Lecture 6

Box units
(Three dimensional units)
(Box Systems)
Box/Three dimensional units:
What is it?
- It is a three-dimensional unit, i.e. it has a length, width and height and have a space
inside it.
- It is prepared in the factory, to contain a part or complete space or several spaces and
transported to the site to be assembled to form the final building form.
- As a result, with its geometric shape and correlation with relatively small dimensions and
spans, it is more used is residential buildings rather than public buildings.
- There are some applications in Italy to use large dimensions units in public buildings, but
it not widespread until now.

Box units vs. bricks:

- In traditional buildings, the brick is the three-dimensional repetitive unit that is put above
or next to each other to form the skeleton of the building, the same concept for the box
units, they are put on or beside each other to form the building.
- It causes obstacle as It needs huge machinery and cranes to deal with it.

Rapid method:

- Paul Rudolph, the well-known architect described the box units as “new building blocks”
with which modern architecture could be built. And this is the future of modern
architecture, especially with the great progress in technology of cranes and winches.
- And due to the rapid need of housing, the box units are considered the quick mean that
can cover these needs as a complete house could be finished in few hours.
- A building consisting of three floors could take only 6-7 hours. (just placing units in their
place).
Transportation and manufacturing:

- These units could be transported to the site fully equipped and can be with furniture
also.
- The materials used in this units could be: concrete, iron, wood and some types of plastic.
- Box units could be mass produced if it is designed to be repetitive.
Examples for box unit buildings :
- The housing project of Moshe Safdie in Montreal, Canada, 1967, was designed on the
box unit system, the module unit which contain a living room weighted 90 tons.
(Ordinary concrete).
- After that there was an attempt to reduce the weight of the module, and that was in San
Antonio hotel in Texas. It consisted of 21 floors, and was built with concrete module
which weighted 17 tons. This huge reduction is due to using light weight concrete.
- The American steel company (U.S. steel corporation) built hotel in Orlando, Florida,
within Disney theme parks, using a modular units almost equal in size the previous
module but replaced concrete with iron, so the weight of the box didn’t exceed 6 tons.
- Thus, within a short period, it was possible to reduce the weight of box units and thus
reduce the costs.
Development:

- In spite of development of cranes to carry huge weights, reducing the weight oof the box
units is very important to facilitate its use with reasonable capabilities.
- There are many attempt to develop the use of the box units especially in developed
countries such as Russia, America, and European countries.
- For example, in Japan they have the idea of the capsule, such attempts give strong push
to box systems.
Housing operation breakthrough program:
- This program was in America, its goal was to reach rapid building.
- The state gave it enormous capabilities suitable with what America has reached in
advanced technology in 20 th century.
- This program lasted from 1696 to 1972.
- In this period there was a huge developments in this field in Japan and Europe, but the
American program failed to reach its goal due to many circumstances.
- But in the end it gave a great push to the prefabricated buildings in general and box units
in particular.
- It represented several good ideas, some have been already implemented in separate
regions of USA.

Sizes:
- Small units
- Medium units
- Large units
What is meant by size: is what the module can contain of living space inside it. (a part of a
space, or several space) (depends on the design and the box dimensions)
Small sized units (Ring units):
- The small box unit is slices of box shaped units, that are covered by walls, ceilings and
floors as a single block and are assembled to form the required space. (Slices of toast)
- Advantages:
• gives high flexibility in the design, many sizes can be obtained since the range in
width is 30-60 cm., with multiples of these units, modular sizes can be obtained:

