Ways COVID-19 Will Change Architecture Including the Use of More Modular Construction
A modular section being lifted into place during the construction of Huoshenshan Hospital. Image via CNN
For years natural and man-made disasters have resulted in the widespread use of relocatable modular buildings to meet short and extended use replacement facility needs. This allows schools, government agencies, healthcare providers and commercial businesses to open and get back to operating quickly without significant delays. A case in point was an entire middle and high school campus that Ramtech built for West ISD after the massive fertilizer plant explosion destroyed two of the district’s schools in April of 2013.
Now, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, modular construction has once again been brought to the forefront, with high profile projects that have helped to provide urgent care medical facilities in China and other hot spots around the globe. However the impact that modular construction has made may be changing attitudes well after the crises eases, as this article from our friends at Architizer.com point out in the ‘8 Ways COVID-19 Will Change Architecture’. It includes a strong argument for an increase in the use of modular construction.
Read about eight of these new approaches including, modular construction, that may have long lasting impacts on the way cities are designed following the COVID-19 outbreak here.
- Published in Modular Building, Modular Construction
Ramtech Wins Best of Show at MBI 2020 World of Modular Convention
Ramtech President Matt Slataper and Wilmot Modular’s Mike and Kevin Wilmot Celebrate MBI Best of Show Relocatable Award at the 2020 World of Modular Conference
Ramtech is proud to announce that we have received our first ever Best of Show Relocatable award at this year’s MBI 2020 World of Modular annual convention and trade show. The Best of Show award was shared with Wilmot Modular Structures of White Marsh, Maryland who brought the project to us as their joint venture partner. The 4,956 square foot design-build project was constructed and installed by Ramtech for a private energy company in Killeen, Texas. The modular building, designed to be relocated or expanded in the future, will serve as a template for future sites across the United States. In addition to Best of Show, the project also garnered an Awards of Distinction in the Relocatable Modular Office Under 10,000 Square Feet category.
Ramtech also received an Awards of Distinction in the Permanent Modular Special Application category for an in-plant breakroom for Martin Marietta. The 1,080 square foot project, located at the company’s Midlothian, Texas cement plant, was constructed using traditional permanent modular construction with atypical ten-foot-wide modules in order to fit within an area surrounded by the extensive piping and rigging of one of the cement plant’s kilns. The project also required a small on-site construction footprint to minimize the impact on Martin Marietta’s existing operations.
More information on Ramtech’s projects, and the other Awards of Distinction winning entries at this year’s conference, can be viewed on the Modular Building Institute’s website using this link.
- Published in Commercial, Modular Building, Modular Construction, Ramtech News
Roland Brown Reelected As Presiding Officer of the Texas Industrialized Building Code Council
In January Ramtech’s Vice President of Engineering Roland Brown was reelected as the Presiding Officer of the Texas Industrialized Building Code Council. (more…)
- Published in Commercial, Modular Building, Modular Construction
Modular Construction Continues to Grow
The modular units for Carmel Place in NYC under construction. (Courtesy nARCHITECTS)
A very positive review of the current state of the modular construction industry and the future outlook for it was recently published in The Architect’s Newspaper. The article quotes the The National Real Estate Investor which showed that in the last five years the modular construction industry has doubled in size to over $8 billion. The increased productivity and lower overall design and construction costs were indicated as the most significant factors in the choice of using modular construction for commercial projects. The article also references the 2018 Commercial Construction Index economic indicator, a report jointly published by USG Corporation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that tracks trends in commercial construction. It showed that more than 70 percent of surveyed contractors see eight distinct benefits in using modular construction including increases in efficiency, productivity, safety, and quality, while reducing risk, costs, material waste, and construction times. The reduction in the overall project timeline also leads to an increase in the opportunity costs by allowing revenue-earning buildings to begin doing so faster than facilities built using other construction methods. The whole article can be viewed here.
- Published in Commercial, Modular Building, Modular Construction, Technology
Ramtech Modular Building Aids Texas Tech in Autism Research
Ramtech recently installed a modular office building at the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year at the main campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The 1,600 square foot facility will be used by the University’s Department of Animal and Food Sciences for human-dog interaction research as part of a program to assess the helpfulness of therapy dogs in educational settings including children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. (more…)
- Published in Ramtech News