Making Connections: Innovative Integration of Utilities in Panelized Housing Design

The design of prefabricated housing has occupied the attention of architects in the U.S. for decades.Prefabrication offers the promise of high construction quality, material conservation, affordability, installation in almost any site condition, and technical innovation.The general term of prefabrication covers a number of different construction techniques: manufactured housing (formerly known as "mobile homes" or "trailers"), modular, panelized, component-based, and hybrids of these different systems.The greatest impact is being made by manufactured, modular, and panelized technologies, which collectively now account for about 56 percent of all the housing constructed in the U.S. (according to Automated Builder magazine, which closely monitors the industry).Among these, panelized construction is the largest segment (43 percent of all prefabricated homes), the fastest growing, and the most diverse.In 2006 the estimated 3,500 panel builders in the U.S. collectively built about 1.483 million units of housing. 1 Panelization in many ways offers the greatest design flexibility to architects and builders, and the potential for the greatest innovation.The focus of this research is the interface and integration of utilities (electrical wiring, cable, communication wiring, gas piping, and other kinds of utilities) into different types of panel systems.This integration has long been the "Achilles heel" of panelization-how to deliver the promise of swift, efficient, and innovation design and construction possible through panel systems and allow for easy integration and service of a house's myriad utilities.This research identifies and evaluates panelized systems designed to address the challenge of utility integration.