How Project Frog company is giving new life to a stagnant building industry

The general approach to building design and construction has not changed much over the past 60 years and it’s starting to show. While the manufacturing industry has increased productivity by 650% since 1947, the building industry has actually witnessed a decrease in productivity by 37% in that same time frame.[i] The result: buildings that take too long to plan and build, cost too much, use too much energy, and fail to optimize human performance.

The marketplace has only offered commercial building customers two options: modular or normal stick-built construction. Modular buildings, while cheap and quick-to-deploy, often provide poor learning and working environments and use resources inefficiently. Normal stick-built construction, while extremely customizable and potentially high performance, is costly, timely and essentially a series of one-off projects.

Attitudes toward the built environment are changing. Americans spend an average of 90% of their time indoors and research over the past 10 years has proven that buildings have a significant impact on our health, performance and overall well-being. Office workers, hospital patients and students are all demanding higher quality indoor environments. Building owners are also demanding that their buildings use resources like energy and water more efficiently, are easier to maintain and operate, and are highly flexible to support changing user needs.

Is there a better way to build? Is there a net-zero energy building solution that can merge the speed and cost-effectiveness of modular construction with the customization and performance of normal construction? Can this be done using sustainable and healthy materials? Can the building industry capitalize on the success of other industries to increase efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction?

Project Frog believes this is possible. Here is a look at our attempt to revolutionize the construction industry one bright building at a time.

Project Frog was founded on the idea that there must be a smarter way to build. We’ve innovated a building system that saves far more than previously thought possible in terms of energy consumption, construction waste and operating expense, all while providing brighter, healthier spaces that inspire better performance from the people who occupy them.

To drive this game changing approach to building design and construction, the Project Frog team first established minimum performance criteria that we wanted our buildings to achieve – energy consumption, daylighting, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, flexibility, speed of construction, etc – and then asked, how do we do it?

How do we enhance people’s productivity and health?
Air is unfit to breathe in nearly 15,000 US schools. Poor indoor air quality results in increased sick days, lower productivity, and lower scholastic achievement and earnings. But air quality is not the only factor that impacts health and productivity.  Studies have found that acoustics, daylight and thermal comfort also play key roles.  From retail sales to test scores to employee turnover, good indoor environmental quality has a direct and measurable correlation to both building and occupant performance.

So how do we optimize indoor environmental quality and capture all its benefits? First, define success. What are the baseline metrics for success? For example, what are the minimum and maximum footcandles necessary for a student or office worker to perform? To solve this, we looked to industry best practices and scientific research to set the standards for each criterion.

Second, understand the variables.  How are light, air, acoustics and thermal comfort impacted by building location, geometry, orientation, and material selection? To accomplish this, we have developed sophisticated simulation software that can not only model each variable individually, but also simultaneously in order to understand the synergistic impacts of each design option. This type of multivariate analysis allows designers to ask complex questions and get simple answers.  For example, what is the optimum combination of glazing size and location, roof overhangs length, and ceiling reflectivity for daylighting?  And then, how does this change when the building is in Boston vs. San Francisco? Or if the building is oriented east vs. north?

We have used these tools to create a bright, airy baseline building design that exceeds the US Green Building Council’s LEED standards for indoor environmental quality.

How do we build more sustainably?
The building industry consumes 40% of the world’s natural resources;^[ii] produces 39% of the world’s CO₂ emissions;^[iii] utilizes 13.6% of US water;^[iv] consumes 72% of US electricity^[v]; and generates 30% of landfill waste.^[vi] These are big numbers. They indicate that the building industry has the potential to have a significant impact on the consumption of natural resources.

How can we use resources more efficiently? First, reduce waste during construction. Modular and pre-fab construction take advantage of off-site fabrication to generate virtually zero on-site waste and allow for easy recycling of excess materials back into production.  Unlike modular construction though, we need to think about durability and flexibility of buildings so they maximize their useful life. We have developed a flexible kit-of-parts that is produced by our network of partners to our exact specifications.  The system is designed so that it can adapt to changes in technology and user needs.

Second, use less energy. Energy consumption is reduced through smart design of the building envelope and mechanical systems. We have developed a sophisticated set of analysis tools to optimize energy demand for different building configurations and climates. We have also placed an emphasis on prioritizing passive systems for lighting, heating, cooling, and ventilation to reduce mechanical energy needs. By using software to both optimize indoor environmental quality and energy use, we are able to identify design features that have multiple benefits. For example, increasing daylight not only improves occupant comfort and productivity, but also reduces energy costs.

