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Prefabrication is not new to the 21st century; however, while the term may have been born during the Industrial Revolution, the technique only just reached maturity as a holistic process of design, manufacture and construction. We now speak of prefabrication with terms such as efficiency, low-cost and sustainability, but it took a long way to get to where we are today.
Steel and concrete are now two of the most common construction materials on the planet, yet they are relatively recent inventions. Both began to be mass-produced and employed for structural purposes during the technological boom of the First and Second Industrial Revolutions. Since both materials rely on casting, the production of both concrete and steel structures inevitably involves off-site manufacture &#; prefabrication. Building manufacturing made its first step into mechanization with standardized and prefabricated structural components.
One example of early large-scale prefabricated structures is the Crystal Palace (built in ). Primarily located in Hyde Park, London was the site of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, and the massive glass and iron structure not only housed the event, but also demonstrated the potential of industry that it celebrated. As a typical prefabricated structure, cast-iron components and glass panels were brought to the site and assembled within six months.
The prefabricated nature of the building later allowed it to be dismantled, transported and rebuilt in the Crystal Palace Park in south London after the exhibition. The Crystal Palace showcases the fundamental features of prefab architecture including: off-site production of most structural components, swift on-site assembling and easy transportation throughout the building&#;s life cycle.
Yet, at this early stage, prefabrication was a technology that helped to break the limits of on-site construction, more so than a methodology or a style (as some would consider it today). For example, famous public projects such as Sydney Opera House and Centre Georges Pompidou both employed a significant percentage of prefabricated components, but they are classified as Expressionist and High-tech architecture instead of Prefab design.
Even in the decades leading up to the 21st century, before digital modelling was popularized and when digital manufacturing was only just emerging, prefabrication processes still had plenty of room for improvement. Failure to make perfectly-matching components could further result in extra costs for reworking faulty components and corresponding transportation, especially when working with complicated forms. Under such circumstances, on-site casting was more time-efficient as mistakes could be amended during the construction process.
Nonetheless, prefab architecture was the main contributing factor in solving post-war housing shortages in cities like London, where damages were severe and resources were scarce. Prefabricated structures were the perfect solution to low budget and repetitive structures. Even after the post-war recovery period, prefabrication continued in its developmental stage, evolving as throughout the final decades of the 20th century.
Marching into the digital and information age, the refinement and generalization of digital design and manufacturing elevated the concept prefabrication beyond its previous status as a building realization technique. Instead, it started to become a stand-alone methodology for design. Compounded with the development of systems like BIM (Building Information Modelling) &#; which support better data and information synchronization between each phase of a building&#;s life cycle &#; the time and cost efficiencies of prefabrication buildings have recently been elevated to an unprecedented level.
Common prefabricated structures used in contemporary architecture can be roughly divided into three categories based on the major structural material: prefabricated concrete, prefabricated steel and prefabricated timber system. Of the three, a prefabricated steel system is the easiest way to meet the structural expectations due to the mechanical nature of the material. Meanwhile, concrete systems usually require on-site casting at the connections between precast components, resulting in possible losses of structural stability.
Prefabricated concrete systems are usually reinforced by steel. A precast concrete frame system can be used for low-rise buildings, while a hybrid of precast frames and precast structural walls are better for a mid-rise or structures that require better structural performance. For most occasions, on-site casting is still an easier way to get the most out of concrete as a structural material, since joints between components might need additional reinforcement while structures cast into one consistent part on-site do not. Because of the high standard of joints required by prefabricated concrete systems, the structural performance of these systems therefore heavily rely on manufacturing and construction quality.
In comparison, prefabricated steel frame structures have a greater tolerance for joints and steel components that are mostly recyclable. However, the heat required for steel production and reproduction is still mostly supported by burning fossil fuel, resulting in the large carbon footprint of steel as a material. Naturally grown materials such as timber, by contrast, can be low-carbon and renewable (only in regions where structural timber is a rich local resource).
Aside from structural components, prefabrication can also work smoothly with modular designs where ready-to-use units are made off-site and stacked onto one another on-site. This allows even faster construction processes, which is an ideal approach to design ambitions on tight sites or sites with strict requirements of controlling impacts of the construction. For example, on a tight site with intimate residential contexts like that of the A+ Award-winning Hadaewon Housing, prefabricated modules allowed for a swift, quiet and clean construction process.
After decades of technological development, we are now well equipped to continue exploring the potential of prefabricated architecture and to start considering it as a standard way to reduce the environmental impacts of our designs &#; the possibilities only continue expanding!
Do you have a project that is on the cutting edge of innovative building technologies? Consider entering one of the exciting Plus categories &#; Architecture +Experimental Design, Architecture +Prefab and Architecture +New Technology &#; in Architizer&#;s 10th Annual A+Awards.
