Prefab buildings are making a comeback in a big way – and in Atlantic Yards, a really big way.
A proposed residential complex towering 32 stories would be the world’s tallest prefab structure in the world upon its completion in 2013. Designed by SHoP and engineered by Arup, the towers would surround the planned site for the new Barclays Center.
Prefab has long been avoided for projects over a few stories because of a lack of cross-bracing supports that allow towers to sustain the high winds and increased loads of vertical building. Designers hope to overcome these limitations with more than 900 steel chassis modules mounted on a system of steel frames, with all the connections on the exterior of the structures.
RELATED ARTICLES
Bosco Verticale – Greening the Skies
Apartment Building Permits Rebounding
Check out November’s issue of Construction Digital
Modular building will cut 15-20 percent from similar costs of traditional residential towers, generate up to 90 percent less waste, and will be nearly 70 percent more energy efficient than other models.
According to an article at Curbed, the project has a projected timeline of about 18 months from ground breaking to completion, and will only employ 190 workers – substantially less than the thousands promised by the original proposal of the project. Construction is slated to begin sometime in early 2012.
