Archinect - News

New AI-powered system uses images of stop signs to capture flooding data

2023-04-20T12:29:00-04:00

A professor from Texas A&M University is developing an AI-infused system to capture flooding data in real-time. The system, developed by professor of construction science Amir Behzadan, uses crowdsourced public images of floods to inform rescue and mitigation efforts.

Behzadan began developing the system in response to the lack of flood data-gathering measures in many neighborhoods around the United States. While flood gauges are operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and local governments, such maps often have limited coverage and do not provide detail on how floodwaters move in urban areas.

“When it comes to disaster impact, there are ‘data deserts’ — large areas in our communities in which we have very little information about the likelihood and extent of damage,” Behzadan explains. “If this data is available, informed decisions can be made about immediate needs like search and rescue, as well as longer-term needs such as debris cleanup, economic recovery efforts, and where insur...

Texas A&M researchers receive $3.74M for the development of 3D-printed hempcrete buildings

2022-06-21T15:33:00-04:00

A project by researchers at Texas A&M University has received a $3.74 million grant for the development of resilient, 3D-printed building designs using a new green material called hempcrete. Its usage has the potential to lower the environmental impact of traditional construction methods and make housing more affordable and available.

The funding was made available by the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere (HESTIA) program. Leading the project is Petro Sideris, assistant professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who will develop residential and potential commercial construction designs. His team consists of assistant professor Maria Koliou, department head and professor Zachary Grasley, and professor Anand Puppula from the department, and associate professor Manish Dixit and professor Wei Yan from the Texas A&M College of Architecture.

Hem...

US Navy, Texas A&M team up to advance 3d-printed steel technology

2020-04-28T20:32:00-04:00

Material researchers from the United States Navy and Texas A&M University have developed a way to create 3d-printed steel that matches the tensile strength capabilities of traditional steel manufacturing.

The approach relies on a mathematical model to, as Engineering.com reports, “optimize laser settings to drastically reduce the type of printing flaws that reduce tensile strength.”

When compared with conventional casting and subtractive steel manufacture, 3d-printing fabrication typically results in a higher number of microscopic gaps within the material that result from the 3d-printers additive making process. Those who have used a desktop 3d-printer will know that by definition, the printer deposits each successive layer one on top of the other, often leaving imperfections at the edges and never quite matching exactly the intended form. That phenomenon is paralleled within the material itself, producing a 3d-printed object that is also filled with tiny air gaps and other materi...

Faculty and students at Texas A&M University are helping after Hurricane Harvey

2017-09-26T14:05:00-04:00

As tens of thousands of Texans undergo a long, difficult recovery from Hurricane Harvey, research findings, and studio and service projects by faculty and students at Texas A&M University are helping individuals and communities learn how to emerge from the damage and how to mitigate the effects of future disasters.

The Texas A&M University is home to the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center, studying prevention, response and recovery from natural disasters. Student efforts include gathering post-Harvey water samples and studying their quality, serving meals to the community and building models of rainfall data. Read more about the university news and response to Harvey here.

Student samples post-Harvey water. Image from Arch One.

Sorry L.A., but the nation's worst traffic is in D.C.

2015-08-27T13:11:00-04:00

For those who assume Los Angeles has the worst traffic in the United States: Not so fast. Drivers in Southern California spent a whopping 80 hours sitting in traffic in 2014, according to a new report by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and the traffic data company Inrix. But the city with the dubious distinction of most time lost behind the wheel is Washington, D.C., researchers say, where commuters clocked 82 hours of delays in a single year.

Other metro areas snatching top spots according to the 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard report:

San Francisco-Oakland CA (78 hours)
New York-Newark NY-NJ-CT (74 hours)
San Jose CA (67 hours)
Boston MA-NH-RI (64 hours)

Big businesses and baby steps: Weekly News Round-Up for September 22 and 29, 2014

2014-10-06T18:43:00-04:00

Friday, October 3:

Eisenhower Memorial clears key hurdle on Gehry design: In a positive step for the Memorial's Approving Process Odyssey, the National Capital Planning Commission has OK'd the Commission on Fine Arts (the other federal body that must approve the design) to vote on the Memorial.
Where are the women? Measuring progress on gender in architecture: A series of infographics on the representation of women in architectural practice and education, courtesy of ACSA.

Wednesday, October 1:

Guggenheim plans New York expansion… again: Not for more art space (Gehry tried that before) but for offices.
Zaera-Polo steps down as dean of Princeton's School of Architecture: From the press release: "the school's former dean, Professor Stanley T. Allen, will serve as acting dean until a permanent successor is appointed and that Professor Allen will chair the search for the new dean."
Tiny Spanish Island to be First Energy Self-Sufficient Island: The 10,000 population island will use renewable e...

Texas A&M architecture students design portable Ebola treatment clinics

2014-09-23T12:47:00-04:00

Design concepts for portable, rapidly deployable Ebola virus treatment clinics created by Texas A&M Master of Architecture students will be unveiled at a 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24 presentation on the fourth floor of the Langford Architecture Center’s Building A on the Texas A&M campus.

Memory Cloud by RE:site + Metalab Completed

2013-03-08T17:43:00-05:00

It's been almost one year since the collaboration of artists RE:Site and architects METALAB won the competition to design Texas A&M University's new Memorial Student Center 12th Man Hall [...]. The resulting lighting installation, Memory Cloud, has now been completed, and we have first photos and a video of the project.

Memory Cloud by RE:site + Metalab

2012-04-02T15:43:00-04:00

Texas A&M University has recently awarded the winning commission for the new Memorial Student Center 12th Man Hall to Memory Cloud, a collaborative project by RE:Site (Norman Lee and Shane Allbritton, Artists) and METALAB (Andrew Vrana, Joe Meppelink and Michael Gonzales, Architecture + Fabrication).