Modular construction is being promoted for all of its many benefits, including higher quality, less risk of error, time efficiency and less labor that both contribute to lower costs. The idea of modular construction and these benefits have definitely been a topic of interest--if they can truly be realized.
Many modular projects are still getting legs, and the innovation is still not catching on to those invested in current and comfortable processes. But some are trying it, even some are trying to take it to the next level, as this project in Brooklyn, NY proves.
By constructing all of the high-rise’s 930 modules (most units are made up of several modules) in a nearby facility, developer Forest City Ratner Companies and designer SHoP Architects expected to save 20% on the construction and shave a third off of the anticipated 30-month construction time. The modules themselves, which Forest City CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin compared to ready-made, “shrink-wrapped apartments,” would then be stacked on top of one another on-site.
But instead of Legos, the construction seemed to evoke Jenga.
