At home
In the house of the future, modularity and well-being meet
As a spokesman for cultural, demographic and social changes, architecture today focuses its attention on the development of new housing solutions that meet modern lifestyles and the needs of a constantly growing population. Light, ductile, modular, off-site structures: prefabricated building is the trend that characterizes the design of the future, increasingly oriented to the recovery of the built through the creation of flexible living spaces, which can be assembled and disassembled and, above all, independent from the energy point of view.
In order to give a concrete response to these new developments in the field of architecture, the Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea has launched the competition “ECO_LUOGHI 2018: houses for sustainable living”, aimed at stimulating debate on the themes of conversion and redevelopment of Italian territories and at promoting design that respects the landscape.
Tomorrow, the winner of the competition is the sustainable house that proposes a new model of light, modular and prefabricated living space, able to fit into pre-existing contexts. Designed by architects Andrea Rinaldi and Roberta Casarini, it is on display at MACRO Testaccio in Rome until 20 October 2018, where it was created as a real living prototype.
Among the supporters of tomorrow ALPAC, leader in the sector of insulating systems for window openings, which from the beginning, thanks to prefabricated solutions for windows, has made off-site construction one of its main assets, while embracing the philosophy of sustainable construction. “This project – explains Luciano Dalla Via, CEO of the company – fully reflects our vision of intelligent construction, which aims to create increasingly comfortable and sustainable living spaces through a new way of building, responsible and attentive to energy efficiency. That’s why we decided to support it, creating ad hoc solutions for the management of the window hole and for the replacement of indoor air that could create real added value, both from the point of view of technical performance and from that of the well-being of the home.
The project
Tomorrow is not just a house, but a dynamic project that aims to explore the new frontiers of sustainable building: essentiality, modularity and circularity of resources. The intuition is to intervene on existing buildings through additions and volumetric extensions that increase the density of population of urban spaces, that fit discreetly into the territory and at the same time repay the intervention of redevelopment.
Conceived in modules of 1.80 x 4.50 linear metres using the principles of layered design, where each layer responds to a specific need, tomorrow is a lightweight living space, modular and decomposable, adaptable over time and economically circular. Each layer is designed to have its own specific duration: the structure is the most long-lived part, followed by the outer shell, the inner lining, the systems and finally the furniture. At the end of its life cycle, each level can be reconverted or reused into an idea of a virtuous economic cycle that minimizes waste production.
Tomorrow is a real house of the future in which there are no functional subdivisions, but equipment and furnishings that can be used informally, and where the choice of efficient technologies returns a completely sustainable and autonomous system. From the presence of electrified tracks that allow the portable management of electricity to the insertion of a concealed technology in the wall for heating and air conditioning, to the integration of controlled mechanical ventilation systems for the timely replacement of indoor air, tomorrow it will evolve according to the flows of air, water, light, energy and people.
ALPAC solutions
For the correct management of the window hole of tomorrow, self-supporting ALPAC monoblock insulation systems have been designed to measure, specific for installation on drywall, equipped with special solutions to guarantee the mechanical seal of the window and equipped with external predispositions to house the Krion® cladding that envelops the entire living module. ALPAC monoblocks are prefabricated off-site products designed to measure and can be installed in any masonry context and accommodate any type of window and door frame. All the critical issues related to the window joint can thus be easily managed, reducing the time, risks and costs of working on site. These solutions also guarantee high performance in terms of both thermal and acoustic insulation.
The monoblocks integrate a punctual Controlled Mechanical Ventilation system (COMPACT model) that allows the constant exchange of indoor air even when the window is closed. “The excellence of healthy indoor air is one of the distinctive elements of our ventilation systems”, explains Dalla Via. “Thanks to the latest generation F7 filters – present in all our units – to the VOC, CO2 and humidity sensors, the quality of the air in the room is constantly monitored and the VMC system automatically adjusts its operation to bring indoor conditions back into optimal parameters for people’s health”. The ALPAC decentralized VMC, which is integrated in the monoblock, allows the operator to manage the indoor conditions in the best possible way
