Tom O'HaraApril 05, 2013Capsys Building News, Industry NewsComments Off on Winning Uses for Modular Construction from the World of Modular Annual Meeting of the Modular Building Institute
Recently we were fortunate enough to be a participant in the Modular Building Institute’s annual meeting they call the World of Modular held in mid-March in Scottsdale, AZ. It was good to meet with over 540 of our colleagues working in the Modular building industry from across the US, Canada, Mexico Europe and China. We shared many ideas and took away several new bits of wisdom.
While there, our Director for Construction Services, Dave Parlo and I gave a presentation about our winning entry – MyMicro NY – in the NY HPD RFP contest to design and build micro apartments in lower Manhattan. This project has generated a lot of industry buzz and we were proud to share with our colleagues a little about that project and about how well received Modular Construction is in New York these days.
At this conference, MBI unveiled several willing entries in their annual search for innovative ways to use modular construction to solve specific project parameters. We thought you might like to see some of these winning entries. The like below is to an article placed by our friends a Building Design + Construction at their website. Enjoy.
The Linwood Street building, which is one out of three buildings of our Cypress Village project, was erected in just one day! Joined by the owner and architect plus the local neighborhood residents, I watched in amazement as the building was set in place so quickly. This is just another example of the many important benefits of modular construction.
This rendering is of our next project, Cypress Village. Magnusson Architecture and Planning designed this beautiful building. Cypress Village is being built by Capsys for the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation. This project will contain two buildings – one on Linwood Ave. and one at Jerome Street both in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. It will contain eighteen, two bedroom apartment flats. Each 940 SF flat is wholly contained within one 20 foot wide by 47 foot long module – the largest we have ever constructed We’ll post erection photos soon so you can see these big guys flying into position. It should be quite a show.
MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES WINNER OF adAPT NYCCOMPETITION TO DEVELOP INNOVATIVE MICRO-UNIT APARTMENT HOUSING MODEL
Monadnock Development, Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation, and nARCHITECTS Will Build City’s First Micro-Unit Apartment Building Using Innovative Design and Modular Construction
40 Percent of 55 New Units in ‘My Micro NY’ at 335 East 27th Street Will be Available to Low- and Middle-Income New Yorkers
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel and Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Mathew M. Wambua announced today that the winner of the adAPT NYC Competition is a development team composed of Monadnock Development LLC, Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation, and nARCHITECTS. The development team was chosen through a competitive Request for Proposals to design, construct and operate the city’s first micro-unit apartment building on a City-owned site at 335 East 27th Street in Manhattan. The development team’s ‘My Micro NY’ project will create 55 new micro-units, 40 percent of which will be affordable beyond the competitive market rents, that are designed to optimize space and maximize the sense of openness. ‘My Micro NY’ will be the first multi-unit building in Manhattan developed using modular construction, with the modules prefabricated locally by Capsys at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Mayor made the announcement at the Museum of the City of New York and was joined by Monadnock Development president Nicholas Lembo, Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation president Scott Weiner and nARCHITECTS principal Eric Bunge.
“New York’s ability to adapt with changing times is what made us the world’s greatest city – and it’s going to be what keeps us strong in the 21st Century,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “The growth rate for one- and two-person households greatly exceeds that of households with three or more people, and addressing that housing challenge requires us to think creatively and beyond our current regulations.”
adAPT NYC is a pilot program that was launched in July 2012 through a Request for Proposals to develop a new model of housing – micro-units. The proposals were evaluated on several criteria, including innovative micro-unit layout and building design. The ‘My Micro NY’ proposal excelled in this category, with features like generous 9’-10” floor-to-ceiling heights and Juliette balconies that provide substantial access to light and air. The micro-units developed as part of this pilot will measure between 250 and 370 square feet.
