Prefabricated Construction in the Residential Real Estate Market
March 2025
http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/remav-2025-0004
Authors:
Małgorzata Krajewska
Nicolaus Copernicus University
Ewa Siemińska
Nicolaus Copernicus University
Izabela Rącka
Calisia University - Kalisz Poland
Kinga Szopińska
Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology
Ivo Kostov
University of Economics Varna
PREFABRICATED CONSTRUCTION IN THE RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET
Małgorzata Krajewska1, Ewa Siemińska2, Izabela Rącka3*, Kinga Szopińska1, Ivo Kostov4
1. Department of Geodesy, Spatial Management and Real Estate, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, 7 prof. S. Kaliskiego Av., 85-796 Bydgoszcz, Poland, (MK) e-mail: malgorzata.krajewska@pbs.edu.pl, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8541-2295; (KS) e-mail: k.szopinska@pbs.edu.pl, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2702-936X
2. Department of Investment and Real Estate, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, ul. Gagarina 11, 87-100 Toruń, Poland, e-mail: ewahsiem@umk.pl, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8885-0338
3. Institute of Social Sciences, University of Kalisz, ul. Nowy Świat 4, 62-800 Kalisz, Poland, e-mail: i.racka@uniwersytetkaliski.edu.pl, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2344-0901
4. Department of Business, Investment, Real Estate, University of Economics – Varna, 77 Kniaz Boris I Blvd., 9002 Varna, Bulgaria, e-mail: i.kostov@ue-varna.bg, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5623-471X
* Corresponding author
Abstract
Persistent housing shortages and escalating housing investment costs in numerous countries drive the search for technologies that enable faster, cost-effective housing development. Prefabrication technology has emerged as a promising solution, which enables buildings to be constructed in significantly shorter timeframes compared to traditional methods. This approach utilizes prefabricated structural elements manufactured in controlled factory settings, leading to a substantial reduction in the carbon footprint associated with the construction process.
This study focuses on two primary objectives: 1) Identifying the key factors for integrating prefabricated construction technology into the multifamily housing market, especially within the framework of sustainable development policies and the growing housing gap, and 2) Examining buyer preferences to assess their openness toward prefabricated construction in the multifamily residential market. Identification of the determinants of the implementation of prefabricated technology was carried out based on comprehensive literature review and critique of source documents. Additionally, buyer preference surveys were conducted among residents in post-communist Central and Eastern European countries (Poland, Bulgaria, and Ukraine).
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$220,000 Four Story Four Apartments Prefabricated Modular Housing, Chile
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3D Renderings
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About ELEMENTAL Architecture
| Project | Chusmisa Housing Wildfire Reconstruction |
| Architects | ELEMENTAL |
| Area | 252m² (4 apartments of 63m²) |
| Modules | 8 prefabricated living modules and 3 prefabricated roof modules |
| Manufacturing Time | 1 month |
| Installation Time | 1 day (+5 days of finishing) |
| Project Cost | $220,000 |
| Location | Viña del Mar, Chile |
| Year | 2025 |
A year after the mega-fire in Viña del Mar and with only 26% progress in the reconstruction work in the area, the ELEMENTAL office and local authorities began the construction of a prefabricated modular housing project in one of the residential neighborhoods most affected by the catastrophe. It is a medium-density residential building with a modular metal structure that aims to serve as a starting point for other similar modular projects, in response to what is now considered one of the most catastrophic events in the recent history of Chile. The objective, declared by both Alejandro Aravena and the mayor of the city, Macarena Ripamonti, is that the technology and management model behind this prefabricated housing project serve as a precedent to deliver rapid and definitive modular housing solutions in emergency scenarios.
NKN-Softshell - Semi-Permanent Prefab Cabin with Fabric Roof and Walls, Allow for Easy Transport and Assembly
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About Nokken
About Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
| Project | NKN-Softshell |
| Architects | Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), Nokken |
| Area | 18sqm (195sqft) |
| Outer Dimentions | 4.2m (w) x 4.2m (l) x 4.6m (h) |
| Price | From € 18,950 / $ 22,500 |
| Year | 2024 |
Nokken and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) collaborate on Softshell, a semi-permanent prefab cabin addressing the evolving needs of hospitality and residential markets. Combining architectural innovation with environmental responsibility, Softshell redefines mobile accommodations for eco-resorts, glamping sites, boutique hotels, and beyond. Softshell caters to a global shift toward experiential, eco-friendly travel, offering a low-impact structure that blends harmoniously with its surroundings. The lightweight sustainably sourced timber frame and recyclable canvas, produced in Spain, allow for easy transport and assembly in remote areas.
