New Modular Construction Assemblies

office: katerra

type: R&D

location: seattle, washington, usa

Another Katerra asset includes their library of standard construction assembly details which have been designed for repeatability and advanced automated manufacturing.  Naturally, a kit of parts approach has been taken to leverage economy of scale through a hyper efficient and streamlined design and manufacturing processes.  Working within this model has allowed Katerra’s integrated teams to standardize core building components such as wall panels, roof and floor systems, and window and door details, while allowing for rapid customization and on-demand configurability.

Responsibilities:

While working within a small 3-person team, I had the opportunity to intimately learn about, design, and develop many of the standard assembly details for in-factory manufacturing. At the time, Katerra had lacked a fully developed library of details and had tasked us to complete them. Over a one-year period, my team had designed, coordinated and implemented many of the custom wall, window, door, floor and roof assembly details that have now become Katerra standards. In order to work within Katerra’s end-to-end design system, each detail had to be perfectly coordinated with all in-factory manufacturing and tooling capabilities as well as any on-site installation requirements.

New CLT Construction Details

One of Katerra’s most significant assets is their ability to manufacture and integrate Cross-laminated timber (CLT) into their projects. CLT offers a unique combination of efficiency, strength, safety, aesthetics, and environmental benefits that are able to deliver incredibly high value across the entire construction ecosystem. However, as CLT is a new and innovative building material, many of the construction details required to achieve certain aesthetic and performance qualities were not available and had to be designed and developed in-house.

Responsibilities: During my 2nd year at Katerra, I was given the opportunity to work with teams of engineers to develop many innovative CLT details. Examples include; lighting fixture details with hidden wiring,  typical CLT floor assembly details that incorporate soundmat for acoustic dampening, gypcrete for vibration reduction, and gypboard for finish material tie-down, and typical CLT penetration details for piping or electrical conduit.  Many of these details have now become Katerra standards and are now being implemented across a number of Katerra’s current projects.