The New Prefab

A group of green architects in Philadelphia are creating new ways to use pre-fabricated elements, using digital design to distance them from the prefab of yore.

1 minute read

January 19, 2010, 9:00 AM PST

By Tim Halbur

Inga Saffron writes about the Philadelphia Four, a group of rising design firm in the city.

Saffron writes, "Architecture stubbornly remains an artisanal product, built by hand, one piece at a time, Onion Flats' Tim McDonald acknowledged.

"You say 'modular' to people, and they think tract homes," he said.

But he argues that prefab's time has come because of the opportunities opened by software technology. McDonald said the savings from designing digitally would free up money for quality architecture."

FULL STORY: City's green groundbreakers

Sunday, January 17, 2010 in The Philadelphia Inquirer

Architecture Pennsylvania Green Building Green Architecture

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