Ecocapsule - 10 sqm (≈100 sqft) Off-The-Grid Portable Home by Nice Architects
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About Nice Architects
Ecocapsule is an off-the-grid portable home designed by Nice Architects and offering an unmatched dwelling experience. With its flexibility, worldwide portability and immense off-the-grid life span it is suitable for a wide range of applications and purposes: from a tourist lodge or an independent research station to a humanitarian-action unit or an emergency housing.
Ecocapsule is a low-energy prefab home packed into a compact and efficient form. It merges a off-the-grid capabilities, compact volume and close to maximum energy efficient shape with the luxuries of a hot meal, running water and a warm bed.
Even though very small in size, each unit comfortably houses two adults. The efficient spatial layout design allows you to enjoy familiar convenience of usual homehold facilities in off-the-grid conditions. Hot shower, built-in kitchenette and toilet are luxuries of a hotel room that are now available for using in wilderness also.
Plenty of storage space can fit all your travel, research or sport equipment. Despite its small size each Ecocapsule unit is fitted with all basic and essential features necessary for a prolonged and comfortable stay without a need to re-supply or recharge.
Power
Ecocapsule off-the-grid portable home is powered by an array of solar cells complemented with a built-in wind turbine. High-capacity battery (9744Wh) and dual power system ensures that unit will have enough power during periods of reduced wind or solar activity. The surface of an Ecocapsule unit is covered with high-efficiency solar cells with 2.6 sqm of area (600W) and a retractable pole holding a wind turbine (750W) is further attached to the unit. This creates a system with possibility to harvest an energy that can support comfortable conditions almost year-round in many off-the-grid locations.
Water
External spherical shape is designed with optimization for the collection of dew and rainwater. Moreover, water from any sources can be cleaned and utilized by built-in water filters.
Dimensions, weigh and shipping
Sizes of Ecocapsule (HxLxW 2.55×4.45×2.25m/4.5m with extended pole) allow it to be shipped into a standard shipping container. No precautions or special preparations are necessary to transport the cabin worldwide. It can be towed, airlifted, shipped or even pulled by a pack animal. Weigh of the off-the-grid portable home is 1500kg.
Walking Robotic Off-Grid Mobile Home Concept by Encho Enchev
About Encho Enchev
Description by designer
This is a mobile vacation home concept. The house is meant to be for 2 people and a pet. It is fully functional and in theory should be possible to be built in the near future :) I am posting a lot of renders that present most of the features of the house. One of the things that is not visible in the images is the 4 deployable harpoons for additional stability in rough sloped terrain. The mechanical legs are equipped with 5cm layer of non-slippery rubber on the bottom. They also have 2 deployable spikes on each leg. The design of the interior is modern, high-tech and minimalistic. All the windows are using the "smart glass" technology. There are also traditional curtains for the old fashioned customers. The bathroom is situated in the middle of the interior (for privacy). There is a large storage space under the living area.
The "standart" version includes: 1 ATW / 2 mountain bikes / 2 shezlong / 2 terrace chairs + table / 1 emergency diesel fuel generator / 1 BBQ unit and additional supply and tool boxes.
Cheers!
Innovative Protective Enclosures: Enhancing Reliability In Harsh Industrial Environments
In the rugged landscape of industrial settings, ensuring equipment reliability is non-negotiable. Extreme temperatures, excessive moisture, or high levels of airborne particles pose formidable challenges. To shield sensitive equipment from these extreme conditions, conventional solutions often fall short.
This is where the role of protective enclosures becomes crucial. By erecting robust barriers against environmental threats, these structures keep your equipment operational, reducing downtime and minimizing maintenance costs. Understanding the workings and advantages of these innovative measures can empower you to make informed decisions about securing your industrial assets.
Exploring The Versatility Of Fabric Buildings In Commercial Applications
Fabric buildings have transformed the commercial landscape, offering innovative solutions for diverse applications. Their versatility makes them an attractive option for many industries, from agriculture to manufacturing.
These structures provide numerous benefits, including cost efficiency, quick installation, and flexibility. Understanding the various uses of fabric buildings can help businesses make informed decisions about their construction needs.
Continue reading to discover how fabric buildings can meet the unique demands of your industry.
