Particularly interesting in the context of the fight against the global Covid-19 pandemic, AEC Ingénierie in Bordeaux has contributed to providing an innovative solution in terms of emergency response. The initial challenge was simple: how to build intensive care units with a capacity of 15 to 30 beds in less than 1,500 m² in just four months?
Prototype of a modular prefabricated building for intensive care units
This is an exciting project for Anthony Casteres, a young engineer who joined this design office just a year and a half ago to expand a fluids department that was also recently created within a design office that had previously focused mainly on structures. As the engineering arm of the TLR architecture et associés agency, AEC Ingénierie worked as part of a consortium that also included the project management assistant A2MO, the leading modular construction company Cougnaud, the climate engineering company Hervé Thermique, and the medical equipment manufacturer Getinge. Together, thanks to the Rea Mod project, they won the tender launched and led by the Uniha public hospital buyers' cooperative and the French hospital engineers (IHF) last September. The concept is based entirely on a prefabricated modular building. The prototype comprises units with five beds. By assembling sub-assemblies, it is possible to build units with 15, 20, 25, or 30 beds. Industrial prefabrication also makes it possible to control the quality of the building.
