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by theluketaylor 1081 days ago
Stuff like SIPs (structural insulated panels) and CLT (cross laminated timber) are kind of changing the game on prefabrication offsite for homes. The components are small enough for trucking but assembling each lego blocks onsite gets you far closer to a completed house per unit time compared to stick framing. I've even seen some smaller SIP houses that don't need a crane onsite. You also don't end up with the modular house stigma.

It's still a small % of houses built, but it's very cost effective and getting better (and more common)

2 comments

I think there are a few niches for construction that haven't been solved, CLT and CMU can go up 16 stores and should be able to deliver "infinite" apartment buildings

european companies will build prefab exterior enclosure to retrofit old construction without displacing residents https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03787...

New construction:

Integrated Project Delivery - AI could solve the problem of aligning stakeholders possibly

Applying scrum/lean to construction -

BIM - there is a lot of data in a building and BIM standards are putting everything into one file,

digital twins: lidar and cameras and ai are all getting better where high accuracy scans can create as built digital twins while referencing BIM file to build it.

lifecycle analysis and building automation: precooling and preheating spaces, I believe we should have better rubric for valuing existing properties eg a window is an asset and a liability (many owners do not account for replacement costs leading to buildings in disrepair)

skilled labor - mixed reality education: if there is a digital twin then worker could use augmented reality to see preferred methods to make that happen while being credentialed and upskilling (crazy brick facades become possible)

Hadrian robot competitors: crane placing concrete blocks autonomously

I feel CLT is way more promising and super beautiful to look at too.