“Mayor Bloomberg is committed to expanding the housing options available to New Yorkers, and with the results of the adAPT project we’ve clearly seen that developers believe there is a robust market for smaller apartment sizes,” said Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel. “Today’s announcement is a milestone for new housing models.”
“The remarkable number of high-quality responses to the adAPT NYC RFP validates the position that developing micro-unit living is both financially and physically feasible in the New York City landscape,” said HPD Commissioner Mathew M. Wambua. “Monadnock, nARCHITECTS and the Actors Fund HDC came through with an inventive and striking interpretation of the micro-unit concept. The team’s ‘My Micro NY’ proposal is reflective of our objectives and signifies tremendous promise for this housing model. Remarkable things can be accomplished when thinking carefully about how people live and how we can program small spaces to integrate individuals’ lifestyles with common, or shared, space. This is the result when government acts as a catalyst for private sector innovation.”
“The Monadnock proposal is compelling because it clearly demonstrates how careful planning and design innovation can transform a building into a community and a small unit into a home”, said Planning Commissioner Burden. “The adAPT RFP fulfills its promise by providing a tangible new housing option, which has the potential to broaden housing choices for New Yorkers.”
“Our buildings should be built to meet the needs of New Yorkers, and as our population continues to grow and evolve, so must our housing stock,” said Commissioner LiMandri. “The Monadnock proposal is a fresh, innovative design that recognizes the changes in how we live as a society and presents a safe, reasonable housing option for those who want to call New York City home.”
Designed by nARCHITECTS, ‘My Micro NY’ is an elegant building distinguished by the creative use of setbacks and subtle changes in the color of the brick cladding. A multi-purpose and transparently-glazed space on the ground floor will be programed for rehearsals, performances, lectures and other creative activities, in addition to a café. Inside, the efficient apartment design includes ample storage, such as a 16’-long overhead loft space and a full-depth closet. Compact kitchens contain a full-height pull-out pantry, a full-height fridge, range, and space for a convection microwave. The property will include amenities that invite resident interaction, such as an attic garden, a ground-floor porch with picnic tables, den areas, and a multi-purpose lounge. Programmed interior space comprises 18 percent of the building’s gross square footage. The building will also have a laundry room, residential storage, a bike room, and fitness space.
While the variation in unit sizes and configuration is efficiently limited, minor shifts in the building’s volume, and changes in orientation of units, and location and type of windows generate spatial diversity. Each unit is comprised of two distinct zones: a ‘toolbox’ containing a kitchen, bathroom and storage and a ‘canvas’ providing ample, well-proportioned flexible space allowing for individual expression, and serving as the primary living and sleeping area. ‘My Micro NY’ unites a spectrum of scales ranging from efficiently designed kitchens to the organization of the apartments and common space, all in a simple yet iconic building.
The property will include common spaces with amenities which also emphasize a creative use of space, including a rooftop garden, shared lounge areas on nearly every floor to invite resident interaction, and an 8th floor deck for socializing or group fitness activities that has an additional multi-purpose lounge that can seat twenty for dinner or up to forty for a standing room event. The ‘My Micro NY’ building will also have a laundry room, a storage room, a bike room, and a fitness room.
Highly-skilled workers will prefabricate the building modules at Capsys’s indoor facility in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Capsys is the first NYC-approved manufacturer of prefabricated modules. After site work, foundations, utilities, and the construction of the ground floor is completed using traditional methods, the modules would arrive on the site with fixtures and finishes already installed. The modules would be hoisted into place in approximately two weeks and the brick facades would be built on the development site. Residents are expected to move in by September 2015.
“We are grateful to the City and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for selecting our proposal from such a competitive pool,” said Alphonse Lembo of Monadnock. “We’ve built market-rate and affordable housing in the five boroughs that have given people places to live and make memories, but this is an important opportunity to change the way we think about living space in an urban setting.”
“We are proud to be a member of the development team selected by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to be at the vanguard of implementing Mayor Bloomberg’s vision to provide a new and innovative option for attractive affordable housing that responds to the changing demographics and preferences of New York City’s residents,” said Scott Weiner, President of the Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation.