Custom Modular Direct - Modular Homes Supplier - CT, DE, GA, KY, IL, IN, ME, MD, MA, MI, MO, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VT, VA, WV
Custom Modular Direct offers a large variety of different styles of modular homes. With a build area that stretches from Georgia straight north (including the eastern parts of Tennessee and Kentucky), their catalog includes every classic home style imaginable. They are able to do standard customization on standard homes, and even build custom homes from scratch.
Irontown Homes - Modular Homes Manufacturer - MT, ID, WY, NV, CO, AZ, CA, OR, UT
A premier provider of modular homes serving regions from Colorado all the way West to the Pacific, Irontown Homes is known for providing quality custom-built homes of all shapes and sizes.
Irontown Homes has been building modular homes for close to 40 years. From complete custom modern designs to traditional upscale homes, Irontown Homes takes a unique approach by building to match what each customer wants. While Irontown Homes has more than 30 home plans, each can be fully customized based on what each customer wants.
Irontown Homes focuses on building sustainable, energy-efficient homes in the Western United States and can produce single module retreats that are as small as 400 sq. ft. to multi-module homes more than 10,000 sq. ft.
Centre for Culture and Community - Adaptable Modular Building Prototype
For a complex research project - the prototyping of a Centre for Culture and Community - noa* questions what form modular flexibility takes and how nature can be embedded in the project.
CeCuCo, Centre for Culture and Community, is a research project with an ambitious task: the design of a cultural centre without a fixed context, capable of transforming itself to adapt to anyone and anywhere. This is noa*'s vision of a multifunctional space, translated into a sustainable model which is versatile for all situations. Among the infinite design possibilities, it was clear from the very beginning which direction to take: to design an architecture that is not indifferent to what happens inside it, a flexible space in which the community can decide, act and makes her moves.
Learning from tangram
The geometry of the project is based on an elementary form, the triangle, repeated modularly in both plan and elevation. In the first case, the triangular module is inscribed in a 3x3 m square, in the second in 3x1.5 m. Working with geometries easy to assemble allows the cultural centre to expand or contract according to the needs of the context. In addition, on an urban planning level, the triangles can combine in many types of shapes, resulting in different space typologies like the slab, the courtyard or the punctiform village.
Using the module in the facade opens up to a variety of configurations, creating a kind of facade metamorphosis. noa* imagines the elevations as a chessboard: some elements can be moved, with certain rules and in certain directions, which it is then up to the people who experience the architecture to control. Doors can be moved, fanned out, turned on their hinges, lowered, raised, ajar... and the same goes for windows. A wide range of possibilities for an intuitive and playful architecture, made up of moves and countermoves, where the game of action and reaction between community and building gives life to the most diverse scenarios.
Players on playground
When defining the functional programme, noa* first investigated the needs of a cultural and community centre as well as the ways to create an architecture as inclusive as possible. How do you design a space that works in the same way for children who meet to play, adults to watch an exhibition, teenagers to listen to a concert? What are the characteristics of a meeting space that is open all year round, that is not for consumption and that represents the public counterbalance to the private domestic dimension?
The natural answer to these questions was the decision to define different spaces capable of satisfying multiple needs, rather than specifying a fixed list of functions. Through 6 types of floor plans, ranging from 8 to 115 m2, all the possible activities of the centre are accommodated. For example, the small module houses the artist's atelier, the newspaper stall, the storeroom, the management office, the staircase, and the changing rooms. In the extra small module, you can find a ticket office. In the medium module, the toilets, a library room, and the open-air bleachers, since not all modules stand for covered spaces. As the floor plans change to the larger size, the possibilities vary, culminating in the large space, with 115 m2 available, designed for theatre and cinema.
Think local, be sustainable
noa* wanted an architecture that is social in its final purpose, and sustainable in all the aspects of the design, including the choice of materials and construction techniques. For this prototype were chosen natural materials and an exposed construction system, easy to assemble and dismantle. In the “standard package”, the facade is made up of an exposed wooden structural system and a wall of clay bricks, alternating with transparent parts, which have also been modulated on the geometry of the triangle. The sustainable approach must be central in the design: therefore, the final choice of materials must be verified with the project environment, to check their actual availability on-site, their thermal conductivity in relation to the climatic conditions, the energy consumption in their processing and the presence of the necessary know-how skills. Similarly, a careful design of the installations can have a positive impact on the ecological footprint of the building. The cultural centre includes the use of green roofs and pergolas, photovoltaic systems, rainwater collecting systems, cross-ventilation systems as well as ponds and wooded areas for a temperate microclimate.
