Nine storey Melbourne apartment goes up in just five days trumpets
the headline in a recent Architecture
and Design article by Geraldine Chua.
What follows is an article on the latest project by the Hickory Group, the One9 apartment tower in Melbourne, utilising their so-called Unitised
Building (UB) System. Developed and
championed by Australian architect Nonda Katsalidis, the UB system relies on
factory-based modular construction with high levels of external and internal
finishes and fit out, making for fast on-site assembly.
The UB approach is distinguished from others in
that it is an open system with neither prescribed module dimensions nor
other particular constraints, except for those imposed by the necessity to
transport the modules through city streets.
What’s this particular article does not make clear is what
the exact part of the whole building is represented by the 36 modules delivered
and assembled on site in 120 hours. The
accompanying images strongly suggest that the five days follow site
establishment and the completion of a very substantial in-situ concrete service
core. Nor does the article mention or
discuss the factory-based lead time culminating in the heroic five-day assembly
of the modules on site.
