MoMA’s Prefab Housing

If you were impressed by the shipping, delivery, and installation requirements of the Richard Serra show at the MoMA, you’ll love their upcoming exhibit. Clancco sure does.

Seeking to explore the recent thrill of prefab homes in architectural circles and schools, The MoMA has commissioned five architects to erect their own prefab dwellings in a vacant lot on West 53rd Street, adjacent to the museum. Intent on not drawing “disparaging associations” straight out of Hicksville, chief curator of architecture and design Barry Bergdoll opted for the more glamourous and academic title: Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling. Clancco suggested, Finally Not: Made In China! but they didn’t bite.

A bit more from The New York Times (usrname & psswd: clancco):

Although the show does not officially open until July 20, today’s announcement marks its beginning, Mr. Bergdoll said. In February the foundations will be laid in the vacant lot…[and] the houses will start arriving in late May or early June…[.]

Starting in mid-March the architects will contribute weekly blog postings to record the process of fabricating, delivering and assembling the houses on moma.org. The show’s two main themes are off-site assembly and delivery, so this stage is integral to the exhibition.”

The five prefab gurus are KieranTimberlake Associates of Philadelphia; Lawrence Sass of Cambridge, Mass.; Douglas Gauthier and Jeremy Edmiston of Manhattan; Oskar Leo Kaufmann and Albert Rüf of Austria; and Richard Horden of Horden Cherry Lee in London.