With this project, noa* envisages a flexible architecture, capable of reacting to changes in context and at the same time of working on different scales, from the macro-project to the street furniture. This cultural centre could be located on a beach on a volcanic island, in the Scandinavian forests, on an abandoned lot in Detroit or on the roofs of socialist housing in Berlin. It is an architecture able to mould itself to the morphological and climatic requirements of the context while maintaining intact the concept of sociality and interaction between the building and those who live in it.
| About noa* |
| Project | Centre for Culture and Community |
| Architects | noa* |
| Year | 2021 |
CeCuCo, Centre for Culture and Community, is a research project with an ambitious task: the design of a cultural centre without a fixed context, capable of transforming itself to adapt to anyone and anywhere. This is noa*'s vision of a multifunctional space, translated into a sustainable model which is versatile for all situations. Among the infinite design possibilities, it was clear from the very beginning which direction to take: to design an architecture that is not indifferent to what happens inside it, a flexible space in which the community can decide, act and makes her moves.
Learning from tangram
The geometry of the project is based on an elementary form, the triangle, repeated modularly in both plan and elevation. In the first case, the triangular module is inscribed in a 3x3 m square, in the second in 3x1.5 m. Working with geometries easy to assemble allows the cultural centre to expand or contract according to the needs of the context. In addition, on an urban planning level, the triangles can combine in many types of shapes, resulting in different space typologies like the slab, the courtyard or the punctiform village.
Using the module in the facade opens up to a variety of configurations, creating a kind of facade metamorphosis. noa* imagines the elevations as a chessboard: some elements can be moved, with certain rules and in certain directions, which it is then up to the people who experience the architecture to control. Doors can be moved, fanned out, turned on their hinges, lowered, raised, ajar... and the same goes for windows. A wide range of possibilities for an intuitive and playful architecture, made up of moves and countermoves, where the game of action and reaction between community and building gives life to the most diverse scenarios.
Players on playground
When defining the functional programme, noa* first investigated the needs of a cultural and community centre as well as the ways to create an architecture as inclusive as possible. How do you design a space that works in the same way for children who meet to play, adults to watch an exhibition, teenagers to listen to a concert? What are the characteristics of a meeting space that is open all year round, that is not for consumption and that represents the public counterbalance to the private domestic dimension?
The natural answer to these questions was the decision to define different spaces capable of satisfying multiple needs, rather than specifying a fixed list of functions. Through 6 types of floor plans, ranging from 8 to 115 m2, all the possible activities of the centre are accommodated. For example, the small module houses the artist's atelier, the newspaper stall, the storeroom, the management office, the staircase, and the changing rooms. In the extra small module, you can find a ticket office. In the medium module, the toilets, a library room, and the open-air bleachers, since not all modules stand for covered spaces. As the floor plans change to the larger size, the possibilities vary, culminating in the large space, with 115 m2 available, designed for theatre and cinema.
Think local, be sustainable
noa* wanted an architecture that is social in its final purpose, and sustainable in all the aspects of the design, including the choice of materials and construction techniques. For this prototype were chosen natural materials and an exposed construction system, easy to assemble and dismantle. In the “standard package”, the facade is made up of an exposed wooden structural system and a wall of clay bricks, alternating with transparent parts, which have also been modulated on the geometry of the triangle. The sustainable approach must be central in the design: therefore, the final choice of materials must be verified with the project environment, to check their actual availability on-site, their thermal conductivity in relation to the climatic conditions, the energy consumption in their processing and the presence of the necessary know-how skills. Similarly, a careful design of the installations can have a positive impact on the ecological footprint of the building. The cultural centre includes the use of green roofs and pergolas, photovoltaic systems, rainwater collecting systems, cross-ventilation systems as well as ponds and wooded areas for a temperate microclimate.
With this project, noa* envisages a flexible architecture, capable of reacting to changes in context and at the same time of working on different scales, from the macro-project to the street furniture. This cultural centre could be located on a beach on a volcanic island, in the Scandinavian forests, on an abandoned lot in Detroit or on the roofs of socialist housing in Berlin. It is an architecture able to mould itself to the morphological and climatic requirements of the context while maintaining intact the concept of sociality and interaction between the building and those who live in it.
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