Towards Industrialized Construction

The destruction of urban Europe and Japan during the Second World War, combined with the post war baby boom, created a need for housing for millions of people. Builders have done a lot for restoring what had been destroyed during the war but they went further than rebuilding. The existence of a single large client (the state) and a need for rapid construction provided fertile soil for a boom in the development of industrialized construction techniques. New construction methods and materials, computers and robots are being developed to constantly improve productivity. These innovations are improving building quality. As construction evolves into an industrialized process, new construction methods and building systems are also being developed to assemble prefabricated components.

A number of social factors are also pushing the construction industry towards industrialization. The demand for high quality buildings is growing in the world. As consumers become more educated about energy conservation, lighting, indoor air quality, they want their houses to be built to the highest standards. Prefabrication of building components using mechanized, computer controlled tools is one way to achieve high quality. Almost all building materials will be manufactured industrially in the near future, and it is natural to expect more and more assembly of these materials in a controlled environment away from the building site.

Continued growth in communications technologies, consumer electronics and other creature comfort systems will make building construction more complex. Computer controlled heating and ventilation and multi room access to entertainment are some of the features that will be built in future "smart" houses. Assembling and installing these technologically advanced systems in an exposed site will not please the owner.

Computers have helped speeding up design considerably in recent years and can allow designers to analyze the building for different purposes before construction starts. Computer Aided Design (CAD) packages can be used for many tasks, ranging from analyzing buildings for heat loss to generating 3D interior mock ups thus reducing considerably the number of mistakes arousing through human errors.

Industrially produced buildings have come a long way from the repetitive boxes most people associate with the word "prefabrication". The move to industrial construction is inevitable, and designers and builders should pay attention to its opportunities now.