SIMPLIFIED: "2.1: What Is Modular Design?"

Link to article: https://eng.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Engineering/CAD_Skills_for_First-Year_Engineers%3A_A_Hands-On_Guide_to_Sketching_Drafting_and_Prototyping/02%3A_Modularity/2.01%3A_What_Is_Modular_Design 

Note: The image above was taken from: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/buildner-competitions-revolutionize-housing-architecture-modular-design-archdaily-05-07-2024/

The article linked above is about modular design. I am going to provide an example of modular design because I feel the example is easier to learn from than defining it. Let’s say you want to build a Lego car. That Lego car is going to be separated into many parts. You’ll have to build the wheels, the seats, the doors, the trunk, the outside cover, the inside steering wheel, and also include axle parts for the wheels to spin on. Later, if you discover that one of the parts is malfunctioning because the pieces got old and rusty, you can solely replace that specific part of the car. This is modular design. When one part of the design is malfunctioning or you want to replace it for whatever reason you have, you won’t have to rebuild the whole thing from scratch. Rather, you can just replace that single part.

Anyways, why is modular design so important in engineering? Well, it saves engineers a lot of time and money. When an engineer designs a prototype and they realize they want to replace one of the parts or renovate it or innovate it or change it, they are not going to have to take apart their entire prototype. Additionally, if two different products use a similar component, then engineers might decide to swap out the two components between the two products. By building these products through modular design, this swap is possible.