ABSTRACT
Prefabrication or offsite fabrication has continued to lead to new possibilities in architecture and construction. From the early Modernist vision of affordable mass housing to twentieth-century applications of offsite-produced structural components, cladding systems, and modular spatial units, and the more recent use of digitally manufactured complex-shaped building components, the impact of this approach has been obvious. In the past two decades, offsite fabrication means and methods have been adopted by designers or constructors to achieve better quality, with a reduced schedule and/or less cost. The chapter examines an emerging trend of near-site factories and discusses offsite fabrication that concentrates on prefabrication or preassembly approaches staged near or on site. The cost of transportation is an integral part of offsite fabrication that determines the feasibility of the specific applications. Prefabrication requires re-examining the productivity in multi-trade environments.
