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March 17, 2011
Prefabulous? How Atlantic Yards Could Revolutionize New York City Real Estate
NY Observer
by Matt Chaban
Matt Chaban makes the case that modular maven Bruce Ratner could revolutionize the construction business in New York City — which could send thousands of building-trades workers looking for new careers.
Atlantic Yards has its problems. Bruce Ratner's arena-cum-condos megaproject has involved insider deals and eminent domain, Russian oligarchs and Chinese visas, bratty Brooklynites and disgraced lobbyists. The news, revealed in today's Times, that Ratner is trying to save on construction costs by using prefab building technology is far from the biggest story to involve Atlantic Yards. Yet the news could have a farther-reaching impact on the city than anything else to take place at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues.
It is not simply that Ratner is considering building a 34-story prefabricated apartment building, though it is notable that this would be the tallest prefab building in the world. It is that, should Ratner succeed, many, if not most, of the city's developers would follow in his footsteps. It could alter the way we build, the way we work, the way we live, the very look of the city.
Architects have been pursuing prefabrication almost since Henry Ford's first Model-T rolled off the line. The dream of mass-producing housing inside of factories was a hallmark of mid-century modernism's utopian streak, though the process proved more costly than traditional methods and was largely abandoned. Over the past decade, however, the technology has advanced enough that it has become an affordable and practical means to build, one that is not uncommon in Europe and Asia. Locally, Pratt recently constructed a prefab dorm and at least two malls made of shipping containers are in the works.
As The Times makes clear, modular construction could present more challenges to Ratner than his fellow developers. One of the reasons housing is said to be so expensive in New York is the cost of labor. By doing much of the "construction" in a factory, developers can cut down greatly on this particular expense, even if the factory workers are unionized, as well. For those looking to encourage gainful employment in New York, this is not necessarily a benefit, as The Times points out.
NoLandGrab: Here's Bruce in his younger, more "mod"ular days.
Posted by eric at March 17, 2011 4:40 PM