Prefabrication was early twentieth century’s response to reform construction. As industrialization transformed every economic sector, construction remained a stronghold of resistance lagging far behind other industries. Proponents of prefabrication argued to apply mass production processes in construction for increased output for both matters of quantity and quality. Construction’s productivity continues to lag behind other sectors even if it has become highly industrialized; Every building component is now mass-produced. Their assembly standardized and their integration in building construction well documented. Construction, however, remains a highly singular operation and even with the potential to normalize assemblies each individual building remains a singular undertaking. Site, program, use and context vary making mass production and mass customization viable for only certain building types. Even where factory production seems like a viable solution, ageing connotations of prefabrication’s sameness still haunt its potential.
The same way industrialization transformed construction, information technology is radically modifying the way buildings are produced. Proponents again argue for streamlining construction through factory production and its nascent ability for uniqueness through information technology. Both software and hardware can link design, fabrication, and construction by managing and manipulating differentiated data chains. Collaboration through virtual design, management and construction tools are making construction more efficient. Off-site construction or prefabrication is no longer just a manufacturing sector, it has developed into a comprehensive means from which differentiated components and coordinated sub-assemblies are designed and fabricated for their explicit on-site assembly.
The industry is gradually progressing from the coordination of paper-based tools (plans and shop drawings) to greater use of building information modelling as a thread that connects all stakeholders. ManufactON based in Boston USA, is just one of many budding startups racing to develop software platform solutions for this increased and increasingly requested collaboration. Their cloud-based tools admit the uniqueness of every architectural project by offering channels and processes to mitigate the risks of construction projects individuality. The digital thread unites and federates information and stakeholders off-site and on-site constructing an integrated project proposal from beginning to end. It remains to be seen whether construction will massively adopt the ability to align industrial production with the precision and power of information systems or if construction’s longstanding advertence to change will keep this evolution at bay.
 |
| Manufacton's digital thread and software applications for building construction |
No comments:
Post a Comment