Prefabricated Construction and Lightweight building systems
What is Prefabrication?
Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. The term is used to distinguish this process from the more conventional construction practice of transporting the basic materials to the construction site where all assembly is carried out.
During the development in the industrial revolution, the people have full awareness regarding the behaviour of the structure.
It was fully analyzed and understood that for the existence of an object and its form, it is necessary that the object can bear all forces which act on it.
The structure thus, functions in three subsequent operations:
- Load reception
- Load transfer
- Load discharge
The flow of forces does not pose problem as long as the object form follows the direction of acting forces. With these analytical theories of structure and at the same time new technological developments like prefabricated construction influence the designer.
In the works of Buckminster Fuller and Moshe Safdie, there is extensive use of fabricated components.