“We’re thrilled at the chance of designing a housing prototype that will give New Yorkers in small spaces a sense of living in a larger social fabric” said Eric Bunge, Principal of nARCHITECTS.
The ‘My Micro NY’ building will provide housing to one- and two-person households across a variety of incomes. Twenty percent of the apartments (eleven units) will be reserved for households with incomes not exceeding 80 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI); nine percent (5 units) will be reserved for households with incomes not exceeding 145 percent of AMI; and eleven percent (6 units) will be reserved for households with incomes not exceeding 155 percent of AMI. The remainder of the units will be market rate, along with one superintendent’s unit. The development team was able to achieve affordability in the micro-units for low- and middle-income households without utilizing any direct City subsidy or financing, in part through its use of the modular design, which can significantly reduce a project schedule, resulting in savings on financing and conventional construction costs.
While reviewing the proposals, the City consulted with members of the adAPT NYC Advisory Board, which was created last year. The Board is composed of 12 leaders in architecture and design, housing, and economic development and was assembled to provide feedback on top proposals. Committee members include:
Barry Bergdoll, Chief Curator of Architecture & Design, Museum of Modern Art
Rafael Cestero, President and CEO, Community Preservation Corporation
Tom Eich, Partner, IDEO
Paul Goldberger, Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair
Toni Griffin, Professor of Architecture and Director, J. Max Bond Center at City College of New York
Robert Hammond, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Friends of the High Line
Bjarke Ingels, Architect and Founding Partner, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group
Janel Laban, Executive Editor, Apartment Therapy
Maya Lin, Artist, Maya Lin Studio
Richard Plunz, Director of the Urban Design Program, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Robert Selsam, Senior Vice President, Boston Properties
Christian Siriano, Fashion Designer, Christian Siriano
The winning proposal and four other notable proposals will be featured in an upcoming exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York called Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers. The exhibit, which is co-presented by the Museum and the Citizens Housing & Planning Council, features creative ideas for how to accommodate the changing demographics of New York City’s population.
“With this exhibition, the Museum of the City of New York and the Citizens Housing & Planning Council are giving New Yorkers a glimpse into the future of housing in our city,” said Susan Henshaw Jones, Ronay Menschel Director of the Museum of the City of New York. “We are excited to showcase proposals from the adAPT NYCCompetition and to foster a discussion of solutions to the city’s emerging housing needs.”
The adAPT NYC Competition was created to introduce additional choices within New York City’s housing market to accommodate the city’s growing population of one- and two-person households.Currently New York City has 1.8 million one- and two-person households, but only one million studios and one-bedrooms. The City’s housing codes have not kept up with its changing population, and currently do not allow an entire building of micro-units. Under this pilot program, Mayor Bloomberg will waive certain zoning regulations at a City-owned site at 335 East 27th Street to test the market for this new housing model. The adAPT NYC RFP was downloaded more than 1,600 times in hundreds of cities domestically and abroad, and generated 33 proposals by the submission deadline – making this the largest response received by HPD for a housing project. It is expected that the project will complete the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure for disposition of City-owned land in the fall and break ground on construction at the end of 2013.
The adAPT NYC initiative is part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan. The New Housing Marketplace Plan is a multi-billion dollar initiative to finance 165,000 units of affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers by the close of Fiscal Year 2014. To date, every dollar invested by the City, the Plan has leveraged $3.42 in private funding for a total commitment of more than $20 billion to fund the creation or preservation of over 140,920 units of affordable housing across the five boroughs.
Modular construction delivers model for New York Housing in record time
Building Design + Construction Magazine
A 65-unit supportive housing facility in Brooklyn, N.Y., was completed in record time using modular construction with six stories set in just 12 days.
