Building manufacturing architecture. Whatever you thought, think again

In the eyes of the public, industrialisation as a concept brings with it images of the 1960s and the 70s, when we let construction methods and the disintegrating modern movement rule supreme the development of architectural expression. There is the definite risk that the current fast-paced development towards building manufacturing systems becomes highly product-orientated at the expense of the sustainability of the buildings. Whatever you thought, think again. The overall aim of ManuBuild is to facilitate the industrial creation of contemporary state-of-the-art architecture. This chapter summarises the work done in ManuBuild on architectural quality and gives the principles and some examples of the brief for ManuBuild architecture. The aim of this work is not to define manufacturing architecture but to help pinpoint qualities that it needs to exhibit. Without restricting users of the brief to a certain architectural style or language, the brief is written in the form of (1) a description of the key elements of the good home, (2) an analysis of the threats and opportunities of building manufacturing when it comes to architectural quality and finally (3) architectural checklists and performance criteria. Having access to a detailed brief in a format useful for evaluation of design suggestions, it is possible for building owners and architects to work on the design of industrially produced buildings with confidence that important issues are not overlooked. The brief is open for anyone to use their own judgement and set their own standards for each project or system. Before we get to the evaluation however, the principles given here for evaluation of architecture needs to be developed to suit architectural design, a task which needs to include the principles for the platforms used. This work remains to be done in ManuBuild in the months ahea