Bridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap: Balancing Design and Industrialized Construction

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Bridging the Gap: Balancing Design and Industrialized Construction Steven Baker, AIA, NCARB Team Lead / Architect

Meghan Davis Designer / Client Lead

Phillip Richter Designer

Cody Fields Visualization Specialist

Blake Hollingshead, P.E. Structural Engineer

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Table of Contents Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

What Is Industrialized Construction?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Why is Now the Right Time?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Worsening Shortage of Skilled Labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Growing Environmental and Logistical Constraints. . . . . . . . . . . 11

Increasing Need for Accelerated Return on Investments. . . . 12

Increasing Availability of Advanced Design Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Tipping Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Emerging Perspectives on Design and Industrialized Construction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Balancing Design and Manufacturing in Practice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 What’s Next? The Needs of a Mature IC Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Taming and Shaping our Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Standardization and the “IC Platform” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Goals 1. To act as a brief primer to the fundamental ideas behind industrialized construction.

To answer: What is it, and why now?

2. To deliver a brief survey of HFA’s perspective based on our ongoing work developing and deploying industrialized construction strategies, and to discuss the perspective of the various stakeholders in those processes.

To answer: How are stakeholder’s jobs changing?

3. To offer one possible roadmap of moving the industrialized construction movement forward, toward a point of maturity where the efficiency and opportunity that now seems so compelling becomes the default.

To answer: What needs to happen next?

Executive

The purpose of this wh construction, especiall more and more. Owner understand the compe technology, there are m gap, at Harrison French more clearly where tec

In a fledgling industry, it What is more valuable i problems you never ex in various scales of indu urgent problems indust our aim with this whiteunanswered when it co Through taming and sh through the establishm industrialized construc are already being revea

e Summary

hite paper is to add to the ongoing conversation around industrialized ly in how it relates to the various stakeholders whose jobs are being affected rs, designers, manufacturers, and even contractors are now starting to elling opportunities industrialized construction offers, but as with any new many gaps in understanding. Past this most obvious stakeholder knowledge h & Associates (HFA) our work in industrialized construction has also shown us chnology and application gaps exist.

t is easy to see the obvious potential and to identify the known-unknowns. is to discover through doing what the unknown-unknowns are: what new xpected must be addressed? At Harrison French & Associates, our experience ustrialized construction projects has helped us understand what the most trialized construction needs to solve are. And so aside from the goals above, -paper is to help readers understand that, although many questions are still omes to industrialized construction, the answers are beginning to emerge. haping the technology that must facilitate industrialized construction, and ment of standards and norms for the design and construction phases of ction, we can prepare the industry to seize the extraordinary opportunities that aled for owners, designers, manufacturers and contractors alike.

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Introduction Many examples may come to mind at the mention of industrialized construction. The most common is of structures that are boxy or composed of shipping containers. This preconceived notion deters some owners from pursuing industrialized construction because of perceived limitations in the range of possible aesthetic options compared to what they want their building to look like. Put simply, many owners think they have to choose either using m odular construction or preserving their unique design elements, but not both. However, industrialized construction has much to offer, especially in forward-thinking and contemporary design. For that reason, it is worth starting by developing a shared language around what the term means.

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What Is Industrialized Construction?

‘Modular construction’ and ‘industrialized construction’ are terms that have been used to describe any construction project in which whole components of the structure are fabricated offsite. These parts manufactured off-site may be as simple as wall panels with windows or doors already fitted, or as extensive as entire sections of the building that have mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) components integrated.

