When the U.K. faced a major housing shortage after World War II, then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill rolled out an ambitious plan of erecting some 500,000 prefab temporary shelters as the country rebuilds. Though only about 156,000 prefabs were ultimately built by the end of the project in 1949, it appears the idea resonated for some while. This historic short clip shared by newsreel archive British Pathé, for one, documents (quite amusingly!) the assembly of some prefabs ordered by the London County Council in 1962.
Punctuated with enthusiastic remarks like "Move and the house with you!" and "People can have their own homes in a minimum possible time!" the video is an earlier incarnation of the prefab dream still raging today. Doesn't that scene with the crane lifting the prefab just feel so 2015? (See image below video.)
· Mobile Houses (1962) [Youtube via Modernist Estates]
· 5 of the Coolest Prefab Houses You Can Order Right Now [Curbed]
· 5 Affordable Modern Prefab Houses You Can Buy Right Now [Curbed]
· All prefab housing coverage [Curbed]