There are a few people whom I love to socialise with on the various professional and personal 'networking' sites out there. On one of my Twitter accounts I dedicate my tweets to the world of architecture that surrounds me and I also like to talk to my many followers who happen to contribute to a decent variety of discussion about the topic.
So this leads to a conversation I had the other day with a couple of followers about what I have managed to achieve and what I am currently doing on my first year out working in the industry. It all boils down to one word: "Modular"...
Modular design and construction is what I call a method of constructing buildings whereby a majority of the building work is carried out within a controlled and more exacting factory environment, enabling the end product to be simply 'bolted' together on site. These 'modules' are pre-fabricated to a 80%+ finished state in the factory and transported whole to the final build site where they are bolted together with other pre-built and pre-designed modules to form a complete building. Benefits to Modular off-site construction include:
According to Detail Magazine (2011/01) "Off-site manufactured building is a sector in which the UK now leads the world." With all the benefits of this design/build methodology I can see why the UK is keen to lead at the forefront of this construction method and I can honestly say we will see this being a commonplace process for many years to come.
So what are the limitations on this building method?
I believe that with any building method there are going to be limits. The easiest limitation on this building method to spot is the fact that although you can build almost any size module within a factory environment, there is the aspect that at the end of the factory build process, you still have to transport the module to site! This in itself limits the sizing of the modules designed so they can co-ordinate with the maximum realistic and safe loads that can be transported on the public highways. In the UK and indeed the rest of Europe...the Urban Grain has evolved over many centuries of horse and cart dirt tracks, narrow alleyways and even the odd wartime air raid 'hole', with buildings being built before the arrival of the automobile and coming in at an ungridded and unplanned locality to each other. Basically what I am saying is that the roads are not adequate to propose modular designed buildings for a lot of locations within the central core of many cities.
...and the other limitations? Well that comes down to the factory itself. Many an architect would love to design a building customised specifically for a site and client and that would be 100% to their needs but with modular design there is not a lot of science that goes into it. With most (if not all) modules being rectangular in shape this really does limit the design of both the exterior and the interior spaces in and around the final building form. With only so much you can do with a huge box of Lego, the same applies to Modular Design and construction. Furthermore the essence of the 'off-site' modular design process is to limit the amount of build time required actually on the site itself. A few rectangles bolted together at the corners and laying out a red carpet at FFL (Finished Floor Level) is the easiest way to achieve a nice and easy finish for both the designer and the site team alike. Awe inspiring it most certainly is not!!!
The future I can say is not entirely clear. When going through the intricacies of model making in architecture school a lot of the my time was spent designing parts to be ultimately glued together to form my building. With a laser cutting machine, you can easily create components from that 9mm MDF sheet...even other materials such as plastics and cardboard can be cut into shapes which at the end can be glued together to create a building model. One of my Final Year models is shown below in all it's Laser Cut glory...
This same concept of pre-design can be seen as an evolution of the Modular design process. With specialist manufacturers and advances in the manufacturing industry I see that the future looks good for 'Modular' and more importantly 'Off-Site' design/build processes. Imagine designing a shell for a building to be pre-built in a high-tech factory and customised with all the fittings and needs of the client... The walls can be made of the latest sustainable and super-lightweight and super-insulated materials and completely built and wired up in the factory with the site team needed merely to bolts these together and maybe finish the second (Weatherproof) external skin; with brickwork, glazing or a cedar finish to name but a few of the hundreds of sorts.
This is the simplest way of finishing a modular designed building with more advanced options always being available for the finish of the external skin to the final build. For a lot of commercial applications of design and also in the Educational sector there is not so much a need for intricate facade systems and the internal space planning is more determined by square meters and cost rather than the other details which architects are trained to design for. An architect is not 'really' required in most parts for a modular design.
Where the architect comes in is designing a building where the spaces work in harmony together for the better of human comfort and practicality. An architect involved in Modular Design is thus needed for the progression of this building type. The Architect in Modular design is not fully utilised in the UK as it is in say the USA but I can see that the american market is a lot bigger and as stated earlier it is a lot easier for this building construction type to take off; Bigger highways, Longer trucks etc. The Architect overall, for any design whether it's modular or not is going to contribute his or hers utmost to the best fit of a design method and modular design is one of those divisions within the construction industry which I think and architectural input is greatly needed for advancement.
This has already started to happen to some extent with the small scale 3D printed structures being made as a showcase to such technologies. If they can build these on a small scale, surely many of them bolted together could make for some truly grand-designs for the future of 'Modular Off-Site' design...
Is this design process going to evolve? I think it is.