For the purposes of discussing current trends in the industry, scales of industrialized construction that have emerged are (Pullen, 2019):

Volumetric Modular: Fully prefabricated units with nearly all major components manufactured and assembled off-site; volumes are then shipped to their destination and installation is finished on-site Flat-Pack: Full elements, such as entire walls or floors, are manufactured and assembled off-site, typically with the most complicated elements like MEP systems included; elements are then laid down and stacked on top of each other to be shipped to and connected on the project site Kit of Parts: Often analogized to IKEA furniture, individual parts are designed and then precisely manufactured off-site, bundled together during shipping and assembled on-site; parts are typically designed so as to simplify and improve manufacturing and assembly

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Of these categories, roughly 75% of all industrialized construction falls into the volumetric modular style (Pullen, 2019). Volumetric modular is so-named because the volume of the building is being filled with units that are fully prefabricated, not just using standardized panels to build walls faster (an example of flat-pack), or organizing kits of the necessary parts at the right spots for easier install (an example of kit of parts).

Expanding on the work of Pullen in the referenced 2019 paper, based on our experience it is helpful to think of a fourth category of scale: wall panelization. While not taking the build-out as far as flat-pack, work with our clients suggests wall panelization is a strategy, and first step towards industrialized construction, that allows for significant improvement on traditional construction practices while preserving the essential design elements of a project. Based on this, an improved list of industrialized construction scales can be generated. In order of decreasing complexity:

• Volumetric Modular • Wall Panelization • Flat-Pack • Kit of Parts

All four methods gain an advantage over traditional construction, with the scale of that advantage best understood as a relation of how much work is required on-site to complete.

A simple thought experiment can reveal this sliding scale of onsite work and how it relates to the quality and time that can be saved through industrialized construction.

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What Is Industrialized Construction?

In the case of a kit of parts, the on-site worker has all the parts they need, ready to install, but they must install them. The logistics of transporting the kit to the correct location at the correct time must be managed along with other work materials.

Wall panelization and flat-pack move along the scale by delivering components of the manufacturing process in more substantial pieces. Panelizing walls, roofing, and flooring and then integrating MEP components on-site is a significant step forward. Even more impressive efficiency gains can be had using a flat-pack strategy in which all or some MEP components are installed off-site and simply connected on-site, saving considerable time running these pieces of infrastructure after installation and offering a more streamlined install. Interior and exterior finishes may also be incorporated into wall panels in the flat-pack approach. Viewed this way, it is clear that the boundary between what constitutes wall panelization and what constitutes flat-pack is porous based on the unique admixture of needs for a given project.

At the end of the spectrum, volumetric modular strategies seek to deliver swaths of the building just in time for install, and with all internal and external/facade work completed, with only minimal finishing required.

As a given project moves along this scale, more and more complex installation is happening off-site and in a controlled environment rather than on-site, which allows for significantly higher quality control and more efficient logistics handling.

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What’s more, the assembly-line structure allows for greater economies of scale and logistics bonuses: it is much easier to find and stage parts in a timely manner when working in a large offsite warehouse instead of whatever staging space happens to be available at the job site.

So, armed with these ideas, we can identify the key components of industrialized construction and generate a concise definition:

Industrialized Construction (IC):​the tactic of moving construction activities (such as gathering and staging supplies and assembling and installing building components) off-site, in which the quality of building components increases, and time-to-install decreases as a function of the amount of construction activities that are shifted.

However, based on this definition (in which IC is clearly advantageous), there is an obvious disconnect with the current real-world construction industry. If IC has always had these positive features, why is it not the current world standard for how construction is accomplished everywhere? And why is it only now that we are seeing a shift toward IC in which there are more companies working on IC projects and more venture capital flowing into this niche of the construction industry than ever before (Pullen, 2019)?

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Why is Now the Right Time?

In the construction industry, there are several forces that have been pushing in the direction of industrialized construction. There is no single event or trend that explains why now is the time for industrialized construction to take off, but below we offer a brief overview of the major trends, as well as discussion around an acute pressure in the market that is ratcheting up the value of industrialized construction past a tipping point.