330 MacDougal Street, Brooklyn, NY. 85 modules forming 65 studio apartments and the supporting public areas, stair towers and elevator shaft of five residential levels above a site-built first level. Client: Concern for Independent Living, Medford, NY, Architect: DeLaCour & Ferrara Architects, Brooklyn, NY.
Concern for Independent Living, a New York-based non-profit group providing supportive housing was in need of a new housing facility in Brooklyn, N.Y., for low-income individuals recovering from mental illness. Using modular construction allowed the project to be completed in record time, quickly transforming the property into a residence with 65 studio apartments.
The development of this program included the demolition of the existing building and the new construction of the MacDougal Street Apartments. The new building is the first Single-Site Supportive Housing Program in New York State to utilize modular building techniques and provides a model for modular construction in supportive housing.
The MacDougal Street Apartment complex is located on the site of a former residential program for adolescents, which closed in 2005. The buildings on the property remained vacant and boarded up, becoming a neighborhood eyesore until the property was purchased by Concern for Independent Living in 2008. The vacant structures were demolished to make room for the newly constructed six-story building.
Eighty-four modules were constructed off-site at Capsys Corp.’s manufacturing plant at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The factory-controlled process moved the construction off site to bring the order and control of an assembly line, minimizing construction waste and site disturbances. Starting with the fabrication of the structural elements, components were added to the modules as they moved through the factory. Windows, doors, MEP systems and fixtures, and trims were all installed along the line. The modules were then wrapped in protective materials and moved to temporary storage awaiting their trip to the building site to become part of the building project.
Project Summary
Number of modules: 84
Number of stories: 6
Installation time: 12 days
Square footage: 29,850
While the site was being prepared and the foundations constructed, Capsys was simultaneously fabricating the modules. When the site was ready, so were the modules. A large hydraulic construction crane was staged at the site, modules were transported in a systematic order to the crane hook and modules were quickly stacked and welded creating a unitized structural whole assembly. The erection process happened so quickly that all six stories were installed in just 12 days.
The project was funded by NYS Office of Mental Health and designed by DeLaCour and Ferrara Architects. This apartment building provides safe, affordable housing and on-site supportive services, incorporating many of the latest advances in construction techniques and sustainable features such as Energy Recovery Ventilation, Photovoltaic technology for power generation and substantial reductions in energy use.
Residents enjoy their own studio apartment with private bathroom and kitchenette. The building includes a fitness center, computer room/library, laundry facilities, several lounges, and outdoor recreational areas.
When Concern for Independent Living purchased the site, they promised to improve the neighborhood by developing an attractive building that is an asset to the community; increasing employment opportunities; encouraging the stability, self-sufficiency and productivity of adults living with mental illness; and increasing affordable housing opportunities for disabled men and women. This project has succeeded in achieving all of these goals.
“We are proud to have companies like Capsys Corp. as members of the Modular Building Institute,” said Tom Hardiman, executive director. “With their help, we are changing the way the world builds.”
Few, if any, companies can say they built a luxury hotel in less than one year, but that’s exactly what Capsys Corp. of Brooklyn, N.Y., did in 2005. The 30-unit Harborfront Inn features oversized soaking and whirlpool baths, spacious showers with floor-to-ceiling porcelain tile and body jets, and balconies overlooking the Peconic Bay and Shelter Island.
Modular construction enabled the 25,000-square-foot Harborfront Inn to be erected on short schedule, Capsys General Manager Bill McShane says. “We produced the [51] modules in about four months of production,” he recalls. “The construction process took eight months.”
Each module is constructed at Capsys’ Brooklyn factory and designed to interconnect when welded together on site, essentially fitting together like pieces of an enormous jigsaw puzzle. Once that process is completed, contractors put on the exterior finishes and perform mechanical, electrical and plumbing connections that are fed between the modules.
