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Kanika and Jwalant Mahadevwala, architects and founding partners of andblack design studio, have created a multifunctional black box theater design that uses parametric models to "allow customization of several variables to achieve the specified volume." Their design prototype, Darwin Bucky, is a... View full entry
A team of students and faculty at Virginia Tech has completed an innovative observation tower in rural Virginia. The design and delivery of the project saw the development and certification of a new custom timber product, off-site prefabrication, and the discovery of the ruins of a historic... View full entry
In an unprecedented move, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) has constructed four new prefabricated modular gates for its Terminal C. The gates replace a 72,000-square-foot extension comprising five gates built in 1988. According to CNN, they were initially intended to be used for only... View full entry
The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, in collaboration with cityLAB, has officially opened the BruinHub, a first-of-its-kind space serving UCLA students facing long commutes or housing insecurity. Located in the John Wooden Center, the BruinHub will be a 24/7 space with facilities for... View full entry
Chinese manufacturing company Broad Group has constructed a 10-story apartment building in just over a day. Called the Living Building, the structure is located in the company’s headquarters location of Changsha, China. A timelapse released by Broad Group shows the apartment... View full entry
Katerra Inc., a modular construction startup, got an $865 million cash infusion from investors led by SoftBank Group Corp. last year. Now, the company is shutting down a factory in Phoenix and cutting 200 jobs.
The move will shift Katerra’s manufacturing away from Phoenix and into its highly automated and lower-cost factory in Tracy, California.
— Bloomberg
The company's mission is to "shake up the construction industry with a combination of efficient factories, prefab parts and modular construction units," Bloomberg reports. The Phoenix factory will remain open thorugh the end of the year and affected employees will receive a 90-day severance package. View full entry
US prefab specialist Katerra has added two contractors to its stable of companies: UEB Builders and Fortune-Johnson General Contractors.
The acquisitions allow the Silicon Valley company to expand its coverage of the US market. UEB Builders is a general contractor in Arizona that constructs commercial and residential projects. Georgia-based Fortune-Johnson specialises in multi-family residential projects. Both companies will adopt the Katerra brand.
— BIM+
According to Bim+, the acquisition will add 320 employees to Katerra's payroll, pushing the company's workforce to 8,500 individuals. In January 2019, the end-to-end building services provider also received an infusion of investment from Japan's SoftBank that raised Katerra's valuation to over $... View full entry
The world’s biggest hotel company is betting that factory-built guest rooms are a key to juicing revenue -- and helping guests get a better night’s sleep.
Marriott International Inc. is laying plans for what it says will be the tallest modular hotel in the world, in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood. Its 168 guest rooms will be assembled in a factory in Poland, shipped overseas and trucked into New York in the middle of the night, when the city streets can accommodate the oversized loads.
— Bloomberg
Marriott International hopes to spearhead a new movement of prefabricated tall buildings with the development of its 26-story, $65 million AC Hotel New York NoMad, announcing that "once erected over a 90-day period, the 360-foot-tall tower will represent a milestone for Marriott’s ongoing... View full entry
In just four years, the Silicon Valley start-up Katerra has grown from a sizable construction firm to one of the industry's biggest disrupters. Now, with support from one of the tech industry's biggest investors, the California-based construction company has announced plans for another investment... View full entry
Belgian maker of architectural prefabricated concrete elements, Enjoy Concrete, show us how the product can be the architecture in its most beautiful sense: when the company was in need of a new industrial facility in the small town of Veurne, they partnered with Govaert & Vanhoutte Architects... View full entry
Known as “S Houses,” these prefab structures going up here in Ba Vi, about 30 miles from Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, are iterations of a prototype that Mr. Nghia has been honing since about 2013. [...]
But Mr. Nghia says that his plan is to mass-manufacture this portable, easy-to-assemble design for people in slums, remote areas or refugee camps around the world, beginning later this year, all for the starting price — $1,500 — of about two iPhones.
— New York Times
The NYT takes a closer look at the extremely affordable S House prefab system currently going up by the dozens in Vietnam, with a keen eye on the global super-low-cost market. Designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects, a design studio with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, S House was exhibited... View full entry
After four years of delayed construction, financial missteps, and lawsuits, Forest City Ratner and Greenland U.S.A. are finally welcoming tenants into 461 Dean Street, currently the tallest high-rise in the world constructed with modular units. The 32-story tower on the edge of Prospect Heights and Park Slope offers sweeping views of brownstone Brooklyn, but its lengthy construction saga highlights the issues developers face when they build with modular construction in New York City. — newyorkyimby.com
The groundbreaking (but not trouble-free) development previously in the Archinect news:Work finally resumes at Brooklyn's modular prefab towerContinued Delays For Housing at Atlantic YardsLego High-Rise: World's Tallest Modular Apartment Tower Getting Snapped Together In BrooklynModular... View full entry
The modular, prefab 'Simple' house took only two days to build, and is now installed in Paris' Tuileries Garden, part of the FIAC art fair. Nouvel affectionately referred to Simple as "a mobile home that stays still," describing the moveable windows and partitions within the structure.Produced... View full entry
Researchers from the University of British Columbia have suggested that modular construction techniques are key to assuaging cities' housing shortages.Associate engineering professor Kasun Hewage at UBC, along with PhD candidate Mohammad Kamali, conducted "the first comprehensive review of... View full entry
A Chinese construction company is claiming to be the world’s fastest builder after erecting a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 working days in central China.
Broad Sustainable Building, a prefab construction firm, put up the rectangular, glass and steel Mini Sky City in the Hunan provincial capital of Changsha, assembling three floors a day using a modular method [...].
The company now has ambitions to assemble the world’s tallest skyscraper, at 220 floors, in only three months.
— The Guardian
