Archinect - News

Ten construction equipment companies form new group to promote sustainability

2024-05-02T11:46:00-04:00

Ten major companies in the construction equipment industry have formed a coalition to promote sustainability in the sector. The France-based organization, named the Community of Sustainable Equipment Players (CAMD), includes Bouygues Construction, Colas, Eiffage, Haulotte, JCB, Kiloutou, Manitou Group, NGE, Salti, and Volvo.

The group has set out five key objectives for member companies. The group will aim to provide practical solutions and support cross-sector projects, build a knowledge base and a common decarbonization strategy, raise the profile of the materials sector and its role in the transition of the construction industry, defend the convictions of a sustainable industry, and foster a shared vision and ambition for decarbonizing the industry.

Related on Archinect: Federal 2007 ban on fossil fuels in government-owned buildings finally kicks in. Image: © Dave Burk/SOM

“The CAMD is based on the pooling of efforts, skills and best practices to accelerate the environmental trans...

UN Secretary-General calls for significant changes to the cement industry ahead of 2050

2023-06-15T19:38:00-04:00

In an address to the Global Cement and Concrete Association in Zurich on Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres laid out his vision for changes to the industry he says are “fundamental to building a better world.”

Speaking to executives assembled in a “call to action,” Guterres asked for “concrete pledges from the concrete industry” before laying out his trifold ambits to ban coal-fired power in cement production, induce governments and industry to accelerate decarbonization efforts, and the furtherment of loftier emissions reduction targets and other plans in line with UN policy guidelines.

Seconding the Secretary's vision, the CEO of the Global Cement and Concrete Association, Thomas Guillot, added: “We applaud all the action our members are taking to implement carbon-cutting measures, and the latest data shows emissions are coming down. But many challenges remain, which we must overcome, if we are to achieve net zero, including enabling polices and regulations...

‘Skyscrapers are an absurdity’ says Architects Declare in open letter to CTBUH

2022-11-24T13:18:00-05:00

Architects Declare has published an open letter to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, setting out the group’s position on the environmental cost of skyscrapers. The letter, published on the Architects Declare website, was originally sent to CTBUH in July but has now been made public after the group claims not to have received any response.

“The evidence now is overwhelming that tall buildings hinder, rather than assist, our efforts to address key challenges of climate breakdown, resource depletion and biodiversity loss,” the letter reads. “Today, UK Architects Declare is therefore calling on CTBUH to transform its register of ‘The World’s Tallest Buildings’ and shift its focus from a fixation on height to the other part of its mission, Urban Habitats. and crucially address critical environmental challenges.”

The letter claims that CTBUH’s register of tall building...

Criticism of the 2022 Stirling Prize adds another wrinkle ahead of next week's announcement

2022-10-05T17:06:00-04:00

The debate surrounding sustainability and the Stirling Prize is heating up again in the lead-up to RIBA’s October 13th announcement of the coveted annual award.

Just eight weeks after the Institute's new president Muyiwa Oki was swept into office on a platform of change, UK-based critic Kunle Barker took to the Architects’ Journal to answer some of the organization’s more vocal critics, including the group Architects’ Climate Action Network (or ACAN), who have derided the so-called “greenwashing” presented in certain shortlisted projects and, they say, promoted tacitly by RIBA’s decision to endorse them.

Orchard Gardens, another shortlist project that drew criticism. Image: Enrique Verdugo.

“ACAN is correct on all points. However, I’m not sure its criticism has been levelled at the right party,” he wrote, stating that “we have to remember that the Stirling Prize is ostensibly an architecture competition and not a sustainability one.”

“It is impractical and unrealistic to suddenly ex...

'Despair is useless': Mike Davis reflects on California, the climate crisis, life, and legacy as he faces his own mortality

2022-09-13T18:44:00-04:00

I’ve seen miracles happen. I’ve seen ordinary people do the most heroic things. When you’ve had the privilege of knowing so many great fighters and resisters, you can’t lay down the sword, even if things seem objectively hopeless.

The terminally-ill City of Quartz author sat down recently with The Guardian to discuss his waning health and look back at prescient early warnings of the state’s slow-motion social and ecological demise that has taken three decades to manifest. True to form, Davis was critical of everything: from “fascist” LA novelist Raymond Chandler to Governor Gavin Newsom’s penchant for arrogating his administration’s response to the climate crisis that has been exacerbated by even increasingly harmful and foolhardy attempts to mitigate the housing crisis in Los Angels and other non-urban areas across the state.

