Archinect - News

Two Scandinavian companies will recycle data center heat for food production

2024-11-22T15:32:00-05:00

A new project aimed at developing a circular economy in Scandinavia will build two large commercial greenhouses that run on waste heat taken from nearby data centers. The projects will be located in Varde, Denmark, and Östersund, Sweden. The project will increase domestic food production. The agreement between WA3RM and the Vinga Group is worth $908 million. It could also set a valuable precedent.

As Dutch academic Marina Otero noted after her win of the 2022 Wheelwright Prize: "The huge scale of the operations of the data industry and its pervasiveness and increasing importance in the contemporary world — coupled with its openness to innovation and concurrent pressures to find better socio-ecological models — creates a fertile environment for experimentation and action."

Pioneering UC Berkeley professor Sim Van der Ryn dies aged 89

2024-11-18T16:06:00-05:00

Dutch architect Sim Van der Ryn, a pioneer of green architecture and a longtime professor at the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design, has died at age 89 according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He will be remembered for his experimental teaching methods and approach to designing buildings as ecological systems, both of which later became widely accepted as either field looked to embrace sustainability as its new baseline standard.

Van der Ryn's memorial page on the CED's website also credits his work with Murray Silverstein as leading the way for post-occupancy user studies. Dean Renee Y. Chow added her own context to his legacy at the school, saying: "Sim was one of the people who laid the foundation for CED’s ongoing commitment to resilience and environmental equity. He was focused on how to build in environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, socially just ways long before 'sustainability' was even a term in the architectural lexicon. His influence, on Berkeley and beyo...

Invisible Studio creates rammed stone yoga studio in UK countryside

2024-11-14T08:27:00-05:00

UK-based Invisible Studio has completed a rammed stone yoga studio for the Newt Hotel in Somerset, UK. Aside from its innovative use of rammed earth, the scheme is defined by a 36-foot-long rooflight made from a single insulated double-glazed unit.

Image credit: Jim Stephenson

The studio is lined entirely in beech slats to provide a "warm and immersive sanctuary-like space." The external skin uses the same rammed stone as the hotel’s adjacent gym, made from local limestone to give it a distinctive red color. Meanwhile, copper detailing borrows from the palette of materials established by the hotel’s Beezantium.

Image credit: Jim Stephenson

“The rammed stone external skin is something we get asked about a good deal, particularly with no roof overhang,” Invisible Studio founder Piers Taylor explains. “The mix is colored only by using local ‘Hadspen’ limestone, which has a distinctive red hue, which is crushed from 45mm to dust. Th...

Studio Gang completes first French project behind cylindrical stone facade

2024-11-13T12:13:00-05:00

Studio Gang has completed its first project in France: the University of Chicago John W. Boyer Center in Paris. Located in the city’s 13th arrondissement, the new academic hub aims to energize the local neighborhood while integrating into the “urban and intellectual fabric of the city.”

Image credit: Fabrice Fouillet

Set on a corner site on Paris’s Left Bank, an area known for research and higher education, the center is the focal point of a new mixed-use development that includes residential buildings designed by PARC Architectes. The scheme’s signature brise soleil façade is comprised of 900 cylindrical stone batons, which filter light based on the interior function, offering privacy in study spaces while revealing public areas. Clad in Lutetian limestone, the batons echo Chicago’s main campus while rooting the building in Paris’s architectural heritage.

Image credit: Fabrice Fouillet

Image credit: Corentin Lespagnol

“The Center in Paris is designed as a...

Deadline Approaches for Architecture at Zero 2024: Showcase Your Sustainable Design by Dec 16th

2024-11-08T11:26:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Architecture at Zero 2024

The American Institute of Architects California (AIA CA) invites students and professionals worldwide to participate in the twelfth edition of the Architecture at Zero competition, with a registration and submission deadline of December 16, 2024. This annual event calls for innovative, sustainable building designs that emphasize equity and resilience, providing a unique platform for creative solutions addressing today’s architectural challenges.

This year’s challenge focuses on designing a new facility for the Griffith STEAM Magnet Middle School in East Los Angeles, California. Participants will create a replacement for existing relocatable classrooms, incorporating science labs, an art classroom, maker spaces, outdoor learning environments, and a teacher workroom. As an ideas competition, it encourages bold, visionary proposals rather than specific construction-ready solutions.

A distinguished jury of international experts, s...

