Monday, February 3, 2020

Cory Christopher - Modular Construction

The idea I am going to explore in my paper is modular building construction. This is the practice of creating prefabricated architectural elements, or even whole rooms offsite and installing them into a building frame. This first came to popularity in the creation of mobile homes and trailers. Lately though, this method of construction has been used to create larger structures due to reduced cost and enhanced speed of projects. I will touch on some of the pros and cons of this method of construction, which kinds of building projects would benefit from this technique, and go over examples of projects wherein modular construction was used effectively.


Maddie,

I think your idea is very interesting. I agree with your sentiment that all of the technological design features in a building don't matter unless they are put to use by a facilities managers. I would be very interested in hearing some statistics about this subject, specifically, what features of intelligent buildings go unused most frequently and which are used most readily.

Manon,

I would be interested to learn about the potential use of sustainable materials with respect to additive production of buildings. I know as of now, concrete is one of the most energy intensive building materials in existence and I would imagine that if nothing else, additive construction processes would at the very least lead to a reduction in material waste if using a new more sustainable material isn't possible.

Varsha,

I agree with your sentiment that robots are very interesting, especially the prospect of using them in building. There is no question that the effective implementation of robots on a construction sight will lead to a much more efficient construction process and potentially, a finished product of higher quality.

7 comments:

Stephen Pettit said...

Cory,

Modular building construction is a great idea. The construction industry is getting more involved with prefabricated elements. I definitely think you should talk about how they would transport elements such as a whole room or whatever aspect you touch on. Transportation is important in my opinion, and that is why I think that robotics and construction is starting to become a building option.

Brian Huynh said...

The ability to prefabricate elements is very beneficial. Like you mentioned, there are definitely pros and cons regarding this type of construction and may be specific towards certain types of constructions only. I do believe that as the field advance, more elements will definitely be prefabricated to reduce the time and cost consumption.

Isabel Brooks said...

Modular building construction is a great concept to look into it definitely looks like its developing into the up and coming accepted construction format. Its good that you're addressing both the pros and cons as every advancement is not perfect, maybe even look into some technologies that help mitigate the downsides? This sounds like its going to be a pretty interesting paper.

Abigail Kryszan said...

Cory,

Modular construction seems like a very cost and time effective method of construction. It will be interesting to see what the downsides are, and if they are significant. I am curious if modular construction will become more or less popular over time. I suspect it will depend on how much human labor will be needed for the project.

Brian Mynaugh said...

Hey Cory,

It seems you have the makings of an interesting project. Having modular designs is definitely a trend that is taking off as of late. One that comes to mind is that of an AEI competition project, I saw that was a retrofit of a hospital, and the team made the decision to have the hospital room be all prefabricated and simply put into place during construction. They had it laid out that all the mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems in these units were easy to install and had quick connections that reduced clutter. Best of luck with your project!

Andrew Norris said...

Cory,
Your project is extremely interesting and I look forward to seeing the examples you present. Earlier on in the class I read an article talking about how 3d printers might be used to prefab buildings. It would be cool to see an example of this if one exists.

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