Archinect - News

Are there more pros than cons to modular construction?

2019-07-23T09:43:00-04:00

“Timing in the apartment world is everything [...] The time of year we release a building and when we start putting tenants in it is critical for a project’s success.”

Behind every successful construction project lies a team of people working to complete a project deadline. However, with automation and building manufacturing on the rise, many question how these methods of construction will change the way buildings are designed and built in the future. Will these new methods become commonplace?

A recent article in Multi Family Executive talks about modular development and the advantages of modular construction. Using the multifamily development group Beverly Crossing as an example, writer Joe Bousquin showcases the company's positive experience with this building method with their 126-unit Canvas project in Beverly, Massachusetts.

"Modular buildings are constructed off site under controlled plant conditions, then shipped to the site for assembly, reducing the construction schedule." Courtesy of MFE. Image © Prefab Logic

Is modular construction the key to project turnover, and is it the answer? Curtis Fletcher, president and CEO of Prefab Logic, shar...

Architects in the UK reconsider their relationship with manufacturers and mass standardization

2019-07-12T13:49:00-04:00

It is now almost 80 years since the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act enabled the construction of the post-war prefab, but controversies and concerns about building a home in a factory have run deep ever since. While practically every other item we buy rolls off a production line, housebuilding’s transition to the factory remains, for many reasons, problematic.

With the rise of automation and advances in building manufacturing, architects have considered if machines can replace the profession. However, makes the job so rewarding is thinking of new and creative ways to execute ideas. This level of creativity and design distinction is something architects argue towards replacement by automation alone. However, in the UK, architects are learning to reassess their relationships with manufacturers and understand the silver lining in mass standardization. In 1944 the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act was passed by the British Parliament as a response to providing families with homes after World War II. Several decades later, the housing market is forcing architects to acquire new perspectives when it comes to manufacturing and how new relationships could foster better results.

According to Josephine Smit of the RIBA Journal, "with a skills shortage, a push from government and impetus from the build to rent sector, manufacturers and offsite s...

Affordable 3D-printed housing model debuts at SXSW

2018-03-12T18:56:00-04:00

ICON has developed a method for printing a single-story 650-square-foot house out of cement in only 12 to 24 hours, a fraction of the time it takes for new construction. If all goes according to plan, a community made up of about 100 homes will be constructed for residents in El Salvador next year. The company has partnered with New Story, a nonprofit that is vested in international housing solutions.

Today at SXSW, The first model is scheduled to be unveiled by Austin-based startup ICON. The company uses the Vulcan 3D printer in order to generate an entire home for $10,000 with plans to bring costs down to $4,000 per house. Using concrete rather than plastic, the model features a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and a curved porch.

Detail of concrete layers on 3D printed house by ICON, in Austin, TX. Image: Icon.

Once testing is complete on their model, the Vulcan printer will be moved to El Salvador to begin construction. ICON also intends to build homes in the US.

Rendering of 3D-printing houses using the Vulcan 3D printer. Image: ICON.

Richard Rogers' Homeshell built in 24 hours at London's Royal Academy

2013-08-20T14:33:00-04:00

The pre-fabricated, flatpack homes of Pritzker laureate Richard Rogers are a centerpiece for his 50-year retrospective, “Richard Rogers: Inside Out”, currently at London's Royal Academy of Arts until Oct. 13. The homes, which are an adaptation of his 2007 Oxley Woods housing development, are described as "stepping away from the traditional mud and mess of the domestic building site" and with a full list of pros: easily adaptable, lightweight, energy-efficient, low-cost, fire- and water-retardant, even earthquake and hurricane-proof, and of course, innovative -- just to name a few.

The pieces of the 3-story technicolor Homeshell arrived at the RA last week. It was fully assembled within 24 hours, making a clear statement in the debate for the wider availability of cost- and energy-efficient, mass-production homes in Britain.

Watch the video below to see a time-lapse of the house's construction.
And click here for another video that gives an exclusive look into Rogers' retrospe...