Predicting Prefab Housing's Future in the U.S., by Way of Japan

Prefabricated housing is becoming more appealing for developers and those in the construction industry looking for ways to lower material and overall costs, work around the labor shortage, and build more affordable homes at a more rapid rate.

In a new longform piece for Curbed, Nate Berg follows Japan's trajectory toward becoming the world leader in prefabricated housing, and assesses what the U.S. should learn from Japan's success as its own prefab market continues to grow. Shuichi Matsumura, a professor of architecture at the University of Tokyo and an expert on prefabricated housing, told Berg, “The growth of the prefabricated housing industry mostly had to do with timing.”

[Roger] Krulak thinks prefab’s time may have finally come in the U.S. With advanced robotics, automation, and digital building information technologies—and increasing concern nationwide about the affordability of urban housing—factory-built housing once again seems poised for wider adoption. And a growing number of companies, from small homebuilders to major hoteliers, are betting that prefab is the future. To understand what that future may look like, you have to go to Japan.

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