Archinect - News

Coffee grounds can make concrete a little stronger, too, according to a new RMIT study

2023-08-28T11:58:00-04:00

Engineers in Australia have found a way of making stronger concrete with roasted used-coffee grounds, to give the drink-additive a "double shot" at life and reduce waste going to landfills. [...] Published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, the study by RMIT engineers is the first to prove that waste coffee grounds can be used to improve concrete.

The study found that three different coffee ground samples each increased their concrete pour’s compressive strengths by up to 30% once their organic compounds were broken down through pyrolysis. The discovery could go a long way in combatting issues such as food waste and the carbon impact of concrete’s still rampant use as a construction material worldwide. RMIT will follow up with additional mechanical and durability tests on the same samples.

"Our research is in the early stages, but these exciting findings offer an innovative way to greatly reduce the amount of organic waste that goes to landfill," the paper’s co-lead author, Dr. Shannon Kilmartin-Lynch, explained. Discarded PPE may also have a stirring second life in construction, according to a separate study the same team of researchers published last year.

A Japanese teahouse prototype made from food waste debuts at this year’s Venice Biennale

2023-05-08T13:18:00-04:00

Japanese architecture and engineering firm Mitsubishi Jisho Design has unveiled details of a sustainable teahouse project at the upcoming Venice Architecture Biennale, which takes place from May 20th to November 26th in what is now its 18th edition.

The Veneti-An Tea House prototype is included in the European Cultural Center’s Time Space Existence exhibition, which runs parallel to the fair in the city's Giardini Marinaressa Gardens. According to its designers, the scheme is meant as a place of “renewed connection.” Its structure is composed of food waste products, adding to the intended exploration of themes of environmental protection and sustainable design.

Image courtesy Mitsubishi Jisho Design

The components are culled from local coffee grounds and pasta (common waste products in Italy, according to the designers) made using Fabula Food Concrete, a University of Tokyo-born Japanese product that entered the market only recently and offers architects the chance to build using a m...

Milan and Costa Rica among winners of the inaugural Earthshot Prize

2021-10-18T19:27:00-04:00

The Duke of Cambridge appeared in apt attire last night as he announced the first slate of winners of his newly-launched Earthshot Prize celebrating innovations in the ongoing fight against climate change.

The city of Milan was among the five inaugural winners of the prize, which is the brainchild of Prince William and famed British naturalist television presenter Sir David Attenborough. Awards were given out across five separate categories each with a £1 million ($1.37 million) prize.

Image courtesy Earthshot Prize

The Italian city won in the ‘Build a Waste-Free World’ category for its food waste scheme that can recover around 350 kg of food a day from supermarkets and restaurant venues and redistribute it to the city’s different areas of need.

Image courtesy Earthshot Prize

Costa Rica took home the inaugural ‘Protect & Restore Nature’ award for a Ministry of Environment program begat in the late 90s that pays citizens to plant trees and eventually help restore the country’s greate...

Arup proposes using food waste as building materials

2017-10-17T15:08:00-04:00

The company argues that organic waste would ameliorate rising levels of waste and shortfalls of raw material, as well as providing industry with cheap, low carbon materials.

Beyond being delicious, peanuts, rice, bananas, potatoes and mushrooms have something else in common—they are all being proposed by Arup group as potential building materials in their new report titled "The Urban Bio-Loop."

THE BIOLOOP Nature becomes an endless source of feedstock for the built environment

According to the authors, the report aims "at demonstrating that a different paradigm for materials in construction is possible." This could be done by diverting, in part, organic waste that is traditionally managed through landﬁll, incineration and composting to become a resource for the creation of construction engineering and architecture products.

CURRENT MODEL Biological loop considering traditional disposal options

Some of the organic materials proposed are: peanut shells, which can be used to produce low-cost partition boards that are resistant to moisture and fire; rice, whose husks can be turned to ash and mixed with cement to reduce need for fillers; bananas, whose fruit...