Is prefab housing about to shake off its low-quality, post-WWII image? New London Architecture’s research paper and exhibition ‘Factory-made Housing’, suggests this is the case.
Advances in high-tech design and construction mean increasing numbers of components can be manufactured off-site. That means buildings can go up more quickly and quietly, with less materials wasted – an enticing prospect given London’s housing crisis.
To accommodate modular house-building, developers are building their own factories, and architects are getting ever more ambitious in their designs. Here are five of our favourite London modular housing designs.
Robins Court in Clapham by Surface to Air Architecture
Due for completion March 2019
These five units are from the townhouse range of the Urbane toolkit. Each prefab house is manufactured in a day and installed on site in 24 hours.
Render courtesy of Surface To Air
Maryon Road in Greenwich by Facit Homes
Completed July 2015
The only access to the site was a small tunnelled driveway, so components were designed to be manageable by hand, by just two people, meaning no cranes were needed.
Photography: Facit Homes
Maryon Road in Greenwich by Facit Homes
Completed July 2015
The only access to the site was a small tunnelled driveway, so components were designed to be manageable by hand, by just two people, meaning no cranes were needed.
Photography: Facit Homes
Savoy in West London by HTA Design LLP
Completed May 2018
This seven-storey student accommodation was built of 338 modules. It stands in a conservation area and is clad in hand-set brick and cast stone.
Photography: HTA Design LLP
Savoy in West London by HTA Design LLP
Completed May 2018
This seven-storey student accommodation was built of 338 modules. It stands in a conservation area and is clad in hand-set brick and cast stone.
Photography: HTA Design LLP
The Boiler House in Hayes by Studio Egret West & executive architect Stride Treglown
Completed May 2018
Part of developer U+I’s Old Vinyl Factory development, the block comprises 54 apartments above two commercial units. The structure above the ground floor is a cross-laminated timber frame that was manufactured off-site.
Photography: Stride Treglown
Ravens Wharf in Greenwich, by Craftworks
Due for completion 2021
This prefab tower – or ‘plyscraper’ – for developer Land Edition will hold more than 100 apartments. It will be constructed of cross-laminated timber panels joined in different combinations to create different-sized homes.
Renders courtesy Craftworks
Ravens Wharf in Greenwich, by Craftworks
Due for completion 2021
This prefab tower – or ‘plyscraper’ – for developer Land Edition will hold more than 100 apartments. It will be constructed of cross-laminated timber panels joined in different combinations to create different-sized homes.
Renders courtesy Craftworks
Read next:
5 prefab homes you can build in under 24 hours
Meet the new generation of ‘plyscrapers’
