claim

active

claim:it-is-possible-to-conceive-new-forms-of-on-site-fabrication-which-allow-every-part-to-be-just-right-without-upsetting-enormously-high-speed-production

It is possible to conceive new forms of on-site fabrication which allow every part to be just right, without upsetting enormously high-speed production.

Core claim that high-speed adaptive production can reconcile craft quality with modern speed.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Findings (4)

finding

Water-jet cutting time: 6 months using 3 machines continuously
supports
Estimated production rate for cutting all 400,000 pieces with water-jet technology.
On-site installation time allowed: 2 months
supports
The entire marble floor had to be laid, ground, and polished within two months due to project schedule.
Single craftsman manual cutting time: 11 years
supports
Based on a rate of 12 pieces per hour, 100 per day, for 400,000 pieces.
Total number of marble pieces ~400,000 for 8,000 m²
supports
Extrapolated from sample statistics: roughly 50 pieces per square meter.

Questions (2)

question

Can we hold cost constant and yet construct large works in a way which is profound, personal, detailed, and loving — yet still respectful of these necessary conditions that are nowadays imposed by the modern era?
gates
Refinement of the central question, emphasizing economic feasibility.
How then — realistically — in the modern world can we get the subtle fine detail of adaptation, variation, and harmony which makes every component slightly different, and yet do it at the break-neck speed of modern giant projects and in the colossal quantities required for the largest projects?
gates
The central practical question the chapter sets out to answer.

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

It is inherently impossible to make a successful building by mass production or prefabrication without possibility of modification.claim0.794
Necessary minute adaptations cannot be achieved with standardized components.
We hypothesize that it is possible to invent high-technology versions of smooth unfolding processes so buildings can be specified cheaply while being uniquely adapted to each conditionhypothesis0.788
Alexander's programmatic hypothesis framing the 21st-century construction research agenda.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.quote0.785
Einstein's assertion invoked to explain why BMR preserves accuracy while reducing complexity
Parts created during the process of differentiation must become locally unique; otherwise the process is not a living process.claim0.771
Necessary condition that prevents mechanical mass-production and enforces local adaptation.
It is only when you treat the raw material of the building as the stuff being shaped and take control with your own hands that you can make a real thing.claim0.771
Hands-on involvement is necessary for worth.
These step-by-step processes are very simple, virtually unhampered by concepts or by too much thought about the intricacy of design.claim0.770
The commonality underlying all the examples of living process.
Our present forms of planning, design, construction, and production are deeply flawed because they do not include step-by-step adaptation and cannot in principle do so as they are.claim0.768
Sweeping indictment of current production systems.
It is my contention that the shapes of a truly living architecture… can only be of this nature. They must have been created step by step—dynamically—both while they were being thought out and while they were being made.quote0.768
Key normative claim about the geometric requirement for living architecture.