Universities look to off-site construction to build dorms
SU opts for traditional methods for hall on 619 Comstock Ave.
By Hope Morley
Posted: 4/24/08, 11:22 PM EST Section: News
Instead of waking up to the sound of construction every morning, residents of DellPlain Hall could have had a brand-new residence hall installed piece by piece in their front lawn.
Construction started on the new residence hall at 619 Comstock Ave. Feb. 18, and students have felt the effects of a traditional building process ever since. When constructing residence halls, some universities choose to use a method of modular construction - an alternative method of building in which pieces of the building are manufactured in a factory and then transported to the site to be assembled.
A benefit of modular construction is less disruption to the surrounding areas. In the past, modular construction has been associated with prisons and military barracks but is increasingly being used by universities to build residence halls and academic buildings.
Chuck Bucci, assistant director for new construction at Syracuse University, said they considered using modular construction for the new residence hall on Comstock Avenue, but they did not see enough benefits over traditional construction.
"It really takes the same amount of time, just not on site," Bucci said.
According to the Modular Building Institute, about 24 percent of commercial modular buildings are used for education. Higher education is not separated from other educational uses, such as high schools or elementary schools.
Several buildings on the SU campus have been done partially with modular construction, including a campus parking garage and the Carrier Dome. The outside panels of the Dome were built off-site.
"That made construction time go relatively quickly," Bucci said. "But there was still a lot of work that needed to be done beforehand."
Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. is one of the largest college users of modular construction. Since 1996, they have built seven new residence halls using that method.
In theory, modular construction is supposed to be less expensive, but both Muhlenberg and SU found the cost to be comparable. For Muhlenberg, efficiency was the deciding factor.
Construction started on the new residence hall at 619 Comstock Ave. Feb. 18, and students have felt the effects of a traditional building process ever since. When constructing residence halls, some universities choose to use a method of modular construction - an alternative method of building in which pieces of the building are manufactured in a factory and then transported to the site to be assembled.
A benefit of modular construction is less disruption to the surrounding areas. In the past, modular construction has been associated with prisons and military barracks but is increasingly being used by universities to build residence halls and academic buildings.
Chuck Bucci, assistant director for new construction at Syracuse University, said they considered using modular construction for the new residence hall on Comstock Avenue, but they did not see enough benefits over traditional construction.
"It really takes the same amount of time, just not on site," Bucci said.
According to the Modular Building Institute, about 24 percent of commercial modular buildings are used for education. Higher education is not separated from other educational uses, such as high schools or elementary schools.
Several buildings on the SU campus have been done partially with modular construction, including a campus parking garage and the Carrier Dome. The outside panels of the Dome were built off-site.
"That made construction time go relatively quickly," Bucci said. "But there was still a lot of work that needed to be done beforehand."
Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. is one of the largest college users of modular construction. Since 1996, they have built seven new residence halls using that method.
In theory, modular construction is supposed to be less expensive, but both Muhlenberg and SU found the cost to be comparable. For Muhlenberg, efficiency was the deciding factor.
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