Oregon researchers build prototype mass timber home that ‘fits together like gingerbread house’

2024-11-07T11:13:00-05:00

A research team in Oregon has unveiled a mass timber prototype home that seeks to showcase a sustainable, energy-efficient alternative to traditional home construction. Designed by the TallWood Design Institute, a collaboration between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, the 760-square-foot project was unveiled at an open house event on November 7th.

Image courtesy of the University of Oregon

The home, built from locally sourced mass plywood panels produced by Freres Engineered Wood, aims to address key issues such as affordable housing shortages, wildfire resilience, and economic sustainability. Unlike conventional timber construction, the home is constructed of mass plywood panels shaped to fit together like pieces of a gingerbread house, the team says.

Image courtesy of the University of Oregon

Through the project, the team imagines a future where a home could arrive in a flatpack ...

Henning Larsen releases free catalogs on sustainable design

2024-11-06T09:20:00-05:00

Henning Larsen has expanded its Unboxing Carbon initiative with the release of two open-source catalogs detailing the carbon emissions of building materials for architects and designers. Originally launched in 2021 as a carbon literacy course, “Unboxing Carbon” aims to address the construction industry’s need for climate action by providing practical knowledge on the environmental impact of materials.

The first catalog, focused on exterior materials, was released in 2022. The latest updated edition now includes an interior materials catalog, covering options like wallboards, tiles, countertops, and finishes. Meanwhile, the exterior catalog now includes roofing and insulation materials, with refreshed data reflecting current manufacturing and environmental standards.

Sundby School by Henning Larsen. Image credit: Rasmus Hjortshøj

The catalogs draw on data from over 1,000 participants in Henning Larsen’s workshops and include metrics like Global Warming Potential (GWP) from Environment...

Editor's Picks #564

2024-11-05T12:29:00-05:00

As part of the Archinect In-Depth: Licensure series, Niall Patrick Walsh gathered perspectives from Mike Armstrong, CEO of NCARB, Pascale Sablan, President of NOMA, architect and author Melvin L. Mitchell, writer and editor John Parman, architect and Professor Emeritus at George B. Johnston and Peggy Deamer author and Professor Emerita at Yale University.

Later, Kate Wingert-Playdon, Senior Associate Dean and Director of Architecture at Temple University, made the case for "always working in collaboration. That is a strong theme here at Tyler...so many good results in the built environment rely on good relationships, including well-conceived contracts…Respect is a big piece of collaboration. This is not to say that all design comes down to a contract; it is still about creative thinking. But a good contract isn’t just about business and law".

News

The_Crow felt the Snøhetta-led expansion for The Joslyn Art Museum was "pretty corporate tbh". What’s your take?

Photo © Nic Lehoux, cou...

New version of sustainable design tool Tally to launch in 2025

2024-11-05T11:26:00-05:00

Building Transparency has announced the development of Tally® 2.0 in partnership with KieranTimberlake. This updated version of the LCA tool aims to enhance the building industry’s capacity to evaluate and reduce the environmental impacts of materials and design choices.

The original Tally tool was launched in 2013 by KieranTimberlake, who began developing the tool in 2008. In 2021, we included Tally as part of our deep dive into the various climate-orientated architecture software systems developed by architects and designers.

Tally was the first LCA application allowing designers to assess the environmental footprint of projects within Revit. It has since been adopted by nearly 3,500 users in the architecture, engineering, and construction.

Related on Archinect: Meet the Architects Designing Software to Fight Climate Change. Image: Screenshot from CLIMATE SCOUT, an app created by CallisonRTKL

Building upon the success of its predecessor, Tally 2.0 will introduce new features that p...

Iceland will flow into 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale with 'Lavaforming' pavilion

2024-10-31T10:49:00-04:00

Lava will shape Iceland's official entry Lavaforming at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, showcasing how its density and other natural properties can become a viable future building material for designs as far-ranging as small residential structures, cityscapes, and more.

Image render courtesy s.ap architects

Arnhildur Pálmadóttir, founder of the s.ap architects, is responsible for the curation of the pavilion’s story arch, which is set in the year 2150. She says: "Lavaforming is exploring a building material that has never been used before. The theme is both a proposal and a metaphor – architecture is in a paradigm shift, and many of our current methods have been deemed obsolete or harmful in the long term. In our current predicament we need to be bold, think in new ways, look at challenges, and find the right resources."

