Abstract
The modular apartment has been completed for the first time in Korea through the national research and development (R&D) project in December 2017, and 30 households moved in. Although conditions such as technicality and constructability have to be satisfied to adopt and spread the modular apartments in the future, economic feasibility is the most important factor among the conditions. The economic feasibility of modular apartments can be compared with that of existing reinforced concrete (RC) structure apartments. It is highly important to reduce the construction cost through standardization above all. The standardization refers to establishment of national design standards and principles, and it is important for manufacturers and building companies to comply with those standards and principles. The modular construction (MC) skill in Korea is at an early adoption stage and the MC market is not widely expanded yet. Thus, the application of the MC design, which is the basis of the standardization, has not been widely accepted. However, related R&D projects are now performing mainly by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport to promote modular apartments in recent years and the design standardization standard (draft) is now prepared to be notified as a result of the steady research. Furthermore, pilot complexes for demonstration purpose are under construction, starting from public rental apartments. Thus, MC method-applied public rental houses will be spread in near future. This study aims to investigate the current design status in the Ga-Yang Housing as a pilot modular complex to produce and supply more economical and efficient modular houses, and analyze the problems by comparing the design standardization standards with pre-notified design standardization standards and summarize the modifications between them thereby presenting foundational data for establishment of the design standardization in the modular business industry.
