Technological and environmental aspects of rapid housing construction

Abstract

Rapid construction is a contemporary issue in building practice, related, but not restricted to Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), and similar production philosophies. While rapid construction is a worldwide applied principle of constructions of various typologies, this paper explores options of its application in Serbian housing practice since housing construction is still prevailing in the overall construction activity. Also, there is a significant historic background in domestic practice of prefabricated construction systems which was omnipresent in housing sector after World War II, giving remarkable results, both in number of constructed dwellings and their architectural quality. Although this practice existed throughout following decades, it was restricted to social and refugee settlements, and thus it did not re-establish itself as dominant in domestic circumstances, partially because it did not evolve in accordance with contemporary requirements. Most of all, contemporary paradigm of sustainability requires a new approach towards this practice, stressing the correlation between applied technologies and its environmental aspects, but also its social and economic values. These aspects define rapid housing construction in terms of applied constructive systems and materials, organization of building, issues of pollution such as waste, noise and dust, and pollution generated by material production and transport. This paper presents a study of contemporary practice of rapid housing construction with definitions of its technological and environmental aspects and perspectives of its application in domestic conditions.