Home+
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Full project title
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Project Description
Home + is founded on the understanding that the way we are building our homes has a high environmental impact , low personalisation and a price that is unaffordable for everyone. We propose a new holistic approach, which uses the strength of modulation and technology to develop a system that can be adapted to people and their context. A modular timber building system, manufactured in local workshops, packed and quickly assembled on site creating a wide variety of homes.
Geographical Scope
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Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
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Description of the project
Summary
Home + is founded on the understanding that the way we are building our homes has a high environmental impact , low personalisation and a price that is unaffordable for everyone. At the same time in almost all fields, other products are getting higher quality at a lower price, such as telephones, electric cars or furniture, unlike what is happening with housing. We aim to use the existing nature knowledge and technology to turn this challenges into potentials.
Home + offers a new holistic approach, which uses the strength of modulation and technology to develop a system that can be adapted to people and their context. A modular timber building system, manufactured in local workshops, packed and quickly assembled on site creating a wide variety of homes. This ensures a more sustainable and CO2-reducing construction method and a circular approach to the management and life cycle of our buildings. Seeking to turn the negative impact of housing on the planet into a positive, temporary and self-sufficient model that boosts its relationship with nature and optimises its resources.
Home + seeks to apply this new approach to different scales of housing and contexts, both urban and rural. The current situation of environmental destruction suffered by our spanish coastal areas due to overcrowded tourism and invasive construction strategies encourages us to locate our first prototypes here to address these problems. An ideal setting to promote modular and energy self-consumption, as Spain is one of the countries in Europe with the most hours of sunshine. Home + presents a housing model that respects the environment, with minimal impact on the environment and that aims to generate employment and income for the local population by manufacturing in local workshops.
Key objectives for sustainability
+ Sustainable
The built environment accounts for up to 40% of global energy consumption and CO2 emissions, therefore our aim to reduce the energy consuption to minimum levels . In order to achieve this we will use passive strategies such: a high degree of compactness in the design, envelopes and roofs that can be adjusted to the climate and orientation, natural ventilation in all rooms, low emissivity glass with solar control, high solar reflectance roofing, and a system of energy efficient that meet the heating/cooling demand, using renewable energy so that the primary energy consumed is the same as that generated in situ. Relying on an alternative, clean and highly efficient energy source in this area, photovoltaic solar energy. A developed and unlimited source of energy, which is used to generate electricity and is captured by solar panels that will be integrated on the rooftops.
To reduce the carbon emissions embodied in the materials, we will be using materials with a low impact materials for both structure and cladding, and through prefabrication we guarantee a minimum level of waste. Choosing timber as the structural material for our product, with great benefits such as its lightness, good thermal and acoustic performance, low energy requirements for its production, transport and installation, which leads to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Construction has traditionally followed a linear economic model, raw materials are extracted, produced and then discarded, without taking into account the environmental footprint and its consequences. Home + is committed to a circular system based on producing with the lowest environmental impact as possible. We reduce because the modulation is highly precise with a significant reduction in the waste of materials. Through a housing system that is scalable over time, which can evolve according to demand and needs. It can also be recycled or relocated to other locations thanks to its lightness and modularity.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
+ Personalized
The pandemic has highlighted the housing crisis, which currently offers a generic response to very different conditions, with a lack of outdoor space, limited ventilation and natural lighting, low flexibility and adaptation to the user. Our model aims to offer a product that can be customised to each user and their needs, which can be personalized in four simple steps: your size, your crown, your skin and your interior.
Choose your size by selecting the number of room cells that best suits your needs, arranging them around the most public space in the home, which contains the living room and kitchen. This flexible central space can be adapted to a range of scenarios and configurations. It is understood as an extension of nature, which can be opened and closed depending on the climate and activity.
Choose your crown, not only giving a unique and personal character to the product, but also as a tool to adapt to the environment in which you locate your house. Historically they have been great tools to adapt different houses to cold or hot climates, to take advantage of solar energy when the building needs it and to protect itself from it when it does not. This is why we offer these solutions with the possibility to be scaled and optimised to the perfect location.
Choose your skin, from a catalogue of materials that can be tailored to the climate and protect from heat and cold, reducing energy demand and the risk of pathologies in both winter and summer. Careful design will be ensured to guarantee the continuity of insulation at all points of the building envelope.
Choose your interior, as a final step of customisation, opting for a variety of quality interior finishes that will provide a healthy indoor climate. These interiors bring the fresh air and the views through its glass facade and encourage outdoor lifestyle.
Key objectives for inclusion
+ Affordable
Home + seeks through the strength of modularity and technology to develop more economical products. Guaranteeing a fixed price, a reduction in the waste of materials, a faster design and manufacturing process and more accurate deadlines. Understanding housing as a product that will register the problems that appear in them, helping to improve functionality and construction to achieve better housing at a more affordable price.
Construction has traditionally followed a linear economic model, raw materials are extracted, produced and then discarded, without taking into account the environmental footprint and its consequences. Home + is committed to a circular system based on producing with the lowest environmental impact as possible. We reduce because the modulation is highly precise with a significant reduction in the waste of materials. Through a housing system that is scalable over time, which can evolve according to demand and needs. It can also be recycled or relocated to other locations thanks to its lightness and modularity. In addition to a positive impact on the planet, it has a positive impact on the user's budget, saving the need for new housing thanks to the possibility to be easily upgraded or moved.
As mentioned above, one of the main pillars in the design is the sustainability of the house saving in energy consumption and electricity bills. Passive measures such as: high degree of compactness in the design, envelopes and roofs adjustable to climate and orientation, natural ventilation in all rooms, low emissivity glass with solar control, high solar reflectance cover, will reduce energy demand and the use of photovoltaic panels will generate unlimited, clean and free electricity.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
Home + is founded on the understanding that the way we are building our homes has a high environmental impact , low personalisation and a price that is unaffordable for everyone. We aim to use the existing nature knowledge and technology to turn this challenges into potentials.
Home + offers a new holistic approach, which uses the strength of modulation and technology to develop a system that can be adapted to people and their context. A modular timber building system, manufactured in local workshops, packed and quickly assembled on site creating a wide variety of homes. This ensures a more sustainable and CO2-reducing construction method and a circular approach to the management and life cycle of our buildings. Seeking to turn the negative impact of housing on the planet into a positive, temporary and self-sufficient model that boosts its relationship with nature and optimises its clean resources.
Turning these challenges into 3 main drivers: affordable, personalized and affordable providing collaborators with a framework for reaching an outcome that is consistent across all our products.
