“We are on the cusp of having a globally significant sustainable evolution in architecture being led by New Zealand manufacturing and talent,” says Murphy O’Neal, Founder and Development Director of modular building company Adaptable Structures. “This is something the industry needs in order for us to be better stewards of the land and its uses.”

Adaptable Structures develops cost-effective, zero-waste products and housing solutions that are multi-use and futureproof. Their fully modular system can be reconfigured and repurposed like kitset furniture as its owners’ needs change. “You can add or subtract rooms, change fit-outs, reconfigure layouts, recycle and resell. Almost anyone can build an Adaptable Structure with materials that can be containerised and are light enough to be helicoptered to site; buildings can also be remotely manufactured. The design works in commercial and industrial fit-outs including cleanrooms, paint and blast booths, sound and safety machine enclosures, disaster response and recovery, and studio and film sets that primarily tear down and landfill everything. We’ve even had people tell us it could be used for giant 3D printers.”

The objective, Murphy says, is to industrialise a method of construction. “It’s a proactive versus reactive approach that allows us to engineer out waste and carbon. Currently, architects are designing things that will 100% end up in landfill, eventually. The question is why. Why not fix it from the outset? Right now, that is because of a material and process entrenchment logic. We’re disrupting that mindset by combining existing materials and methods with something new.”

Murphy’s groundbreaking work is made possible by industrial design and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) manufacturing, as well as the ready availability of remelt aluminium. “Aluminium is the only construction material that currently has zero-carbon emissions technology and New Zealand has some of the lowest-carbon recycled aluminium on the planet. Aluminium extrusions allowed us to create shapes that work with current materials. The CNC machining of materials is better than +/-1mm accuracy and all waste fully recycles. Thus, our structural elements are zero-waste, reusable and recyclable. The design allows you to repurpose each component. In layman's terms, it’s a cross between Lego, Meccano and Ikea.”

Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, Murphy says he was exposed to architecture and design from a very young age. “I was on construction sites when I was in diapers. My mother was an architect and developer, my father owned car dealerships, and my best friend’s family owned airports and aircraft. I’ve always been around a technical library full of multitudes of information, and I devoured them all: art, architecture, engineering, aerospace, science, anatomy, physics, biology and more. I went on to build plenty of homes, cars and boats, as well as restoring aircraft. I eventually ended up in the environmental industry, testing and auditing industrial processes, which became my career.

“The Adaptable Structures journey started because I was a migrant and New Zealand housing was so expensive and took too long; it was further reinforced by the Christchurch Earthquakes,” Murphy says. “There wasn’t necessarily a lightbulb moment, but there were a lot of sketches. My knowledge of industrial processes allowed us to evaluate what materials are best suited for the industrialisation of homes; what’s worked together with what and what could be. It came to life once all the materials were brought together and it was clear how they could work together. Now, ideas get tossed around and 3D printed to prove the part. We’ll test maybe 10-15 concepts, which then go through endless refinements over 4-6 months. The result is insanely simple but complex geometrically.”

These ideas are now being implemented in award-winning builds by others. “SIMPLE and Andes House to put fuel on a fire that we had started 2 years earlier in the patenting process"

They’re prototypes that demonstrate real-world applications. Similarly, the Cocoon project done by our architect Franciso and his team is a ‘what could be’ look at low-impact, sustainable micro-living. It’s now actually possible. We’re creating structures with uses that can be converted over time so their utility delta becomes more viable. Designing out waste isn’t that hard, we just need new ideas, methodologies and paths to a realisable goal.”

As Adaptable Structures works to go public, Murphy is busy educating the industry about its full potential. “We have to demonstrate that it can be done and that the global industry already has these capabilities; they’re just not realised. We have a technology and technique that can be exported and manufactured anywhere there is an aluminium processing facility, hopefully near hydropower for the lowest carbon emissions. Just think about the implications in disaster recovery.”

Adaptable Structures’ Anyplace system intends to make people consider undiscovered possibilities through inclusive, open architecture that is accessible for all ideas, lifestyles, abilities and materials. “We intend to be a point of awareness and aspiration for the industry. We’ve learned a lot in the last 8 years and we’re excited to see what people do with these modules once we go public. We only seem to increase our capacity in-house, so I see no reason to stop with buildings. The team has a broad range of interests and we all enjoy the challenge of imagining something new that counters current logic. We’re happy to create believers.”

To learn more and connect with Murphy, visit https://adaptablestructures.com/, follow Adaptable Structures on Instagram, and register for their release.