Image render courtesy s.ap architects

Iceland Design and Architecture director Halla Helgadóttir says also that this presentation has the potential to "draw a...

What's new in LEED v5? Steering Committee chair Anica Landreneau explains

2024-10-22T18:36:00-04:00

HOK’s Anica Landreneau, the chair of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Steering Committee, has sat down for an in-house interview published by the firm in a preview of the changes contained in the LEED v5 update. The new changes align with the Paris Agreement, AIA 2030, MEP 2040, SE 2050 and ASLA 2040 plans.

"The top priority is rapid decarbonization to address the urgency of the climate crisis. Approximately half of the 110 points for achieving LEED v5 certification is based on decarbonization," she explained. "That represents a much greater emphasis on decarbonization than ever before. Then a quarter of the points focus on biodiversity, ecology and the natural world, which promotes resilience but also the survival of all species on the planet. Another quarter of the points focus on human health and well-being—the quality of life and the human experience."

The LEED v5 is designed for use between 2025 and 2030.

You can learn more about the most common environmental certificatio...

DoD-funded study helps predict building maintenance costs using climate data

2024-10-22T16:17:00-04:00

A new study funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) using climate data to predict the cost of maintenance for military facilities threatened by extreme weather events has outlined new approaches for estimating condition loss and reduction of services. The findings, which can be applied to civilian organizations with similarly large building portfolios, aim to "understand the risks that may be present in certain buildings and building systems" with the aid of a specially-developed damage matrix (or DAM).

The risk calculations from the DAM are then applied to specific facilities to compute potential damages.

Iowa State University associate professor Christina Patricola, who led the team national researchers, explains: "We calculate future changes in extreme weather based on climate model simulations and translate it to estimate how much certain components of a building are expecte...

Cemex, Turner, Microsoft and others sign on to White House pledge to use clean construction materials

2024-10-21T12:32:00-04:00

The White House recently announced an update in its efforts to bolster clean construction in the United States. The update lists various public and private entities that have now committed to its three-year-old Federal Buy Clean Initiative. Some companies mentioned in the press release as signing on include Cemex, the Turner Construction Company, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft. The City of Los Angeles, New York State, Washington State, and Michigan are among the five new participants in the Federal-State Buy Clean Partnership.

New York City is also expected to begin requiring environmental product declarations for concrete and steel products, according to the website POLITICO E&E News. The White House says to date, the federal government has deployed some $4.5 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act to support the Initiative.

Claim: NEOM will consume one-fifth of the world's steel to complete construction

2024-10-18T18:37:00-04:00

A surprising new claim about the amount of steel being used to construct NEOM’s new The Line megacity and other satellite developments is being advanced by several regional outlets, which claim the amount equals one-fifth (20%) of the world's current steel production.

The claim was first published by the website Arabian Gulf Business Insight on Monday after NEOM's chief investment officer told the outlet about its forthcoming status as "the world’s largest customer for construction materials" for possibly dozens of years.

It comes after the announcement of new concrete production facilities across the country that augment construction of the more than $500 billion plan. The Line's initial phase of construction has been reduced to span just 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) by the end of the decade.

Your next role could be teaching mass timber at the University of Oregon

2024-10-09T07:00:00-04:00

Following our previous look at an opening for a Design and Construction Manager at the Eames Institute, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for an Assistant Professor of Architectural Design, Structures, and Mass Timber at the University of Oregon.

The role, based in Eugene, Oregon, requires an individual who will “have experience or show evidence of capacity to effectively teach structures for architecture students and lead research in mass timber structures.” The position will also involve research into new advances in sustainable materials, construction, and technology to produce eco-friendly, net zero, and low-impact buildings.

Related on Archinect: RIOS’ 42XX office design introduces mass timber architecture to L.A.’s Westside. Image credit: Pavel Bendov, ArchExplorer

Why the role interests us

The open role at the University of Oregon offers us the opportunity to look back on some of the significant research ad...

Editor's Picks #563

2024-10-07T21:02:00-04:00

ICYMI Niall Patrick Walsh started the State of AEC intended to "guide you through the latest analyses, indexes, and trends on how the architecture and construction industries are performing economically."

In reporting on the September U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut he pointed out "the Fed’s interest rate today sits at almost exactly the same level as it was in 2007, before a series of rapid cuts in response to the 2008 economic crash. Back then, the AIA’s Architecture Billings Index began a decline in January 2008 that lasted every month for two and a half years until July 2010."

