The Commercial Modular Building Blog

We’ve talked about modular nuclear reactors before. Basically any new construction technology that employs modular construction methods is of interest to this blog. As we’ve said before, modular construction methods are quickly becoming the dominant mode of construction and are being used for many different kinds of applications in today’s construction industry.  

It seems as though the US government is showing increasing interest in the modular nuclear industry. According to an article, the United States government announced a new funding initiative for the reactors which will involve the Department of Energy sharing costs with private modular reactor manufacturers to build small modular nuclear reactors.

The smaller reactors are deemed more flexible and cost-effective to construct, due to their modular nature. Also, these new modular reactors are much more safe, utilizing passive, automatic safety controls that more effectively monitor safety conditions than the old active controls that required human interaction to function.

Improved safety conditions will especially be important to the public, considering the recent Fukushima disaster being fresh in the public’s mind.  China itself has already been investing in the smaller modular nuclear reactors to accommodate its ever-increasing industrial capacities.

With modular design making more and more construction projects more efficient and cost-effective, we may be seeing all sorts of new construction activity spring up that was previously in the form of dormant  projects. For example, not many companies could make nuclear reactors because of the astronomical costs associated with construction, as well as the long period of time before the reactors would start turning a profit. Now with a more efficient construction method, higher quality and safer reactors can be constructed.

Expect modular reactors to start popping up around the United States in the next decade.

Now here’s an interesting proposal: a 200-story skyscraper that functions as an entire city. The city would hold about 100,000 people and would contain many features of a city such as business/retail, entertainment, shopping, etc.

The inhabitants wouldn’t need cars, and the building would be highly energy and material efficient. The skyscraper is of a modular design, so it is claimed the building could be constructed in 6 months.

That’s one of the more ambitious concepts being proposed by a Chinese company called Broad Sustainable Buildings. There are some who doubt that such a project is possible at this time, though the company did recently build a 30-story hotel in 15 days.

The fact of the matter is, with modular construction as the new standard in building, we are going to see more and more concepts popping up such as this, and perhaps more of them becoming a reality in the near future.

When we talk about the flexibility and versatility of our modular building systems, case studies like these really help us illustrate how versatile and flexible our modular walls really are. It is one thing to be able to produce endless variations of offices and enclosures, but custom applications like these really demonstrate the capabilities of our modular wall system.

Gaylord Palms, a resort in Florida, had a unique project in mind: they needed to erect a temporary movie theater inside their convention hall which would be composed of tall, sound-reducing walls that could reach the ceiling of their facility. Due to the scheduling of the convention hall, the construction portion of the project had to be done in a slim 48 hours. Considering the nature of the project, the client decided on a modular solution. Modular construction could provide the speed and efficiency to put up a high-quality temporary wall within roughly 48 hours. Also, the client would be able to take down the wall and reuse the modular components for future applications. In the end, Gaylord Palms went with Allied Modular’s building solution to handle their construction needs.

During the design phase, there were constant changes to the structure of the building, even up to the start date of the construction phase. Throughout the process Allied Modular was able to work with the client every step of the way and explain exactly what could be done and how. The timeframe was the most essential component to this project. Gaylord contracted an event company called SenovvA out of California who ran the build-out like a Broadway production, coordinating every phase from beginning to end. There was absolutely no time to waste or else another portion of the project would falter. Allied Modular had to be incredibly precise with every aspect of the job.

Needless to say, judging every phase of the project (design, manufacturing, and shipping) Allied Modular was able to deliver on all counts. Our team put together a tremendous effort to get such a large job done within the aggressive timeframe and our client was very happy with the results. According to Gaylord, they were exceptionally happy with the results, as the building turned out to be exactly what they thought it would be, and in the timeframe required, no less. In roughly two weeks, Gaylord Palms had a fully functioning, sound insulated 3D movie theater for its guests. Consider the conclusion of this project to be the beginning of another great business partnership!

Modular technologies have been featuring more and more prominently in various tech and construction news outlets around the world. It seems that not only in the construction industry, but across many industries, modular design has been gaining more and more favor as an alternate construction and manufacturing methodology.

Across many of these industries, modular design has become more prominent for common reasons: for system flexibility and lower construction/implementation times in an increasingly fast-paced economic world, and for cost effectiveness in a painfully protracted recessionary economy.

For example, we’ve been talking about all of the schools and businesses increasingly relying on modular construction because of time and budget constraints. Then there’s the growing use of modular construction in disaster relief programs such as for schools, medical buildings, housing, and even bridges in places like Joplin. Tech companies are increasingly using modular systems for their data centers in order to cut costs, save time, and improve efficiency among other things. Then there are the ongoing explorations into smaller, modular nuclear reactors that can be promising (of course if they are found to be safe, which with the modular designs, seems to be the case). And for you futurists out there, we are even seeing the development of modular, self-assembling foam robots (yep, that’s right) which could provide all sorts of exciting possibilities.  

