (unlike a car’s panels,
though, they had radiant heat). Bathrooms
and kitchenswere prebuiltmodules, com-
pletewithplumbing, and everythingwas
preinsulated for energy efficiency.
“The fearwith this kind of construction
was:Willmy buildingfit together?” Kieran
says. “And this housewent together like
clockwork; nothingdidn’t fit.”
Architectural journalsall over theworld
havewrittenabout theLoblollyHouse
(picturedhereandonpreviouspage). Now
KieranTimberlake isworkingwithSanta
Monica–basedLivingHomes tomake thepro-
totype intoaproduct. Atfirst, thehouseswill
sell at aprice that’s in linewithaconvention-
allybuilt home, but over time, as volume in-
creases, theprice shoulddrop. “We think that
goodquality, highlyenvironmental housing is
something that needs tobepricedwithin the
meansof averagepeople,”Kieran says.
Kieran envisions adaywhennothing
is built stick by stick, not even the largest
building, andwhen every house, library,
school, and office building is erected in a
fast, efficient, andgreenmanner. “We see
theword
construction
going out of style,” he
says. “It’ll be called fabrication and assem-
bly, not construction.”
—TrACYSTATON
JamesTimberlakeandSteveKieran
©PeTerAArON/eSTO. ALLrIGHTSreSerVeD.