(Image above courtesy of Blueprint Magazine Website)
End Note: Links
http://www.jetsongreen.com
http://youtu.be/D_ABbB8hNoI
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/
So this leads to a conversation I had the other day with a couple of followers about what I have managed to achieve and what I am currently doing on my first year out working in the industry. It all boils down to one word: "Modular"...
Modular design and construction is what I call a method of constructing buildings whereby a majority of the building work is carried out within a controlled and more exacting factory environment, enabling the end product to be simply 'bolted' together on site. These 'modules' are pre-fabricated to a 80%+ finished state in the factory and transported whole to the final build site where they are bolted together with other pre-built and pre-designed modules to form a complete building. Benefits to Modular off-site construction include:
- Safe, Clean 24-hour working environment un-phased by weather
- Fixed cost pricing for construction man hour costs
- Minimum material usage and less manufacturing wastage
- Immediate implementation of advanced materials/construction methods
- Quality Control and Auditing
- Fast on-site build times
- Fewer site deliveries
- Client Affordability
According to Detail Magazine (2011/01) "Off-site manufactured building is a sector in which the UK now leads the world." With all the benefits of this design/build methodology I can see why the UK is keen to lead at the forefront of this construction method and I can honestly say we will see this being a commonplace process for many years to come.
So what are the limitations on this building method?
I believe that with any building method there are going to be limits. The easiest limitation on this building method to spot is the fact that although you can build almost any size module within a factory environment, there is the aspect that at the end of the factory build process, you still have to transport the module to site! This in itself limits the sizing of the modules designed so they can co-ordinate with the maximum realistic and safe loads that can be transported on the public highways. In the UK and indeed the rest of Europe...the Urban Grain has evolved over many centuries of horse and cart dirt tracks, narrow alleyways and even the odd wartime air raid 'hole', with buildings being built before the arrival of the automobile and coming in at an ungridded and unplanned locality to each other. Basically what I am saying is that the roads are not adequate to propose modular designed buildings for a lot of locations within the central core of many cities.
...and the other limitations? Well that comes down to the factory itself. Many an architect would love to design a building customised specifically for a site and client and that would be 100% to their needs but with modular design there is not a lot of science that goes into it. With most (if not all) modules being rectangular in shape this really does limit the design of both the exterior and the interior spaces in and around the final building form. With only so much you can do with a huge box of Lego, the same applies to Modular Design and construction. Furthermore the essence of the 'off-site' modular design process is to limit the amount of build time required actually on the site itself. A few rectangles bolted together at the corners and laying out a red carpet at FFL (Finished Floor Level) is the easiest way to achieve a nice and easy finish for both the designer and the site team alike. Awe inspiring it most certainly is not!!!
The future I can say is not entirely clear. When going through the intricacies of model making in architecture school a lot of the my time was spent designing parts to be ultimately glued together to form my building. With a laser cutting machine, you can easily create components from that 9mm MDF sheet...even other materials such as plastics and cardboard can be cut into shapes which at the end can be glued together to create a building model. One of my Final Year models is shown below in all it's Laser Cut glory...
This same concept of pre-design can be seen as an evolution of the Modular design process. With specialist manufacturers and advances in the manufacturing industry I see that the future looks good for 'Modular' and more importantly 'Off-Site' design/build processes. Imagine designing a shell for a building to be pre-built in a high-tech factory and customised with all the fittings and needs of the client... The walls can be made of the latest sustainable and super-lightweight and super-insulated materials and completely built and wired up in the factory with the site team needed merely to bolts these together and maybe finish the second (Weatherproof) external skin; with brickwork, glazing or a cedar finish to name but a few of the hundreds of sorts.
This is the simplest way of finishing a modular designed building with more advanced options always being available for the finish of the external skin to the final build. For a lot of commercial applications of design and also in the Educational sector there is not so much a need for intricate facade systems and the internal space planning is more determined by square meters and cost rather than the other details which architects are trained to design for. An architect is not 'really' required in most parts for a modular design.
Where the architect comes in is designing a building where the spaces work in harmony together for the better of human comfort and practicality. An architect involved in Modular Design is thus needed for the progression of this building type. The Architect in Modular design is not fully utilised in the UK as it is in say the USA but I can see that the american market is a lot bigger and as stated earlier it is a lot easier for this building construction type to take off; Bigger highways, Longer trucks etc. The Architect overall, for any design whether it's modular or not is going to contribute his or hers utmost to the best fit of a design method and modular design is one of those divisions within the construction industry which I think and architectural input is greatly needed for advancement.
This has already started to happen to some extent with the small scale 3D printed structures being made as a showcase to such technologies. If they can build these on a small scale, surely many of them bolted together could make for some truly grand-designs for the future of 'Modular Off-Site' design...
Is this design process going to evolve? I think it is.
End Note: Links
http://www.jetsongreen.com
http://youtu.be/D_ABbB8hNoI
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/
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