3) MODULAR MULTIFUNCTIONAL WALL PANEL ROOM DIVIDERS

BECOMING MODULAR 

The above pictures show modular 8 feet tall: Gravity Fed Food Dispenser preliminary, 3 views of shelving unit and two views of a wooden preliminary (dimensions for concrete-board unit) fold open desk, drawers & shelves, a Scale-Model room with desks, tilt-open drawer, cupboards, bookshelves, flat-panel and the drawing for a vertical super-efficient fridge.  To be added are views of room composition of shelves, cupboards and desks.  What these few modular prototypes show is that 8' tall standardized vertical domestic and office functions can be built in a modular way that as well are joined in a changable way into walls.  Please read below the attachment on Modular Multi-functional Wall Panel Room Dividers.

INDIGENOUS MODULAR DESIGN

Indigenous peoples around the world are reknowned for modular community, building, room and component design as well as building Multi-home designs by which people share many common services.  When good bio-regional (pertaining to people, climate and geography) functional design was achieved it was repeated across communities, regions, nations and confederacies, even thus allowing for easy use, flexibility of living space, clustered connection of buildings (minimizing ecological footprint), repairability, interchangable design and community infrastructure economy to design, build and repair.  Less energy and resources were given to superficial physical differences and more to human interaction, relationships, relaxation, reflection and to the biosphere's productivity

RECAPTURING WALL SPACE

About 7% of floor space in present building space (domestic and office) is used by interior walls.  If we make our interior walls into modular panels, then we can create flexible changeable space according to the changing needs of individuals, families, commerce and industry.  Attached please find a range of photos and designs on various interchangeable modular panels for interior walls which can be bolted together, creating space dividers and many essential usable functions.  When functional priorities change over the course of an individual, family, commerce, institution or office lifetime, then functions can be exchanged / sold to and from a store or new ones simply added.  The whole height of an eight food high panel-wall is used so as to maximize space multi-functionality, storage and adaptability.  The 5 inch space normally devoted to the wall is recaptured and put into service. The flat back wall of each panel unit provides 50% of flat wall space in each room.  Fire-resistant materials on the flat back wall and front hinged drawer, cupboard doors or glassed in shelving create a sealed double wall fire-resistant space, create safe interior spaces as well as exterior walls follow building fire codes.  See section on modular exterior walls as well.

DIMENSIONS

Each modular unit is 40.6 cm / 16 inches wide, 243.9 cm / 8 feet tall, 26.7 cm / 10.5 " deep made of fire-resistant gyproc and / or cement board 3 = 6 milli-metres or 1/8th to 1/4 inches thick.  The walls, shelves, tilt-open drawers, doors (cupboard, shelf, desk), desks, seats and other components (glass) are joined by one and two direction channel steel, aluminum riveted to the sheet material with added hinges, handles etc.  Shelves, book-shelves, drawers, cupboards, fold-open desks, fold-down tables, seats, gravity-fed food-dispensers, super-efficient fridges etc.

SUPER-EFFICIENT FRIDGE

Presently our fridges spill cold onto the floor evertime we open the doors.  The engines and radiators of our fridges operate constantly heating the rooms usually the kitchen space excessively and expensively.  The attached Word document article describes design of the Super-Efficient Fridge picture  above.  Energy wise we can operate our cold spaces especially on our northern exterior modular panel walls as well as interior walls for a fraction of the cost of today's refridgeration and hence cool our indoor spaces.  Food in most deep front-to-back fridges is difficult to access buried behind and under other foods.  The narrow 26.7 cm (10.5 inch) profile fits against walls, keep floor space open for human use and interaction.  Multiple modular units can be deployed side by side.  When family or business needs change the units can be exchanged, moved or sold.

MODULAR EXTERIOR FOUNDATION, WALL, CEILING & ROOF PANELS and modular accessories                                                                                             Bill Teron (past director of the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation CMHC) Teron International, Teron International has designed, marketted and built light-weight cement (plastic-coasted fibreglass mesh reinforcement) modular panels for new and renovated building: foundations, flooring, exterior walls, ceiling and roof.  Interface Flooring provides modular carpets which allow flexible carpetting to change with modular walls.  Many other modular products and designs support the modular concept.

REDUCING WASTE STREAMS

The largest contributor to the human waste stream is construction, demolition and renovation waste at 17 - 21 % of the Total Waste Stream.  Here in statistics taken from the December 2000, CRD Waste Construction Advisory Committee Report in a survey of Alberta's then 52 landfills by the ALBERTA CONSTRUCTION, RENOVATION, AND DEMOLITION (CRD) WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE we find calculations for 510,000 tonnes  per year generated by 2,879,743 people or 177.099 Kilograms per person (531.3 Kg / average household of three).

The origins of CRD waste disposed of in urban landfills vary little by season; on average, 66% of the wastes are generated by new construction, 27% are generated by renovations, and 7% originated from demolitions.  Building flexible open concept Modular Multi-functional Wall-Panel Room Dividers would allow for home owners in Multi-home buildings to enjoy dust free environments (20% of our populations have allergies and asthmas) and continuous usage with little downtime for apartment and townhouse units.  The 7 % lost floor space would come back into usage.  Replacing modular multi-functional units is done in minimal time with no dust and no waste before becoming operational again.  Homeowners are able to accomplish most of the refunctioning work themselves.  A building storage area would constantly sell and receive units from residents as well as renovation center businesses.  The relatively light-weight eight-foot by 16 inches by 10.5 inch depth units are carried up elevators and through hallways easily by one or two persons disassembled and re-bolted back into place.

SUMMARY OF WASTE COMPOSITION DATA, SURVEY AND AUDITS

WASTE     PERCENT      MASS (tonnes)     % MASS      TONNES

OTHER        29                145,000                    25             127,500

WOOD         19                  98,000                     34              173,500

ROOFING    13                  67,500                     10                51,000

METAL         12                  63,500                       6               30,500

CONCRETE  8                   43,000                     10               51,000

ASPHALT      8                   38,500                       1                  5,000

DRYWALL     6                   30,000                     13                66,500

BRICK-Stone 5                   24,500                             1                 5,000

TOTAL      100                 510,000                    100             510,000

* Masses calculated using audit percentages and total survey mass of 510,000 tonnes (Alberta province)