The commercial building industry is changing rapidly. Architects, developers, builders, contractors and fabricators are searching for innovative – and cost-effective – solutions that will enable them to work quickly and safely while still delivering high-quality, sustainable finished projects. One such solution is prefabricated (“pre-fab”) construction, a method that helps to streamline the building process and produce beautiful results.

In commercial building, pre-fab construction of a building’s façade typically involves assembling, in a controlled environment, large exterior panels into units. The completed units — which can be larger than 40 feet wide and a story tall — are then transported to the job site. Once on-site, they are connected to the building’s structure.

This method is challenging traditional paradigms in commercial construction, creating value by offering design flexibility, faster project delivery and accelerated project scheduling, quality assurance and reduced risk of jobsite injuries.

The Alexandria GradLabs Biotech Campus building is a dramatic and visually-impressive break from the ordinary office park structures in San Diego, CA. Strategically positioned in University Town Center, in the heart of the golden triangle — an area known as a regional hub for research institutes and high-tech, clean-tech and bio-tech businesses — the GradLabs offices provide nearly 100,000 square feet of space for growing life-science companies that have matured beyond the incubator stage.

The new Chicago flagship operation of logistics provider C.H. Robinson opened its doors to employees in August 2018 as the first anchor tenant in the new Lincoln Yards revitalization development near the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago.

Marketing materials for the Exo apartments – which feature a gleaming contemporary façade – encourage residents to “live in full color” in this 457-unit multi-family residential community that opened in July 2018. Located in Reston, Va., Exo residents live less than 25 miles from Washington, D.C.

The Marine Gateway mixed-use development officially opened this spring in south Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, as the first major transit-oriented development integrated into Vancouver’s Canada Line rapid transit rail system. It’s also served by the South Vancouver Bus Loop.

Photo by Bill Baxley, AIA

The Toro Company celebrated its 100th anniversary July 10, 2014, at its world headquarters’ campus in Bloomington, Minn., shortly after unveiling a new three-story 75,000-square foot building designed to provide expanded product development and testing areas as well as office, training and conference spaces.