Without construction or disturbances. This is Minimal Suites, the first modular building in Zaragoza built with passive criteria and a WELL rating for health and safety. From the project’s conception to its location, the project took five months —half the time required for traditional construction— and assembly took only five days —one day per floor. Let’s take a closer look at this modular construction case study.

Minimal Suites is a hotel, but also a unique space that offers other uses: coworking, offices, and areas for exhibitions or workshops. The idea was consolidated by Metro7, an architecture and construction studio that has been based in Zaragoza for 20 years and that since 2020 has been developing the Minimal modular architecture product in its own 3,500 m2 factory. This facility was 700 m2 in size at the end of 2022, a fact that explains the rise of this construction model. “Although it is still in its early stages of development compared to other European countries, it is gaining prominence as an effective solution to the sector’s major challenges: the urgent need for housing and the lack of skilled labour,” the firm says.

The project began as a showroom for the Minimal modular architecture product that Metro7 was developing with its own R&D team. “It has been an experiment in high-rise modular construction,” they explain. The intervention only required partially closing a small section of traffic on Zaragoza’s Calle Mayor, while people were able to move around normally throughout the operation. “We see it as a true example of the transformative potential of modular architecture: fast, precise, and seamlessly integrated,” they argue. Today, Metro7 is the only company that builds 100% off-site in Spain.

 

Part of the success of the work is due to having its own workshop, “which is not only a production space, but a true R&D centre where architecture, technique, and execution converge in real time: what is projected in the studio does not remain on the plan, but can be immediately compared with physical reality,” emphasizes Metro7.

This project meets Passivhaus criteria due to its construction model and also due to the use of materials, in which Xilonor CLT stands out. “Its quality, proximity, and consistency with Minimal’s values led us to choose it. CLT is a natural, renewable, and low-carbon solution with great thermal and acoustic capacities and is well suited to the industrialised processes we use in our modular system. “It allows us to continue building responsibly, efficiently, and with respect for the environment,” they conclude.