MODULAR ARCHITECTURE:

STRATEGY / TECHNOLGY / DESIGN

Introductory Lecture

Course Instructor: David Wallance

what the course is about

We are about to experience an unprecedented and transformative

change in the way we design and build our cities. Over the last

decade, interest in modular architecture has surged, and architects will

increasingly be called upon to design multi-story urban buildings using

modular techniques.. To design in a modular language requires both a

fundamental shift in thinking at the conceptual level and a working

knowledge of modular technology.

This course will focus mainly on a studio design problem, in which the

students will develop a modular solution to a multi-story urban infill

building on a site in located in NYC. In order to gain familiarity with

concepts of modular architecture, two classes will consist of lectures. We

will also take a tour through a local modular manufacturing plant.

what the course is about

We are about to experience an unprecedented and transformative

change in the way we design and build our cities. Over the last

decade, interest in modular architecture has surged, and architects will

increasingly be called upon to design multi-story urban buildings using

modular techniques.. To design in a modular language requires both a

fundamental shift in thinking at the conceptual level and a working

knowledge of modular technology.

This course will focus mainly on a studio design problem, in which the

students will develop a modular solution to a multi-story urban infill

building on a site in located in NYC. In order to gain familiarity with

concepts of modular architecture, two classes will consist of lectures. We

will also take a tour through a local modular manufacturing plant.

The lectures will survey the history of modular architecture and will include

case studies. In addition to an examination of design strategies and

construction methods, we will cover related topics, including

transportation, process engineering, industrial supply chain concepts, site

logistics, scheduling and costs. We will delve into questions of cultural

acceptance and the stigma commonly associated with "modular". The

organization and politics of construction trade unions and their impact on

modular adoption will be considered. We will survey the field of

contemporary modular architecture and form a conceptual framework

within which to categorize various approaches.

what the course is about

Our method will be inter-disciplinary, and we will learn to think in terms of

business strategy, financing, marketing and sales, as well as the more

familiar terrain of design and building technology. We will speculate on

how the role of the architect might evolve if an industrialized approach to

building were to become normative.

Finally, we will evaluate modular architecture critically, and will consider

questions such as: Would the widespread adoption of modular

architecture inevitably lead to homogenization and dull uniformity? Can it

be a tool for urban revitalization? Is it adaptable to a range of climates?

Does it offer sustainable solutions? Can modular architecture be

expressive of cultural distinctions?.

what the course is about

Students will work on the design problem in teams. After the introductory

lectures and factory tour we will meet weekly to review progress on the

design problem. The weekly critiques will emphasize conceptual clarity

and technical rigor. The final presentation will be a fully developed

design, including details and three dimensional analytical drawings. In

addition, a narrative technical report will include a discussion of the design

intention and its genesis.

what the course is about

00 06 September Homework #1 assigned.

01 13 September Introductory Lecture. Homework #1 due. Homework #2

assigned.

02 20 September Field Trip; Homework #2 due. Homework #3 assigned.

03 27 September Site visit. Homework #3 due.

04 04 October Two unit plans and two sections for each with dimensions

and functional detail.

05 11 October Reiterated unit plans and sections, with module dimensions

established.

Present a series of alternative stacking studies, with

modules drawn as “wire frames” in 3D (interior lines hidden).

Include site. Minimum of 3 alternatives.

06 18 October Reiterated stacking studies. Floor plans, with all program

elements, including circulation and cores. Locate shafts for

system risers. Module envelope concept studies.

course schedule

revise course schedule as per handout sheet

07 25 October Reiterate floor plans. Integrate envelope into massing

studies. Structural chassis.

01 November Election Day. No class.

08 08 November Reiterate structural chassis. Integrate chassis into massing.

Gravity and lateral load systems. Façade cladding system.

09 15 November Reiterate façade cladding system. Interior systems.

HVAC and plumbing stack. Integrate into typical unit

layouts. Two perspective views.

10 22 November Fully developed 3D modules. Reiterate perspective views.

Two large scale 3D details. Presentation storyboard.

11 29 November Reiterate 3D details. Presentation mock-up.

12 13 December Final review. Turn in technical report.

course schedule

revise course schedule as per handout sheet

The world’s urban population in 2014

is estimated at 3.19 billion.

Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs July 10, 2014

Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs July 10, 2014

By 2050 there will be another 2.5 billion

urban inhabitants.