Trends Worsening Shortage of Skilled Labor If there is one prevailing trend driving the need for change, it is the shortage of skilled labor in the industry. A lack of skilled general contractors has reduced the efficiency of the entire industry, skewing costs and sometimes leaving owners with an inability to move forward for the lack of anyone to build the project they had designed. And this is not anecdotal: at HFA, we’ve worked with owners who were driven to industrialized construction due to a lack of availability of general contractors to perform their work.

Growing Environmental and Logistical Constraints Tighter regulations on energy use and pollution drive the industry to operate in a cleaner, more sustainable way. Especially in dense urban areas, the logistical concerns of lack of staging space can cause complications and delays.

Industrialized construction addresses both of these trends by moving the majority of construction off-site. When building modular components of any size, manufacturing is performed in a controlled environment, reducing the need for as much staging space at the job site. And by modularizing a given project, construction of the resulting modular components can be accomplished in assembly-line style, with more efficient raw material usage and higher control of the environmental impact of construction activities.

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Why is Now the Right Time?

Trends Increasing Need for Accelerated Return on Investment Building owners are always pushing to open faster, to begin recouping costs on their capital investment as soon as possible. This basic pressure on the system has led the construction industry to constantly seek out better, faster ways of doing things. This has taken the form of developing advanced building techniques and standards, as well as the adoption of more sophisticated design tools and techniques. With an increased quality of documentation and more widely adopted standards, the number of RFIs to address falls and construction can proceed quicker. Industrialized construction is the logical next step in this trend: by allowing for building construction to begin immediately after the design is approved, parallel to the development of the site and laying the foundation, a building can open 3050% sooner (“Improving Construction…” 2010).

Increasing Availability of Advanced Design Tools Trends in technological development and the propagation of those technologies have reached a point of saturation in which the quality of information exchange available to all parties can support the higher complexity requirements of industrialized construction. The need for more standardized communication is discussed further in the paper (section: ‘What Are the Needs of a Mature IC Industry?’), but as far as the tools needed for that communication–BIM, Cloudhosted document management, etc.–these are available and used widely enough that the platform for effectively deploying IC can be built on top of them.

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Site Built Construction Schedule

Modular Construction Schedule

design engineering

design engineering

permits & approvals

permits & approvals building construction at plant

site development & foundations

install & site restoration

building construction

site restoration

time savings

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Why is Now the Right Time?

Tipping Point Examining these trends, it is clear that the industry is moving toward industrialized construction in a general sense. Environmental and logistical constraints, the need for accelerated return on investment, and the availability of advanced design tools help explain why IC is the destination, but the shortage of skilled labor explains why now is the time for greater change. This acute labor pressure is putting the industry in a position where incremental movement addressing that specific trend is so far outside of the normal business of building construction that it would not make sense to mobilize resources there. (Designers and Manufacturers cannot, for instance, open schools to supply more general contractors in an attempt to fix the labor shortage directly.) But, resources must be mobilized to get the job done. Given the acute labor pressure, and the prevailing winds of the other trends, we are now seeing owners take the leap into industrialized construction. And we are also seeing the ways this approach is shaping new ways of thinking within the industry.

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Emerging Pers Design and Ind Construction

For all the major stakeholders in th industrialized construction means shifting. As described above, the im conjures is typically a containerize considering industrialized constru in understanding: that industrialize project, not a visual style. Any proje panelization, for instance, and build If you start with a vision for the buil industrialized construction brings of industrialized construction is ba modularized, so long as the resulti the construction site.

This leads us to the shifting nature owner understand first that they c there is a right way to do it, a way th elements and meets their industria to the designer, who now must tak construction process. Addressing responsibility of designing a buildin modular components fit the shippi industry. It certainly cannot be exp match shipping constraints, nor m So far, we’ve seen the solution her are best positioned to understand as well as the manufacturer’s uniqu a balance between the two.

