Archinect - News

Framework for decarbonizing buildings published by the World Economic Forum

2022-02-04T13:46:00-05:00

The World Economic Forum has published a briefing paper setting out its recommendations for sustainable building development. Titled Accelerating the Decarbonization of Buildings: The Net-Zero Carbon Cities Building Value Framework,” the document sets to establish a series of practical steps at the design stage to reduce operational carbon emissions.

“With over half of the world’s population living in cities and producing over 70% of carbon emissions, cities play a key role in combatting climate change,” the report reads. “Construction and the operation of buildings are responsible for 38% of global emissions, and there is an urgent need for solutions to help accelerate the decarbonization of the urban built environment to limit the global temperature rise to below 1.5°C.”

Archinect Feature: Business as Usual or Build Back Better? Architectural Leaders Share Their Thoughts on This Weekend’s COP26 Opening

The report sets out three categories for action: invest in and combine decarb...

Making clients go green: A free report by WGBC helps architects pitch sustainable design as good business

2021-11-05T11:55:00-04:00

The World Green Building Council has published a free interactive report setting out the economic and social benefits of constructing sustainable buildings. The 114-page “Beyond the Business Case” report was launched at COP26 and may serve as a valuable tool for architects to communicate to commercial clients the financial and social value of investing in environmentally-conscious projects.

“A growing body of evidence has shown that unmanaged climate change generates significant value risks for investors and that the inclusion of climate factors can improve returns,” reads the report. “Consequently, financial markets are increasingly directing their investments towards projects and companies that guarantee (in addition to economic profitability) the achievement of social and environmental development goals.”

Related on Archinect: The Build Better Now Virtual Pavilion at COP26

The report puts forward a range of client-facing economic benefits for green buildings, noting that green ...

The University of Idaho is awarded $4 million to develop 3D-printing technology that converts wood waste into building materials

2021-10-21T14:30:00-04:00

The University of Idaho recently announced that it has been awarded nearly $4 million from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program to develop technology for the conversion of wood waste into 3D-printing building materials.

Research will focus on the further development and testing of an additive manufacturing process as well as the design and construction of a 3D printer capable of producing modular wall, floor, and roof panels printed from wood. Funding for the research extends through 2025.

“We’re developing a new composite material, using completely bio-based resources on a truly large scale,” said University of Idaho College of Engineering assistant professor and research lead Michael Maughan. “With this technology, houses and commercial buildings can be made entirely differently. We can push past climate change, mitigate impact on our environment, and make better use of the natural resources we have.”

Previously on Archinect: N...

ETH Zurich's HiLo unit combines medieval building techniques with innovative construction methods

2021-10-07T14:04:00-04:00

ETH Zurich has unveiled HiLo, the latest addition to Empa and Eawag’s modular NEST research building in Duebendorf, Switzerland. Featuring a doubly curved concrete roof, lightweight funicular floors, and self-learning building technology, the new unit reflects nearly a decade of ETH Zurich research in architecture and sustainable technologies.

Photo: Roman Keller

Sitting at the intersection of past and future, HiLo was inspired by medieval building principles and planned and built using state-of-the-art computational design and fabrication techniques. A team of scientists led by Philippe Block, Professor of Architecture and Structures, and Arno Schlueter, Professor of Architecture and Building Systems, along with industrial partners explored how lightweight structures and efficient construction methods can be combined with intelligent and adaptive building systems to reduce embodied and operational emissions in the construction and building industry.

Photo: Roman Keller

The unit’s ro...

Elizabeth Warren proposes "Green Marshall Plan"

2019-06-04T14:33:00-04:00

On Tuesday, the Warren campaign released its most comprehensive climate plan yet, a $2 trillion package that commits the federal government to spend $150 billion a year over the next decade on low-carbon technology, increases energy research funding tenfold and funds a $100 billion Green Marshall Plan to aid the poorer countries projected to suffer the worst as global temperatures rise.

In specifically identifying a post-World War II-style Marshall Plan-like aid package aimed at assisting international countries lower their carbon emissions, Warren's plan seeks to go further than the other Green New Deal-style visions put forward by competing presidential candidates.

In a Medium post announcing the plan, Warren writes: “The climate crisis demands immediate and bold action. Like we have before, we should bank on American ingenuity and American workers to lead the global effort to face down this threat — and create more than a million good jobs here at home.”

Warren's plan includes the creation of a new "federal office dedicated to selling American-made clean, renewable, and emission-free energy technology abroad and a $100 billion commitment to assisting countries to purchase and deploy this technology." The effort, according to the Massachusetts senator, would help to address global carbon emissions that will need to be eliminated after the US reaches net-zero car...

