Assessment of the performance of a reusable modular building

Abstract

Structural solutions for modular buildings targeting design flexibility that assist future disassembly and support a sustainable approach are emerging as the demand for prefabricated structures undergoes a rapid increase coupled with the urban expansion. From this perspective, the project R2U addresses the development of novel modular building solutions that can be easily demountable, presenting key benefits regarding the environmental impact and time efficiency. Within the outcomes to achieve, the project comprises the demonstration of a real full‐size building under operating conditions featuring a functional open coworking space layout. A major advantage of modular construction consists of combining the conceptual design with the detailed pre‐engineered solutions that lead to major savings in development time and life cycle performance gains. Therefore, to achieve this objective, this paper presents an effective design workflow, developed using the software Grasshopper, that allows to efficiently carry out a parametric study and find the optimal building solution among a range of geometries. Finally, based on the defined requirements and constraints, the optimized solution is selected and systematically described for subsequent stages of manufacturing and erection of the demonstration demountable building. The applicability of the proposed workflow for prefabricated structures provides valuable contributions to ensure the overall performance of modular steel buildings.