540
Building Trade Unions: Industrialization
542.2
PREFABRICATION AND THE BUILDING SYSTEM PROTOTYPE
DESIGN
The issue of whether or not buildings should be more industrialized than
they presently are is particularly significant for the VA systems integrations
project because the use of standardize "rules" allows a higher degree of
prefabrication than usual. For example, in conventional design and
construction, trunk ductwork may vary from floor to floor to meet different
conditions, whereas corresponding ductwork in a hospital built using the
Prototype Design may be identical for all service modules. In the
conventional case, prefabrication would probably not be suggested
because each area would be different; in the case of the systems building,
similar sets of ductwork could be assembled off-site and "plugged in" at
the site.
The trend has been toward increased industrialization of building
components in response to the increased cost of on-site labor. However,
the degree of prefabrication, the location of the prefabricating facility, the
status of the participants, and the usefulness of "industrialization" depends
on the conditions surrounding each case.
The Prototype Design has been developed to allow whatever degree of
prefabrication seems to be indicated by the given conditions, rather than
to depend on union acceptance of a particular degree for its success.
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