What does the future of architectural materials look like?

2019-03-11T17:49:00-04:00

While technology has always been a double-edged sword when it comes to sustainability and equity, it also holds the key to ameliorating pressing environmental challenges. A rising generation of materials engineers and designers are engaging these questions with renewed urgency, examining the nexus of nature and technology to develop more sustainable architectural products.

With the changing environment, architects and designers must consider the evolution of architectural materials and its uses. Digital building techniques have already made an impact on the built environment, however building materials are being re-evaluated not only for their application but their long term impacts. According to Blaine Brownell, architect and material researcher, he explains the renewed urgency for designers and material engineers to evaluate the connection between nature and technology in order to create sustainable building products. Brownell, author of the Transmaterial book series, shares five new prototypical materials that can reshape the future of architecture and construction.

Read about these five building materials and Brownell's description below:

Green Charcoal, designed by Meenal Sutaria and Shreyas More

Green Charcoal
Developed by: Meenal Sutaria and Shreyas More, of the Indian School of Design & Innovation in Mumbai
"The new material is a non-steel-rein...

Superhelix creates a house hidden in plain site

2018-10-23T19:30:00-04:00

Polish based design studio Superhelix creates a green roof masterpiece that not only highlights the home's ecological design, but showcases what happens to buildings when they change over time. Located in Krakow, Poland the 189 square meter home's slanted roof was not built for aesthetics, but instead was constructed due to a building requirement. Due to local building codes, the home's roof had to be built at a 45-degree slope. To some this may have been a design obstacle, but to Bartłomiej Drabik, principal architect, he used this as an opportunity to create a progressive roof design that highlights green design.

Image © Bartłomiej Drabik

Through out the construction of this residential home, special attention was emphasized on how the building's materials will allow the home to age and change naturally. The home's elevation was covered with western red cedar planks. This particular wood type does not require wood treatment against insects and the weather. As the wood ages over tim...

New book highlights traditional lessons for modern architects to maximize sustainability

2018-01-09T18:14:00-05:00

Long before foam insulation and concrete tower blocks, humans were finding ingenious ways to address their needs through architecture. Using local materials and inherited construction techniques, societies have ensured that buildings provide protection and comfort. In Tonga, traditional curved roofs offered aerodynamic protection against storms and cyclones. In the Uros islands of Lake Titicaca in the Andes, reeds were used in houses due to the insulating properties of their hollow stems.

A key issue in sustainability lies with imported building materials, leading architects to look for more ways to use local resources. As attention is turned towards existing materials, traditional design solutions must also be taken into account as each culture has its own history of building in a particular climate and region.

The exterior of Toposa village dwellings, South Sudan, are given a distinct character by thatching with shorter length grass or reeds. ©Wolfgang Kaehler/Superstock

In a recently released book Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet, edited by Sandra Piesik, these unique cultural design solutions are highlighted as lessons for current architects. As the construction industry's resource-heavy techniques eat up energy and produce greenhouse gas emissions, the question at the center of these issues is "what is modern"? Traditional architecture is not necessarily in opposition to progress. Moving forward, many architects are now embracing a combinatio...

Design leads environmentally friendly education for Hertfordshire pupils

2016-07-22T11:49:00-04:00

Howe Dell Primary in Hatfield could well be the UK’s most eco-friendly school. It has toilets that flush using rainwater, sedum roofs made of plants and vegetation, and classroom sink-tops made from recycled yoghurt pots. But the school’s design doesn’t just help protect the environment, it also uses nature to improve children’s academic performance and behaviour.

Howe Dell Primary’s £10 million, eco-friendly design is used by teachers to promote sustainability to a new generation of pupils. Capita Architects were given free reign to push the limits of sustainable design in the project, which was funded by the council, and that was exactly what they did. The school features solar panels, a wind turbine, and a heating system that uses a series of pipes just below the surface of the school playground for passive gain that is then utilised to heat the school.

This groundbreaking design was awarded ECO Green Flag accreditation (the highest level awarded to sustainable schools in the UK) and places pupils in close proximity to nature. To this end, the design’s wetland area and sedum roofs are used to study birds and the school places sustainability at the core of the curriculum. This learning is even extended to the playground where learning stations allow pupils to examine the habitats of micro-beasts. In this way, the whole building is understoo...