“We typically get involved during the schematic design process and become an integral member of the project team,” McShane notes. “One of the things that sets us apart – even from other manufacturers that do similar work to what we do – is our knowledge and ability to work with the general construction, architecture and engineering industries closely to understand the way the building will be built, while incorporating our efficient manufacturing process in with that.”
Although standard field construction continues to be the most popular building method, the advantages to modular building are many, McShane points out. For instance, each of the modules is thick-sided, fully enclosed and 90 percent completed before it is delivered to the job site.
“Being able to construct these units within a factory environment offers a level of supervision and quality control that is unmatched in field construction,” he says. “Within the 300 feet of our production line, we are able to monitor and oversee everything from welding of the structural steel frame to the electrical wiring and routing of plumbing piping to finish of the dry wall and installation for cabinets, doors and hardware.”
Constructing the modules in an enclosed factory environment prevents common field construction hindrances such as poor weather conditions, vandalism or theft. “As a consequence, a modular construction project can be completed much faster,” McShane remarks.
“The fact that site work, such as putting a foundation in, can be done simultaneously as we’re producing the modules means the time spent completing the building is compressed greatly,” he adds. “As a side note, our attention to detail and our in-house value-engineering and estimating allow us to give very solid pricing early on in the schematic design phase.”
Green and Cutting-Edge
Modular construction has become increasingly popular in a troublesome economy where owners want a quick return on their investments and seek to have buildings constructed as soon as possible. As a result, modular buildings are still in demand, even in a recession. “Currently, we’re involved in building a large amount of affordable housing,” McShane notes.
Brooklyn’s 330 MacDougal Street is a 65-unit supportive housing project for Concern for Independent Living, a fit group focused on providing housing support for the needy in New York City and Long Island. The six-story, 29,850-square-foot structure utilizes the latest advances in construction techniques, which is something McShane says Capsys is known for. “We pride ourselves on being up to date and knowledgeable about building codes and regulation, upcoming technology and innovations in energy efficiency,” he states.
For instance, 330 MacDougal Street features energy recovery ventilation and photovoltaic technology for significant reductions in energy consumption. “The construction industry as a whole is moving into the sustainable lifestyle, but modular construction has been green all along,” McShane says. “Our methods and materials used, and our overall process reduces the impact on the environment greatly.”
Capsys has produced ENERGYSTAR townhouses and LEED Silver buildings, and often incorporates green building components such as geothermal pumps, energy-efficient lighting fixtures, low-VOC materials, low-flow plumbing fixtures and composite insulation systems.
“Some of the materials we use in our modules – which are steel-framed, non-combustible modules – are inherently recycled,” McShane says. “As a company, we actively recycle all of our waste gypsum board, waste steel and cardboard packaging. We’ve been doing this as a regular course of business, not as a reaction to the green trend nationwide. It’s just the way we do business.”
Located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Capsys was founded in 1996 by President Nick Lembo to build Nehemiah II, 700 homes for the Nehemiah Housing Development Fund Co. The company’s unique approach to this project earned it the “Build New York” and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “Innovation in Housing” awards. However, its use of modular construction posed a unique challenge in that it built homes faster than land could become available, McShane says.
“In the interim, we started doing other projects ranging from townhouses to multifamily buildings to hotels,” he recalls. “By the time we finished those 700 homes, we were already specialized in a number of different project types.”
Capsys continues to pace itself and seek new applications for modular construction to ensure that it will continue to operate efficiently when the housing market improves.
“I see student housing as a market that is not as susceptible to the ups and downs of the overall housing market,” McShane says.
“Because of the speed and efficiency of modular construction, we are able to meet the needs of a client when they need student housing built in a short period of time. We actually have a design that is flexible and already prepackaged for residence halls; we can go from an initial concept to completion within 12 months – I think that’s unmatched anywhere in the construction industry.”
