Prefab Architecture: A Guide to Modular Design and Construction 1st Edition

After decades of interest in affordable residential construction methods, thousands of dollars invested in Peter Miller Design Bookstore in my hometown of Seattle, a pilgrimage to MIT and Harvard Universities to research Walter Gropius and Karl Wachsmann's pioneering efforts in prefab, I can say without reservation you will learn find an enormous amount of useful, practical information in this well organized book. I most certainly did.If you are tired of pretty coffee table displays of extravagantly expensive "prefab" architecture (mostly angular, sterile modernism, mis-classified as a book on prefab), then in this book you have finally found an intelligent reservoir of useful analysis covering the deep history of prefabricated architecture, it's variety of scales and applications: commercial, residential. The author is not afraid to explore the strengths and weaknesses of prefab methodology, gathered from his direct connection to the industry and countless interviews of prefab practitioners: designers, fabricators and their clients.My own application is to launch a startup firm, with others in Seattle, to provide significantly more affordable ADU (backyard cottages) so desperately needed as a density option in the increasingly unaffordable Seattle metro area. I mention this to indicate how much I appreciate both the theory and practice elements in the book.

I work with a team of builders and fabricators with experience fabricating over 1,000 projects in 10 countries. Based on our many years of experience and work with architects, structural engineers, other fabricators and general contractors, I wish I could make this book required reading for anyone seriously considering fabrication.Integrating fabrication and building information modeling could change the entire industry. Unfortunately architects typically don't begin working with fabricators until late in the design process and therefore miss the opportunity to fully exploit the potential. The case for ongoing collaboration across domains is made repeatedly throughout the book yet this is rarely what happens on real projects.I highly recommend this book and Deke Smith's Building Information Modeling: A Strategic Implementation Guide for Architects, Engineers, Constructors, and Real Estate Asset Managers. Both books make clear that integrated building information modeling and fabrication are very complementary and much more about iterative process engineering than any specific software.

is a book that explains general characteristics of implementation and usage. is not 100% professional. only serves as a reference and ideas for a project of this type that you want to perform.Before buying see well what is your specific need not to spend money unnecessarily. luck and success in this new trend of ecological contruccion and very economical.

not enough real info on building a container style structure. lots on design and buying. no details

As an architect-developer and educator, I would hope this book becomes required reading for all students in professional schools of the building sector. Furthermore, all licensed practitioners would become better-equipped to help their clients save money because time is money, and the parametric components of modular design and construction methods are described so well by Prof. Smith. The book is - as James Timberlake, FAIA, expresses it so well in his foreword - ""The Joy of Cooking" writ large for the architecture and construction industries". When the concepts and methods of this book are combined with a mastery of BIM, IPD and the best design traditions addressing beauty and social responsiveness, and practiced within a mindset of climate change mitigation, we are made aware of what constitutes cutting edge skillsets for the building sector.

I have to admit i was really fooled by the book, thought it would have helped me with my project cut instead i have to use alternative sources to gather my informationi suggest you ask for feed back before buying this book to ensure it has what you are looking for

The architect I bought this for was very satisfied with the depth, breadth and format of this reference. You can't get a higher recommendation than that. It is very hard to judge the usefulness of books from the publisher's description, if there even is one, and not many are out on the web reviewing architecture books for their utility in actual practice. I always try and glean as much as I can from the TOC and index (if the publisher posts it on Amazon) and parse the info given on illustrations but it's a guess. This time, a good guess.

The content inside book is new,modern and contemporary for construction work. I think in the future will apply more prefabication architecture.I really love it.-I think from now the prefabrication concept and modular concept will be increasing in the Engineering and construction business.-I think yhis will be useful for designer, engineer and architect.Saroch Phakdeeprasert