Modular and Offsite Construction: Evidence-Based Benefits and Innovations

Dear Colleagues,

Modular and offsite construction (MOC), as an alternative to the traditional stick-built construction approach, has provided a cost-effective and efficient way for high-quality building products. Construction components are moved to an offsite controlled environment for prefabrication before shipping to the site for assembly. MOC is being adopted more globally with a fast growth rate due to local labor shortages and supply chain constraints. With more work being conducted in a controlled environment, technologies have become accessible and applied to improve the work process. For example, building information modeling (BIM) and design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) are a collection of technologies and methodologies implemented in MOC. Meanwhile, with the emerging Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies and Industry 4.0 initiatives, automation and real-time decision making have become possible for the MOC supply chain. With the emergence of disruptive technologies in MOC, innovation drivers and benefits are demanded to be captured in research endeavors, which is what has led to this Special Issue focusing on realizing the benefits and innovations of MOC. This Special Issue welcomes submissions on a wide range of research work in MOC, including but not limited to: (1) MOC case studies highlighting the evidence-based benefits and barriers of MOC practices; (2) technological innovations and applications in MOC; (3) strategies and organizational innovations to advance MOC adoption; and (4) reviews of the state of the art and state of the practice in MOC.

Dr. Zhen Lei
Dr. Hexu Liu
Dr. SeyedReza RazaviAlavi
Dr. Ke Cao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.