Flat Pack Rant

Flat pack is Ikea. Ikea is the idea that complex objects such as furniture can be simplified and standardized to a degree that will allow the average person to buy, transport, comprehend and assemble them by themselves, with limited tools and technical knowledge.

Can you do that to the same degree with buildings? If you can, how would it help or hinder an aid project like timor leste? On the one hand you have a product that can be quickly and easily assembled by a group of people. On the other hand the finished product is very generic and not suited to the physical, social or cultural context because everything is imported and it does not help the economy of the country as there is limited need for local materials and labour.

How can something be flat pack and still use local resources and skills and labour? Do you flat pack part of the building and leave the rest up to the locals? Are the locals competent? Coming from an advanced western culture we have little faith in local labour forces of developing nations. To an extent this is justified because they don't have access to the same materials and technology as we do, however, if construction methods are kept simple and clear then local workers are equally as qualified as international ones.

So what do you do? The structure of any building is usually the most labour & technologically intensive so it would make senes to fabricate this in Australia and flat pack it over to Timor leste. Regardless of what type of structural frame you make it needs to be assembled on site. Chances are there will be an abundance of manpower and very little mechanical power (ie cranes and earth moving equipment) so the structure should be able to be assembled by people only.