Prefabrication experiments - 109 - The atrium house by Bengt Warne

The courtyard house as a prime example for single-family dwelling has endured. Arranging living spaces around a garden creates an intimate oasis positioning family life around a nature centric focal point. As was the case for the Roman atrium dwelling, the central garden can be used for gardening or socializing and can provide passive summer cooling using a central water element. The modern central patio prototype was proposed by architects such as Mies van der Rohe (court houses) and Jørn Utzon (Kingo Houses) and even Walter Segal’s courtyard houses as a pattern for densely aggregated individualized mass housing. This central courtyard model inspired an audacious proposal by Swedish architect Bengt Warne relating an archetypal space to industrialized building systems.

Designed as a luxury dwelling, Warne’s design, presented in 1961, combined prefabricated prismatic volumes around a central void covered with an articulated glass roof. The organisation was based on a 4 meter square grid which defined an 8 x 8 meter square patio. Prefabricated in a re-deployed shipyard the perimeter box volumes were structured by steel profiled edges. The four 12m x 4 m x 3m tall enclosures were fitted together on standard foundations and stitched together on-site as all other finishes were completed 700 km away by the AB patio company. On site assembly lasted only a few hours including the electrical connections for the mechanical roof canopy. Exterior infill panels and glazing reduced potential thermal bridging of the steel mullions. Simply organised, the heroic element is the electrically controlled articulated petal roof spanning the central void. Driven by 4 hydraulic jacks the triangular deployable roof transformed the interior space into an outdoor terrace.

The prototype was built as a 256 square meter single family home and was to evolve through mass production into a smaller 144 square meter version at an affordable cost. The major difference between the original prototype and the mass produced model was a reduction from 16 meter square to 12 meter square. As with many modern prefab experiments, the mass production of the atrium house never took off but it nonetheless activated a career-long exploration by Warne into a series of ecofriendly homes.

Photograph of deployable roof