Some Assembly Required

IF YOU WERE TO SCOUR NEW YORK CITY for the future of architecture, the last place you might look is the rump’s end of the Barclays Center. As first impressions go, 461 Dean, the mixed-income residential tower that rises precipitously at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street, checks all the clichés of contemporary large-scale construction. Artless setbacks do little to alleviate the problem of boxiness that blight so many of the new glass high-rises on Flatbush Avenue. Alternating composite metal panels meant to “evoke” the neighborhood read like a bad joke. (In the project description, the red panels are said to signify the area’s beloved brownstones, while their blue counterparts denote those high-rises.) But the discordant façade conceals a feat worthy of your attention: 461 Dean was entirely constructed out of prefabricated steel modules—930 in total—that were assembled at a nearby factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Upon its completion in 2016, it was the tallest modular building in the world and to this day, it remains the tallest in the United States by …