DAMS

Submission Extract:  The DAMS project for Malvern East looks to use the potential of traditional foundations to unlock opportunities in innovative design. By combining such existing foundations with cutting-edge solutions tailored to the resource and embodied energy challenges of the current world, this design proposal aims to steer future developments to new heights. In the first instance, this is done by implementing durable structural systems as bases or “skeletons,” to which non-structural, prefabricated components would be added, significantly increasing the flexibility of design options. The use of such long-lasting structural systems would also cut down on construction and installation costs of prefabricated components, as well as facilitating future modifications. The proposal includes an “Evolving Catalogue” product model, which offers a range of components for highly-flexibile customisation, suitable for different building uses, configurations, and sites worldwide. This model can create high-end finishes within competitive time and cost parameters, through a combination of 2-dimensional panelised components and 3-dimensional volumetric components. This flexible approach, combined with maximised reuse of materials in both structural and prefabricated components, supports greatly reduced embodied energy over the lifetime of the proposed building, while also delivering multi-faced value to communities.