A prefabricated building, informally a prefab, is a building that is manufactured and constructed using prefabrication. It consists of factory-made components or units that are transported and assembled on-site to form the complete building. Various materials were combined to create a part of the installation process.[1]
History
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Friends Meeting House (a Manning cottage, ), North Adelaide,Buildings have been built in one place and reassembled in another throughout history. This was especially true for mobile activities, or for new settlements. Elmina Castle, the first slave fort in West Africa, was also the first European prefabricated building in Sub-saharan Africa.[2]:&#;93&#; In North America, in one of the first buildings at Cape Ann was probably partially prefabricated, and was rapidly disassembled and moved at least once. John Rollo described in earlier use of portable hospital buildings in the West Indies.[3] Possibly the first advertised prefab house was the "Manning cottage". A London carpenter, Henry Manning, constructed a house that was built in components, then shipped and assembled by British emigrants. This was published at the time (advertisement, South Australian Record, ) and a few still stand in Australia.[4] One such is the Friends Meeting House, Adelaide.[5][6] The peak year for the importation of portable buildings to Australia was , when several hundred arrived. These have been identified as coming from Liverpool, Boston and Singapore (with Chinese instructions for re-assembly).[7] In Barbados the Chattel house was a form of prefabricated building which was developed by emancipated slaves who had limited rights to build upon land they did not own. As the buildings were moveable they were legally regarded as chattels.[8]
In during the Crimean War, after Florence Nightingale wrote a letter to The Times, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was commissioned to design a prefabricated modular hospital. In five months he designed the Renkioi Hospital: a 1,000 patient hospital, with innovations in sanitation, ventilation and a flushing toilet.[9] Fabricator William Eassie constructed the required 16 units in Gloucester Docks, shipped directly to the Dardanelles. Only used from March to September , it reduced the death rate from 42% to 3.5%.
The world's first prefabricated, pre-cast panelled apartment blocks were pioneered in Liverpool. A process was invented by city engineer John Alexander Brodie, whose inventive genius also had him inventing the football goal net. The tram stables at Walton in Liverpool followed in . The idea was not extensively adopted in Britain, however was widely adopted elsewhere, particularly in Eastern Europe.
Prefabricated homes were produced during the Gold Rush in the United States, when kits were produced to enable Californian prospectors to quickly construct accommodation. Homes were available in kit form by mail order in the United States in .[10]
Prefabricated housing was popular during the Second World War due to the need for mass accommodation for military personnel. The United States used Quonset huts as military buildings, and in the United Kingdom prefabricated buildings used included Nissen huts and Bellman Hangars. 'Prefabs' were built after the war as a means of quickly and cheaply providing quality housing as a replacement for the housing destroyed during the Blitz. The proliferation of prefabricated housing across the country was a result of the Burt Committee and the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act . Under the Ministry of Works Emergency Factory Made housing programme, a specification was drawn up and bid on by various private construction and manufacturing companies. After approval by the MoW, companies could bid on Council led development schemes, resulting in whole estates of prefabs constructed to provide accommodation for those made homeless by the War and ongoing slum clearance.[11] Almost 160,000 had been built in the UK by at a cost of close to £216 million. The largest single prefab estate in Britain[12] was at Belle Vale (South Liverpool), where more than 1,100 were built after World War 2. The estate was demolished in the s amid much controversy as the prefabs were very popular with residents at the time.
Amersham Prefab (COAM)-front room showing solid-fuel firePrefabs were aimed at families, and typically had an entrance hall, two bedrooms (parents and children), a bathroom (a room with a bath) &#; which was a novel innovation for many Britons at that time, a separate toilet, a living room and an equipped (not fitted in the modern sense) kitchen. Construction materials included steel, aluminium, timber or asbestos cement, depending on the type of dwelling. The aluminium Type B2 prefab was produced as four pre-assembled sections which could be transported by lorry anywhere in the country.[13]
Amersham Prefab's Kitchen (COAM)-showing Belling cooker, Ascot wash heater and fridgeThe Universal House (pictured left & lounge diner right) was given to the Chiltern Open Air Museum after 40 years temporary use. The Mark 3 was manufactured by the Universal Housing Company Ltd, Rickmansworth.
The United States used prefabricated housing for troops during the war and for GIs returning home. Prefab classrooms were popular with UK schools increasing their rolls during the baby boom of the s and s.
Many buildings were designed with a five-ten year life span, but have far exceeded this, with a number surviving today. In , for example, the city of Bristol still had residents living in 700 examples.[14] Many UK councils have been in the process of demolishing the last surviving examples of Second World War prefabs in order to comply with the British government's Decent Homes Standard, which came into effect in . There has, however, been a recent revival in prefabricated methods of construction in order to compensate for the United Kingdom's current housing shortage.[citation needed]
Prefabs and the modernist movement
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Architects are incorporating modern designs into the prefabricated houses of today. Prefab housing should no longer be compared to a mobile home in terms of appearance, but to that of a complex modernist design.[15] There has also been an increase in the use of "green" materials in the construction of these prefab houses. Consumers can easily select between different environmentally friendly finishes and wall systems. Since these homes are built in parts, it is easy for a home owner to add additional rooms or even solar panels to the roofs. Many prefab houses can be customized to the client's specific location and climate, making prefab homes much more flexible and modern than before.
There is a zeitgeist or trend in architectural circles and the spirit of the age favors the small carbon footprint of "prefab".