Related Feature Interview on Archinect: Meeting Mike Davis

“Our ruling classes everywhere have no rational analysis or explanation for the immediate future,” he said. “A small group of people have more concentrated power over the human future than ever before in human history, and they have no vision, no strategy, no plan. It’s not just global warming, and drought, it’s the fact that two...

Angry letter from Architects Climate Action Network ignites controversy over 'greenwashing' and the 2022 Stirling Prize shortlist

2022-07-29T12:35:00-04:00

A public rebuke from the UK-based activist group Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) has triggered an enlivened debate online around greenwashing and the 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist after the initial group of projects was revealed last week.

Two London area residential projects included in the six-project shortlist — Panter Hudspith’s Orchard Gardens and Hopkins Architects’ 100 Liverpool Street — were given as examples of what the environmental group called “architecture that pollutes the planet.”

ACAN called out the former over its involvement in the demolition of the Heygate Estate as part of developer Lendlease’s Elephant Park ‘regeneration’ scheme, which helped displace some 80 percent of council housing residents in the SE17 postal code. In response, Panter Hudspith said: “It’s the job of the RIBA to judge buildings on their architectural quality with environmental credentials being an ever-increasing criteria in their assessment. So it seems unreasonable to suggest...

New York City selects team to design a report and public portal for tracking environmental injustices

2022-07-18T16:32:00-04:00

Buro Happold and urban design nonprofit Hester Street have announced a partnership with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice to establish an environmental justice report and online data portal that will identify the locations across the city where policies, infrastructure, and investments contribute to inequities in vulnerability and risk from environmental hazards.

The report, coined the Environmental Justice for All Report, and web portal will be accessible to the public and inform the creation of a comprehensive environmental justice plan. The initiative will outline areas of focus for promoting environmental justice in New York City and analyze existing policies, programs, and procedures across the city.

The creation of the report and portal is the result of Local Laws 60 and 64, environmental justice legislation passed by the City Council and signed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2017. Local Law 60 requires that a citywide study of environme...

Los Angeles officials plan to make all new buildings zero-carbon

2022-05-31T11:30:00-04:00

The Los Angeles City Council have passed a motion instructing several city departments to begin work on a framework that would require all new residential and commercial buildings in the city to be built to achieve zero-carbon emissions. Passed on May 27th, the motion may see a roadmap to zero-carbon buildings published before the end of 2022.

“We have lagged behind other California cities in tackling our largest source of climate pollution citywide: buildings,” the motion reads. “Over fifty cities and counties in California have already taken action to reduce carbon emissions in new building construction and prepare their buildings for a carbon-neutral future. It is time for Los Angeles to do the same.”

According to the motion, buildings in Los Angeles are the largest emitter in the city, accounting for 43% of L.A. greenhouse gas emissions. The 43% figure is significantly above the average...

California climate action plan calls for all-electric new homes by 2026

2022-05-12T17:11:00-04:00

A new draft plan by the California Air Resources Board was released on Tuesday that lays out an ambitious roadmap for achieving carbon neutrality in the state by 2045.

Called the 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan, the guide highlights the necessity for a comprehensive shift away from fossil fuels across all sectors, notably households, businesses, and transportation.

The plan suggests the state require all new homes to have electric appliances starting in 2026 and new businesses by 2029. For existing homes, 80% of appliance sales should be electric by 2030 and 100% by 2035. As noted by TIME, this, coupled with the plan’s stringent transportation regulations, would put a significant new demand on the electric grid, which would require California to rapidly scale up solar power and storage options. Hydrogen infrastructure would also need to expand.

The plan is not final, however. It wi...

New study predicts that Black communities will be disproportionately impacted by climate change-induced flooding by 2050

2022-02-02T15:11:00-05:00

Black communities will be disproportionately saddled with billions of dollars of losses because of climate change as flooding risks grow in the coming decades, according to research published Monday.

