Prefab Architecture: A Guide to Modular Design and Construction

402 Pages·2011·26.28 MB·English

by  Smith, Ryan E.

Architecture/Construction SMITH
“Prefab Architecture . . . is beyond theory, and beyond most of what we think we know
about pods, containers, mods, and joints. This book is more than ‘Prefabrication 101.’
P
It is the Joy of Cooking writ large for the architecture and construction industries.”
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—From the Foreword by James Timberlake, FAIA
E
THE DEFINITIVE REFERENCE ON PREFAB ARCHITECTURE
F
FOR ARCHITECTS AND CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONALS
A
Written for architects and related design and construction professionals, Prefab Architecture is
B
a guide to off-site construction, presenting the opportunities and challenges associated with
designing and building with components, panels, and modules. It presents the drawbacks of building

in situ (on-site) and demonstrates why prefabrication is the smarter choice for better integration A
of products and processes, more effi cient delivery, and realizing more value in project life cycles. In
R
addition, Prefab Architecture provides:
■ A selected history of prefabrication from the Industrial Revolution to current computer C
numerical control, and a theory of production from integrated processes to lean
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manufacturing
■ Coverage on the tradeoffs of off-site fabrication including scope, schedule, and cost with I
the associated principles of labor, risk, and quality T
■ Up-to-date products featuring examples of prefabricated structure, enclosure, service, and E
interior building systems
C

■ Documentation on the constraints and execution of manufacturing, factory production,
T
transportation, and assembly
PREFAB
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■ Dozens of recent examples of prefab projects by contemporary architects and fabricators
including KieranTimberlake, SHoP Architects, Offi ce dA, Michelle Kaufmann, and many
R
others
E
In Prefab Architecture, the fresh approaches toward creating buildings that accurately convey
mature and expanded green building methodologies make this book an important voice for adopting
change in a construction industry entrenched in traditions of the past.
ARCHITECTURE
RYAN E. SMITH is Director of the Integrated Technology in Architecture Center (I TAC), an AMA
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interdisciplinary research consortium at the University of Utah College of Architecture + Planning DDU
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CTIG A GUIDE TO MODULAR DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
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RYAN E. SMITH
FOREWORD BY JAMES TIMBERLAKE, FAIA
PREFAB
ARCHITECTURE

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0011__227755661100--ffffiirrss..iinndddd iiii 1100//1111//1100 99::1144 AAMM
PREFAB
ARCHITECTURE
A GUIDE TO MODULAR DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
RYAN E. SMITH
FOREWORD BY JAMES TIMBERLAKE, FAIA

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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This book is printed on acid-free paper. o
Copyright © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Smith, Ryan E.
Prefab architecture : a guide to modular design and construction / Ryan E. Smith ; foreword by James
Timberlake.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-27561-0 (cloth : alk. paper); ISBN 978-0-470-88046-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-88043-2 (ebk);
ISBN 978-0-470-88044-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-95030-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-95055-5
1. Buildings, Prefabricated. I. Title. II. Title: Guide for architects and construction professionals.
NA8480.S66 2011
721’.04497—dc22
2010016474
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Foreword: James Timberlake, FAIA vii
Introduction xi
Acknowledgments xv
PART I—CONTEXT 1
Chapter 1 History of Industrialized Building 3
Chapter 2 History of Industrialized Architecture 21
Chapter 3 Environment, Organization, and Technology 47
PART II—APPLICATION 75
Chapter 4 Principles 77
Chapter 5 Fundamentals 99
Chapter 6 Elements 127
Chapter 7 Assembly 181
Chapter 8 Sustainability 217

