Most houses stay fixed once the framing goes up. Michael Jantzen‘s Segmented Building System, presented in 2016, asks what would happen if a home were built as a set of slices instead.
The system divides a building into segments that are four feet wide. Each segment varies in height. Each one is made of structural insulated foam panels, which are rigid boards with a foam core bonded between two faces.
Each segment can arrive on site as separate pieces or as assembled profiles. A full profile combines floor, wall, and roof panels. A half profile is the partial version of that same arrangement.
If the idea of a prefabricated home that arrives as ready-to-assemble pieces appeals to you, Mini Domy’s reimagined Polish A-frame cabin shows how a classic prefab form can be rebuilt for modern living.
How the segmented building system adds and reshapes space
Because the segments share one width, they can be repeated, nested, and combined. Builders could extend a structure in any horizontal direction. Full and half profiles could also step sideways, letting one part of a building run taller than its neighbors.
The design also turns the gaps between segments into features. Neighboring profiles can be slid out of line, and large glass panels close the open space. The openings bring daylight into the building, and they can continue from the walls into the roof. The result is an interior with patterns of light that a fully sealed plan could not produce, a form of unconventional architecture.
The exterior is not fixed to one look. The exterior is not tied to its mustard-yellow finish, and the cladding is a separate choice. Metal boards or cement composite boards can be applied in the factory or on site after the structural panels are assembled. Doors and windows can be placed anywhere in the layout.
Solar panels of various kinds can attach to the segments. The materials describe the goal of running the structures off the utility grid, and the designer lists off-grid operation among the system’s ambitions.
Rearranging a Segmented building is still a construction job, not a casual one. All segments attach to a prefabricated concrete perimeter foundation, which is shaped to the final layout. Moving a home would require a new base for its new configuration, plus reconnected utilities.
The concept’s main environmental claim concerns reuse. Profile segments can be disassembled and reconfigured in a new arrangement at a different location. The materials say this allows buildings to be recycled without demolition. The usable sections stay intact rather than being broken down into raw material.
Reuse without demolition has a close cousin in the Birch plywood micro-cabin built from a shipping container, which shows how a salvaged shell can be reworked into a livable interior.
Jantzen, who was born in 1948, works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as an artist, designer, and photographer. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Building Museum. The Segmented Building System remains a published concept, and the sources describe no completed project. Its value lies in the question it raises: how much of a home can change without being torn down?
Via yankodesign.com
Frequently asked questions
What is Michael Jantzen‘s Segmented Building System?
Michael Jantzen’s Segmented Building System, presented in 2016, is a concept for building a home as a set of slices rather than a fixed structure. Each segment is made of structural insulated foam panels, which are rigid boards with a foam core bonded between two faces.
How wide are the segments in Jantzen’s Segmented Building System?
In Jantzen’s Segmented Building System, each segment is four feet wide, and the segments vary in height. Because they share the same width, they can be repeated, nested, and combined.
Can a segmented home be reconfigured and moved to another location?
Profile segments can be disassembled and reconfigured in a new arrangement at a different location, which the materials say allows buildings to be reused without demolition. Moving a home would still require a new foundation for the new layout and reconnected utilities.
Has the Segmented Building System been used in a completed project?
The Segmented Building System remains a published concept, and the sources describe no completed project. It is presented as an idea about how much of a home can change without being torn down.
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