Source: Household Size and Composition in the Developing World / Population Council / 2001

Assuming 5 persons per household, on average,

500 million new housing units

will be needed by 2050

Source: Household Size and Composition in the Developing World / Population Council / 2001

1 unit of new housing every 2 seconds.

Roughly seventy developing countries,

altogether containing about 4 billion people,

will see rapid increases in car ownership.

Source: The Global Middle Class is Bigger Than We Thought, Foreign Policy, May 16, 2012

Urban land cover is increasing at more than double

the rate of urban population growth.

Source: The Cities Alliance, January 2011

The global market for prefabricated

housing is forecast to reach 829,000

units by 2017, at an annually

compounded 4.4% growth rate.

Assuming that same compounded

growth rate through 2050, the global

market will reach 3,432,978 units.

Source: DRM Investments Ltd. 2014

Sound like a lot of units?

Let’s do the arithmetic.

Source: Global Industry Analysts, Inc. January 2011

500,000,000 3,432,978

UNITS OF URBAN HOUSING NEEDED IN 2050 PREFABRICATED HOUSING MARKET IN 2050

0.65%500,000,000 3,234,978

PREFABRICATED HOUSING WILL SUPPLY

OF PROJECTED NEED

background

1850 to 1970

BRAD DARLING, CALL THE

CRANE OPERATOR! WE JUST HAVE TO SUMMER IN REYKJAVIK THIS YEAR.

modular ideologies

“The architect’s efforts of today are spent in the gratification of the individual

client. His efforts of tomorrow, like those of the composer, the designer of

fabrics, silver, glass and whatnot may be expanded for the enjoyment of vast

numbers of unseen clients. Industrial production of housing, as contrasted with

the present industrial production of raw materials and miscellaneous

accessories, calls for more skill and a higher development of the design

element, not its cessation.”

Buckminster Fuller (1929)

“The task of architecture is to provide men with a shelter from the elements.

This task can be made realizable by the formulation of a programme and the

application of our technical knowledge. A programme that can be realized

today with existing materials and machines. A programme that must take

account of fundamental human needs. It is in the factories and innumerable

workshops under the rigid control of industry that the potential value of the

programme can be turned into concrete reality.”

Le Corbusier (1938)

Charles Eames (1944)

“Someone in Archigram should find out why the prefabrication of housing in

America has been a failure in spite of massive inputs of government money…

the prefabs, since their savings were related to only half the cost of the house

(almost half the house cost in a single house goes into site-work), were not

able to bring about significant cost reductions. Levitt, by owning or controlling

enough components of the building industry to ensure rationalization of the

construction process from manufacture of the elements to delivery and

erection, was able, without going to car bodies or plastic capsules, to produce

the best value housing in America”

Denise Scott Brown (1968)

“What has changed today? Everything. Mass production was the ideal of the

early twentieth century. Mass customization is the recently emerged reality of

the twenty-first century. We have always customized architecture to recognize

differences. Customization ran at cross purpose to the twentieth-century model

of mass production. Mass customization is a hybrid. It proposes new

processes to build using automated production, but with the ability to

differentiate each artifact from those that are fabricated before and after.”

Stephen Kieran / James Timberlake (2004)

1970 to 2000

theory

PRE-FABRICATION Off-site fabrication, to custom specification.

MANUFACTURING Off-site fabrication in repetition, to standard

specification.

MODULAR Buildings constructed from dimensionally standardized

and repetitive elements fabricated off-site.

FLAT-PACK MODULAR Panelized construction assemblies.

VOLUMETRIC MODULAR Space-enclosing modular units, fabricated

off-site, transported to the jobsite and craned into place.

DEFINITIONS

SPATIAL STRATEGIES

SPATIALLY DETERMINATE. Mate lines are located on partition lines so that rooms

are fitted out and finished entirely in the factory. Some field patching at mate lines is

inevitable at connecting hallways and at corridors. Limitation is that room dimensions may

not exceed transportable module dimensions. Modules are typically designed to maximum

transportable dimensions. Non-repetitive and irregular modules are accepted as part of

the system.

