Tag: prefab construction

• The recurring promise and resistance of prefab housing

  It’s important to always remember that the idea of prefabricated housing has been around for a very long time, and yet its history is perhaps best described as a recurring cycle of revolutionary promise versus structural resistance.

  Some markets, such as Sweden and Japan, have managed to find success, with the majority of their low-rise housing now industrialized or at least involving factory-made components. But in many, or most, other markets, the prefab landscape remains checkered with bankruptcies.

  I was reminded of this when I watched this video about the 22 Parkside house in London by Richard and Su Rogers. Originally designed in 1967 for Richard’s parents, the house used prefabricated elements, such as simple steel frames and bus windows, with the hope that it might serve as a solution to Britain’s housing crisis.

  Richard jokes in the video that it never happened, but it remains a seminal modernist house nonetheless. (I love the yellow frames.) This problem is not as easy to solve as it may seem, because it’s not just a design and engineering problem.

  2026.10.06

• Modular construction appears to be on the rise in Philadelphia

  This Philadelphia Inquirer article is behind a paywall, but I can tell you that it speaks to the city’s increasing use of modular construction for infill apartment buildings:

  Building modularly can save 20% on total construction costs, he said. Projects can be constructed in half the time, and rental revenue comes in sooner. Workers build apartments in pieces in a factory as others lay the foundation. Factory work doesn’t have to pause for inclement weather.

  Alterra Property Group has found that modular construction is cost- and time-effective when it builds between 100 and 500 units and between four and six stories. Under that, building on-site is more efficient, Addimando said. Above that, builders can run up against building code restrictions.

  Consider this recently completed project, called LVL North:

  • 1.5 acre site
  • Site acquired in February 2020
  • Construction commenced in June 2020 (was it already entitled?)
  • Over 500,000 square feet
  • 7 storeys
  • 410 market-rate apartments
  • Two levels of commercial spaces
  • Over 300 parking spaces in a two-level below-grade parking structure
  • Construction completed in 24 months (it’s currently being leased up)

  I am impressed by how quickly this was erected. Here in Toronto, it would likely take more than 24 months just to get through the rezoning process. Granted, a site this big in a central location next to transit would also likely beget multiple tall buildings.

  But this form and scale of housing seems to be working for Philly. It is allowing the city to both build quickly and to experiment with emerging construction methods.

  2022.09.22