Prefabricated housing, often associated with blighted urban land-scapes
and monotonous grey boxes, has evolved into an approach to housing with
a wealth of aesthetic and structural possibilities. Modern methods of
constructing and assembling prefabricated buildings - methods that can
be traced back to the 19th century - are going through a renaissance.
This is true across the world, from Vancouver and New York to London and
Berlin through to Astana and Singapore. Moreover, prefabrication now
serves a wider range of purposes than ever before. In Moscow, Europe's
largest metropolitan area, it is primarily used as a means to provide
affordable homes. But in some countries, prefabrication is surprisingly
also used to build exclusive, upmarket properties. This construction and
design manual presents a range of different production and assembly
methods currently used in the field of prefabricated housing. It
particularly focuses on efficiency, sustainability, and market
relevance, and presents strategies for organizing processes along with
best-practice examples that reflect the latest trends. The manual also
explores the historical development of prefabricated housing in order to
discover its full architectural potential. Finally, it outlines ten
design parameters for prefabricated housing and presents 15 noteworthy
examples, making a fresh contribution to the debate on affordable
housing today.