Later, Niall also explored the impact of post-pandemic changes driving "what architecture studios are, and increasingly are not, commissioned to design". Will Galloway weighed in from Japan

"Interesting findings. I wonder if this is the new normal or still a period of settling into something new…Not sure where we will come down on this topic in the end, but I can imagine a quite different office set up in t...

Construction tech start-up sends AI-powered "micro-factories" to the US to build affordable housing

2024-10-04T17:57:00-04:00

British construction tech start-up Automated Architecture (AUAR) is sending two of its pop-up, robotic micro-factories to the U.S. for the first time in a move to bring automated and affordable house building to North America.

Founded in 2019, AUAR functions by licensing its technology to builders and contractors to build low-energy homes at the price of normal homes, at scale.

Related on Archinect: Where Are All The Affordable Housing Startups?. Image credit: Katerra

The micro-factories will be deployed by real estate development and construction firm Rival Holdings, which aims to address the ongoing housing crisis by building thousands of sustainable, affordable, and high-quality homes across the Midwest. The partnership between Rival Holdings and AUAR was announced in March.

“We are really excited to partner with Rival Holdings to bring our cutting-edge Robotic Micro-factories to the United States,” said Co-Founder and CEO of AUAR, Mollie Claypool. “This partnership is our first ...

Can the 'first carbon-positive hotel in the U.S.' claims of the Studio Gang-designed Populus be validated?

2024-09-30T10:28:00-04:00

Populus goes one step further in its boast of being 'carbon positive', not just offsetting the hotel’s carbon footprint but actually taking out far more carbon than it puts in – a promise few businesses would dare to make, for both financial and publicity reasons. As a term, however, 'carbon positive' can be linguistically confusing [...] and with no clear definition of what 'carbon positive' means, there are no metrics by which to determine its validity.

The project, first announced in February 2021, has since garnered skepticism amidst its developer Urban Villages' claims of being a first-of-its-kind carbon-positive American design in the typology. The true sustainability of the firm’s 2009 Aqua Tower in Chicago has been scrutinized in the past by online commenters.

The 265-room Populus, with its blinking 'lids' fenestration, opens for the first time on October 15th.

MIT team creates 3D-printed glass bricks for reusable construction

2024-09-21T12:31:00-04:00

MIT engineers have created 3D-printed glass bricks that could offer a new approach to construction with sustainable and reusable materials. These interlocking bricks, which offer similar strength to concrete, are designed for circular construction, allowing buildings to be disassembled and reassembled at the end of their life cycle.

The team, led by Assistant Professor Kaitlyn Becker and former MIT researcher Michael Stern, developed the glass bricks using a custom 3D printing technology from MIT spinoff Evenline. Made from recycled glass, the bricks are shaped like figure eights and interlock like LEGO pieces, offering flexibility in assembly and disassembly.

Each manufacturing method is shown from left to right: FH (Fully Hollow), PC (Print-Cast), and FP (Fully Printed). Credits:Image: Ethan Townsend

In mechanical testing, the glass bricks demonstrated strength comparable to concrete blocks, proving their potential for real-world architectural applications. The team experimented wi...

Leading landscape architecture firms pledge zero emissions by 2040

2024-09-19T14:28:00-04:00

Twenty-six CEOs from some of the world’s most influential landscape architecture firms have publicly committed to making their profession zero emissions by 2040, aligning with the goals set out in the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA Climate Action Plan).

Collectively generating over $350 million in annual revenue, these firms contribute to projects exceeding $1 billion in construction value each year and influence millions of acres across more than 50 countries. Their commitment underscores the crucial role landscape architects play in addressing climate change through nature-based solutions.

“These are people who have the skills and imagination to make it happen,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen. “They’re already designing resilient waterfronts, parks that soak up stormwater, and urban forests that take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and cool our cities.”

The CEOs’ public letter also calls on governments, clients, and allied professionals to strengthen cli...

UK adaptive reuse research lab achieves first-ever perfect BREEAM score

2024-08-20T17:06:00-04:00

A recently completed project in Oxford, United Kingdom has earned distinction as the first-ever in the country to obtain a 100% BREAAM score for its environmental credentials.