Concern For Independent Living Opens The MacDougal Street Apartments, a New 65-Unit Supportive Housing Project in Crown Heights, Brooklyn
BROOKLYN, N.Y., June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Concern for Independent Living, a leading nonprofit provider of supportive housing, held a ribbon cutting today to officially open The MacDougal Street Apartments, bringing an innovative supportive housing development and more than a dozen new jobs to the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.The project was made possible by support from the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH), NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, Astoria Federal Savings, Richman Housing Resources, and New York City.The 65-unit MacDougal Street Apartments is located on the site of a former residential program for adolescents, which closed in 2005. The buildings on the property remained vacant and boarded up, becoming a neighborhood eyesore until the property was purchased by Concern in 2008. The vacant structures were demolished to make room for a newly constructed six-story building.Built using modular construction techniques, The MacDougal Street Apartments is the first of its kind in New York State. Eighty-four modules were constructed off-site at Capsys Corp.’s manufacturing plant at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and transported to the project site for “stacking” on the building’s foundation. This technique quickly transformed the property into a residence with 65 studio apartments for low-income individuals recovering from mental illness. The residents include formerly homeless individuals and persons exiting OMH’s state residency system. All units are wired for high-speed internet access, cable and telephone. The building features multiple lounges, a computer room, exercise room, dining hall and outdoor gardens.When Concern purchased the site, they promised to improve the neighborhood by developing an attractive building that is an asset to the community; increasing employment opportunities; encouraging the stability, self-sufficiency and productivity of adults living with mental illness; and increasing affordable housing opportunities for disabled men and women. This project has succeeded in achieving all of these goals.”When you remove an eyesore building, replace it with beautiful housing and create 18 new permanent jobs, there is good reason to celebrate,” said Ralph Fasano, Executive Director of Concern for Independent Living.
“The MacDougal Street Apartments does all of that as well as create a beautiful and supportive living environment. I want to thank our partners in government and our not-for-profit and for-profit lenders for making this dream a reality,” he said.
New York State Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner/CEO Darryl C. Towns said, “The measure of a society is how it treats those who are most vulnerable. Under the leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo, HCR is working within the Medicaid Redesign Team to find better ways to address the medical and social issues of Medicaid’s highest-need clients. Supportive housing has been shown to improve the overall health and well-being of these individuals, helping advance their independence through stable and safe environments. We are proud to be part of the MacDougal Apartments project and part of transforming the lives of the 65 people who will call it home.”
Office of Mental Health Commissioner Mike Hogan said, “Housing is a basic need for everyone. For people with mental illness, safe, decent and affordable housing is the foundation upon which recovery is built. Concern for Independent Living has demonstrated an ability to operate outstanding supported housing services. With this project, Concern will help start 65 more individuals on that path to recovery.”
The total development cost for The MacDougal Street Apartments was $21.7 million. Financing included 4% Tax Credits issued by New York State Homes and Community Renewal, a grant from the New York State Office of Mental Health, and an Affordable Housing Program grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York.
Concern for Independent Living, Inc. is a nonprofit agency committed to helping low income persons and persons with disabilities to live in the community with dignity and enhanced opportunities through the provision of housing and support services. Concern is one of the largest housing agencies of this kind in New York State, currently serving approximately 700 individuals and families in over 200 locations. Concern offers a variety of housing options with individualized support services designed to support personal growth and independence.
Contact: Ralph FasanoExecutive DirectorConcern for Independent Living, Inc.631-758-0474rfasano@concernhousing.org
SOURCE Concern for Independent Living, Inc.
Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
‘The Wall Street Journal Market Watch’; “Concern for Inpdependent Living Opens The MacDougal Street Apartments, a New 65-Unit Supportive Housing Project in Crown Heights, Brooklyn”; June 1, 2012;
A premier NYC construction manager recognizes the use of modular construction as an innovative construction technique. Capsys is pleased that Plaza Construction has featured the use of modular construction in a presentation of the Building 92 project.
Few, if any, companies can say they built a luxury hotel in less than one year, but that’s exactly what 