According to the trend radar of the German construction industry, the most important current mega trends for the construction industry are climate change and sustainability, demographic change, digitization, urbanization and infrastructure. Digitization and sustainability are of the highest relevance, but are still relatively rarely used. The trend towards urbanization is also highly relevant, but is already more widespread.
In the field of urbanization, there is also a clear trend towards modular house construction - a construction approach that offers the possibility of creating individual living space more cost and time efficiently. As a result, the modularization of houses within the framework of the trend radar study is also identified as a worthwhile niche for the future.
The automotive industry has long relied on the advantages of modularization. New concepts in serial and modular construction transfer the principles of modularization in car construction to house construction and manufacture cost-effectively according to individual customer requirements.
In analogy to car construction, a house is also reduced to a certain number of standard elements (modules) and provided with precisely defined connection points for ceiling, exterior wall or windows. The modules are offered in different versions (variants), just as there are different seats, engines or other equipment for a car. An infinite number of variants of buildings can be assembled from this.
For example, almost 1.7 billion different individual floor plans are already possible for a single-family house with 8 modules and a construction kit with 50 different room modules. Even the most modern technology in terms of energy saving and energy generation can be integrated without any problems.
The individual modules are not produced on site, but in the factory. The latest industrial production methods are used, from automation to digitization. Since the modular design allows higher quantities in mass production than in the previous prefabricated house construction, this results in an enormous gain in productivity and thus a considerable reduction in costs. Model calculations show savings of 50 to 75 percent compared to conventional construction methods. In addition, construction projects are completed more than 70 percent faster.
In the same way that you put together your dream car using a configurator today, a customer can also create his future home on the computer. This has two major advantages: On the one hand, the customer can change the plan as often as he wants without additional costs, on the other hand, data is generated via the configurator, which is available to the architect, the authorities, the production planner in the factory and the fitters on the construction site.
This is why digitization with the Building Information Modeling (BIM) system is becoming increasingly important, particularly in modular construction. Material bills of materials and possible product variants must be preconfigured down to the last detail and be available in production in order to take advantage of the modular design.
© Bausoft Solution, Graz
The BIM also enables the ongoing exchange of information between all parties involved during the construction phase and thus supports the realization of the construction project within the specified time and budget and with a low error rate. Although the BIM is already widely known in the construction industry, there is often still a lack of knowledge to transfer the analog working environment into a digital and networked value-added process.
As soon as the foundation and cellar have been completed, only the finished modules have to be installed. Since pipes and cables have already been installed in the factory, nothing needs to be repaired. This enables construction sites to be completed faster and more efficiently. The greatest savings are therefore achieved on the construction site, since 80 percent of the added value in modular house construction already takes place in upstream process steps in the factory.
The concept of modularization solves the conflicting goals of the construction industry of being able to offer products that can be customized while at the same time being cost efficient. In terms of cost-effectiveness, this results in advantages over conventional construction methods in terms of cost, time, quality assurance and flexibility.
Modular house construction offers the possibility to realize individual building projects at lower costs and with less time. In this way, modularization can make an important contribution to counteracting the housing shortage in urban regions.