Modular prefabricated houses, with a load-bearing structure made up of interconnected vertical and horizontal metal structural modules.
The anti-seismic structural modules are made of stainless steel, and alternatively of structural steel.
The typology ranges from a single-family house on one floor to a four-story building with sixteen apartments.
Some of the modular structural elements are pre-assembled to form pre-structures.
The assembly of the individual structural elements and pre-structures on site is carried out, with mechanical joints, dry without mortar or adhesives, following planned sequences.
The structural modules and pre-structures form the building's earthquake-proof metal structure, which is attached to the base.
The non-structural parts of the house are then installed on the assembled structure: acoustic and thermal insulation, secondary walls, windows and doors, vertical and horizontal cladding both internal and external, and all types of systems.
The specifications may include windows, coverings, sanitary fixtures and systems that have different costs and qualities.
The prefabricated earthquake-proof building, with a modular steel structure, is designed in 3D as a whole and at the same time all the individual components (structural and secondary) and the systems are designed.
The dwg files needed to produce the individual components are obtained from the overall 3D file.
This design method drastically reduces the construction time of the building, since several processes are carried out simultaneously in the factory.
With the exception of the concrete base, which is created early, there are no other elements that require the mortar and concrete to cure.
The structural parts, quickly produced in the factory, can be easily sent even to distant locations where urgent housing needs arise.
Welding is performed only in specific and limited cases; the joining of structural building modules, as mentioned, is mechanical.
The mechanical joint is highly safe in terms of seismic resistance, makes the structure flexible, and over time allows, with relative ease, any structural modifications and expansions of the building.
Some metal modules, if provided for in the specifications, can be armoured, so as to create armoured rooms and refuge areas.
Depending on the degree of protection from earthquakes, the constraints on the base of the load-bearing structure can be damping, energy-absorbing, or elastic to varying degrees, up to special constraint systems.
With the same thermal and acoustic insulation, the weight of the entire prefabricated earthquake-proof construction is significantly lower than that of current equivalent buildings, helping to make the building resistant to seismic shocks.
The prefabricated metal load-bearing structure, due to its shape, acts as a Faraday cage.