Third, verify actual energy performance. Research has shown that predicted and actual energy performance are not the same thing. Most buildings are not equipped with a real-time energy demand system that monitors usage and alerts building owners to changes in energy performance. We are working to ensure that all buildings are monitored so that we can compare actual to predicted energy performance, commission building systems in real-time, and help owners understand how to maximize energy performance through changes in behavior, such as opening windows for cooling.

Last, utilize on-site renewable energy.  We’ve designed our building to easily integrate with various renewable energy technologies like roof top solar PV, solar thermal or free standing wind turbines. During the project planning process, we can determine how to optimize the building orientation to create the right balance of solar energy production, daylight, thermal comfort and heat gain.

How do we shorten the building cycle?
The complexity of the current building process provides numerous opportunities for building projects to get off track and delayed. The design phase requires coordination between multiple team members that may or may not have worked together before. The permitting process can take weeks or months depending on the complexity of the design and reviewer’s familiarity with innovative practices. The construction phase also relies on numerous subcontractors and vendors to procure materials and sequence their operations.  The result is that project schedule is not predictable and time delays often lead to cost overruns.

What are the opportunities for accelerating the building process? First, simplify the design process. We have created a flexible building system that balances customization and standardization. This allows customers to purchase a product that meets their programming, aesthetic and sustainable needs and architects to use our pre-engineered building system to create a design that works.

Next, shorten the permit process. We have a pre-check certified DSA (CA Department of State Architects) drawing set that outlines the configurations which have been structurally and mechanically approved for building in California. We are striving to understand the building codes across the country to ensure that our design can meet local codes and save clients time and money.

Third, eliminate on-site construction delays. We have developed an existing network of proven partners that guarantee materials will not only work with our system, but be delivered on time and on budget. We also utilize parallel construction through off-site production of major building components while site work is being completed. Lastly, we’ve also simplified the installation process through our easy to assemble kit-of-parts that requires few specialized trades.

All of these strategies result in a building cycle cut down to only 6 months from time of contract to occupancy.

How do we reduce upfront and lifecycle costs?
Unlike other major consumer purchases like cars or computers, the construction industry is fraught with unpredictable costs. Scheduling delays due to design changes, a long permitting process or changing material costs all contribute to budget overruns. In addition to their upfront costs, more owners are also concerned about lifecycle costs – especially those related to energy consumption.

How do we reduce costs without reducing quality or performance? First, make upfront costs more predictable. By creating a building system that can be sold to consumers as a product with a single point of purchase, we are able to provide a fixed cost for the basic building shell. And, through working with our vendor network, we can guarantee pricing. Our pre-engineered system also reduces soft-costs typically set aside for A+E design. This ultimately translates into more of the money customers spend actually going toward the manufacture and installation of the building.

Next, reduce lifecycle costs. We have designed our building system to use fewer resources like energy and water. We have also designed our system to be durable yet flexible so that it can continue to adapt to changing technologies and user needs without becoming out of date. Last, we are trying to quantify benefits associated with better indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Research has shown that increasing IEQ leads to increased worker productivity, reduced employee sick days, and increased retail sales, among other benefits. These benefits have direct monetary gains for building owners and we are working on quantifying these benefits for our customers.

How are we doing?
Since 2006 Project Frog has been working to create buildings that are measurably better in terms of their environmental, human and economic performance. What we’ve developed is a hybrid-building system that is flexible, sustainable, and smart, a design that blends the positive attributes of both modular and normal construction. We’ve achieved this by taking revolutionary approach to building design and construction. By integrating technology at every step we’ve been able to cut costs, improve quality, and increase performance. And now we’re proving it.

In Fall 2009 we opened our first net-zero energy campus at the Watkinson School in New England. The school is fully monitored so that we, along with the staff and students, can track the building’s performance. We are working with the staff and students to understand how to increase performance through commissioning and behavior changes. We also opened the new home for the Crissy Field Center and Café which will be a LEED Gold facility complete with recycled, reclaimed and renewable materials, as well as a rainwater catchment system that is offsetting over 80% of water needed for the toilets.

Project Frog is continually striving to innovate new building systems that are better, greener, faster and cheaper. Will you join our revolution?

[i] Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Note: Productivity measured as real sector GDP divided by total labor hours

[ii] Lenssen and Roodman (1995). Worldwatch Paper 124: A Building Revolution: How Ecology and Health Concerns are Transforming Construction. Worldwatch Institute

[iii] Environmental Information Administration (2008). EIA Annual Energy Outlook

[iv] US Geological Survey (2000). 2000 data

[v] Environmental Information Administration (2008). EIA Annual Energy Outlook

[vi] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1997). U.S. EPA Characterization of Building-Related Construction and Demolition Debris in the United States.