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Prefab housing plays a big role in recreational dwelling, aside from permanent and work-nomadic forms. This is well illustrated by the thriving KOA (Kampgrounds of America) site I pass on the way into town. KOA, founded in 1962, has 500 sites around US — an alternate housing archipelago experienced by millions of vacationing Americans, and the world’s largest private campsite chain. — Medium
Tim McCormick (Founder at Houslets a modular, redeployable, user-buildable, live/work-spaces project), takes readers on a prefab housing tour of Willits, CA. h/t @AlJavieera View full entry
He has a vision of a future where his company makes a third of the world's buildings – all modular, all steel, and all green.
“The biggest problem we face in the world right now isn't terrorism or world war. It's climate change,” he says.
— bbc.co.uk
A fascinating profile of Zhang Yue, the man behind Mini Sky City, a 57-story tower built in 19 days. Yue's company, the Broad Sustainable Group, was able to construct at such speeds by assembling prefab parts at the rate of 3-storeys a day. Now, Yue's set his sights on on building the full-size... 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
When it was unveiled in New York City in April 1931, the starkly modern Aluminaire House was an overnight sensation that emboldened an architectural movement. Designed as a case study by architects A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey, the three-story house, which was built in 10 days, became the first all-metal prefabricated house in the U.S. — Palm Springs Life
After Sunnyside Gardens was a no-go, it looks like the Aluminaire House will be heading to sunny Palm Springs, California, according to an announcement by Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet during a fundraising event at Palm Springs Modernism Week last month. The Aluminaire House Foundation plans on... View full entry
Not long after Muji's Vertical House and Philippe Starck + Riko's eco-prefab house, Danish lifestyle brand VIPP — who is best known for their bins and kitchenware — recently launched their own industrial-chic prefab known as the VIPP Shelter. The VIPP Shelter is a 55 m2, galvanized steel... View full entry
The world’s tallest proposed modular tower may actually reach its full potential.
Developer Bruce Ratner has finally resumed work on his 32-story residential building next to the Barclays Center after a five-month hiatus stemming from a dispute with construction giant Skanska over the pre-fabricated design.
As a result of that legal fight, Ratner gained control of Skanska’s factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where modules for the proposed tallest modular tower were made.
— nydailynews.com
Previously:Lego High-Rise: World's Tallest Modular Apartment Tower Getting Snapped Together In BrooklynAtlantic Yards Will Be Getting 32-Story, SHoP-designed Modular Tower After All View full entry
MUJI HOUSE, the architectural entity of Japanese design brand Muji, recently released their latest prefab house in Tokyo called the Vertical House. The slender 3-story structure was primarily designed for urban dwellers living within Tokyo's tight living spaces.Designed with simple white walls and... View full entry
First launched in 2013 after years of technological development and collaboration, French designer Philippe Starck and Slovenian wooden prefab building company Riko released the second generation of their customizable Prefabricated Accessible Technological Homes (P.A.T.H.) to the global market... View full entry
"Trifolium" by AR-MA (Architectural Research – Material Applications) from Australia recently won the commission to design a new event pavilion for the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) in Sydney, Australia. Hosted annually by SCAF, the Fugitive Structures invite-only competition promotes emerging architects from Australia, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. The 2014 edition had entrants explore the potential of digital pre-fabrication in their designs. — bustler.net
The pavilion dons a Corian shell and a vaulted reflective steel interior speckled with optic lights that glow at night. Trifolium will be exhibited at SCAF until December 13, 2014.Find out more on Bustler. View full entry
Inside a warehouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard steel beams and flat metal sheeting rest atop a workbench. A diagram–which looks an awful lot like IKEA furniture assembly instructions–spells out where each beam and metal screw belongs. [...]
The metal may not look like much yet, but it’s on its way to becoming part of the world’s tallest modular residential high-rise. [...]
“This is bringing the best of manufacturing and construction together.”
— forbes.com
Paris-based architecture firm Jakob+MacFarlane designed this prefab tubular addition for the Regional Contemporary Art Fund Centre (FRAC) in Orleans, France, as a container for art collections and place for architectural experimentation. The fluid addition to the 19th century building was just completed and it will be inaugurated on September 14th. — Inhabitat
B2, a 32-story tower that is part of a 1,500-unit, mixed-use complex designed by SHoP Architects for Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards, will soon be the tallest modular building in the world. nARCHITECTS recently won adaptNYC’s competition to design a micro-unit apartment building, and will see its concept transformed into a 10-story building by 2015. It will be the first multiunit building in Manhattan to be built with modular construction. — opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com
Last week, Broad Group announced it has received approval from the Chinese government and will break ground on the project next month, though according to Quartz's Lily Kuo, Broad Sustainable Building has pushed the building's schedule to a more modest seven months. — theatlanticcities.com
“Any change in the way you do business involves some concerns and issues,” said Richard T. Anderson, the president of the New York Building Congress...“If for New York City construction, business as usual is a challenge, you need to change some of the basic ingredients, and labor and management needs to address this.” — NYT
In the Real Estate section of last Sunday's NYT, Julie Satow talks with architects, city officials, various trade organizations and developers (although no union representatives) about the recent growth in projects using prefabricated, modular construction techniques. Such an approach offers... View full entry
Modular construction has long been a dream of architects, for its efficiency and control, and now it could be a boon for New York City developers as well, since prefab methods can save 20 to 30 percent from traditional design methods. — New York Observer
Thanks to a deal with construction unions, the developer of the controversial Atlantic Yards project will move ahead with a 363-unit, 32-story prefab apartment building in Downtown Brooklyn. Designed by SHoP Architects, Skanska and ARUP, it is tentatively the tallest prefab tower in the world... View full entry