modular units Archives

Modular Buildings Were Here Long Before The Pilgrims, and They Haven’t Changed As Much As You Think

marshall2019-10-09T16:35:49+00:00

“So you know the trailer classrooms at my school?” said my niece. “Yes,” I responded. “I realized today the Native Americans were making those modular buildings long before that Aries company you work with!” Hmm. The holidays often bring about introspection, especially for children. But my niece had a point worth pondering, so I did. And now I’m passing these wispy thoughts and information on to you, so as you walk forward in the world of construction trailers, mobile offices, and other prefab dwellings, you can think back to the original portable buildings of America’s Great Plains.

For thousands of years, Native Americans sought housing suitable for their lifestyle and climate. For nomadic tribes that followed the buffalo, it was imperative that their entire village was able to pick up very quickly and move along to another location (sounds a bit like workforce housing, no?). These relocatable quarters, or teepees, were built using many long wooden poles for the frame, then tied together snug at the top and spread out wide at the ground, making an upside-down cone shape. After this frame was tested for sturdiness, a giant covering made from buffalo hides was placed over the structure. This process took around 30 minutes, making it an extremely efficient way to live.

As tribes migrated, each family in the village would carry along their own poles and hides, erecting teepees around 12-feet tall. After horses came into the picture, they started building them twice as tall. In the summer time, the buffalo hide could be raised, allowing the cool plains air to flow through the gap at the bottom. And in the winter, the teepee could be quickly insulated by adding additional coverings over the structure and building a fire inside, allowing the smoke to flow out the hole on top of the teepee.

When it gets down to it, not much has changed when it comes to what we look for in a portable building.

Time savings

Since the construction of modular buildings can take place simultaneously with the site & foundation work, projects can be completed in almost half the time as traditional construction, not to mention the elimination of weather delays.

Safety

Prefabricated buildings are built to meet or exceed the same building codes and standards as site-built structures, and the indoor construction environment reduces the risks of accidents for workers.

Quality

Modular buildings are assembled with the same materials, building codes, and architectural specifications as traditional construction, using BIM technology to assess energy performance and identify the most-cost effective measures in advance.

Environmentally conscious

Modular construction takes place within a controlled facility, minimizing site disturbance, besides reducing waste and continued need for raw materials – as the same modular unit can be used time and time again.

Adaptability

A portable classroom can have another life as a mobile office. A mobile container can be customized into a construction trailer. Modular units can also be designed to fit in with external aesthetics of any existing structures, making them virtually indistinguishable from any other architecture.

When it’s all said and done, the most important part of the equation is the families which make up the village. Although the days of the North American nomadic tribes are passed, the responsibility to “create your own space” still remains in the hands of the families within our communities. The Native Americans worked together as a unit in order to make sure their community was safe, fed, and had the opportunity to grow in the face of change. Here at Aries, we still value that keeping people cool, warm, safe, and comfortable is still the goal. And as a family-owned business, we believe in helping our communities grow in every way we can.

If you would like our turnkey assistance in the commercial design, manufacturing, transportation, construction, or financing of your modular building project, please visit us ariesbuildings.com or give us a call at (888) 702-0134. And if you’re interested in our workforce housing side of things, we definitely go well beyond there, too – just visit Aries Residence Suites.

Modular Housing Could Be the Key to Combating Homelessness

2019-08-31T21:02:53+00:00

Sustainability is the goal of the future, and especially so when it comes to helping the homeless. Modular housing has many purposes and features, but modular buildings has one great benefit: modular units can be built ANYWHERE in a short amount of time.

Depending on where the need is, factory-built modular housing can be assembled and transported and be as temporary as a city would need it to be. Take the YMCA’s free to low-cost housing in London, which provides accommodations for 36 homeless in south London. It was so successful that the YMCA is developing another nearby to help bridge the gap in housing solutions in Cardiff. Also, while still in the prototype phase and coming up against a lot of commentary, ‘Homes for the Homeless’ is an architect’s Indiegogo campaign to offer modular shelters built off the side of buildings. In places where housing is at an extreme shortage and needs to be built on an extreme budget, architects are turning to modular to solve a housing crisis and offer a solution where even a ‘basic modular building’ is better than what most already have.

At one of Aries modular workforce camps, a light rain soaks into a wooden plank deck with rows of modular units serving as housing on either side.

In Hawaii, West Oahu, a non-profit was selected to help manage several modular properties that were built to house homeless families. Once in the prefabricated units, the non-profit will assign a case manager to assist the family with getting more assistance on finance management, work, health and more. Because many homeless are disabled, the modular units were compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

With almost 7,000 homeless people in San Francisco and the cost of $30,000 for one bed in a shelter creating a fiscal problem for the government, many developers are jumping on the chance to pitch the city for modular housing options. Prefabricated modular housing is not only cheaper for the city, but it’s also safer. Most shelters have communal kitchens and don’t have private bathrooms, and housing coalitions are becoming more open to using modular construction to cut housing costs and production.

Community First in Austin went a step further and created an entire village for the homeless using RV’s and prefabricated modular homes similar to Aries Residence Suites Man Camps. Austin spends around $40,000 per homeless person, and will ultimately save $3 million per year for taxpayers. In Charlotte, a similar community saved the city $1.8 million a year.

Seattle is seriously weighing the use of modular construction to help solve a homeless problem as the flexibility of prefabricated modular units are not only attractive (a complaint many local homeowners have for valuation problems on their residences) but they are fully compliant with zoning, ADA, and are configurable and re-configurable to adjust to need and demand.

With homelessness on the rise…these architecture students are presenting a prototype called ‘Hope of the Valley’ and are currently negotiating for land to develop prefabricated housing from scavenged goods. In LA County there are roughly 5,000 homeless and only 900 beds, so time is of the essence. The student aims to create modular and mobile shelters that can be mass-produced and pre-certified by the city and placed on under-utilized land. They also want a system that can be broken down when development picks up.

Aries Buildings is committed to being at the forefront of modular innovation, and that means providing affordable and time-saving solutions for all different kinds of communities. If you’d like to know more about our philanthropic work as a company, check out our page dedicated to the subject.