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spectives on dustrialized

he construction process, the view of what s and how it impacts their job is already mage that the term industrialized construction ed, boxy building. Especially for owners uction, this is one of the most fundamental shifts ed construction is a tactic deployed on any ect can be constructed using flat-pack or wall ding owners are coming to understand that. lding first, there are very few limitations that to the process. The only fundamental limitation ased on shipping capability. Any project can be ing modular components can still be shipped to

“[Designers] are best positioned to understand the project’s aesthetic and design requirements as well as the manufacturer’s unique production capabilities, and best

e of the design role. Who oversees helping the can modularize their project, and second that hat preserves their unique essential design alized construction goals? This job has fallen ke more ownership of the overall design and g the logistical/shipping concern above, this ng that is modularized and ensuring that the ing limitations is a new problem within the pected of owners to shift design parameters to manufacturers to understand the owners design. re come most naturally from the designer. They d the project’s aesthetic and design requirements ue production capabilities, and best able to strike

able to strike a balance between the two”

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Emerging Perspectives on Design and Industrialized Construction Manufacturers, on the other hand, are also finding their place in the project shift to fit the needs of industrialized construction. A manufacturer might currently focus on producing generic building components sold to a high volume of consumers, but the shift to industrialized construction requires the production of extensive modular components instead of mass production of individual building components. This shift in manufacturing is required to realize the increased efficiency and quality made possible by industrialized construction, but it requires new skills of manufacturers like developing assembly lines to produce, for example, wall panelized units or volumetric modular units that are different from project to project.

And with industrialized construction occurring along a scale as described earlier in this paper, there will be no one-size-fits-all manufacturing solution.

Manufacturers will have to become more flexible, and more used to working with designers throughout a project to meet each project’s unique demands.

And this de-facto experience of manufacturers–in which they are no longer just providing components but likely assembling the near-finished product– leads to a shift in the contractor labor/tradesman’s scope. The shifting of construction work to a more industrialized approach offers workers new opportunities. First, the opportunity to go to work at the same job site every day, working in a much more controlled, safe environment while building modular components off-site. Second, the opportunity to execute on-site installation of projects that is simpler and more streamlined. In both cases, the experience of labor during fabrication and installation starts to look comparatively safer, routinized, and predictable.

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In the addr by in and m and a labo job in

As yo som cont ecos in ne outlin cons chan of th happ sequ desig is mo

e short-term, industrialized construction seeks to ress the labor shortage discussed earlier in this paper ncreasing the productivity of labor through automation mechanization of building component manufacture assembly, but in the long-term it may also help the or shortage by making construction a more attractive n general.

ou can see, industrialized construction is not just mething that the designer, owner, manufacturer or tractor can choose to do for themselves. It is an system, in which each of these existing roles will shift ew and different ways. The emerging perspectives ned above, which we have observed in industrialized struction projects for clients at HFA, will no doubt nge more, and in more complex ways than the scope his paper seeks to capture. But the changes are pening. In general, we are seeing a shift away from the uential approach to construction (in which a project is gned, then manufactured, then built) toward one that ore parallel.

Balancing Design an Manufacturing in Pra

Industrialized construction requires a level of ove and manufacturing phases that has not been req Manufacturers, who are used to supplying raw m finishing components must now be involved eno they can produce customized modular compone at the site. And designers can no longer finalize t out any manufacturer to supply generic raw mate components. Instead, the designer must work w develop a plan for manufacturing the modular co range in scale from kit of parts to volumetric mod

It is hard to understate how different this is than t It makes the choice of a manufacturer and a desi important because those groups are no longer e discrete set of tasks with a clear beginning and e with each other to co-design the building based the manufacturer’s capabilities.