Efficiency
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The process of building pre-fabricated buildings has become so efficient in China that a builder in Changsha built a ten-storey building in 28 hours and 45 minutes.[16] [17]
Sustainability
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Prefabricated construction generates less carbon footprint, improves energy use and efficiency, and produces less waste, making it more sustainable and environmentally friendly, and compliant with sustainable design standards.[18][19]
Modular Architecture
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The modular architecture allows, thanks to 3D modeling, the design and construction of the modular structure outside the site where it will be installed.[20] This offers several advantages such as more sustainable design, greater cost and time savings and standardization of design. [21] This is especially important for large-scale construction projects.[22]
In communist countries
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A high-rise Plattenbau in Jena, Germany.Many eastern European countries had suffered physical damage during World War II and their economies were in a very poor state. There was a need to reconstruct cities which had been severely damaged due to the war. For example, Warsaw had been practically razed to the ground under the planned destruction of Warsaw by German forces after the Warsaw Uprising. The centre of Dresden, Germany, had been totally destroyed by the Allied bombardment. Stalingrad had been largely destroyed and only a small number of structures were left standing.
Prefabricated buildings served as an inexpensive and quick way to alleviate the massive housing shortages associated with the wartime destruction and large-scale urbanization and rural flight.
Prefabricated commercial buildings
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McDonald's uses prefabricated structures for their buildings, and set a record of constructing a building and opening for business within 13 hours (on pre-prepared ground works).[23]
In the UK, the major supermarkets have each developed a modular unit system to shop building, based on the systems developed by German cost retailer Aldi and the Danish supermarket chain Netto.[24]
See also
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References
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With housing shortages on the rise and more people looking for sustainable building methods, it&#;s no wonder prefab (short for pre-fabricated) homes are becoming more popular than ever.
Prefab homes are nothing new. But with modern technologies, they&#;re more of an attractive option than ever.
In this 5-minute read, learn&#;
Let&#;s start with the first question. You might be surprised by the answer!
What do you think of when you hear the term &#;prefab home&#;? You might first think of a mobile home or &#;trailer&#; as they&#;re sometimes called. And it is true that technically a mobile home is a type of prefabricated home. But modern prefab homes are so much more!
So what exactly is a prefab home?
A prefab home is a home that is &#; entirely or in part &#; manufactured off-site and then transported to a property and assembled. Sometimes the entire home may be built in one piece in a factory. And other times, parts of the home &#; like wall panels or bathroom pods &#; are built in a factory and then assembled on-site.
Here are 3 common types of prefab houses:
So is a prefab home the right option for you and your clients? Keep going to learn more.
Here are some pros and cons of prefab homes. This will help you decide if a prefab home project is the best option for you and your clients. Let&#;s start with the pros.
So those are some of the advantages and challenges of buying prefab homes. Let&#;s expand on those a little more in the next section.
Let&#;s dive a little deeper into several factors you should keep in mind when looking at prefab homes for you or your clients.
So how long does it take to go from purchase to moving in? There are a lot of factors to consider.
If you&#;
&#;then you can expect it to take anywhere from a few weeks to several months.
If you&#;re content with a standard floor plan package, some manufacturers may even have mobile or modular homes built and waiting to be transported to a property.
But in most cases, you&#;ll have to wait 3-4 months for it to be built. If you plan well, while the home is being built at the factory, you can be doing the site works at the property.
Then, it will take anywhere from several days to a month or two to assemble the home on the property.
It&#;s easy to get enamored with the low prices some prefab home companies offer. It&#;s common to see simple 1 and 2-bedroom prefab homes as low as $60-70,000. So make sure you read the fine print and know exactly what you&#;re getting.
First, understand exactly what the prefab home manufacturer is offering.
Next, get some quotes for foundations and utility hookups. Even a simple concrete foundation without a basement will likely cost $10-15,000 or more.
And if your home isn&#;t connected to the city sewer lines, don&#;t forget to calculate the price of your home&#;s septic system. That could easily cost $5-10,000 or more depending on which type is required in your area.
Try not to have any preconceived ideas about prefab homes. As you start looking at different options, you&#;ll see that the possibilities are endless and you&#;ll likely be able to find an option that suits you or your clients.
*Are you looking for a way to showcase your prefab home designs? Cedreo home design software lets you create an entire set of 2D and 3D plans in as little as two hours. Create realistic 3D visualizations that impress clients and help you sell more homes!
If you or your clients want to customize a prefab home, don&#;t wait until after it&#;s built to start remodeling it. Check with the manufacturer to see what customization options are available during the building process.
More and more people want to express their personalities through their homes and prefab home manufacturers are stepping up to the challenge by offering more customization options than ever.
While the customizations do add an extra expense to the initial cost of the home, it&#;s cheaper than remodeling it later to fit your needs.
Although modern modular homes can be just as well-built and durable as regular homes, keep in mind that some people still think of &#;modular&#; homes as &#;mobile&#; homes.
So if you plan on selling your modular home in the future, be prepared to explain to some buyers how your house was built and why it&#;s just as good as a regular home.
With their budget-friendly price and customization options, modern prefab homes are only going to grow in popularity. So if you&#;re a home builder, it pays to offer prefab house options to your clients.
And if you need an easy-to-use home design program that can showcase your prefab homes before they&#;re even built, why not switch to Cedreo? No other home design program lets you do so much, so fast. Sign up today for the FREE version to see what it can do for your business!
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