Efficient and easy to assemble modular concrete structures,
designed for reuse
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designed for reuse
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Smart kit of parts
Pixel.frame is a modular precast constructive system that is designed for reuse in a circular economy of building materials, designed to help builders and developers build long-span, multi-storey buildings, circularly. Pixel.frame structures are fully-dry jointed and contain no internal steel reinforcement, which means the concrete modules are 100% reusable.
Data-driven design
Pixel.frame uses a data-driven approach to predict the building demands of the future, making our modules more likely to be reused. In combination with computational strategies such as algorithmic optimal assignment and digital tracking of material passports, Pixel.frame presents an option for smarter, lower-carbon structures that don’t rely on difficult-to-scale, expensive solutions, and can present emissions savings of more than 60% up front and up to 97% upon reuse.
High volume, low value
Every year, 360 million metric tons of concrete construction waste are sent to landfill in the United States, in large part originating from the demolition of obsolete buildings – paradoxically, even though concrete is a durable and long-lasting material, it is often discarded after only a few decades of use. Meanwhile, global demand for new concrete is accelerating – in 2021, the production of new concrete was responsible for up to 9% of global CO2e emissions, signifying that urgent action is needed to decarbonize the cement industry.
PixelFrame is a smart kit of parts, assembled into reconfigurable precast concrete structures.
Design for Reuse
Pixel.frame modules are designed and detailed to be 100% reusable, resulting in a patented modular system that can be assembled into elements of varying length and structural capacity. The base module, or “pixel” is a fiber reinforced precast element that uses a sliding dovetail design to be assembled into multiple cross-sections for a variety of structural applications, including columns and beams.
Smarter Carbon Allocation
The Pixel.frame system reduces emissions through a more efficient geometry and design, and through the variation of concrete strength – high-strength, high-carbon modules are deployed only where needed in the structure, breaking with a century of convention in concrete design.
Disrupt linear supply chains
Business-as-usual practices in the architecture, engineering and construction industry are partially to blame for the climate crisis and the destruction of the earth’s natural resources. The simplest and fastest way to prevent emissions and ecosystem destruction from concrete is by not making any new concrete, bypassing the high-energy, high-emissions kiln firing process in the production of cement. Already, many governments and private players are shifting toward circularity, which presents an opportunity for value creation further down the supply chain, but requires new business models, and new ways of building.