X-Frame – New Innovative, Reusable Framing System for Residential and Commercial Projects

While attending architecture school, Gerard (Ged) Finch founded a reconfigurable structural timber framing system, X-Frame in 2017. According to Finch, X-Frame is a way to reduce construction waste and help transition the building industry towards a more circular economy. X-Frame enables adjoining wall layers — like wall linings and claddings — to be reversibly connected through panels of plywood, which interlock and click together like pieces of Lego. The company says it uses “carbon negative” engineering timber material and components to develop the reusable frames. In discussing the process, X-Frame Australia general manager Casten Dethlefsen said, “the manufacturing process itself further reduced waste through a precise cutting system. If you look at a typical house, you’ll get a pile of sticks delivered on site that are then cut by a carpenter and put together to create the frame. In that you’ve got an enormous amount of waste that ends up in a skip,” he said. “With X-Frame … it’s all comes in a kit with an instruction manual that is clipped together on site, so there’s no waste on site at all.” Dethlefsen went onto say “Because X-Frame in that instance is very modular and repeatable … you can assemble the panels using low-skilled employment and create employment opportunities. The plywood is produced locally, its manufactured locally and assembled by the person that’s going to be living in it.”