• The smaller the dimensions of the units, the more dimensions of the space can be
obtained.
• Ease of transporting.
• Ease of operation on site (reasonable strength cranes).
- Disadvantages:
• Needs a greater number of joints, which weakens the building.
• Large numbers of units to form a space.
• The increase in implementation time.
• Need for more technical labor.
Medium Sizes units (Room module):
- The average size of a box is equal to a bedroom.
- This size has many application in America and Japan, due to its flexibility.
- For example, each unit can contain a room or half a room, or each two units can contain
a space of living.
- The configuration of box units vary according to the design, including:
• Closed units, with ceiling, walls and floors
• Units with parallel walls or l shaped walls
• Units with four columns
- The medium size is considered the most common size in Japan. It has been applied on
large scale in the capsule used in the metabolism system.
• The size of a capsule was the size of a bedroom, it was relatively small than the
units in Europe and USA.
- One of the best examples of box units is the ideas presented through the “housing
operation breakthrough program” in America.

- Advantages:
• Flexibility in assembling units.
• Possible to give good architectural configurations
• Ease of transporting
• Needs less time in implementation than small units.
- Disadvantages:
• Existence of joints in one residential unit.
• The size limits the dimension of rooms and makes it difficult to use the module
for small spaces such as kitchens and bathrooms.
Large sized units (Large box systems) :
- These units range in size from units that contain a part of the entire house to the units
that contain the entire house.
- The large size is the beginning of the use of box units.
- This type of box units especially the heavy ones, has many applications in the soviet
union, but the best example of these is the residences of the Montreal exhibition in
Canada, by Moshe Safdie in 1967.
- Advantages:
• Contains small number of joints, and the joint is often concentrated between the
unit and the other.
• The speed of construction. The housing unit comes in large units or in one unit.
- Disadvantages:
• Large size and heavy weight leads to difficulty in transportation.
• Large sizes affects Its suitability for the width of existing roads:

• Units are not flexible from the outside. Modifications can be done in the interior
by using light partitions to separate spaces.

Structural types of box systems:

- This classifications can be used in box units:

• Transferring loads through the walls of the unit itself.
• Creating a skeleton structure that holds the units, either inside or hanging on it.
The non-structural box units: (Dependent box)
- The box unit is not structural, the box carries only itself and it is carried on independent
structure whose task is to transfer loads to the foundation.
- This gives more flexibility to the design.
- The box units are similar, and these units are installed on the supporting structure.
- The first method is Suspended box , the second method is plug-in box.

The first method – Suspended box: )‫(صندوق معلق‬

- The box unit is suspended on the supporting structure in two ways, either by direct
suspension or by using cables or iron ropes to suspend it and then install it to the
supporting structure.
- This supporting structure could be skeleton structure of columns and beams or it can be
a service unit from which the box is suspended directly.
- This method is suitable in the case of rebuilding or renovating areas crowded with
building.
- We set up core areas for the different units that occupy small areas to keep the housing
area as it is,
Then the box units could be attached to those central areas,
After which the residents can be housed in the area,
This process is repeated until the settlement is completed from the bottom of the
construction to the top.
- An example of this is the building of kisho kurokawa in Japan, and some ideas in the
operation breakthrough program in America.
The second method – plug-in box: )‫(صندوق توصيل‬
- The supporting structure in this method is the skeleton frame structure made of concrete
or steel according to the design
- After the completing the construction of the supporting structure, the box units are lifted
with special cranes and winches and the unit is slid inside the structure on its own level in
the manner of drawers (similar to inserting drawers into their cavities in furniture
pieces). ‫ يتم رفع الوحدات الصندوقية برافعات وروافع خاصة ويتم انزالق‬، ‫بعد االنتهاء من بناء الهيكل الداعم‬
)‫الوحدة داخل الهيكل عىل مستواها الخاص بطريقة األدراج (مثل إدخال األدراج يف تجاويفها يف قطع األثاث‬.
- Each box unit transfers its load to the supporting structure, and the structure transfers
loads from the box units to the foundation.
- There are many examples in America and Japan.
Advantages and disadvantages of non-structural box units:

- Advantages:
• Possibility of rising the height of the building to many floors.(depending on the
type of the structure used)
• The possibility of standardization by repeating a modular unit.
• Each unit transfer its own load only to the supporting structure.
• The possibility of changing or exchanging between units without affecting the
whole building
- Disadvantages:
• High cost due to the presence of two types of structure in one building.
Independent structural box units: (Monolithic unit)
- The box units are structural system, i.e. it transfers its weight in addition to the weight of
the units above it.
- They are assembled on top of the other
- The lower boxes bear all the load of all boxes above it.
- Therefore, each box is different in its structural design according to the size of loads
placed on it.
- This affects the amount of reinforced steel used in the lower boxes and this affect its
thickness.
- And this prevents the process of standardization. (no use for standard repetitive units)
There are four methods for stacking and assembling units:

- Stack on regularly ‫الرص بانتظام‬

- Stack on alternately ‫الرص بالتبادل‬
- Stack on cantilever ‫الكابول‬
‫ي‬ ‫الطريقة‬
- Stack on mixed ‫الطريقة المركبة يف التجميع‬

Stack on regularly:
- The units are placed next to and on top of each other just like
bricks.
- Assembling in this way duplicates walls and ceilings
(considered disadvantage).
- If it is possible to make an open U-shaped unit, this will
prevent duplication of ceilings but the duplication of walls
will remain and can be used as sound insulation (due to the
wall thickness)
- Stacking in this way is costly due to duplicating walls and
ceilings.
- This way also causes increase in loads.

Stack on alternately:
- The units are assembled in a mutual manner ‫ متبادل‬, so they are
placed with spaces between them in the first row.
- Then the second row the unit are placed in mutual way so that
the box units are topped by voids and the voids topped by box
units
- In this way there will by no duplication on walls or ceilings.
- In the end, some planar units are used to close the sides of the
building and ceilings of the last floor.
Stack on cantilever:
- The units are assembled in such a way that each unit has a
cantilever on the lower unit, which gives a good architectural
configuration.
- The units is placed either parallel or perpendicular to each other to
form changes on the façade.
- The size of the box should be considered to allow it have the
necessary support, in addition to the presence of sufficient
cantilevers to stabilize the building.

Stack on mixed:
- The unites are stacked on top of each other in vertical rows, leaving
spaces between each group and another.
- Prefabricated units are used to roof them, using the box units as
fulcrums.
- The voids can be larger than the box units itself, it can be used as
living spaces, which gives great flexibility in this method.
Advantages and this advantages:
- Advantages:
• Placing the units directly on each other without the need to create an assistant.
• The possibility of making changes in the interface and the section (stack on
cantilever)
- Disadvantages:
• The height of the building is limited. (cant exceed a certain limit due to the loads
on the lower units)
• There is no standard units (each unit according to the loads)
• The difficulty of changing or exchanging the module, due to the impossibility of
transporting the box from or to the building as it is a part of the structure.

Material of box units:

- The material used differ according to :
• Type of design and construction
• The user
• The place where the box unit is built
• The availability of the type of construction material.
- The units could be made of:
• Wood
• Concrete
• Metals
• Plastic

Wood:
- It is light in weight
- This make it easy to transport
- Less powerful operating cranes needed.
- Prefabricating factories don’t need heavy equipments
- This module is suitable for low density regions.
- Fire protection measures must be considered.

Concrete:

- The units must be manufactured in factories that are not far from the site, as a result of
transportation costs.
- They are heavy weighted, so they need heavy equipment to transport, carry and
assemble them.
Metals:
- Box units made of steel can be manufactured easily.
- It can be manufactured in different ways:
• Welding ‫اللحام‬
• Adhesive bonding ‫اللص ق‬
• Bolting ‫الربط بالمسامي‬
Plastic:

- It is one of the new materials used in architecture.

- Possibilities of use and application is in its early stages, but the future promises good
results in this field.
- Especially since the material is easy in forming and could be colored.
- The units of plastic is larger than the other.
- Isolation and fire protection must be considered.