EquityArchDaily's Monthly Topic - September 2021

The concept of prefabrication in construction corresponds to elements, parts or entire buildings produced in a factory and transported to a construction site for a quick installation. This represents numerous advantages over traditional construction methods, such as speed, precision in execution, efficiency, cleanliness of the work and, in many cases, cost. Considering that housing is a primary human need, using industrial methods for the construction of affordable and good quality housing has always interested architects, whether to house growing urban populations or for temporary or emergency settlements, on the most diverse scales. After many attempts throughout history, the question remains whether the popularization of prefabrication in the construction field can be a solution to provide greater equity in access to housing.

One of the big economic factors of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the issue of tenant evictions and rent moratoriums. As millions of people quickly lost their jobs, it meant that they began to struggle to pay their rents. Now, as the economy slowly begins to recover and some return to work, there’s been pushback on the moratoriums, with landlords and tenants being split on how to move forward with the future payments. Tenants still can’t pay their rent and landlords themselves are burdened by the lack of income. But what this tug of war really sheds light on is how out of reach the costs of living have become in some of the densest cities, and how housing in some ways has been seen as an amenity, not a necessity or a basic right- even in a global pandemic.