The Gift Of Modular Real Estate

The pace of change is accelerating rapidly. The explosive growth of GenAI tools over the past year makes it feel like we’re driving a societal supercar. Holiday gift guides are filled with gadgets to keep us moving quickly, like portable chargers, electric scooters, and better headphones for listening to podcasts at 2x speed. However, the fact remains that one unavoidable part of our lives never seems to move as fast as we need it to: real estate.

Thankfully, the design and construction industry is transforming so more assets—from small furniture pieces to entire buildings—are built using modular, prefabricated techniques for faster assembly, reconfiguration, and even removal where necessary. This adaptability allows businesses to test and learn with new real estate concepts for the first time.

For leaders navigating the complexities of modern work, it’s easy to take the built environment for granted as something we cannot easily change to match evolving preferences and economic development needs. Understanding the full spectrum of how modular construction and furniture impact how we live, work, and shop can open your eyes to the possibilities of responsive real estate.

Let’s unwrap the gift of modular construction in boxes of all sizes from small to large.

Modular Moments: Phone Booths

Pressure to design more efficient workplaces has reduced private offices while more employees find themselves on the (virtual) phone throughout the day. Long before the pandemic, this trend led to a dislike of “open plan” offices, which understandably increased the demand for smaller, cellular spaces that offer privacy and focus. Unfortunately, constructing a high volume of small, enclosed spaces can be expensive due to the requirements for air handling and acoustics.

Thankfully, companies like Framery and ROOM have been making cost-effective, technically-enabled and, most importantly, moveable focus booths for years. The pandemic has only made them more popular in the office, with some workers installing them at home to block out the noise of children attending school virtually.

Modular Meetings

As evidence of the success and popularity of single-occupancy, modular booths in the office, a number of manufacturers now make small rooms suitable for 2-4 people, even with videoconferencing technology to accommodate hybrid meetings. While not as polished as traditional meeting rooms, the important reminder for leaders is that these products allow for faster balancing of supply and demand of office spaces. They also enable testing of new space planning concepts with furniture without the commitment of construction.

Modular Malls

While employees may be accustomed to seeing colleagues sitting in modern phone booths in the office, some companies are equipping modular booths with mobile technology to enable on-demand usage in high-traffic public spaces.

Air travelers in the United States may encounter a Jabbrrbox in a dozen airports. Born from early trials of pay-as-you-go spaces at WeWork, Peace Pods can be found in retail locations across Asia with recent installations in the New York City area.

In addition to providing a momentary escape from flight delays and restless children, this type of micro-mobility for the workplace also helps build employees’ muscles for choosing the best places to do their work. Meeting in a nearby public space may be more convenient than commuting to an office.

Mobile Modular: High Impact, Low Footprint

Now that we have unwrapped the smallest of our modular construction presents, we can step it up one notch to a wide range of small-to-medium-sized containers designed for high-impact outdoor use and easy removal.

While apartment dwellers sought phone booths during the pandemic lockdown, workers with homes and a need for privacy looked to their backyards for options. Walking a few feet from home and family to a private space designed for your specific needs is often a much better proposition than a long commute to a generic office.

For engaging people on the move in their neighborhoods, Shark Tank competitor ootBox repurposes 10-foot traditional shipping containers for virtually any application in coffee shops, university campuses, medical facilities, and other public spaces like parking lots.

These use cases are exciting but still nascent. Driven by market leader Willscot, a more common application of mobile modular workspaces is on construction sites. Contractors and laborers need places to review plans, store equipment, and secure sites today while building the buildings of tomorrow.

If corporate leaders think of their offices as innovation centers—building new ideas instead of physical structures—how powerful could it be to drop an office wherever you needed on a moment’s notice?

Mega Modular: The Future of Housing

Saving the biggest for last, as many children do with holiday presents, the holy grail for modular construction is reimagining how we build homes and what skills are required. The idea is not new—Sears sold homes by mail in the early 1900s—but other industries’ advances in robotics, computer-aided design, and 3D printing have rapidly accelerated the capabilities.

Lindbäcks in Sweden was inspired by automakers. Assembly OSM in the United States uses techniques created to manufacture airplines. The results are so impressive—the video here shows Assembly OSM recently stacking a small residential building in Brooklyn, New York in just one day—that Greystar, America’s largest multi-family residential owner, has started their first modular apartment project.

Building this way addresses a number of challenges from sustainability, workforce and housing shortages, and construction productivity. The McKinsey Global Institute reports that “for every new hire in the American construction industry, there may be 20 new job openings for critical roles” and “that the buildings and construction sector accounts for 37 percent of global emissions and faces increasing pressure to reduce its carbon footprint.”

As a final example of the potential scale of these techniques, Cuby is going beyond modular buildings and creating modular factories to make prefabricated buildings at scale, and close to their final destination.

Modular Real Estate: Flexibility Is A Gift

At the intersection of economic uncertainty, environmental imperatives, and the changing nature of work, modular real estate offers a rare combination of flexibility, efficiency, and innovation. What if small furniture elements and whole buildings were no longer static assets but dynamic tools—able to adapt and grow with the needs of businesses, employees, and communities?

In a world that demands speed and resilience, modular construction isn’t just a gift for today; it’s a promise for a future where spaces work harder for us all. As leaders unwrap this potential, one provocative question remains: how long until your office can move as fast as your ideas?