What we are seeing is a broad paradigm shift in not only construction technology, but other manufacturing and data technologies as well. We are seeing an entire shift in thought towards a new, flexible, efficient mode of production. It is all very fascinating, and we will all benefit from it!

If you take a glance at the latest news headlines having to do with modular construction, you’ll find stories that show how schools all around the world are adopting modular buildings for their unique blend of efficiency and affordability along with quality and sturdiness.

You may be aware that school districts everywhere are still feeling the after-effects (or the ongoing effects, depending on your opinion) of the global recession. Districts are cutting back on expenses to cope with ever-shrinking budgets. 

Many schools are turning to modular construction for their classroom-building needs and for good reason. Modular buildings cut costs with efficient and time-saving construction methods that also minimize site disruption (which is a must for an educational environment).

How is this possible? Modular buildings are manufactured in components inside factories, where resources are used more efficiently and construction time is shortened. Most of the construction occurs offsite, leaving the build site clean and quiet so that children can continue to learn effectively, even as the new buildings are being built.

On top of these many unique advantages to the method of modular construction, finished modular buildings are sturdy, well-insulated, high-quality structures that can accomodate the ideal learning environment, and are a huge improvement over the trailer units that price-minded schools have turned to in the past.

Allied Modular itself offers modular educational classrooms that can be configured to meet the needs of any educational program. What’s more, these modular buildings can easily be altered, expanded, or relocated to account for the ever-changing student body of a given school.

As documented here on our modular building blog, this trend is not going to slow down any time soon; in fact there are signs that it is growing tremendously. It is not much of a surprise, considering the revolutionary nature of modular construction and its methods!

We’ve talked about downtime before on this blog, but we haven’t exactly gone into specifics, and how fast costs can add up because of downtime.

Some companies are aware of the costs of business downtime while others know it is undesirable, but they don’t know what it is costing them exactly. In fact, 67% of companies do not know the financial cost of downtime to their business. Downtime costs add up fast. Below are some data points that illustrate typical revenue losses that are a consequence of business downtime for a handful of surveyed companies:

• 54% of these companies experienced estimated losses of $10,000 – $100,000 an hour.
• 25% of these companies experienced estimated losses of $100,000 – $500,000 an hour.
• 13% of these companies experienced estimated losses of $500,000 – $1 million an hour.
• 4% of these companies experienced estimated losses of greater than $1 million an hour!

So what is downtime? Downtime is basically a period of time in which your business processes are put on hold due to construction, infrastructure changes, reorganization, remodeling or anything else that can disrupt the daily functions of your business. Construction downtime can be especially taxing: airborne particles, dust, paint, various messes and noise pollution can be highly disruptive to your daily business processes and your employees’ productivity.

During periods of downtime, you are losing out on output and the ability to address the needs of your customers. Employee productivity can go down and your customer service can suffer. Losses from downtime can include revenue from product, customer loyalty, loss in efficiency and more. If you want to run a successful business, you will certainly want to avoid downtime as much as possible, or at least minimize its overall impact.

With our modular construction method, installation of a modular building is minimally invasive. We manufacture the components of the building in our factory and then ship the components to the build site, where we install the building quickly and cleanly. Our construction method is much more efficient than traditional construction methods, which can involve messy, time consuming processes such as drywall work, patching, and painting. With our modular construction method, we can reduce your business downtime to minimal amounts, or even eliminate it altogether, allowing you to continue your business processes without interruption or loss in revenue.

We’ve talked about the efficiency of modular construction in general terms. How it saves on labor and energy and resource costs. But what we often don’t think about are the many more subtle ways you save time, money, and effort by manufacturing modules instead of engaging in hard construction.

Think about construction crews for instance. Depending on how well the project is planned, how materials are managed and what stores of materials the construction crew will have ready at the site, minor mistakes can be smoothed over or they can cause huge delays and efficiencies.

For example, many construction crews run their workers back and forth from hardware stores, plumbing supply depots, and lumber yards as they need more materials, especially if changes need to be made or there are miscalculations on required materials.

This can be highly time consuming, especially if adjustments need to be made in a rural area where potential supply outlets can be miles and miles away. These sorts of inefficiencies can account for more working hours, gas being used up as workers make supply runs, materials being wasted, plans being altered, resulting in demolished sections, really anything.

