14 great solutions

Welcome to the third installment of Building Design+Construction’s “Great Solutions,” highlighting 14 innovative technologies and products that you can put to work in your next project.

By Amy McIntosh, Associate Editor and Raissa Rocha, Associate Editor

December 09, 2012

QUICK-PACED MICRO-UNIT PREFAB

Apartment building stacks up four stories in four days

The SoMa Studios is a 23-unit apartment building in San Francisco’s trendy SoMa (South of Market) district, built at a Sacramento factory in just three months and assembled on site in four days—a fraction of the estimated 13 months to build the same project using traditional construction. Developer Panoramic Interests, Berkeley, Calif., partnered with green modular builder ZETA to create the urban infill complex, which the Modular Building Institute says is the first of its kind in the U.S. The LEED Platinum building offers 300-sf “micro-unit” studios to overcome the housing crunch for Bay Area urban singles, such as those who work at Twitter’s nearby HQ; typical studio units run 450-500 sf. Green features include solar hot water heating, recycled materials, natural light, and high-performance windows.