Kia Nejatian
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Feb 12,
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While it seems like a new building method, modular (prefab) construction has been with us nearly two hundred years. Since the &#;s, this method of building structures offsite, and transporting them to their destination was only outdone by the fact that assembly of the sections took half the time it normally would using traditional techniques. Prefabrication has undergone incredible transformation since then and has succeeded today into one of the industry&#;s preeminent construction approaches.
Let&#;s take a look at a bit of history of prefabrication, its use today and what&#;s in store for the future.
&#;s: London, England wood worker John Manning built the first prefabricated home for his son. His son took a job in Australia and John decided to build a house in pieces, as a gift, and ship it to the son down under.
&#;s: As the California gold rush firmly took hold out west, there was now a great demand for new homes to be built. By then, modular building construction had made its way across the ocean to the United States and soon many homes were assembled quickly.
: One of Britain&#;s most famous examples of modular construction was the Crystal Palace, built for Britain&#;s Great Exhibition. The design was conceived in less than two weeks, using light materials, it was only constructed in a few months. Th palace was dismantled later, moved and rebuilt again at another location.
&#;s: In Chicago, a builder revealed his balloon-frame method to great fanfare. Augustine Taylor devised a way to build walls offsite, the transport them to the predetermined construction site for quick assembly.
Modular Homes and Catalog Adverts: Sears
Roebuck and Co. was the largest department store in the United States. They sold everything from Coca Cola to yes, you guessed it, houses; specifically, prefab modular homes. Between and , Sears Roebuck sold over 500,000 prefab homes through their popular catalog, directly to their customers. The homes cost two-thirds the cost of a conventionally built home. The construction was so sturdy that there remains quite a few in use to this day.
The Housing Boom of WWII
To meet the growing demand for mass accommodations for the military, Quonset Huts, also known as Nissen Huts were introduced. They were made up of corrugated steel intended for domestic, institutional or military uses.
As the war came to a close, and with so many soldiers returning home, the U.S. experienced a severe housing shortage. To accommodate the expected expanding families, there was a need for a rapid construction solution to build new homes. This time again, prefabricated construction of new homes were chosen due to efficiency, cost reduction, and fast assembly. Once again, many of those units still exist and are in use.
Prefabricated homes were a huge part of post-war construction efforts in Europe and Japan.
Modular Construction and Assembly Today
Modular construction has been a global solution in various countries for decades. The growth potential remains promising, with the countries below showing an estimate of all unattached homes built using modular techniques: Sweden 84%, United States 5%, Germany 9%, Netherlands 20%, and Japan 28%.
Since prefabrication made its way to the United States, major technological innovations have been introduced, including major advancements in software, automation and building information design. Add to this, new processes and materials, make it possible to deliver prefabricated units that are a bit more complex and more pleasing to the eye than ever before.
As demand was extremely high during the &#;s, innovative commercial applications were created with more to follow during the &#;s after more advancements in materials were discovered.
Since then, modularization can now be seen in many verticals, including, hotels, apartment buildings, hospitals, offices and schools to name a few: healthcare Facilities 49%, college buildings 42%, buildings in manufacturing 42%.
One key advantage of modular construction over traditional techniques is that it will significantly reduce the odds of exceeding budget and keep a tight rein on veering outside of project scope. This of course aids in avoiding snares or hiccups of any kind normally found in traditional construction (e.g. severe weather for example).
Scheduling issues and unanticipated spikes in labor costs are also minimized using modular building techniques. Since modular units are built in sections in a building facility the workforce remains fairly stable as part of the team will also be used to assemble the units on their designated locations.
Modular Construction&#;s Positive Impact on Projects
Modular construction has demonstrated over the years, its positive impact on building projects, to include cutting 35% of company schedules by a month. Modular construction reduces construction waste by up to 77% and project cost by approximately 65%.
Traditional projects compared to prefabricated projects can run over budget by up to four-fifths and exceed delivery timelines by up to one-fifth longer to deliver the project. Modular construction today continues its progress in global popularity with more builders and developers seeing the untapped potential still of its utility, productivity and cost effectiveness.
Modular Construction in the Future
A recent report revealed that anticipated growth in the modular construction vertical is projected to increase to $157 billion by . This is due in large part to the urgent need of reliable, rapid and affordable construction solutions in major industries (hospitals, schools, hospitality).
In the U.K. for example, the utilization of modular building practices increased by 6% year-on-year. This is rapid growth that is likely due to the fact that modular construction does not require near the space traditional construction sites will. Especially in the U.K., space to put your materials is always precious. As cities around the world become increasingly populated, there is a trend to see modular construction as the preferred method due to regulatory requirements limiting construction site occupancy onsite for material storage.
Modular construction is seen as more sustainable for future needs. Generating less waste with time saved as materials are assembled in a controlled environment and not subject to periods of rain becoming trapped in walls etc.
Final Thoughts
While building modular may not be for everyone, it remains one of the most cost-effective solutions overall when building out identical units such as apartments, small offices and hotels. Building prefabricated structures brings a higher degree of project certainty to the operation. Something that should be seriously considered especially for areas where space is limited and timelines and budgets are tight.
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