With modular construction, all of the planning and manufacturing happens at one site, in a controlled factory setting. Everything is planned out advance, and then the manufactured modules are brought to the build site, usually in one trip, where they are cleanly installed and then the project is done. Through planning and controlled manufacturing, many of the errors that can arise during the course of hard construction simply dissolve in this case, ceasing to be possibilities. Of course, mistakes can be made anywhere really; but with modular construction, a mistake can be found and corrected much more quickly and efficiently, especially considering the nature of the module itself.

Modular buildings can be taken apart or expanded at will, without the need for demolishing, due to the flexibility of the building’s components.

It is one thing to make processes more efficient through planning and streamlining and coordinating, but modular construction achieves a new plateau of efficient construction by completely altering the methods of construction themselves.

Expect more of these hidden efficiencies to start popping up and giving us pleasant surprises.

We here at Allied Modular have always championed the flexibility and universality of our modular systems. We are proud of the diversity of applications that can be derived out of a simpler, universal modular system.

With a modular system, universal, self-sufficient wall panels and frames can be combined in an endless array of configurations, lending to a huge variety of possible building types and functions.

We have talked about the advantage of this universality: through universality comes flexibility. If you build a complex system out of simpler elements and deliberately make those simpler elements independent and interchangeable, you give that complex system the inherent potential to be reduced back to those simpler elements, thus allowing you to build another complex system out of those original elements.

 lexibility allows businesses to implement change quickly and effectively to meet the rapidly changing conditions of the modern market.

Universality also promotes reusability, which in turn promotes sustainability. Instead of the wasteful process of creating, destroying, and creating again, we have the process of creating and then reusing that creation over and over again for years to come, greatly reducing waste and resource use. This has the added benefit of cutting costs as well.  

Now universality and flexibility are great things. But what do we have to say about custom applications? Sure there are applications that are so unique and atypical that it is difficult to account for the variation in a universal system, so what do we do about this?

The answer is we are fully capable of creating custom solutions that will fit the most unique needs.

For example, this application:

 

This is an enclosure for a large-scale compressor that will be used on an oil rig. The compressor had a special shape and the machinery was situated in such a way that a specific region of the compressor had to be covered in order to protect it from interference from the environment.

We solved this problem by creating a custom enclosure to be fitted on the compressor which includes latching doors that can be opened for machinery inspection and cleaning.

We were given a unique problem, which we solved with a custom application realized by our talented architectural/engineering departments.

Type modular design in Google Images and you see a colorful patchwork of what the future might look like.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, modular design is generally a sign of maturation in a respective craft. It is the indication that a designer has mastered the basic principles of functionality in a design and is moving on to universalize the design, making iterations of the design more adaptable, versatile, and efficient.

What do I mean by all of this? Let me give you an example.

The evolution of the building industry actually serves as a convenient example. Not long ago, the building industry worked mainly with rigid, fixed buildings, each building taking on a specific function. A different building had to be built according to each unique function. If the building’s function changed, they had to demolish sections or even the whole building and dispose of the waste. Then they had to start a new section or building to accommodate new functions.

As designers and builders mastered their methods, they started thinking about new, more efficient ways to build. Modularity of design is born. Larger units of construction (such as a building) break down and atomize into individual, self-contained units (such as modular wall panels and frames). These units can then be arranged into larger structures, or buildings, to be fitted with doors, windows, HVAC units, faucets, and whatever other items need to be installed to carry out a specific function. Then, all of these individual units can be broken down again to form something else.

We now see a whole new level of efficiency, adaptability, and versatility in our buildings, benefitting our businesses and the environment simultaneously! This model can be extended to all other aspects of design. Granted, some designs are unique and non-transferrable. We aren’t quite at the point where we can break down a cell phone and rearrange it into a lawn-chair. But will we ever be at that point? Or is it just absurd? I don’t know.

Nevertheless, more and more designs are becoming more modular and versatile. This is what the future will look like.

Interestingly, modular designs are also going hand in hand with nature-imitating designs. Humanity’s peaking interest in the environment is really beginning to show at a time when designs are undergoing modularization.

This is completely appropriate, since modular design is environmentally friendly and cuts down on waste. We can now cut down on multiple design iterations and redundancy by providing universal designs that can be configured to meet a variety of uses. In the near future, you won’t have to go to lengths to build your dream kitchen, only to rip it out and redo it when you want to upgrade it. You’ll be able to install and remove various kitchen modules to carry out your changing needs.

This saves dramatically on unnecessary waste. Our increasing investment in sustainable designs is consistent with the physical appearance with these designs. Designs are appearing more and more organic and are further taking on the appearance of their surroundings. All of these emerging elements in design indicate our understanding that we are a part of our environment and are not separate from it. Further, we wish to sustain that environment and protect. That’s what the future is going to look like.