According to U.S. and U.K.-based researchers in a new study within the journal Nature Climate Change, not only will the annual cost of flooding across the U.S. reach $40 billion by 2050, but predominantly Black communities will be the most impacted. The findings were obtained by modeling flood risk through 2050 and mapping this over recent census data focused on race and poverty.

With clear linkages between levels of climate risk and race in the U.S., the study found that by 2050, the top 20 percent of proportionally Black census tracts will have twice the flood risk as the 20 percent of areas with the lowest proportion of Black residents.

An architect will generate carbon emissions equal to the lifetime emissions of 162 typical Americans, according to COP26 talk

2021-11-12T17:20:00-05:00

An architect who creates just three typical buildings over their career will be responsible for carbon emissions equivalent to the lifetime emissions of 162 typical Americans, the COP26 summit in Glasgow has been told

During a talk on “Adaptive Transformation” at the Danish Pavilion at COP26, Enlai Hooi, who works as the Head of Innovation at Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects in Copenhagen, said that professionals in the building industry carry a far greater responsibility for the world’s health than other individuals. Hooi referenced The Architects’ Journal’s RetroFirst campaign, an initiative that advocates for retrofitting existing buildings over demolition and rebuilding, calling for government reforms in taxation, policy, and procurement.

This is especially important as Hooi pointed out that prevailing building culture and methods make the adaptation and reuse of existing buildings seem riskier to developers and investors.

“What if we focused instead [of new build] on transitioning our existing buildings into an appropriate architecture for the future and reducing what we build new?,” Hooi said.

“We have an obligation as architects to ask: what qualities exist in the [existing] building?” ...

The Global Cement and Concrete Association lays out roadmap to achieve net-zero concrete by 2050

2021-10-19T12:18:00-04:00

The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) announced that forty of the world’s leading cement and concrete manufacturers have come together to commit to cut carbon dioxide emissions by a quarter by 2030. This is a major statement in the association’s race to produce carbon-neutral concrete by 2050.

This move, according to the GCCA, marks the largest global commitment by an industry to reach net-zero. GCCA members account for 80% of the global cement industry volume outside of China, along with several large Chinese manufacturers. The association has published a detailed roadmap that lays out the path the industry will follow to reach the half-century goal. The GCCA notes that the roadmap actions between now and 2030 will prevent almost 5 billion tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere.

The plan includes identifying and implementing m...

RIBA and Architects Declare announce program for Built Environment Summit 2021

2021-10-08T16:31:00-04:00

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), in partnership with Architects Declare, has announced the program for the Built Environment Summit 2021, a two-day, partially in-person conference taking place on October 28 and 29, 2021.

The event comes following the publication of RIBA and Architects Declare’s Built for the Environment report, that details the role industry has and must have in tackling the climate crisis. The summit also arrives ahead of COP26 in Glasgow, which starts on November 1.

As stated by RIBA, “The summit is a call to action, bringing together professionals from across the international built environment sector to address the urgent need to drive changes in behaviour to reduce carbon emissions. We cannot meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature rise limit above pre-industrial levels without transforming the way we plan, design, build, operate, and adapt our built environment.”

EU seeks to become world’s first carbon neutral continent with new “European Green Deal”

2021-07-16T14:28:00-04:00

The European Commission, acting on behalf of the European Union, has unveiled details of the “European Green Deal,” with the ambitious aim of making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. To achieve this, all 27 EU Member States will pledge to reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

The portfolio of measures set out by the European Union contain many prevalent to the architecture and construction industries. For example, the public sector of each country will be required to renovate 3% of its buildings each year to drive a culture of renovation. The EU estimates that this could lead to 35 million buildings being renovated by 2030, with the creation of 160,000 green jobs in the construction sector.

In addition, the EU has set a benchmark for each Member State to achieve 49% renewable energy use in buildings in 2030, as well as increasing the use of renewable energy in heating and cooling by 1.1 percentage points each year by 2030. Meanwhile...

Construction is feeding a global sand crisis, says new study

2021-07-02T13:13:00-04:00

A new scientific paper has warned of the looming environmental and social consequences of the world’s appetite for sand. The study, headed by Aurora Torres at Michigan State University’s fisheries and wildlife school, notes that the global demand for sand and gravel is set to double by 2060, driven by the construction and expansion of cities and infrastructure.

