IMPROVEMENT OF DESIGN METHODS FOR TOWNHOUSES CONSTRUCTED BY PREFABRICATED PARTS

Abstract

This research’s objective is to study the current conditions and obstructions, if any, of the design process for townhouse constructed with pre-fabricated concrete components. In which the procedures and process were derived from the design of Pruksaville Townhouse by Pruksa Real Estate Company Limited as a case study to propose an improvement on the design process for townhouse constructed with pre-fabricated concrete components.

Pruksaville Townhouse, with 5.70 meter in frontal width and 7.80 meter in depth, consists of 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1 to 2 parking spaces per unit. The land plot is 5.70 meter in width and 12.80 meter in depth, constructed in a module of 7 consecutive units by using pre-fabricated components as load-bearing parts including floors, beams, and walls.

From the conducted research, the design process of 1 typical module of the townhouse unit would require approximately 3 months, beginning at receiving the design brief of the conceptual design from the Business Development Department until the submission of a construction drawing documents to the concrete fabrication plant. Where all the townhouse types are required to enter the process of thorough design meetings for improvements, ensuring the alignment of both the modules designed by the architects and the technological capabilities of the fabrication plant, resulting in a re-submission of the construction drawing for concrete component fabrication.

In order to reduce repetitive steps within the process, a proposal for utilizing the Building Information Model (BIM) from the beginning of the design stage by the architect until the construction drawing documentation of the pre-fabricated concrete components is recommended. By having the architects select the pre-fabricated concrete components available within the technological capabilities of the plant to design the townhouse, where the variations are reserved for the front of the townhouse for aesthetics purpose while form and quantity are kept in consistent for the remainder of the unit.