RIBA publishing released Simon Bayliss and Rory Bergin’s Modular Housing Handbook, this practical handbook combines real-world advice on designing modular housing with a compelling argument for off-site construction as a means for architects taking a greater role and achieving more influence in their housing projects. Focusing on the benefits as well as the challenges of modular construction, this book illustrates that off-site construction need not act as a design constraint and can in fact provide an opportunity for greater design impact.
The central theme is the exploration of the wide-ranging benefits that a new approach can bring to the standard of design and quality of construction, to enable the production of higher performing buildings and to encourage a more collaborative industry. Only that way can we deliver better outcomes for everyone involved: the designers and producers, the funders, owners and managers, the local councils, the existing communities welcoming further investment in their neighbourhoods and, above all, to the benefit of the residents who will choose to live there.
This book explores the reason why there has never been a more propitious time for a revolution in modular housing, and sets out the case for an explosion in factory made housing. It is also a call to the architects and designers engaged in housing design to embrace better models for delivery and a much improved culture that could, perhaps quite counterintuitively, provide the profession with the greatest opportunity of a generation to regain a more central role in the creation of better homes for our communities.
The book includes many HTA case studies:
- George Street, the tallest modular building in the world
- Greenford Quay, Tillermans
- Apex House
- Union Wharf
- Holloway Road
- Savoy Circus
Available here
