Abstract

Architecture seems to have lost sight of flexibility’s multiple definitions and historical depth. The concept’s easy presence in contemporary architectural discourse masks flexibility’s intimate connection to the contraction and expansion of industrial production and changing manufacturing processes in the first half of the twentieth century. Flexibility at this historical moment required rendering the manufactory divisible, thereby allowing space, a financial asset, to be redistributed over time. This article follows one such firm, the Austin Company, through a series of commissions to illustrate how it positioned itself as a flexibility supplier. Doing so allows for inquiry into the nature of flexibility in the history of industrial capitalism.

摘要

建筑似乎忽略了灵活性的多重定义和历史深度。这一概念在当代建筑话语中的轻松存在掩盖了灵活性与二十世纪上半叶工业生产的收缩和扩张以及不断变化的制造过程的密切联系。在这个历史时刻，灵活性要求使制造商可分割，从而允许空间，一种金融资产，随着时间的推移重新分配。本文跟随这样的公司奥斯汀公司，通过一系列委托来说明它如何将自己定位为灵活性供应商。这样做可以探究工业资本主义历史中灵活性的本质。