PART III—CASE STUDIES 249
Chapter 9 Housing 251
Chapter 10 Commercial 295
PART IV—CONCLUSION 333
Chapter 11 Conclusion 335
Endnotes 341
Illustration Credits 353
Index 357
v
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FOREWORD
Quality Assurance, Quality Control
James Timberlake, FAIA, KieranTimberlake
Since the beginning of time, buildings have been The historical chronicles of prefabrication are well
executed in situ, on-site. From the fi rst primi- and widely published, most notably in 2008 by
tive hut through the pyramids, ancient Rome and Barry Bergdoll in his catalogue for Home Delivery:
Greece, all of our modern cities and great cultures Fabricating the Modern Dwelling, The Museum of
have been served by men and women working the Modern Art’s exhibit on the historical and contem-
trenches of construction stick upon stick, brick porary signifi cance of factory-produced architecture.
against brick, element by element. As wealth began Prefabrication in its earliest form was less about ad-
to afford more and more manual labor and greater dressing quality and time or managing scope and
craftsmanship, and time was defi ned as “forever,” costs—let alone about applying an environmental
the results were profound: the greatest, largest, ethic—than it was about a fascination with indus-
most opulently fi nished structures ever. Improving trial commoditization, production, and replication.
quality meant putting more labor on the problem. Focused generally on housing typologies, the scal-
Increasing scope meant putting more labor on the ability of offsite fabrication was more focused on
problem. We reaped the benefi ts of inexpensive la- meeting a theoretical need for a booming housing
bor and massive amounts of time for large program market than it was on the integration of systems, ma-
scopes and the highest quality until the turn of the terials, and production with the possibility for mass-
twentieth century. customization.

