Components and Systems: Modular Construction Design, Structure, New Technologies

Construction systems reduced to the smallest possible number of identical elements have long been used by architects to build structures as well as dismantle and change them as quickly, efficiently, and economically as possible. Think of the architecture of the nomads, the Crystal Palace designed by the architect John Paxton for the London World s Fair of 1851, or the modern construction systems of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in steel, concrete, and wood. Coupled with modern digital planning and production methods, modular precast construction systems that are adaptable for many combinations and capable of being combined with one other will play an increasingly important role in architecture in the future. The volume Components and Systems offers an in-depth and clearly organized presentation of the various types of precast building components from semifinished products to building with components, open and closed systems, and skeleton and panel construction all the way to spatial cell constructions. The systems are accompanied by detailed drawings and color photographs. Discussions of transporting and assembling the various systems round off the topic and make this book an indispensable practical companion.