Pixelframe is a smart kit of parts, assembled into reconfigurable precast concrete structures.



Design for reuse
When structural concrete is reused today, it is usually crushed and downcycled into aggregate, a process that can be more energy-intensive than the production of new concrete. Pixelframe modules are designed and detailed to be 100% reusable, resulting in modules that can be assembled into elements of varying length and structural capacity. The base module, or “pixel” is a fiber reinforced precast element that uses a sliding dovetail design to be assembled into multiple cross-sections for a variety of structural applications, including columns and beams.


Smarter carbon allocation
The Pixelframe system is unique: instead of having a high-strength, high-carbon concrete mix throughout, the modular nature of the system allows for variation in cement content and fiber reinforcement within elements. This means high-strength, high-carbon modules can be distributed only where they are needed in the structure, breaking with a century of convention in concrete design.


Disrupting linear supply chains
Business-as-usual practices in the architecture, engineering and construction industry contribute 40% of the world’s total carbon emissions. The simplest and fastest way to prevent emissions and ecosystem destruction from concrete is by not making any new concrete, and instead reusing end-of-life concrete, bypassing the high-energy, high-emissions kiln firing process in the production of cement. Circularity has been identified as a key policy feature by the US Government and the European Commission in Europe’s Green New Deal. The decoupling of economic growth from finite resources, while a formidable challenge, presents an opportunity for value creation further down the supply chain, but requires new business models, and new ways of building.