U.S. Department of Agriculture launches Tall Wood Building Prize Competition

2014-10-10T15:33:00-04:00

The U.S. Department of Agriculture officially launched their U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition. As the first step of a new USDA and forest industry initiative, the competition...aims to showcase the architectural and commercial feasibility of advanced wood products in tall building construction in order to support employment opportunities in U.S. rural communities, maintain the health and resiliency of American forests, and advance sustainability in the built environment.

"Following a funding initiative announced by the Obama Administration and the U.S. forestry industry through the USDA, SLB and BSLC earlier this year, the competition invites all U.S. developers, institutions, organizations and design teams willing to undertake an alternative solution approach to designing and building taller wood structures to submit entries for a prize of $2 million.

The objective of the Competition is to identify proponents with building project(s) in the concept-, schematic- or design-development stage in the U.S. that can safely and successfully demonstrate the use of wood as a viable structural material in tall buildings."

Read more about the competition on Bustler.

The regional Holcim Awards 2014 winners for North America

2014-09-22T19:28:00-04:00

Following the European announcement, the North American regional winners for the Holcim Awards 2014 were recognized at a recent ceremony at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto, Canada...The international jury led by Toshiko Mori (USA) highlighted 13 projects from across the U.S. and Canada, which altogether received US$330,000 in prize money.

Winning projects include those by students, emerging professionals, and leading practitioners — with some familiar names like BIG, the "Hy-Fi" by The Living's David Benjamin, Sheila Kennedy of KVA MATx, and NADAAA.

Below are a few of the winning projects.

HOLCIM AWARDS GOLD 2014 - North America: Poreform: Water absorptive surface and subterranean basin, Las Vegas, NV, USA
Main authors: Amy Mielke, Water Pore Partnership, New York, NY, USA; Caitlin Gucker-Kanter Taylor, Water Pore Partnership, Woodbridge, VA, USA
Further Author: Keller Easterling - Yale University, New Haven, USA

HOLCIM AWARDS SILVER 2014 - North America: Rebuilding by Design: Urban flood protection infrastructure, New York, NY, USA
Main Authors: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen, Kai-Uwe Bergmann, Daniel Kidd and Jeremy Siegel, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group; Laura Starr, Stephen Whitehouse, Andrea Parker and Melon Wedick, Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects & Planners; James Lima, James Lima Planning + Development; Steve...

JAHN’S Post Tower wins the CTBUH 10 Year Award

2014-07-25T19:20:00-04:00

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat gave their 10 Year Award to JAHN's Post Tower out of seven finalists. The award recognizes a tall building that has best proven successful performance in various criteria over a timespan of at least 10 years since the building's completion.

Located in Bonn, Germany, the 163-meter Post Tower office building made itself known as one of the world’s lowest energy-consuming tall buildings and a predecessor to sustainable tower design.

More details on Bustler.

Jury members of the 2015 Holcim Awards are announced

2014-06-13T13:55:00-04:00

The fourth cycle of the Holcim Awards has appointed its international expert jury members, who will take on the big task of selecting this cycle's winners of the prestigious global competition, which has a total cash prize of US$2 million...More than 6,000 submissions from 152 countries were sent to this year's call for entries. Later this year, regional winners will be selected based on their team's entry addresses the competition's target issues regarding sustainable construction.

The jury members are:

Mohsen Mostafavi (head), Dean of the Graduate School of Design (GSD), Harvard University (USA)
Marc Angélil, Senior Dean, Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
Alejandro Aravena, Executive Director, Elemental (Chile)
Maria Atkinson, Founding CEO, Green Building Council of Australia (Australia)
Yolanda Kakabadse, President, WWF International (Ecuador)
Matthias Schuler, Founder, Transsolar Energietechnik (Germany)
Rolf Soiron, Chairman, Holcim Foundation (Switzerland)

Africa's First Plastic Bottle House Rises in Nigeria

2011-11-07T15:07:21-05:00

The Development Association for Renewable Energies (DARE) – an NGO based in Nigeria – is almost finished with an incredible two-bedroom bungalow entirely out of plastic bottles. Although many in Kaduna were dubious when the project began construction in June this year, the nearly-complete home is bullet and fireproof, earthquake resistant, and maintains a comfortable interior temperature of 64 degrees fahrenheit year round.

Renzo Piano Unveils Green-Roofed Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center for Athens

2011-07-06T14:52:00-04:00

Renzo Piano recently unveiled plans for a new waterfront cultural center and urban park in Athens that includes a massive opera house and a library that is directly connected to the park by a sloping green roof. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center will also incorporate several sustainable technologies with the hope of attaining LEED Platinum certification.