Accommodation frame
The primary load-bearing structure. It contains the cells into which accommodation cassettes are installed and transfers building loads to the foundations.
A building system for modular accommodation
A robust framework for change.
ExoSett is an exoskeletal modular accommodation system in which each accommodation cassette — a removable accommodation module — is independently supported within a reusable structural frame.
By separating the frame from the accommodation it hosts, ExoSett allows each to change on its own timescale. Cassettes can be installed, removed or replaced as needs change, without relying on neighbouring cassettes for structural support.
The ExoSett system
A building designed to change.
The frame carries the building loads. Cassettes are supported individually rather than stacked upon one another, allowing a cassette to be installed, removed or replaced without relying on neighbouring cassettes for structural support.
Overview
Structure and accommodation are separated
In many modular buildings, the modules form part of the primary structure and are stacked directly upon one another. Removing one module may therefore affect the modules around or above it.
ExoSett takes a different approach. The structural frame exists independently of the accommodation cassettes it hosts. Each cassette is supported by the frame within a defined cell and is not required to carry the cassettes above it.
This separation allows the structural framework to remain in use while the accommodation it supports changes.
Principal elements
Three parts working together
Service frame
A separate structure providing access, circulation and routes for utilities serving the cassettes installed in the accommodation frame.
Accommodation cassettes
Removable volumetric units that provide rooms or other usable spaces. Each cassette is independently supported within the accommodation frame.
Design principles
What defines an ExoSett building
The accommodation frame remains structurally viable whether its cells are occupied or empty.
No accommodation cassette is structurally indispensable to the cassettes around it.
Cassettes are supported by the frame rather than by the cassettes below them.
A cassette can be installed, removed or replaced independently, subject to the practical requirements of access, services and safe handling.
Loads are transferred through defined structural components and interfaces.
Access and utilities are provided without making the accommodation cassettes part of the primary circulation or service structure.
Change over time
The building can outlast a particular use
Accommodation needs change. Rooms become outdated, damaged or unsuitable. Demand rises and falls. Buildings acquire new uses, and expectations for comfort, technology and energy performance evolve.
Conventional buildings often respond to these changes through invasive refurbishment, prolonged closure or demolition. ExoSett is intended to make the accommodation itself easier to replace, relocate or reconfigure while retaining useful structural infrastructure.
The extent and speed of any change will depend on the design of the particular building, the cassettes, the service connections, the installation equipment and the applicable regulatory requirements.
Development
From system principles to engineered buildings
ExoSett defines a system architecture rather than a single fixed building design. Frame dimensions, cassette sizes, structural materials, connection behaviour, bracing, foundations, facades, roofs and installation methods may vary between implementations.
These choices must be resolved through architectural and engineering design for each application. The ExoSett concept is currently being developed alongside independent structural engineering investigation.
The component definitions, Design pages and illustrative stories on this website document the principles that define the system, the building-wide considerations they create and some of the possibilities they may support. The About section explains the project’s current scope and development status.