The need to increase the living space inside existing buildings is the challenge that designers and architects are called to tackle today.
The innovative Capsule multi-purpose structure tackles this challenge, responding in a versatile way to the need to rethink the places of urban life.
Capsule is a modular steel structure built off-site, which involves the collaboration of Manni Green Tech, the Il Prisma design company and the LAGO interior design company.
If you would like to learn more on this subject, read the article “Changing construction: modern building techniques, Light Steel Frame and dry construction”.
The flexible Capsule module is designed to generate new, safer and more comfortable spaces, able to combine beauty, sustainability and usability. On top of this is the possibility of transforming and relocating when these spaces are no longer required for their original function.
What is the Capsule polyfunctional module
Capsule is a multifunctional modular structure created to meet the need for more living space, which arose swiftly during the health emergency.
In fact, by flanking existing buildings, Capsule increases the square meters available per person, and at the same time generates new possibilities for the use of spaces for everyday living and that relate with the outside world.
The module is made with a pre-assembled light steel supporting structure, characterised by dry cladding and efficient and automated systems.
Liveability, flexibility and versatility are concepts that are perfectly united in the Capsule project. An entirely Made in Italy project that can be used to support a wide range of functions in the various daily activities and sectors such as:
- Office: check-in entrance, offices, meeting rooms, break area etc…;
- Retail: entrance check-in, waiting room, delivery area, canteen, cash area;
- Educational: offices, classrooms, library, laboratories, gym, etc ....
The Capsule System consists of 4 prefabricated modules (baseline, welcome, social, secret room) that can be quickly assembled together in different configurations.
The possibility of reconfiguring the module as needed, allows the reuse of the modular structure even in a later post-pandemic phase.
Capsule's innovation therefore lies in offering a concrete opportunity to increase the value and liveability of urban spaces
Il Prisma, Lago and Manni Green Tech: 3 top partners for Capsule
The Capsule idea stemming from the collaboration between Manni Green Tech, Il Prisma and Lago was awarded the prestigious Archiproducts Design Award 2020 in the Construction category, the award dedicated to top international design.
In the concept design signed by Il Prisma the attention to the human being and how he uses spaces in a flexible way is evident.
The design project combined with the Manni Green Tech off-site structure have made it possible to create a transformable modular space, designed to create additional volumes and satisfy both the current needs of social distancing and the future ones of space expansion.
The interior of Capsule, by Lago, integrates naturally with the module, enhancing all its functions.
The interior furnishings are simple and feature clean and essential lines. It is based on an abacus of display (Air Shelf) and containment (Air Storage) elements, able to be freely arranged and with a certain flexibility of the use that will be made of it.
All of the furnishing solutions are:
- Modifiable;
- Repositionable;
- Customisable.
Furthermore, the modular spaces are designed to be customised also in terms of finishes, cladding systems, air conditioning and lighting systems, in a sustainable and self-sufficient manner.
What are the strong points of Capsule
Modularity is the main strength that characterises Capsule.
The study of the proportions and relationships of the basic module with the external space, combined with the high technological level and excellent design, create a dynamic and flexible system characterised by:
- Liveability and high rate of comfort:
- Integrability;
- Transformability;
- Repeatability;
- Scalability.
Capsule is a construction solution that can be easily integrated into different contexts, which can be repeated and reconfigured in different combinations. All able to guarantee maximum comfort and low environmental impact, precisely because of the possibility of reuse.
The comprehensive off-site prefabrication of the various components, then, makes the models scalable and the construction and site set-up times extremely fast.
Off-site steel construction, Manni Green Tech's comprehensive technology for Capsule
The building of the future is moving towards lightness and speed of realisation. A combination that is also the strength of the Capsule concept.
At the basis of the project, in fact, there is the comprehensive prefabrication of dry systems, that is, concerning the structure, the external envelope and the systems.
With this construction system a completely finished building is brought to the construction site, which will then be assembled with pre-finished plug and play elements directly at the construction site.
The dry modular construction, engineered by Manni Green Tech, is a steel construction system that is an integral part of off-site construction.
It is a construction technology based on off-site pre-assembled and prefabricated structures composed of a load-bearing steel skeleton and completing Light Steel Frame (LSF) elements, a cold-worked steel that is characterised by extreme lightness and modularity of the structures.
These LSF elements are used mainly for building the infill stratigraphy of the walls and for the floor of the building.
The wall package can be completed with the wide range of Isopan finishes for the external envelope, such as the Ark Wall system for ventilated facades
Ark Wall lends itself particularly well to being combined with the dry construction of walls, improving insulation, sound insulation and the aesthetic value.
The use of a dry system brings significant advantages with it, not only in the performance of the finished building, but also in the construction process:
- Possibility of industrialisation of the system and prefabrication in the workshop;
- Simplified transport, easy laying and installation;
- Speed of realisation with consequently reduced on site working times;
- Possibility of working even in case of rain (since these are constructions with materials that do not require drying);
- Little if any need for maintenance;
- Durability of the buildings;
- Control of costs and delivery times;
- Ability to adapt to different design solutions;
- Low impact on the environment and the possibility of recycling the material.
The off-site construction, therefore, combines already consolidated production processes with the new technologies available. In this way, the production of the construction elements moves from the construction site to the factory, speeding up productivity and optimising costs and delivery times.
This technology therefore allows builders and designers to have increasingly more efficient and quality construction sites But also to build modular, scalable, earthquake-proof buildings with high energy, acoustic and safety performance in the event of an earthquake or fire in the buildings that use it.