For the last 100 years, as the economy has become With a lack of focus on integration, early attempts at
more sophisticated and global, one equation has factory production collapsed without fi rm ground up
governed construction: Q (quality) x T (time) = S foundations in place. As George Romney, the Housing
(scope) x C (cost). No matter which variable is defi ned and Urban Development Department Secretary and
as paramount to a project—quality, time, scope, or refugee of the automotive industry learned in the
cost—the other variables must stay in balance. Want 1970s, the “top down” strategy of forcing the con-
less time with a fast track schedule? Then give up struction industry to adopt offsite construction while
quality, spend more money, or reduce the scope. encouraging its promise was quite damaging. The
Want a lower budget? Manage costs, reduce quality, lack of integration tools available to the industry,
and reduce scope. Want higher quality? Increase the and the post-war rollercoaster economy conspired
budget proportional to your scope and likely increase to doom the effort. People were left bankrupt, de-
time. Project after project around the globe has been moralized, and discouraged from ever attempting to
dominated by this equation. change an industry so entrenched. Since that initial
vii
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viii FOREWORD
effort to change the construction industry, we have and collaborating with production teams, allowing for
seen a steady decline in the productivity of the con- continuous evaluation and improvement.
struction industry, leaving architects to assume the
burden of change. By contrast, the supply chain for the architecture,
construction, and building product manufacturing
What has changed in the world to make prefabrica- industries is extended and fragmented. Architects
tion viable today? often rely on uncoordinated and poorly integrated
product supply references, such as the Sweets
First, other industries have changed the way they Catalog, to research, understand, and specify prod-
work and provide products. As Stephen Kieran and ucts. Those products are often placed into docu-
I chronicled in Refabricating Architecture, the auto- ments and projects as open choices to be further
mobile, shipbuilding, and aerospace industries have whittled down by the construction bidding and pro-
remade themselves completely, sometimes twice curement process. From there, a vast array of mostly
over, since 1995. Their production methods are uncoordinated products is destined for an onsite
leaner, more time and material effi cient, and more construction project with the workforce relegated to
worker friendly. Their output range extends from a coordinating, fi tting, and integrating these products
fully mass-customized product (automobiles) to a into a coherent whole. This process is pure chaos,
nearly fully customized one-off product (ships). The even under the best and most organized conditions.
scale of these products on average also exceeds the Often, a vast number of trades converge on a sin-
complexity and scale of almost anything produced gle point of fi nish within a project—bathrooms and
in architecture. Arguably, a ship, plane, or car, all of kitchens often the most cited example—where they
which have to move and carry occupants and prod- cannot all work, let alone fi t, at one time. Yet each is
ucts safely, day in and day out, are more complex under great pressure to complete the work not just
overall than many of the buildings the construction on time, but ahead of time. Add to this chaos unpre-
industry produces. Simply, the construction industry dictable weather or work conditions, outside of the
needs to deliver a product that meets the require- normative comfort zones for a normal workplace,
ments of design, on budget, on time, without falling and the stress of completing the work increases
down or leaking. It often fails at this task. with the likelihood of diminishing the quality that
most architects and clients demand.
Second, the critical difference is that the air, ship, and
auto industries integrate—both at the source of inspi- Yet architects’ tools to integrate have changed. The
ration and at the source of supply. They have a cap- architecture profession has embraced three-dimen-
tive supply chain and during the past two decades sional building information modeling and produc-
have integrated, redefi ned, and then reintegrated tion tools. We are now able to visualize and correct
leaner supply chains and products. Effi ciency begins “busts” before they are built. We have better commu-
at inception and is consistently interpreted and reinte- nication tools, some of which have been embraced
grated throughout the design and production cycles. by the construction industry, such as online docu-
The design side of these industries is also integrat- ment and project management software, enabling
ed—usually with captive design divisions informing real-time sharing of designs, information, and results.
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FOREWORD ix
We are now capable of sending a fully visualized, and broadly defi ned as being 100% compliant through-
virtually formed, model to a production line, bypass- out all building materials and systems in an economic
ing the document interpretation phase, with all of its and useful manner. Offsite construction presents the
back and forth checking, redrawing, and margin for opportunity for this high level of compliance through
additional errors and omissions, ultimately improving integration, document and supply controls, and ma-
the quality of the fi nal product. terial management.
Third, however slowly, the environmental ethic of the In addition, despite incredible improvements in
architecture profession and the construction industry workplace safety, the construction site remains a
has begun to change. Onsite construction has been dangerous place, fraught with potential accidents,
estimated to waste up to 40% of all new products and generally exclusive of women. The construction
brought to site. Imagine a clean, 4 x 8 foot sheet of industry must become leaner, safer, and broaden
brand new drywall. Now imagine approximately 2 its workforce in order to remain safe, economically
feet square of each and every sheet brought to the competitive, and relevant. A more inclusive work-
site ending up in a dumpster and headed to a landfi ll. place with real safety measures, and eliminating
Add to that load after load of metal stud ends, wires, the factor of weather by building indoors rather
components, broken glass, aluminum, concrete than outdoors for the vast majority of the project,
block, and brick and it adds up to a small building’s is also a long-term sustainable measure. It ensures
worth of components and raw materials wasted each greater productivity, the potential for growth, and
and every time we construct a building. The industry, the broadening of a workforce and workplace that
the profession, and the world can no longer tolerate is unlimited.
that sort of waste, let alone continue to absorb the
economic impact of it. Ryan Smith has demonstrated with numerous ex-
amples of experimentation, collaboration, and
Integration modeling, the backbone of offsite fabri- hard work by countless individuals in his book the
cation and manufacturing, leans the p roduct supply premise that “something has to precede something
chain, helps architects and constructors manage the else.” Prefab Architecture is a fi rst read—the “pre”
amount of materials needed and allows for a positive in whichever mode of fabrication that an architect
repurposing of the left over materials. Further, offsite and client choose to embrace. This book pro-
assembly offers the promise of disassembly and re- vides a guide to frontloading a project, and in turn,
use. Rather than repurposing a whole building, we a means of changing our economy, changing the
might now consider disassembly as a way forward to way we think about architecture and design, and
altogether new re-uses for building materials. The ho- changing the affordability and the quality of what is
listic integration of sustainable materials helps to pro- produced. Call it “nextgen” construction logic. It is
duce a greener fi nal product. Rather than haphazard beyond theory, and beyond most of what we think
applications of materials and systems in a way that we know about pods, containers, mods, and joints.
purports to be sustainable—a practice I often refer to This book is more than “Prefabrication 101.” It is the
as “green bling”—offsite construction and manufac- “Joy of Cooking” writ large for the architecture and
turing offers what we might call “total sustainability,” construction industries.
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