I have been lucky enough to visit Antoni Gaudí’s masterpiece Basilica de la Sagrada Família two times, in 2010 and 2014. Around every corner there are varied themes derived from faith, colorful light pouring into jaw-dropping spaces, complemented with intricate detailing. It’s a lot to process, but I was perhaps most surprised by how little construction progress seemed to take place in those four years. Not every development is afforded limitless resources and a cushy 142-year construction schedule.
We are at a period where even the most conventional developments are facing headwinds from just about every angle. Stubbornly high costs for construction, insurance, interest, and the uncertainty of tariffs are just a few of our challenges. The need for housing remains high, but accepting higher development costs only to continue passing along these exponential increases is unsustainable. Something has to change, and maybe it’s time to get creative by letting construction innovation lead the way.
Modern Modular Revolution
Modern modular construction can be traced to the Sears Roebuck kit homes targeted to the middle class and WWI veterans in the early 20th century. These homes made ownership attainable by increasing speed to market and lowering costs, and today we face many of the same economic drivers that made mail-order houses successful. Construction costs are fueling a renaissance in modularization with new factories, funding and political backing.
What has changed most is the quality and scope of what modular can do. The products and finishes going into modular homes are the same as site-built construction. Factory worker satisfaction is high with safe, convenient and more comfortable working conditions, allowing better execution. Separate trades are part of the same organization and have independent stations to avoid stepping on top of each other. Robotics can literally take care of the heavy lifting and offer a higher degree of speed and accuracy.
As 3D printing rises in popularity and functionality for many different industries, KTGY’s research + development studio has creatively applied this method to its Hexagon House concept, which could have a transformative impact on modular construction.
Stigma and New Use Cases
Factory-built construction often shares the stigma created by mobile homes built quickly, cheaply and lacking quality. Modern modular construction offers improved quality of construction, but some designs do this methodology a disservice with flat and repetitive facades. End users should never be able to tell that a building is factory built, and this is the designer’s challenge. Modular buildings can be exciting and well-designed with articulated facades, quality materials and color plays that make them indistinguishable from conventional construction.
Module formats translate very effectively to multifamily housing, but there are also use-cases in hospitality, satellite shelters, disaster recovery, healthcare and retail. Components such as walls, stairs, elevators, plumbing assemblies or entire bathrooms can be built in the factory and plugged in onsite. Prefabricated facades can provide everything between framing and exterior cladding, expediting weather-enclosure and eliminating the need for temporary scaffolding.
Challenges
While building in the factory has potential advantages in hard costs, quality and efficiency, it is not appropriate for every project. It’s better suited to smaller, repeatable, single-story spaces or units that can be assembled onsite than it is to massive volumes like those of a basilica. Making factory-built construction work takes careful planning, timing and some luck. Building the modules, transporting, storing and delivering them to site, unwrapping, then setting and weather-enclosing the building all need to happen in one coordinated sequence.
Modular construction needs to be approached with an appetite for challenge, and pragmatism to get the most benefit. It makes sense in mountain communities and where on-site labor costs are high. The front-loaded financing structure can make lenders uneasy, but there are cost savings to offset this: reducing construction duration means lower general conditions and reduced builder’s risk insurance. Shorter construction schedules also allow for quicker conversion to lower-interest rate permanent financing. Finally, the sooner a project comes online, the sooner it may start generating revenue.
For The Future
Factory-built construction may not be the solution for every project. Rethinking the process and possibilities, however, allows factory-built construction to be a legitimate methodology in today’s building industry. Never has there been so much support and need for innovation. No doubt there are challenges ahead, but we can only surpass them if we’re willing to evolve, and with more success stories the industry will become more comfortable building in the factory.
La Sagrada Familia began with traditional construction techniques and materials such as handcrafted stone and unreinforced concrete. Today, advances in 3D modeling and printing, and even prefabrication of stone facades have been embraced. Evolving the process allowed the longest active construction project to finally bring the finish line into view, in the year 2026. When it gets there, I look forward to seeing it once again.
