Movable Buildings

Building Science is advancing all the time. Because of  new construction materials and new building methods that are being introduced  every  year, the building science experts have to keep up and help out designers with effective  means of  building  new construction. Making sure the occupants are healthy and safe from  polluted air and making sure they are comfortable are their number one priorities. The relationships to electrical and mechanical systems of building science, including the building envelope, indoor air, moisture dynamics, ventilation, and thermal  insulation  have to be taken  seriously. It is becoming clear that building designers must have some knowledge of  building  science and the performance of the building enclosure in order to design better building enclosures and better buildings. In this sense prefab construction is most attractive method. Prefabricated  building is a type of  building  that  consists  of  several  factory-built  components or units that are  assembled on-site to complete the unit.

Prefabricated construction

Buildings have been built in one place and reassembled in another throughout history. Possibly the first advertised  prefab  house was the Manning Portable Cottage. A London carpenter, Henry Manning, constructed a house that was built in components, then shipped and assembled by British emigrants. A few still stand in Australia (South Australian Record, 1837). One such  is the Friends  Meeting  House, Adelaide. The peak year for the importation of portable buildings to Australia was 1853, when  several  hundred  arrived. These have been identified as coming from Liverpool, Boston and Singapore (with Chinese instructions for  re-assembly). In Barbados the Chattel  house  was a form of  prefabricated  building  which  was developed  by emancipated slaves who had  limited  rights to build  up on  land  they did not own.  As the buildings were moveable they were legally regarded as chattels.

They're a 21st century super power with super computers and a super economy that's the envy of the world.,China can claim  another  title - the fastest builders on the planet after putting up a 30-storey  183,000-square-foot  hotel  in  just  360 hours(15 days). A construction crew in the south-central Chinese city of Changsha completed this remarkable  achievement with no injuries to any worker.

Pre-fabricated construction is not entirely new to the Indian  construction  space. Office and commercial buildings have been using prefab wall panels, ceiling panels, plasterboards and flooring systems to create interiors of offices and  other  places  such  as  hospitals. 10-storey prefab building built in 48 hours  in Mohali. Over 200 skilled workers, technicians, engineers and equipment were engaged in the building construction. This was first one in India. In this row Banglore  marked the feet next.

Buying  a  ready-made  modular  kitchen or  bathroom  is  now  par  for  the course for  a  number  of  Indians. But  what  if  you could  go to a store, buy a house and get  it  assembled  on  your  plot? With  pre-fabricated, or prefab, technology becoming popular, this might become a reality in a few years.

Low Price-Long life

Prefab technologies can be used to build homes quickly and cost-effectively, especially as traditional construction  costs continue to rise. As the cost of  borrowing  is  steep and developers are facing a liquidity crunch, time means money. Modular construction is faster and adds to the revenue stream of  builders.

Prefab  technology  involves  use of  factory-manufactured components in buildings. Some commonly used prefab  materials  include  steel  frames  for structures, panels made of wood, cement, gypsum and other materials for  floors, walls and ceilings, factory-made doors, windows and ventilators.

In large  construction  projects, various  modules of the structure are cast off-site  in  factories and then assembled  on  the site. In  the  process, prefab materials such as wall and terrace blocks, wall panels, steel frames  and  plaster  boards  are used along with innovations such as the dry-wall technique. In prefab technology, the entire building can be designed  using  architecture  software. Later, components such as steel frames, wall and ceiling  panels  and  floor tiles  can  be custom-made. The components are then brought to the construction  site and the structure is assembled on-site. Houses using steel frames for structure can  have multiple stories without  pillars, beams  and concrete. Alternatively, the main structure and outer walls can be constructed  using the  conventional  techniques  and  inside partitioning and  interiors done with prefab materials.

Pre-fabricated  concrete  panels  as shear  walls and roof  slabs, which are assembled like Lego blocks. Apart from prefab panels, complete kitchen and bathroom units are also being assembled as separate units with complete electrical and plumbing  systems. These kitchen  and  bathroom  pods are then fit  into place.

Prefab  construction  reduces construction  time and improves the quality of the building. Though  prefab materials are 15-20% expensive  than  the  traditional  ones,  higher efficiency and  less wastage  and  labour costs  can  bring down the overall cost substantially for large buildings. They also eliminate the need for auxiliary  activities  such as  plastering, electrical wiring and plumbing as these are done at the casting stage itself.  Buildings  constructed  using  prefab technologies  have a life span of  30-50 years, equivalent to the life span of structures using conventional methods.

Easily Change The Structure

Using  prefab materials  in buildings also gives flexibility in terms of expansion and  modifications. Most of these  buildings  are  modular  with  independent  blocks  that  can  be added  or  removed. Computer-aided design  and  certain  materials  produce  structures  which  can be  easily  assembled  and  dismantled  a  number of  times without  damage.  Additionally, changes  in  the  structure  can  be  made on-site  in a short span of time.  Prefab  panels and  boards  are  eight-ten times  lighter  than  brick-and-mortar  walls. This reduces the load  on  the structure, which lowers the building cost. The use of prefab materials gives the option of customising buildings for specific needs such as fire and water  resistance and sound-proofing.  Most of the demand  for  prefab materials is from large developers and  for  commercial  spaces such as offices. Use by individuals  for  their  homes is yet to gain  popularity. prefab  construction  techniques, quite  common  in developed  countries, will become popular in India too.The use of  pre-fabricated  materials  and  methods  is on  the  rise in the US as the construction  industry has begun to adapt to changing  market conditions, new  materials  and  methodologies.  The prefab buidings are attractive, comfortable, affordable, and healthy and zero-carbon and also can withstand magnitude of 8.5 earthquake and strong winds.

Finland Moving Building

The World’s First Truly Mobile Apartment Building is Completed in Finland  Moving  Building. A Finnish architecture  group  has  just  built  and  successfully  installed  the  world's  first  mobile  apartment  building. The 3-story, steel-framed building  is  a whopping 108 feet  long, 40 feet high and weighs a total of 485,017 pounds. It was completely assembled. Finnish  architecture has just built and successfully installed this and assembled in a shipyard  warehouse  and  successfully  moved  en masse to a water front location in Turku, Finland earlier this month. NEAPO, the company that built and moved the building, is an architecture and construction  company  that  has roots  in the ship building  industry, so it's no wonder they are so good at moving large steel objects.