Beyond these new realities that industrialized co there is also the dominant priority of the owner’s Manufacturers and designers have always been accountable to the owner, but the increased coo construction demands adds a layer of teamwork There is a real risk of the owner’s ultimate goals b

nd actice

erlap within the design quired in the past. materials and some ough in the process that ents that will fit together their plans and then seek erials or simple building with the manufacturer to omponents, which may dular units.

the current status quo. igner for a project more expected to perform a end, but instead to partner on the designer’s plans and

onstruction demands, vision for their project. n and will remain ordination that industrialized k to this relationship. being lost in the balancing

process of the designer making changes to optimize the manufacturer’s capabilities, and vice versa. Add to that the reality in the industry that there is no way to simply change manufacturers or designers after a project is under-way, and it becomes clear that selecting the right design and manufacturing partners is the most critical, make-or-break decision for a project seeking to employ industrialized construction techniques.

So far at HFA, in our experience designing and facilitating industrialized construction projects for our clients, we have seen this owner-designer-manufacturer relationship as the major opportunity for improvement. Deploying both pilot and nation-wide scale projects, understanding the interplay of design and manufacturing, and balancing these needs against the ultimate requirements of the owner has been a novel challenge. It has taught us how to work more as a team with manufacturers and owners to make industrialized construction projects succeed, and to help owners understand how to realize the efficiencies of industrialized construction they can achieve while preserving the essential design elements of their projects.

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What Are the Needs of a Mature IC Industry?

At this point, there is no question that some forward-looking owners are finding a way to work with designers and manufacturers to realize the gains of industrialized construction, but we are still firmly in the ramping-up phase of this movement. The projects we’re working on now may involve tens or even a few hundred sites at a time, but to a mature IC industry, these will seem like they are of pilot scale. What is needed to go beyond this point? What systems and platforms will we need to support wide-scale industrialized construction activities?

Taming and Shaping our Technologies First, a major gap we’ve found is identifying a shared technological platform.

Designers and manufacturers are comfortable working in digital design platforms, but often these platforms do not match. A designer may send drawings generated in REVIT, for instance, that are then redrawn by the manufacturer in CAD. This leads to duplicated efforts and valuable time lost. And when designers and manufacturers are operating in a partnership with more back-and-forth, the friction from platform mismatch grows. There is a need for a cohesive system in which design changes and communication about those changes can fluidly move between parties.

The owner is also impacted by this technology gap. Ultimately, the owner must approve of the design, and based on the scale of changes that might be necessary to modularize a given project, the owner needs a time-efficient way to be able to review those changes, and at a level of detail that is high enough that they can be reasonably expected to understand what they are agreeing to.

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What Are the N Mature IC Indu

Based on our experience, to solve should commit to a technological s should make sure this standard is o reviewed in 3D. The technology fo to designing projects in 3D, then th with an owner or manufacturer. Wh quickest, simplest, and in our expe troubleshoot problems with the m and also achieve well-informed bu

We believe that design firms have are not advocating the use of any s recommending that for a given con of industrialized construction, a sh and review should be agreed upon of their partnership. This requires o to work with early in the process, a to outline a basic plan that all partie begins. Thus the importance of ow partners, not discrete parts of the

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Needs of a ustry?

e these problems designers and manufacturers standard upfront on a given project, and they one in which the project can be designed and or this is already available. If designers can commit hey are making it easier to review the design hen changes are proposed, a 3D review is the erience, the most cost-effective way to both manufacturer while they are still in a virtual space, uy-in from the owner on any design changes.

“What systems and platforms will we need to support widescale industrialized construction activities?�

to be strategy and technology agnostic. We specific program or platform. Instead, we are nstruction project attempting to deploy the tactic hared system of some kind that enables 3D design n by the designers and manufacturers at the start owners to identify manufacturers they are willing and working with the designer and manufacturer es agree on before any major documentation wners, designers, and manufacturers becoming process.

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Standardization an

The gains realized from synchroni technologies as described above half, in which buildings must be fab overhaul of the current constructio out of the physical industrialized c industrialized construction activiti clear what the requirements of tha

First, standardization in fabrication for manufacturers to easily move t all have to start from scratch. Ther reduce the friction of joining the in from a manufacturer’s perspective for design modularization approac volumes/weights for modular build adopting standards for MEP conn how pre-installed electrical system approved at the warehouse before the site.

