Design, development and prototyping of an innovative technology for multipurpose, sustainable, lightweight architectural units

ICARO (Innovative Cardboard ARchitectural Object) is an innovative building technology de- veloped by a working group of the University of Catania, in the frame of the research project eWAS (An Early Warning System for Cultural Heritage). The modular component based on ICARO technology is a prefabricated panel for building vertical envelopes and consists of a laminated wood frame enclosing corrugated cardboard boxes. To increase the panel’s structural performance, a pre-stress procedure is adopted. The panel has a high level of sustainability, re- lated to its light-weight, precasted, recyclated and recyclable materials and cost effective. The adopted technology is suitable for the construction of microarchitecture in fragile context. To test its performance, a full-scale prototype is realized, called EP (Experience Pavilion), in the ar- chaeological area of Megara Hyblea, in Sicily, chosen as test-site. A campaign, on EP, is planned to focus on various issues. In this paper, the design of ICARO technology and the realization of the prototype EP will be described.