Going up: Tallest prefab building in the world sparks modular-housing boom

Claudine Zap
·Claudine Zap
B2's first prefab housing moved into place.
B2's first prefab housing moved into place.

Living in a steel-frame, factory-made box does not exactly sound inviting.

Exterior of the B2 modular-housing building.
Exterior of the B2 modular-housing building.

But that is about to change with a burst of prefab housing going up in New York City — including the tallest modular-housing building in the world, along with some of the smallest units on the market. (More on that in a moment.)

On Thursday, the first module was hoisted into place for the B2 apartment building at Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards, according to a story surfaced by DNAInfo.

The planned 32-story tower will be the world's tallest modular building, according to a statement provided by the building's owner and developer, Forest City Ratner Companies.

The ready-made modules are one of several attention-grabbing prefab projects, which are an alternative to conventional construction in New York City. For B2, the modules are assembled at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and then transported by truck to the construction site, where eventually 363 rental apartments will be stacked into place. Half will be set aside for low-and middle-income households.

Interior of the B2 modular-housing building.
Interior of the B2 modular-housing building.

Amenities of the building will include such high-end details as a 24-hour doorman, a fitness center, a yoga/dance studio, a game room, and a roof terrace. The building is expected to be completed in December 2014.

But that's not the only modular game in town. A demand for one-bedroom and studio rentals drove a competition for micro-sized apartments in Manhattan, which are also being built using a modular design. The nine-story, 55-unit building is planned to go up on East 27th Street, with 40 percent of the rentals to go to low- and moderate-income residents.

They are called micro for a reason: The modules, although designed with only about 350 square feet, appear airy and even roomy in renderings, thanks to 10-foot-high ceilings and eight-foot-tall windows. Plus, the new building in the noisy, crowded town offers something pretty priceless: peace and quiet.

nArchitects My Micro NY prefab housing project exterior.
nArchitects My Micro NY prefab housing project exterior.

"Every module has its own floor, ceiling, and wall," Eric Bunge, a founding principal of nArchitects, the winner of the micro-unit competition, told Yahoo. In other words, no shared walls, cutting down on the noise from your neighbors. "It's like Legos."

The modules, which will be preassembled, including built-in kitchens, are brought to the site almost complete, except for last-minute touches like electrical, plumbing, Wi-Fi, and flooring. That can cut the speed of construction by up to a year, notes Bunge. Construction is expected to start in early 2014.

nArchitects My Micro NY prefab housing project interior.
nArchitects My Micro NY prefab housing project interior.

The first prefab apartment building in New York City, called the Stack, has already gone up in the Inwood section of northern Manhattan and is opening its doors to renters starting in January, according to DNAInfo. The ready-made modules have their benefits.

"With this project, we were able to limit the disruption," Peter Gluck, president of Gluck+, which designed the prefab building, told NY1.

"We were on-site about six months less than we would be, had this been a conventional construction job, and the actual noise and disturbance that we created was minimal."

Once the prefab units arrived, it took just 19 days for the building to rise from the ground to seven stories tall.