This is critical not only for easing th construction but to set the stage fo The relocation of so much constru warehouse in which modular com line becomes a process not far rem Powered by a robust platform of st with higher demand from a market construction, it is not far-fetched t be designed and ordered from a m into their continuous assembly-lin

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nd the IC Platform

izing design and manufacturing are only half of the story. The other bricated and built, requires a massive on fabrication industry. This buildconstruction platform, atop which ies occur, will take time, but it is already at system should be.

“it is not far-fetched to picture a future in which buildings

n should be established. It is impossible to industrialized construction if they re has to be some platform in place to ndustrialized construction movement e. This may mean adopting standards ches or at least defining maximum ding components. It also means nections and setting precedents for ms, for instance, can be inspected and e the modular component is installed at

can be designed and ordered from a manufacturer who can slot the project into their continuous assembly-line with few changes�

he transition to industrialized for the industry to embrace automation. uction activity to a centralized mponents can be built on an assemblymoved from auto manufacturing. tandards and norms, and coupled t that has warmed to industrialized to picture a future in which buildings can manufacturer who can slot the project ne with few changes.

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Conclusion It has been clear for some time that there is massive opportunity in the industrialized construction field, but extraordinary claims such as the 3050% reduced construction time (“Improving Construction…” 2010) require extraordinary evidence. Through the process of working with owners to cross the threshold of theory to practice with several industrialized construction projects, we’ve found that the construction times really can be reduced an incredible amount. And we can report back that the process does not have to be all or nothing.

One small-format restaurant client worked with us to optimize their building design with wall panelization in order to reduce on-site labor and framing duration, with the rest of the building constructed on-site in order to retain essential design elements of their project. Another client, a national retailer,

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worked with us to design flat-pack wall panels that provide the entire building envelope, allowing them to build stores from slabon-grade to open in 30 days. In both cases, elements of design and manufacturing were balanced such that the clients were able to leverage the efficiencies of industrialized construction without sacrificing essential design elements. With the knowledge and experience gained from these projects, both clients are continuing to explore additional opportunities to increase speed to market and reduce on-site labor with further industrialization of their projects.

These early examples reveal that industrialized construction is ready for more clients, and more experimentation, in order to realize faster times-to-open and reduce the dependence on contractor labor for a project. We’ve seen how the impact of the process on owners, designers, manufacturers, and contractors requires more interdependence. And how the technologies in play, as well as the fabrication standards, can add smoothness or friction to the process. In the long term, it is clear we need more standards and more shared technological ecosystems for all the parties involved, but right now, today, we are ready to build industrialized construction projects.

The key is to partner with a designer who is ready to take on the increased ownership and coordination duties that industrialized construction requires. Owners should seek out designers with experience expanding their role beyond solely designing buildings, who act more in title like “Design Counselors,� able to help reduce the decision-making burdens owners experience during the process while working with manufacturers and contractors in parallel. To us, this is something that is not just achievable but is critical to the success of any industrialized construction project.

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References Pullen, Tyler et. al. 2019. “A Preliminary Overview of Emerging Trends for Industrialized Construction in the United States”. Stanford University, February. https://www. researchgate.net/publication/335260785_White_Paper_A_Preliminary_Overview_of_ Emerging_Trends_for_industrialized_Construction_in_the_United_States “Improving Construction Efficiency and Production with Modular Construction”. Modular. org.2010.TheModular.org. 2010.The Modular Building Institute.

“Design for Modular Construction: An Introduction for Architects”. American Institute of Architects

Contact us today to learn more about how our team of architects and engineers can help you and your clients with your next project.

Steven Baker, AIA, NCARB

Larry Lott, AIA

Team Lead / Architect

President / CIO

479.273.7780 ext 384 steven.baker@hfa-ae.com

479.273.7780 ext 201 larry.lott@hfa-ae.com

www.hfa-ae.com

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