The study, published in the journal One Earth, notes that “sand, gravel, and crushed rock, together referred to as construction aggregates, are the [world’s] most extracted solid materials. Growing demand is damaging ecosystems, triggering social conflicts, and fueling concerns over sand scarcity. Balancing protection efforts and extraction to meet society's needs requires designing sustainable pathways at a system level.”

In total, around 50 billion tons of sand, gravel, and crushed rock are used by humankind each year. As a key ingredient in the production of concrete and glass, sand plays an important role in the constr...

Miami’s $4 billion plan to combat sea level rise has radical urban ideas

2021-06-01T11:43:00-04:00

The City of Miami has published a draft of its Stormwater Master Plan; a $3.8 billion plan to be enacted over the next 40 years, seeking to mitigate the impact of rising sea levels on the city. The plan sets out a wide portfolio of measures, from stormwater pumps and sea walls to more novel approaches such as floating neighborhoods and streets converted into canals.

The report sets out both short and long-term strategies for the city’s defense from rising sea levels. Near-term resiliency measures, with a 20-to-50-year planning horizon, include both structural and non-structural actions, encompassing everything from infrastructure construction to reformed insurance models. The plan proposes an upgrade to building code strategies, including minimum structure finish-floor levels informed by predicted water surface levels, and a requirement for piled or stilted structures, both buildings and roadways, to consider future sea level rise.

Previously on Archinect: Rising sea levels threa...

A 19th century passive house in Chicago is a model for sustainable retrofitting

2021-04-22T12:53:00-04:00

On the subject of architecture and construction’s contribution to climate change, our existing building stock is coming under increasing scrutiny. While the United Kingdom recently announced a review into embodied carbon in buildings, thanks in part to the Architect Journal’s RetroFirst campaign, U.S. President Joe Biden has promised tens of billions of dollars in investment to retrofit four million buildings across the country.

Although new buildings, and the regulations surrounding them, are achieving ever-higher accolades for sustainability, 80% of the buildings that will exist in 2050 have already been built – many of which fall below the environmental performance standards needed to address the climate crisis. On Earth Day, we look at one example of how retrofitting old houses can offer benefits to inhabitants, streetscapes, and the environment.

The Yannell PHIUS+ House. Image: Christopher Barrett / HPZS

In the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago, among the familiar two-story...

Winners of the ACSA and Buell Center 2021 Course Development Prize include University of Houston, UH Manoa, & Woodbury University

2021-01-25T13:22:00-05:00

Now in its third edition, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University announce the winners of this year's 2021 Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society.

The jury selected five courses "that seek the kind of realism that redefines problems and leaves room for imagination. The courses will reach out to neighbors to cultivate skills fostering a more resilient society." $50,000 in prize money will be split amongst each winner. In addition to funding, each course will receive support to lead their course at their host institution within the next two years.

ACSA and the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University have announced the winning entries of the 2021 Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society. Image courtesy of Buell Center / ASCA.

2021 winners are:

GULF: ARCHITECTURE, E...

AIA applauds U.S. recommitting to Paris Agreement

2021-01-20T21:09:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects has issued its first statement on a policy decision by newly inaugurated U.S. President, Joe Biden. Publicly sworn in on Capitol Hill earlier today, Biden spent the afternoon signing executive orders, many of which will reinstate environmental regulations reversed under the Trump administration.

One of the key orders signed today recommits the United States to the Paris Agreement, an international climate treaty adopted in 2015 during the Obama administration. Then President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement two years later.

AIA President Peter Exley, FAIA issued this statement today in response to Biden's recommitment:

"We are deeply encouraged by this Administration’s swift and decisive action on climate change. Re-establishing the United States’ commitment to the Paris climate accord sends a strong message to our nation and the world that we will pursue meaningful changes that can save our planet. As architects, we stand ready...

ACSA and Temple Buell Center announce $50,000 in prize money to support climate change coursework

2020-02-28T18:50:00-05:00

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University have announced the winning entries of the 2020 Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society.

The competition, launched in 2019, aims to bring $50,000 in funding to five university teams that are each tackling a different facet of the climate crisis through cross-disciplinary research that proposes "methods and themes that innovate within their institutional setting" while also "asking hard questions of students that are equal in weight to the hard questions being asked of society as it grapples with the intertwined causes and effects of climate change."

