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Innovative design uses prefabricated design to revitalise buildings
Innovative Vancouver-based architect, Arno Matis, has conceived of BioFrame, a building system he devised that’s focussed on adaptive reuse of existing buildings.
The primary driver for the architect’s design was as a means of addressing the many issues that currently plague the construction industry today such as rising construction costs, labour shortages, congested city sites and greenhouse gas emissions.
The concept won his Vancouver architectural firm international acclaim when it was selected as first runner up in the Radical Innovations Design Awards in December 2021 as BioFrame demonstrated how it could be used to revitalise and modernise an older hotel.
“We are working to lower the carbon footprint of our projects — using wood is part of it — but we are also looking to reduce waste materials and reuse resources rather than tearing everything down and building from scratch,” said Matis.
It’s an architectural prosthetic, and the prefabricated building system uses mass timber and for the design, combined with a method of ‘clipping’ the mass timber components onto the existing structure.
Interestingly, it can be used to retrofit older buildings by adding space to existing floors, providing out-of-doors meeting and restaurant areas and adding new storeys, thereby extending the life of an older structure up to 50 years.
The design also compensates for existing structures that can’t tolerate the structural load of additional storeys. It achieves this by using a column support system to transfer loads downward.
“It is a prefabricated structural system that allows for additions and also has exterior elements, both open and enclosed spaces such as balconies and outdoor decks,” he said.
It’s said the system can be adaptable to both steel and concrete buildings, and can be designed to be flexible in the event of seismic activity.
The design also lends itself well to hotels and multiple unit residential buildings as both such structures can utilise prefabrication in kitchen and bathroom units.
“I think there are a wide range of applications,” said Matis, adding it also provides opportunities to add onto social housing developments in a way that is economical and expedient.
“You get to a tipping point and for those entrenched in the conventional way of doing things, it becomes inefficient and you start looking at other options,” Matis said.
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BioFrame’s timber system eliminates costs for demolition, removal and recycling of waste, as the design allows the building to be deconstructed and components reused.
“The material costs are comparable to conventional building, but as prefabricated production becomes more sophisticated and you reduce the amount of materials needed, you make it more cost effective,” he said, as there is less waste and more strategic use of materials.
Matis’ interest in designing structures that use prefabricated components has led him to explore other opportunities such as using panels that have building components pre-assembled.
See: www.arnomatisarchitecture.com
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