Image: courtesy CMP Architects

The 43,745-square-foot scheme from CMP Architects created valuable lab space for research & development and mid-tech inside a decommissioned natural gas warehouse for developers Wrenbridge and Buccleuch. EV charging stations, green-roofed bicycle shelters, and a sheltering brise soleil added flourish to a list of sustainable design features that includes a rooftop PV array, air source heat pumps, PIR lighting sensors, and efficient water fittings. The London-based firm Eight Versa served as the projects’ BREEAM consultants.

Image: courtesy CMP Architects

It surpasses what is thought to be the previous record-holder, the Architecten en Bouwmeesters-designed Geelen Counterflow headquarters in the Netherlands, which received a 99.94% rating after completion. The centerpiece of England...

EPA presents 'buy clean' label program for green construction materials

2024-08-13T20:31:00-04:00

The Environmental Protection Agency has published details of a new label program aimed at increasing the amount and quality of more sustainable U.S.-made construction materials in the marketplace. It supports the agency’s new $160 million grant initiative to spearhead new Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). The labels will add a formal definition of what constitutes “clean” construction materials in support also of the Biden Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which was first formed in February of 2022.

Specifically, the EPA says the program will "prioritize steel, glass, asphalt, and concrete, as there are significant opportunities to reduce climate pollution from these materials, and they represent the vast majority of construction materials and products that government agencies purchase with federal funds."

An associated list of supporting documents, including EPD development guidelines, is available here.

UMaine experiments with 3D printed floor panels made from recyclable natural materials

2024-08-10T11:00:00-04:00

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Maine are leading interesting new engineering research into floor cassettes made using recyclable natural materials that are strong enough to be used in multi-story buildings. Thanks to experiments at UMaine's cutting-edge Advanced Structures and Composites Center (which previously contributed to our coverage of bio-based 3D printed homes), engineers were able to produce a capable model made from polylactic acid and lumber by-products, such as wood flour.

The SM2ART Nfloor cassette components can be 3D printed in roughly two-thirds the time it takes for a typical floor cassette to be factory assembled, thus saving labor costs. Scott Tomlinson, a structural engineer at the Center, shared: "This technology holds a lot of promise for the future of sustainable buildings." The project came together at the initiative of the SHoP offshoot Assembly OSM.

The work was also recently on display as part of the ...

AI has massive potential to aid decarbonization in the building sector, LBNL paper claims

2024-08-09T11:45:00-04:00

AI's capacity to initiate energy use reductions and decarbonization of the building sector was documented recently by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A new study of medium-sized office buildings in the United States revealed the potential for an 8% emissions reduction by 2050. An up to 20% reduction of annual on-site energy costs can also be achieved through widespread augmentation combined with other emerging technologies such as robotics.

Utility Dive, which first reported on the paper's publication, summarized its findings further: "Adopting AI in [one] scenario can help reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions by roughly 19% in 2050, compared with the policy scenario without AI."

This comes on the heels of the General Service Administration's announcement of $9.6 million in new grant funding to test AI-augmented products and other emerging building technologies as part of its Green Proving Ground program.

World Architecture Day 2024 theme encourages young architects to drive forward-thinking, sustainable urban development

2024-08-03T11:00:00-04:00

The International Union of Architects this week revealed the theme for this year’s World Architecture Day. Held annually on the first Monday of October since its creation in 1985, the day occurs parallel to the United Nations’ World Habitat Day, aligning the architecture community’s efforts with global urban development goals.

This year’s World Habitat Day theme is “Engaging youth to create a better urban future,” which closely relates to the World Architecture Day 2024 theme, “Empowering the Next Generation in Participatory Urban Design.” Through this theme, the UIA says it hopes to encourage young architects to contribute fresh perspectives towards sustainable urban development. Key areas of focus include energy efficiency, waste management, the use of sustainable materials, and the promotion of sustainable mobility.

As stated in a UIA press announcement, World Architecture Day 2024 will be celebrated by showcasing successful youth-led projects that have transformed communities an...

The GSA's emerging building technologies chief talks about the advent of its Green Proving Ground program

2024-07-29T15:28:00-04:00

During two decades with GSA, [Kevin] Powell has had a front seat view of how technologies in facilities have evolved over the years. As electrification and decarbonization efforts continue to emerge for buildings, Powell remains excited about seeing the future of buildings unfolding.

