RAPID TYPE 2011

Working off the momentum generated during production of MITSUBISH I – office space, along with the desire to push the capabilities of the material and possible application – prompted a continuation of the research into a second studio and build.

Taught with Kory Bieg of OTA+, the second semester looked into the social and economic factors of prefabricated construction and why prefabrication has not been the glowing success everyone claimed it would be. From this we developed our agenda: to look at prefabrication alongside social research to align building technology with current social trends.  Research into urban tendencies pointed toward the growing trend of mobile food platforms.

Though Rapid Type targets the slow drip coffee movement, the larger agenda of the studio was to explore the gap between highly-designed prefabricated buildings and under-designed food trucks. Prefabrication remains a buzz word in the field of architecture, but has failed to deliver a reliable and cost-saving economic model for building construction. In fact, the only prefabricated structures that have performed consistently well are not buildings at all. The appearance of food trucks has exploded in the past few years and their visibility is only continuing to grow. The studio decided to latch on to this growing trend by offering a new and unique design using proven methods of mass manufacturing. Rapid Type is a full-service mobile sales platform that offers high-design, ease of assembly, and full mobility. The project combines the best of prefabricated building construction mixed with the financial vitality of the food truck movement. The prototype is designed to accommodate a variety of consumer markets.