{"id":1293,"date":"2013-01-16T06:30:39","date_gmt":"2013-01-16T14:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/compositesandarchitecture.com\/?p=1293"},"modified":"2013-01-16T17:40:54","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T01:40:54","slug":"the-all-frp-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kreysler.zaab.org\/?p=1293","title":{"rendered":"The All-FRP House"},"content":{"rendered":"

The StartLink demonstration house is an all-FRP house.\u00a0 Not just in the big things, either: the structural aspects are literally all-FRP.\u00a0 No steel, not so much as a screw.\u00a0 No concrete, including the foundation.<\/p>\n

The project had it genesis in 2004 with a paper delivered at Swansea University in the UK by Mark Singleton to the Network Group for Composites in Construction.\u00a0 It concerned the potential for pultruded FRP in architecture.\u00a0 \u00a0Singleton was joined by John Hutchinson, and together they began to develop the concepts for an FRP building system.\u00a0 They received research and development support from the The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the University of Warwick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The result is a proof-of-concept house located in Lincolnshire, UK, a two-story structure that meets Passivhaus standards of energy efficiency. You can see models of the structure here.<\/a><\/p>\n

The design of the system features a foundation of FRP tubes driven into the ground as piles.\u00a0 Says Singleton, \u201cSmaller tubes are grouted into the tops to support a FRP ground beam structure that is anchored down with threaded FRP rods, also grouted into the piles.\u00a0 FRP floor cassettes and two storey wall panels are connected to the ground beam and each other to make a portal frame structure.\u00a0 The builders say the floors are more rigid than concrete beam and block (which is good) and this type of foundation also resists flooding, which seems to happen more frequently these days.\u00a0 FRP dowels were used instead of nuts and bolts (which don\u2019t work so well in FRP because it isn\u2019t malleable), so the whole structure is built without steel or concrete.\u00a0 We also used cork cores in the outer wall panels (surprisingly good thermal resistance) which are bonded to studs to make a thermally\/structurally efficient wall.<\/p>\n

Pultrusion is the science of pulling FRP through profile dies to make long members.\u00a0 The profile-shapes can be quite complex.\u00a0 The main framing of Startlink construction are members whose profiles snap together, making steel fasteners unnecessary.<\/p>\n

Startlink\u2019s creators emphasize the sustainable aspects of the system, especially its use of heating and cooling energy.\u00a0 The systems provides highly airtight construction, and minimizes thermal bridging.\u00a0 Moreover, the materials are not affected by water and do not support mold-growth, which is seen as a major advantage in the face of increasingly extreme weather events. If your Startlink house flooded and filled with mud, you could theoretically hose it out and go on with your life.\u00a0 (Of course, if your possessions were not all FRP, they might suffer some damage, but you\u2019d still have a house.)\u00a0 It is lightweight, and the foundation design allows it to built above the expected water-level.\u00a0 (Although you have to ask yourself, if high water levels are expected, why not just build further inland?)\u00a0 Another plus is that FRP is of absolutely no interest to termites.<\/p>\n

The system is seen as an economic alternative to traditional construction, since the materials are made and partially assembled into modules off site in the factory.\u00a0 The house is alike a pre-fab kit.\u00a0 Onsite erection is claimed to take less than one week.\u00a0 The designers also boast that it fully recyclable after its service life is completed.<\/p>\n

The demonstration house was built in partnership\u00a0 with Exel Composites<\/a>, and you could order one of the existing designs if you wanted.\u00a0 It was built by Larkfleet Homes, part of the Larkfleet Group, on property adjacent to their headquarters in Bourne.<\/p>\n

In the future, it will be possible for other architects to design with the system, as well.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t