The architect behind the U.S. General Services Administration’s Green Proving Ground program is Berkeley CED graduate Kevin Powell, who spoke recently with FacilitiesNet about emerging technologies and decarbonization efforts in the building sector. As the manager of the country’s largest portfolio of buildings (the GSA has some 8,400 nationwide), Powell is in a unique position. He says his office has proven 30 new products, touting the program as a "once-in-your-career moment" that will augur positive trajectories for building standards for the next generation.

"The program really helps a lot of the industry innovators bridge what folks call the Technology Valley of Death because we’re really taking that first user risk," Powell told the outlet. "We’re the first buyer, and then we’re validating that it works, and that helps both us and the commercial real estate industry. The facility community can have confidence in what to invest in, and that’s what it’s all about."

...

Federal Green Proving Ground program secures $9.6 million to test emerging building technologies

2024-07-24T13:08:00-04:00

Last week marked the announcement of the U.S. General Services Administration’s collaborative Green Proving Ground program with the Department of Energy. The initiative is aimed at producing “real world” evaluations of 17 different emerging technologies that may have a considerable impact on the future of the building industry and architectural design. Funding for the GSA’s latest $9.6 million investment comes from the Inflation Reduction Act.

This year’s program focuses on the following areas: building envelopes and enclosures, healthy and resilient buildings, HVAC systems for commercial buildings, and on-site renewables. The group being evaluated includes everything from heat pumps to geothermal retrofitting solutions and energy-saving ceiling tiles. Select testing will occur at the GSA's Applied Innovation Learning Labs with the first evaluations becoming available in 2026.

The GSA hopes this will ensure a transition to a net-zero emissions federal building portfolio by 2045. On...

Architects may soon get easier access to low-carbon construction materials, following $160M EPA grant initiative

2024-07-19T16:04:00-04:00

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a new round of grants worth nearly $160 million to support the clean manufacturing of domestically produced construction materials.

The funds are being distributed to 38 entities, including the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas at Austin, and nine other institutions of higher learning. Holcim’s U.S. operation, the American Wood Council, the Hemp Building Institute, and the International Living Future Institute are also included on the list of grantees, among others. The grants range up to $10 million in total.

The grants are meant to support the Biden Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, whose task force issued first recommendations for low-carbon construction materials in September 2022. They will be used by each entity in order to develop Environmental Product Declarations (or EPDs), a data-driven consumer label that helps architects make decisions o...

University of Chicago researchers create cooling fabric that can block heat from structures in cities

2024-06-24T20:10:00-04:00

Future city dwellers could beat the heat with clothes made of a new fabric that keeps them cool. The textile, made of a plastic material and silver nanowires, is designed to stay cool in urban settings by taking advantage of a principle known as radiative cooling – the natural process by which objects radiate heat into space.

The material was designed by a team of researchers at the University of Chicago led by Po-Chun Hsu, an Assistant Professor of Molecular Engineering. They designed it to block more than half of the radiation from the buildings and the ground. As reported by New Scientist, the material emits heat in the form of infrared radiation into space, while reflecting the sun’s radiation and infrared radiation emitted by surrounding structures, such as buildings and pavement.

Previously on Archinect: University of Maryland researchers develop 'cooling glass' that can redirect a building's heat into space

The researchers developed a three-layer textile, where the inner layer is made of common fabric, such as wool or cotton, and the middle layer consists of silver nanowires that reflect most radiation. The top layer is made of a plastic material called polymethylpentene, which emits a narrow band of infrared radiation. Outdoor tests found that the material stayed 16ºF cooler than a regular silk fa...

Vibrant pavilions by Foster + Partners and NEON utilize recycled everyday materials

2024-06-12T06:02:00-04:00

Real estate developer and operator Brookfield Properties has today announced the launch of two pavilions, one designed by Foster + Partners and the other by NEON, as part of the London Festival of Architecture (LFA).

“Radial” by Foster & Partners and “Squiggle” by NEON are located outside of two of Brookfield Properties’ key London office buildings. They were designed as landmarks, inspired by themes of circularity, community, and sustainability. The structures respond to the LFA’s theme of “Reimagine,” in which they utilize everyday materials in innovative ways to encourage reflection on material recycling, reuse, and climate change.

"Radial" by Foster + Partners. Photo: Aaron Hargreaves

“Radial” aims to function as a space for pause and reflection. It features a radial pattern of flags made from 100% reused and recycled construction materials, including plastic bottles and scaffolding.

Photo: Aaron Hargreaves

The flags hang above curved wooden benches and are colored in tones of ...