Chapter 3

The first steps in the consolidation of the EMOHA System.

In 2015, our work in the field of modular construction began to take a clearer direction, although we were still far from the perfection we wanted to achieve. Before Bocairent, we had already worked on several houses with modular systems, but there was still a lot of room for improvement. I was involved in the manufacture and implementation of each of them, and what struck me most was the number of errors and opportunities for improvement that I saw. However, I also took away the best of what I learned.

One of the key contacts that year was Amador, the crane manager at Dotahur, who has more than 30 years of experience in the sector. I met him in La Eliana and spent hours talking to him about the implementations. His experience was fundamental, and since then he has been a reference for us.

In Bocairent we started working on completely modular projects. One of the first jobs was a petrol station, where we made the office modules, toilets and cashiers. We used light metal modules with sandwich panels on facades and roofs. These petrol stations allowed us to structurally analyse the knowledge we had acquired with our partners and put it to the test in practice. However, we soon realised that we needed to reinforce the structure.

It was at this point that my brother insisted that we should make the lightweight structure we were using more robust by adding the concrete component. When I decided it was time to investigate materials further, I met Hugo, who was working with a type of ultra-high strength concrete. A material that I had only read about in books until then, but after visiting it and seeing its application in the footbridge over the Barcelona motorway, I knew that it was capable of being implemented in a house and that it was also contemplated in the regulations, so I decided to go ahead with the idea.

That same year, I also had the opportunity to work on a conventional house with Juan, our transporter. He helped me understand the limits and capabilities of specialised transport vehicles, the regulatory requirements in Spain, and how to manage large pieces up to 40 tonnes or 20 metres long. This knowledge was key to our ability to move the modules efficiently and safely, without any problems.

Soon after, we were commissioned to build modular offices. Although the project seemed simple, it allowed us to play with the idea of using a larger module with more specifications. It was the perfect moment to put into practice everything I had learned from Ignacio and Hugo, both civil engineers eager to move forward with mixed steel and concrete structural systems, and to start developing what would later become the EMOHA system.

The first module we created with this system was an endurance test. We manufactured it in a hall with only two workers under my supervision. We spent weeks trying out different ways to optimise the manufacturing processes. We ran tests and, in the end, we found the most efficient way to produce it. We placed it at its destination on 28 December, and in the first week of the year it was finished. We carried out several tests to check its structural and thermal behaviour, and the results were even better than the initial calculations had given us. The structure performed excellently and was technically incredible.

This module, which is still working perfectly, has undergone several reforms and changes made by the clients themselves. It has had no construction problems, only wear and tear on some of the ventilation equipment and the carpentry, which has been replaced due to intensive use. This experience, although challenging, gave us the basis on which to build the future of Casas inHAUS and to consolidate the EMOHA system as one of our main developments.

This was the year in which we began to shape what is now our identity, and although it seemed only a small step, it laid the foundations of the company we know today.