Barely 15 months since the wildfires that devastated tens of thousands of acres, the rebuilding process is in full swing.
They are still counting up the toll, but between the Palisades fire and the nearby Eaton fire in California last January, 30 lives were lost and as many as 14,000 structures were destroyed over the 37,000 acres that were impacted.
Now observers report they are seeing construction teams working at a number of building sites and even some completed home frames appearing. The residential construction seems to fall into several categories, including traditional stick-built structures and some pre-fabs. An interesting approach is coming from one builder, Cosmic Buildings, which has set up what it calls a “mobile robotic factory.”
Founded in 2022 by Croatian-born architect Sasha Jokic, Cosmic is among a group of companies bringing automation to residential construction. But unlike others that do prefab or even 3D printed homes, Cosmic employs the region’s familiar stick-built construction, but using robots that can be deployed directly to a job site, fabricating wall, roof and floor.
Even as the use of robotics is still limited, the company said: “Framing for a 2,000-square-foot home can be completed in as little as ten days, and an entire home—finished (via human workers) with cabinetry, appliances, and solar arrays—delivered within four to six months.” It claims its robotics system can eliminate as much as 30 percent of the cost of a traditionally built home, potentially a threat to building trade jobs.
Metropolis magazine, in reporting on this building process, said, “Startups like Cosmic are especially relevant now. Between supply-chain disruptions, rising tariffs and chronic labor shortages, L.A.’s construction industry is straining. But the city must rebuild more than 15,000 fire-damaged buildings while meeting stricter sustainability and seismic standards.”
They quoted Cosmic as saying, “Historically, wars, fires, pandemics—they all push architecture forward. This is that moment for homebuilding.”
Image: Cosmic Buildings
