08-03-2023, 03:34 PM
(07-30-2023, 06:14 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Here is something that could be pre-fabricated: bathrooms. Standard apartment bathrooms in non-luxury accommodation are not architecturally interesting, often don’t even have windows, and are already mostly in a small number of meaningfully-different plans. It should be possible to create a small number of plans (powder room, full bathroom, maybe a couple of variations including one that includes space for laundry appliances) and churn out the entire room as a unit which is just lowered into place during construction. The trick is that in order to actually be worthwhile the savings would have to be entirely in construction efficiency, not in how they’re built — the actual toilets, for example, should be normal toilets that can be replaced later in the same way that a toilet in a non-prefab bathroom would be replaced. Otherwise this would just create a maintenance and repair nightmare later.
Bathrooms are small enough that a truck could bring enough for several apartments. Instead of having to bring in plumbers, electricians, painters, tile specialists, trim and maybe others, only some of them would be needed in order to do the hookups.
The last time that Canada had a housing crisis was during the Second World War when housing was needed fast for factory workers, and then from 1945-1960 when the returning veterans needed housing fast. What started as the Wartime Housing Corp evolved in CMHC. Up to a million homes, usually about 1000 square feet, were built to standardized dimensions from 1945 to 1960. Private developers also copied these practices.
The townhouses opposite WLU along University Ave were one of the first CMHC projects in Waterloo. They have prefabricated bathrooms that were hung on the outside of each unit. The surrounding neighbourhood was largely the 1.5 story houses. The neighbourhood west of Albert St was a little more sturdier (eg brick construction) but fit the general rule of compact houses on compact lots, in a grid street layout that were walkable to what was needed.