The Stack is New York City’s first prefabricated apartment and it’s rising away from the real estate fray in Inwood. Nonetheless, people are watching it closely as it could be the sign of things to come. The winning design of the 2012 city challenge, adAPT NYC, will be built using pre-fabricated modules assembled on the Brooklyn Navy Yard by 2015. Forest City Ratner will use modular construction for its first residential building in Atlantic Yards. The Stack, designed by architect Peter Gluck, will be seven floors and made up of 56 modules. Targeted as mid-income housing, 20% of the units will be below market rate. As The New York Times points out, prefab construction disrupts long-standing construction practices in New York City: The trend toward modular does pose issues, particularly for New York City’s powerful construction unions. It means exporting some construction jobs to factories outside New York, and while many modular factories are unionized, the employees tend… Read More