According to the organizers, the prizes seek to find a middle ground between the expansive creative capabilities of design education and the more focused, practical realities of professional practice that sometimes complicate the application of design i...

NYC's architect-led Climate Advisory Board takes shape

2020-01-07T13:34:00-05:00

Jill Lerner, Managing Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), Stas Zakrzewski of Zakrzewski + Hyde Architects, and Arup Principal Fiona Cousins have been appointed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to the city's 16-member Climate Advisory Board to help steer the city's implementation of an ambitious climate agenda for new and existing buildings.

The board helped to enact Local Law 97, the emissions reduction-focused Climate Mobilization Act (CMA) passed in 2019 that was initially billed as banning all-glass skyscrapers in conjunction with the city's "Green New Deal" plan. de Blasio has since walked back from those aspects of the plan, but the initiative's potential to reshape the city's built environment remains.

Local Law 97 creates, for example, a new Office of Building Energy and Emissions Performance (OBEEP) housed within a new Office of Sustainability at the city's Department of Buildings. The OBEEP, according to the legislative text, will be directed by a yet-t-be-named "r...

In 2020, will behavioral science be the answer to architecture tackling climate change?

2020-01-02T16:42:00-05:00

Now that 2020 is here, many are looking to the new year with optimism and initiative to face the world's pressing issue of climate change. Amid the constant reminders of the globe's current climate crisis, a December editorial piece and report from Nature.com elicits a reason to reflect on what can be done.

After reading through the piece, I'm reminded of the words "sustainability" and "sustainable development" and how their definition and usage have transitioned over the years. According to the Nature article, "The change in meaning can be traced to the 1987 report Our Common Future, chaired by Norway's then-prime minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland. The report involved social scientists, natural scientists, industrialists, environmentalists, and policymakers emerging from their silos to talk to each other to understand how humans alter the global environment. The report helped such collaborative processes to become mainstream, alongside the idea of treating the environment and develop...

Foster + Partners publishes a sustainability manifesto at COP25

2019-12-06T18:00:00-05:00

London-based architecture practice Foster + Partners recently announced its goal to "outline a holistic sustainable approach" towards its projects as a way to measure "embodied and operational carbon in each project." Aiming to use their international stature and design prowess to catalyze the awareness and application of sustainable design principles, the firm outlines their commitment to the goals of the Paris Agreement below.

"Over the last five years, drawing on the practice’s experience, expertise and in collaboration with others, Foster + Partners has created a unique system that can effectively determine carbon emissions at every project stage. This process gives greater insight into the different aspects that affect the environmental impact of a project and provides tools to mitigate and lower their carbon content.

As part of the COP25, the practice has been invited to present this methodology and tools by UNFCCC, UN Environment and the European Commission at their respectiv...

German architects, including GRAFT, Kéré, join global climate emergency declaration

2019-11-22T14:03:00-05:00

Architects from around the world are continue to sign onto the Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency call.

The most recent national delegation to join the call comes from Germany, where at least 38 firms—including GRAFT, Kéré Architecture, Max Dudler, and ACME—have pledged to "strengthening our ways of working so that architecture and urbanism can emerge that have a more positive impact on our world."

The German group joins architects in Australia, the UK, and New Zealand, among others, in calling for the transformation of the building industry and architectural education toward environmentally just focuses.

Included among the many demands the groups are making is a push for transforming design to become "more regenerative" so that designers can create "an architecture and urbanism that goes beyond zero-carbon standards."

Mayors of three Nordic capitals declare their commitment to cleaner construction site practices

2019-10-23T02:00:00-04:00

The push for cleaner construction methods to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution on building sites has increased in recent years due to the worsening climate crisis. Nations across the globe have expressed their intent in finding better solutions for addressing the negative impacts the architecture and construction industries have on the environment.

Earlier this month, the mayors of Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm made a public pledge to enact various policies and regulations to ensure the following issues are addressed. According to a press release from C40 Cities, the mayors promise to:

Purchase biofuels and emission-free machinery for the city’s own use
Demand fossil-and emission-free solutions in public procurement and city supported projects
In Oslo, all city-owned machinery and municipally-owned construction sites will operate with zero emissions by 2025

Executive director of C40 Cities, Mark Watts, shares in a statement, "The world’s cities are growing fast, wi...