A Discourse on Method: The Segal System

Author: John McKean
Year: 1987 (Architese, "Einfaches Bauen")
Source type: article
Raw file: raw/articles/mckean-1987-segal-system.md

Summary

McKean presents the architecture of Walter Segal (1907–1986) as "common-sense" architecture rooted in everyday reality — a rational, timber-frame building system that enables ordinary, non-skilled people to build their own houses. Segal's method (developed from his 1966 prototype) uses precision-calculated standard materials "uncut ... in the shape given," and its world-view turns architects into "enablers." His self-builders, chosen by lottery from public-housing waiting lists, build their own homes; for Segal, "commonality is not embodied in the image of connected urban spaces, but in collaborative action."

Key Claims

• Common-sense method: like Viollet-le-Duc's Eugene, Segal is "full of common-sense ingenuity"; "in architecture there is a method to be followed in all cases ... but there are no definite prescriptions or rules." A "logical step-by-step common sense," rationalizing all details.
• The Segal system: high-quality, stress-graded timber of minimum section, uncut standard sheets/panels; details "based on things which touch and are not fixed" (posts on lead caps, panels held by pressure, live roofing); no wet trades; the Bill of Quantities as a working detail and accurate estimate. "Understandable excitement: that is what I want from architecture."
• Self-build and the enabling role: Segal invented "the impossible idea of ordinary, non-skilled working-class men and women from the waiting list for public authority housing, building their own homes" (retirees, single mothers, families). Self-builders gain "satisfaction and confidence"; "now there's nothing we won't try." Segal: "The principle of self-help will have to be introduced on a much more general scale"; "Architects will have to be trained to be enablers."
• World-view and the everyday: "Architecture is not sculpture. ... Buildings should not be too assertive"; clients are "involved in place making, not in sharing a made place." "His interest is the process of housing and inhabitation, not the product of architecture." Following Morris's motto: things people get pleasure in making and using.
• Criticism: the strongest critique of Segal's position "is this lack of space for the collective, for the social realm"; no street/terrace greater than the sum of parts — but Segal replies that communality lies in "collaborative action," not the image of connected urban spaces.
• Biography: childhood at Monte Verità (Ascona), turning down the Bauhaus (he "wanted to learn to build first"), learning timber from Wachsmann's Holzbau; his 1966 prototype built in two weeks for £600.

Connections

Concepts: Everyday Architecture · Dwelling · Authorship · Flat Ontology
Authors: John McKean · Walter Segal
Debates: Genius vs. Bureaucracy
Related source notes: Buildings Without Architects (May & Reid) · The 'Bread & Butter' of Architecture (Agarez & Mota)

Direct Quotes

"'Understandable excitement; that is what I want from architecture,' Walter Segal once said."

"[H]is interest is the process of housing and inhabitation, not the product of architecture."

"Architects will have to be trained to be enablers. ... The course of architectural education must be completely changed."

"[C]ommunality is not embodied in the image of connected urban spaces, but in collaborative action."

Open Questions

• Does the Segal self-build system offer a genuine model for the everyday/dwelling (architect as enabler), or does its celebration of individual authorship of one's own home risk ignoring the collective/street that McKean's criticism identifies?