JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Special Issue Smart Cities - November 2019 - 51

An innovative system to build the city of today and tomorrow

effective, mature solutions.
We are fascinated by construction,
and also by composites, so it is very
natural to associate the two. Just as we
have done successfully in these other
sectors, we started from scratch on
the specifications in order to tackle
this new market and to build differently by deploying the codes and best
practices in the industry and the digital economy:
-- lean management and lean design,
and also building information
modelling (BIM), of course;
-- promoting functional integration
in our profiles;
-- working on all ecodesign
strengths, aiming as a priority to
minimize both the carbon footprint and the consumption of primary resources;
-- making use of truly industrial processing technologies (pultrusion);
-- industrializing the stages of construction to bring a maximum of
VA back into the plant.
Do you think that composites
could play a greater role in the
modern city of the future, or
smart city?
L. D.: "Smart" - isn't it above all the
goal that best suits these materials,
which are the result of human genius? Of course, these materials will be
preferred solutions, for all that they
offer in relation to the 21st-century
building constraints. What current
building material can claim to offer
high mechanical properties, very low
density, excellent thermal insulation
properties, and resistance to all chemical and atmospheric attacks, all together?
"Smart" also applies to the idea that
we will be able to build where no
other material dares to go: in earthquake-prone areas, in places considered to be inaccessible (roofs) and
also on water, underwater, in floodprone areas, and more.
And in addition to these more extreme examples, composites help us

build very rapidly and discreetly in
cities, with ultra-lightweight prefab
solutions that can be rapidly implemented without nuisances like noise,
dust or vibrations for the surrounding
neighbourhood. In this respect, we've
just designed access-ramp systems for
public-transport vehicles (bus, metro) that we can install in train stations
in a single night without ever disturbing operation, whereas concrete
would require nearly a month of highly invasive work that disrupts traffic.
Also smart: these different models for
parking-lot photovoltaic chargers for
electric vehicles (the latest "plug and
play" model can be set up in a halfday), or our urban furniture and shelters that make the most of the properties of these materials, in particular
the robustness.
"Smart" could also refer to the spire
for the Notre Dame cathedral in
Paris, which we propose to build from
carbon to give artists free rein to their
imaginations and allow light into the
heart of religious buildings.
The city of tomorrow will not only
need to accommodate the population
explosion and promote the well-being, comfort and safety of its inhabitants, but also to be environment
friendly. This isn't an easy proposition, but these performance materials,
composites, will enable us to make
progress on lower-energy solutions
(both for machines along with their
mobility infrastructure, and for the
habitat), and will also have to prove
to be "virtuous" in terms of their environmental impact. Material producers will also have to mobilize and help
us demonstrate this aspect!
Will CompoHouse herald in the
energy-saving, connected, clean
building of tomorrow?
L. D.: Absolutely! Building with
composites is not an end unto itself...
What we are interested in is their potential for architecture and life. You
are probably surprised by the demonstrator that you've discovered, for a

lot of the other innovations - with
no fewer than ten different solutions
to use the energy of the sun, a major
focus on reducing carbon emissions,
and many other technical solutions.
Another of our key ideas is to think
of the building of tomorrow as a
mini green-energy power plant. But
Compohouse is much more than that
- it is the expression of our desires: innovating to once again make humans
and their ecosystem central to the act
of building; the idea that architectural
quality and the performance of the
building's shell should prevail over
the need for equipment that is too
complex, expensive and fragile.
Globally, we also propose solutions
for the future construction of sober,
robust and durable buildings that are
pleasant to live in, in which the main
goal focuses on performance and user
comfort.
And we also think about how to inhabit these buildings, so as to offer
our customers much more than just
a roof: a space that encourages living, expression, and freedom. For all
that, the notion of connectivity and
networking bulks large in our design
work, so that it becomes possible to
wire all the networks easily, rapidly
and unobtrusively, and especially to
adapt the building and its uses over its
lifetime.
Do you think that this proposal
will finally convince the players
in the building industry, the architects, and also the certification
bodies?
L. D.: That is the topic of the moment.
And I will begin with the future owners - we have to convince them first.
They are the ones who must help us
lead their architects and builders to
build with our solutions. We have to
win over future customers using our
strong arguments: extremely comfortable housing that is unostentatious and
environment friendly, and rapidly implemented construction, with a focus
on the architecture in the process.

SPECIAL ISSUE Smart Cities / November 2019 /

jec composites magazine

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Special Issue Smart Cities - November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Special Issue Smart Cities - November 2019