Keywords: Steel–timber connections, green design, modular constructions, seismic analysis

Recently, there is an increasing interest to develop modular multi-storey structures that can be adapted to any use like hospitals, schools, housing, etc, characterized by versatility and speed of use in several conditions.

Modular buildings may form complete building blocks with structural systems composed by several elements, such as steel frames, X-LAM timber floors and walls. These modular solutions are then completed with suspended ceilings and facilities including electrical and water systems.

This work is focused on the structural behaviour of steel modular buildings with different configurations. A comparison between numerical analyses referred to different design solutions is shown and discussed. To this scope, in this paper a case study is considered, characterized by steel elements with connections allowing a rapid on-site assemblage, without any need of skilled workmanship. Finally, the versatility of some modular solutions varying the design inputs (such as situ seismic hazard, destinations, modular dimensions, etc) is analysed.