Modular construction

Modular construction is a construction technique which involves the prefabrication of 2D panels or 3D volumetric structures in off-site factories and transportation to construction sites for assembly. This process has the potential to be superior to traditional building in terms of both time and costs, with claimed time savings of between 20 and 50 percent faster than traditional building techniques. It is estimated that by 2030, modular construction could deliver US$22 billion in annual cost savings for the US and European construction industry, helping fill the US$1.6 trillion productivity gap. The current need for standardized, repeatable 3D volumetric housing pre-fabricated units and designs for student accommodations, affordable housing and hotels is driving demand for modular construction.

Modular construction is a construction technique which involves the prefabrication of 2D panels or 3D volumetric structures in off-site factories and transportation to construction sites for assembly. This process has the potential to be superior to traditional building in terms of both time and costs, with claimed time savings of between 20 and 50 percent faster than traditional building techniques. It is estimated that by 2030, modular construction could deliver US$22 billion in annual cost savings for the US and European construction industry, helping fill the US$1.6 trillion productivity gap. The current need for standardized, repeatable 3D volumetric housing pre-fabricated units and designs for student accommodations, affordable housing and hotels is driving demand for modular construction.

Advantages

In a 2018 Practice Note, the NEC states that the benefits obtained from offsite construction mainly relate to the creation of components in a factory setting, protected from the weather and using manufacturing techniques such as assembly lines with dedicated and specialist equipment. Through the use of appropriate technology, modular construction can: increase the speed of construction by increasing the speed of manufacture of the component parts, reduce waste, increase economies of scale, improve quality leading to reduction in the whole life costs of assets reduce environmental impact such as dust and noise and reduce accidents and ill health by reducing the amount of construction work taking place at site

Disadvantages

In contrast to the benefits mentioned earlier, modular construction presents two significant obstacles: Logistical challenges: The transportation of completed modules to the construction site demands meticulous organization and synchronization, often incurring substantial costs. Constraints on size: The manufacturing and transportation procedures may place limitations on the dimensions of individual modular components. This can impact the room sizes in the building, potentially influencing the overall architectural design. A modular factory handling a single project at any given point is rare, and would produce low returns. Hyun and Lee's research propose a Genetic Algorithm (GA) scheduling model which takes into consideration various project's characteristics and shares resources. The production sequence of this algorithm would be largely affected by which modules need to be transported to which site and the dates they should arrive. After considering the variables of production, transportation and on-site assembly the objective function is: min \Sigma (S), \ldots S = S_i + P_i - E_i Where S i is the number of stocked units per day, P i is the number of units per day and E i is number of units installed per day. Production algorithms are continuously being developed to further accelerate the production of modular construction buildings, enlarging the time saving gap with traditional construction methods.

Modular construction systems

Open-source and commercial hardware components used in modular construction include: open beams, bit beams, maker beams, grid beams, contraptors, OpenStructures components, etc. Space frame systems (such as Mero, Unistrut, Delta Structures, etc.) also tend to be modular in design. Other materials used in construction which are interlocking and thus reusable/modular in nature include interlocking bricks.

See also

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1325481502 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.