MODULE = CELL = ROOM

SPATIALLY INDETERMINATE. Mate lines are not necessarily controlled by room

dimensions, and may bisect a room. Allows for standard module dimensions. Module

dimensions may conform to the ISO intermodal transportation requirements – maximum

module size is not a goal. Standardization and economical long distance transport are

regarded as a greater advantage that justifies increased field patching at mate lines.

MODULE = SLICE = FLEXIBLE PLAN

TECTONIC STRATEGIES

STRUCTURAL CORE SYSTEM. Pre-

fabricated modules are built around and laterally

braced to a site-built rigid core, typically poured

in place concrete, containing stairs, elevators and

vertical services. Example: Wolverhampton, U.K.

AGGREGATED MODULE SYSTEM. Pre-fabricated modules are stacked and self-

supporting. Modules are spatially determined by rooms, aggregated to form living units.

While permitting freely disposed stepping and pinwheeling clusters, vertical services must still

be organized in cores. Example: Habitat.

TECTONIC STRATEGIES

FRAME AND PANEL SYSTEM. Example: Metastadt (Germany 1960’s ). Example:

30 Story hotel, Changsha, China. Structural members prefabricated offsite as two-dimensional

frames. Enclosure system manufactured offsite as two-dimensional panels, with integrated

door and window units. Assembled on site in sequence from structure to enclosure. MEP

systems and some finishes may be integrated in factory or installed on site.

TECTONIC STRATEGIES

PLUG-IN MEGAFRAME SYSTEM. Conceptual antecedent: Unite d’Habitation.

The living unit is prefabricated in one module, inserted into the cells of a structural space grid.

Conceptually appealing, but structural redundancy leads to high costs. Logistically awkward,

if not unfeasible, due to the difficulty in craning and then pushing a module into the grid while

releasing the crane hook. Remains unrealized… but a perennial favorite in academic studios.

TECTONIC STRATEGIES

VOLUMETRIC UNIT SYSTEM. Global Building Modules, Inc. Modules are freed

from being defined by rooms. A Volumetric Unit of Construction is a slice of a building and

need not define a room enclosure. This allows for spatial flexibility within structural

standardization. Analogous to “plan libre”, the free disposition of room dividing elements

within a repetitive structural grid.

TECTONIC STRATEGIES

CONTRACT MODULAR. The design of a building precedes the development of modular

dimensions. Working with a modular manufacturer the architect then locates mate-lines for maximum

sized modules. The design is frequently modified in the process of finding the mate-lines. Modules

are never standardized from project to project, and infrequently standardized within one design.

Facades are typically built on site.

PROJECT DELIVERY STRATEGIES

POD MODULAR. The manufacturer offers a pre-designed set of functional unit components –

for example, bedroom-bathroom and living-dining-kitchen configurations – that can be assembled

with limited variation. The architect arranges units into a building, but within the units layouts are pre-

determined. Facades are usually pre-engineered and, except for massing, the building image is

determined by the system.

PROJECT DELIVERY STRATEGIES

KIT-O-PARTS MODULAR. A standardized structural system of volumetric modules is fitted

out in the factory with pre-designed elements – partitions, doors, cabinets, fixtures, etc. – that can be

arranged within the modules according to dimensional rules. The structural modules need not

correspond to room units. Facades are similarly arranged from a set of pre-designed components.

The kit is expandable – see enterprise strategies below. Allows for mass customization.

PROJECT DELIVERY STRATEGIES

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES

CLOSED SYSTEMS. All elements fabricated by a single manufacturer, or by

a supply chain controlled by that manufacturer. The automotive industry is a

paradigm of this approach. Closed systems have the advantage of ensuring that the design

options are all coordinated, but the disadvantage of limited choice and flexibility.

OPEN SYSTEMS. Dimensional standardization with participation by multiple

manufacturers. For example, the standard 2 foot lay-in ceiling module has been adopted by

manufacturers of light fixtures, air distribution devices, radiant panels, etc. However, system

discipline breaks down where industries don’t normally interact – for example, the typical curtain

wall module for office buildings is 5 feet, making coordination of the 2 foot ceiling system with

mullions and partition layouts virtually impossible.

OPERATING SYSTEMS. The best of open and closed systems and the

basis of the software industry. A single manufacturer markets an operating system with an

integrated catalog of components, and at the same time makes the system standards (operating

system) available under license for others to augment the catalog with additional specialized

components (apps). Apps can be developed by architects and manufacturers working together or

independently.

state of the industry

Source: Labor and Productivity Declines in the Construction Industry / Paul Teicholz, 2013

1964 2012

+250%

-15%

IND

EX

OF

LA

BO

R P

RO

DU

CT

IVIT

Y

0

100

200

300

NON-FARM INDUSTRIES

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

.

