When someone mentions modular buildings, do images of long, skinny breadbox-shaped trailers pop up into your mind? Ddoes it evoke a dystopian future of trailers stacked a mile high like in the sci-fi book Ready Player One? Join us on this brief journey allowing us to dispel those notions and bring you into the here and now with examples of multi-use modular building along with their equally evocative appearances throughout the world.
From the popular, economically driven tiny house movement to the pandemic-driven necessity for temporary medical facility expansions as well as extra buildings on countless educational campuses, off-site buildings, which are also known as modular construction, have become a growing choice for many reasons that include lower labor and material costs as well as eco-friendly and quality control practices. However, modular building is considered and chosen for far more reasons than these. Architects are finding ways to incorporate modular into their flexible living designs as well as work solutions.
Flexible designs often account for when you cannot build out, you can build up.
Infill development has become a necessity in many congested cities, such as Brooklyn, which have demographics accounting for residents with limited-incomes, like college students or lower-income families, or need to house much needed industrial workers. Multi-use modular constructions has made it possible to build student housing, pre-fab apartments, and condos within already crowded urban areas.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, architects have embraced modular construction for luxury homes. Potential homeowners can work with the architect to take prefab components and, like LegoTM blocks, assemble their ideal home. The configurations are endless and the end-results are stunning. Pick up a Dwell magazine and you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find contemporary modern luxury modular homes being showcased alongside traditional homes.
Builders are not just using modular for living spaces as we mentioned before. Medical centers, schools, and temporary offices have long considered and utilized modular solutions. Increasingly, off-site building has shown-up in a myriad of innovative projects.
Image attribution: https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewcatellier/2021/11/11/audemars-piguet-wins-award-at-gphg-2021-and-announces-new-modular-buildings/?sh=7e9fc5534b9b
Nestled in a scenic village in Switzerland, an award-winning designer watchmaker found the perfect place to grow during its business boom. The designer turned towards the modular building to expand the facilities, opting for a modern aesthetic that matched the creative designs of their watches. On the other hand, provide a more fluid work environment to support the design teams.
Nearby in Germany, the city of Munich utilized modular buildings to create a temporary space to display their classical music performances while their old building was under renovation. During the design process of the new concert hall, the acoustics was as important as everything else. In other words, the prefabricated buildings can fulfill their specialized function as much as their form.
Image attribution: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/arts/music/classical-music-isarphilharmonie-munich.html
In the realm of hospitality, sustainable tourism has entered the modular scene.
When you want to minimize the environmental impact from construction, modular building is an obvious choice. A boutique hotel and restaurant in the Yucatán appeals to the eco-conscious tourist who desires to explore its many cenotes and living fossils.
In another boutique hotel in Slovakia, a tourist can enjoy the snow and mountains in modular cabins strategically placed between the trees to allow for a more immersive experience. These cubicular cabins offer glass-filled walls to further optimize the surrounding views.
Image attribution: http://www.nleworks.com/case/mfsiiix3-minjiang-floating-system/
In China, a modular floating system was chosen to align with the region’s ancient water history while adding a contemporary element.
China uses these modular buildings as an exhibition space, information center, and an open-air concert hall. Adaptable in use, these prefabricated triangular buildings are not only unique in their presentation but inventive in their application for nature-based solutions, like water-laden landscapes. Designed to address urbanization and environmental factors, the prefabricated structures are used as schools in developing regions around the world.
Image attribution: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/grimshaw-concrete-valley-modular-water-dwellings-01-01-2020/
Peek into the future with this concept for water dwellings that also attempt to juxtapose form and function alongside environmental elements. This designer and the aforementioned modular projects have been dynamic in their designs and applications. Progressively, economic and environmental circumstances are being factored into development and modular buildings are keeping pace with what modular could be and can offer.
We have pulled you from the past of trailer parks into the present of creative modular buildings. Off-site building continues to be a solution as mentioned before for shifting demographics, inner city building, and challenging landscapes. Push past the limitations of our former years and let us evoke and inspire. The evolution of modular building in 2022 is full of endless possibilities!
Aries’ Insta Space offers the gold standard in viable, flexible, stylish, and efficient workspace. In order to meet your every need with unlimited customizations. With this “flex space,” the sky’s the limit when it comes to resizing a modular office building or increasing your school campus with new swing space, administrative offices, or safe, spacious, multiplex portable classrooms. There is a great feeling that comes with knowing you are keeping your footprint small by investing in reusable construction. Modular building is green building!
At Aries, we have all you need. Customizable floor plans and a wider array of options make your next modular building from Aries the solution to your space needs. Call in and let us know what you need today!
About Aries
Aries provides prefabricated office buildings, construction trailers, portable school classrooms, mobile hospitals, workforce housing at oil pipeline sites, storage containers, and spaces for disaster recovery relief, but we’d love to help you acquire your modular building for any purpose at all! We offer full turnkey solutions with exceptional customer service and robust financing options. We pride ourselves on combining product quality, design expertise, technical and financial innovation, and strategy.
Become a customer today! Visit Aries: www.ariesbuildings.com, or call (U.S.) 1-888-598-6689. You can also contact us via our website, or request a quote here.