Breakthrough Building is Assembled Like an Airplane Engine

In Brooklyn's Navy Yard, the largest modular high-rise building in the world is being assembled one floor at a time by teams of 10 to 15 union workers. Sydney Brownstone tours the milestone in modular construction.

1 minute read

October 28, 2013, 2:00 PM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"Modular assembly is often compared to the kind of line assembly popularized by Henry Ford's T-Birds, but B2 is actually being constructed by a different process altogether. Instead of individual workers putting together piecemeal parts, FCS Modular and its Swedish partner Skanska decided on using a system called 'group technology workcells,' in which multidisciplinary groups of cross-trained tradesmen work on different parts of the floor simultaneously. It's the same way airplane engines are constructed, Roger Krulak, a senior vice president at Forest City Ratner (FCR), explains."

"Because of innovations like these, FCR claims to have 'cracked the code' to modular building on a new scale," writes Brownstone. "The company says that B2 will be built in 18 months, or two-thirds the time it would take for conventional construction." 

Monday, October 28, 2013 in Fast Company Co.Exist

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