APROP, a circular economy and social project

APROP Project (Allotjaments de PROximitat Provisionals –Provisional Proximity Accomodations), was born as an initiative of the Barcelona City Council with the aim of innovating in the design of modular residential accomodation through the reuse of shipping modules, and give short-term response to the social problem of accomodation in Barcelona.

The idea of this project, lies in the purpose of facilitating the access of citizens to a decent accomodation, from the an architectural and comfortable point of view, fully equipped and at more accessible prices, with a very low environmental impact.

For this purpose, maritime containers, designed to store and transport merchandise, have been reused and adapted to a residential use. What allows to reduce the use of resources, to build in a modular way (almost any type of space), they are resistant and safe, can be easily rehabilitated and they use materials with recycled content, with the possibility of separating them and recycling them after their useful life. 

Ecopenta has carried out the energy efficiency assessment in the project phase for the APROP accommodations, simulating the modules and analyzing their requirements in terms of energy demand, energy consumption and analysis of proposed systems (air conditioning, ventilation, production of sanitary hot water, etc.). In the same way, the study of the renewable energy production systems implementation and  the consultancy regarding the materials for the construction, have been carried out for these accommodations, seeking the implementation of sustainable and low-risk materials. Below these lines, we describe the work we performed and the constructive characteristics of the project.

During the design phase, different cost-effectiveness studies of construction solutions, thermal production, etc., were carried out. Through energy simulations, different insulation systems and solar protections were designed for the prototype module, which could be adapted according to the orientation of the accomodation.

All the modules will have low-consumption sanitary devices: double flush cistern, aerated taps, etc. Seeking a general consumption of a 20 % less than traditional accommodations.

For the interior finished of the different enclosures, a series of non-toxic materials have been specified, which guarantee the health and well-being of the occupants.

All the buildings will have a production of, at least, the 50% of the sanitary hot water, through thermal solar panels.

The adaptation of the modules to their new use as accomodation, has been carried out with the aim of meeting the general requirements of structural, thermal and acoustic insulation, fire protection, etc., applicable to any residential building.

In order to ensure the greatest comfort for users, the modules have the following:

-          Double glass, low emissive, in addition to having a high acoustic standard, these glasses allow to reduce heat loss during winter months and better solar control during summer months, compared to conventional glass.

-          Heating and cooling system using a radiant floor, significantly improving the comfort of users and being a more energy efficient system.

-          All roofs of the different projects will be green, with a vegetative cover elaborated with native plants, which have a very reduced maintenance and allow safe, green and public spaces at the service of the tenants. In addition, this system allows to reduce the heat island effect, thus helps to improve the environment of our city. 

-          All the accommodations will have a power control switch and an electric power meter, in order to control both the power and the electrical consumption of each of the housings.

-          In addition to natural ventilation, there will be forced mechanical ventilation systems, essential to control indoor humidity and the presence of contaminants efficiently inside the module.

 

APROP project has managed to develop modules based on an integrated design, optimizing cost-savings to achieve sustainable, healthy accommodations with a construction cost below any other standard solution.