Modular residential buildings as engineering hybrids

Abstract

The article discusses the varieties of engineering hybrids - modular residential buildings. The genesis and history of modular housing construction are traced. The advantages and problems of modular housing construction are determined.
 The study identified modern trends in modular construction: 1) the desire for maximum consolidation of construction and structural modules; 2) transition to lightweight structural modules made of wood and metal instead of concrete; 3) implementation of energy-efficient (“green”) and smart technologies, materials and the use of secondary resources in residential modular buildings; 4) striving for maximum variety of modules, apartments and housing types.
 The main feature of modern modular construction in the world is the spread of a new hybrid concept, which seeks to combine the automation of mass production and the unification of elements with “mass individualization” - the variability and diversity of modular elements, apartments and types of housing.
 Modern modular residential buildings include several types and aspects of hybridization:
 - modular construction itself is a hybrid method (combination of traditional on-site construction with production of modules in factory conditions);
 - hybrid energy supply (simultaneous use of traditional and alternative energy sources);
 - use of hybrid materials and enclosing and supporting structures;
 - implementation of the hybrid concept of "mass individualization;
 - functional and typological hybridization – mixed functional use and mixing of established residential typologies in one housing structure (combination of elite and social housing, apartments for students and the elderly, gallery and sectional houses, etc.).