The instant high-rise

Where are we going to put them all?

For decades, populations in North American cities have been growing faster than housing can accommodate. Exacerbated by the 2008 financial meltdown and the COVID-19 pandemic—both events constricting housing supply while intensifying demand—the growing divide between need and availability has accelerated a housing crunch that seems like it can only get crunchier.

The United Nations predicts that the planet will add 1.5 billion people within the next quarter century. Meeting that growth has been calculated to require more than two trillion square feet of built space. “We know the population is growing globally and we need to build very quickly,” says Dr. Tony Yang, a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. “But our technology is not fast enough.”

Dr. Yang is the director of UBC’s Smart Structures Lab, where researchers combine advanced structural simulation and large-scale experimental testing to design building systems that are safer, more environmentally friendly, and quick to assemble. Integrating artificial intelligence, robotics, and modular assembly to automate key stages of construction—and even monitor structural health in real time—the lab has evolved into a hub for next-generation infrastructure research. It also plays a central role in an $8.27-million national initiative led by UBC Civil Engineering to address housing supply through sustainable modular construction.

When Dr. Yang arrived at UBC 16 years ago, his focus was seismic engineering. Trained at UC Berkeley, he built his reputation designing structures capable of withstanding major earthquakes, research that informed landmark projects across North America and contributed to seismic provisions in Canada’s National Building Code.

But earthquakes, he says, are episodic. Construction inefficiency is constant.

“We have to build faster, build more economically, build smarter,” he says. “We are building in the wrong ways. We are building too slowly. We’re not using effective construction methods, and we’re having significant impact on the environment. Right now, people can’t afford to buy a house. The price keeps going higher, and it’s mainly because the way we do things is not efficient. Construction costs are very expensive, and we don’t have enough skilled workers. So we’ve redesigned structures to be made offsite and assembled on-site to reduce the construction time.”

Reduce might be a bit of an understatement. Modern modular technology can raise a 15-storey building in only six days—two days for the framework, and four more for the envelope and utilities. “From nothing to operational—lights on—in a week,” says Dr. Yang.

Faster, Cheaper, Safer, Cleaner

Traditional building practices assemble materials at the construction site where the entire process is carried out by machine-assisted physical labour. But modular construction bypasses delays and bottlenecks brought about by weather conditions, safety issues, and complicated logistics by manufacturing modular components offsite in a controlled setting. Entire floor modules—lightweight steel joist systems with prefabricated composite decks—are manufactured complete with architectural and mechanical components pre-installed. They are then transported to the site and lifted into place by cranes or AI-controlled robotic arms, with the assembly process overseen from a mobile command centre.

In Dr. Yang’s vision, the construction site of the future looks less like organized chaos and more like precision choreography, a ballet of visual input and mechanical output that maximizes the efficiency of every movement. “It’s like making cars,” he says. “If you make one car, it’s expensive. If you make 100,000 cars, the cost goes down quickly. We’re doing that for buildings now.”

But speed is not the only type of efficiency in the crosshairs. Traditional building practices are incredibly carbon-intensive. Civil en-gineering accounts for nearly 40 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. As much of the infrastructure in Canada and the US was built in the postwar boom, it’s approaching the end of its 50- to 100-year design life and is in need of some serious overhaul. By reducing construction timelines, material waste, inconsistent quality control, and weather-related delays, advanced modular construction is poised to revolutionize not only housing, but large public projects as well.

“Currently, 12 per cent of municipal infrastructure in Canada is rated poor or very poor, with an estimated replacement cost of $250 to $260 billion,” says Dr. Yang. “We have to build fast, and we have to build sustainably.”

Dr. Yang’s team is already applying their research in the field, testing out large-scale construction machines to automate the construction sequence. Working with their industry partners, they use drones connected to a 5G network to monitor construction sites during and after assembly, transmitting high-definition video to create real-time digital twins as virtual replicas of physical sites. AI systems use data from these replicas to identify structural and non-structural components, detect misalignments or damage, and generate inspection reports automatically.

Instead of performing repetitive or hazardous physical tasks, workers become machine operators and systems managers, while supervisors monitor multiple projects remotely. This will significantly increase the productivity for the construction industry, and fewer people in the trenches means fewer injuries and safer working conditions. “We are developing next-generation technology to improve the efficiency and safety of the construction industry,” says Dr. Yang.

Versatile and Scalable

After the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, large sections of downtown were cordoned off for years before they could be thoroughly inspected. Dr. Yang believes that with automated assessment tools, the timeline would have shrunk dramatically. His lab is interested in the life and death of a building as much as its birth, researching how AI-enabled drones could rapidly assess structural damage after a disaster, identifying safe-entry zones, prioritizing repairs, and even finding survivors.

Much of what happens inside the Smart Structures Lab is already transitioning into industry. Dr. Yang and his collaborators are working with industry partners to implement the technologies in actual construction projects. Within five years, he predicts, modular factory production and robotic on-site assembly will be commonplace.

This shift towards hyper-efficient modular construction could be transformative for two of Canada’s most pressing challenges: housing affordability and climate resilience. Faster build times reduce financing costs. Factory production lowers waste. Carbon-neutral materials shrink emissions. Automated inspections improve long-term maintenance. And with every iteration, the system becomes more efficient.

“Now we’re developing our drones to do small city evaluations,” says Dr. Yang. “So when the drones fly around, if they detect damage they will tell you what's needed short term, and also when you need a long-term retrofit so you can protect your building. We can go from individual components, to buildings, to cities. The technology scales.”