QUALITY

COST

TIME SCOPE

time

1850 2050

skil

l

low

hig

h craftsmanship – workmanship of risk

technology – workmanship of certainty

2000 to present

The following are examples of modular systems manufactured around the world. All of them are

volumetric, have steel frames, and all are aggregated (that is, self-stacking). Most of them are

manufactured with open systems, meaning that products are sourced from multiple manufacturers’

catalogs. One of the systems, GBM, is intended as an application system.

Note that precast concrete systems like Habitat have virtually disappeared, primarily due to their

excessive weight.

Container City / London

ISO Shipping Containers

Flexible Kit of Parts

Spatially Indeterminate

Verbus Systems / London

Oversize Shipping Container

Fixed Unit Types

Spatially Determinate

Quicksmart Homes/ Australia

ISO Shipping Container Dimensional Standard

Flexible Kit of Parts

Spatially Determinate

Vision Modular / Ireland

Design Determines Breakdown

Spatially Determinate

Capys Corp. / Brooklyn

Design Determines Breakdown

Spatially Determinate

Unitised Building / Australia

Design Determines Breakdown

Spatially Determinate

Kullman Industries / New Jersey

Design Determines Breakdown

Spatially Determinate

Project Frog / San Francisco

Fixed Unit Types

Spatially Determinate

Tempo Housing / Amsterdam

Fixed Unit Types

Can be Spatially Indeterminate

Bolle-Modulbau / Germany

Design Determines Breakdown

Spatially Indeterminate

Global Building Modules, Inc. / New York

Flexible Kit of Parts

Spatially Indeterminate

FC Modular / Brooklyn, NY

Contract Modular

Design Determines Breakdown

Spatially Determinate

Global Building Modules, Inc. / New York

Flexible Kit of Parts

Spatially Indeterminate

Global Building Modules, Inc. / New York

Flexible Kit of Parts

Spatially Indeterminate

1,604 8ft X 40ft modules

Koby Cottage (Kullman Industries)

Garrison Architectshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWcmcxoJpf0

Design Determines Breakdown

Spatially Determinate

manufacturing / transportation / craning

FIXED POSITION LAYOUT

MODULAR HOUSE FACTORY

(ALL WORK DONE IN ONE

POSITION)

COMPLETED

HOUSE

PROCESS LAYOUT

PRODUCT LAYOUT

CELLULAR LAYOUT

Maximum Freight Weight: 48,000 lbs

Maximum Freight Dimensions:

Length: 48'

Width: 8.5' (102")

Height: 8.5' (102")

48 FOOT FLATBED

Maximum Freight Weight: 45,000 lbs

Maximum Freight Dimensions:

Length: 45'-70'

Width: 8.5‘

Height: 8.5'

EXTENDABLE FLATBED

Maximum Freight Weight: 44,000 lbs

Maximum Freight Dimensions:

Main Deck: Length: 29', Width: 8.5‘,Height: 12'

Front Deck: Length: 10', Width: 8.5', Height: 8.5'

Rear Deck: Length: 9', Width: 8.5', Height: 10'

LOWBOY

Maximum Freight Weight: 45,000 lbs

Maximum Freight Dimensions:

Main Deck: Length: 29', Width: 8.5', Height: 11.5‘

Front Deck: Length: 10', Width: 8.5', Height: 8.5‘

Rear Deck: Length: 9', Width: 8.5', Height: 10'

DOUBLE DROP DECK

Maximum Freight Weight: 48,000 lbs

Maximum Freight Dimensions:

Main Deck Max Dimensions: Length: 37', Width: 8.5', Height: 10'

Front Deck Max Dimensions: Length: 11' Width: 8.5' Height: 8.5'

SINGLE DROP DECK

intermodal transportation

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

ORGANIZATION

CONTAINER CHASSIS

The intermodal shipping system is global in scale.

It costs the equivalent of about $12 / square foot to ship a standard container

halfway around the world – e.g. Shanghai to New York.

student projects

the takeaway

“The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.”

William Gibson