Archinect - News

Swedish companies unveil low-carbon wall system 60% lighter than traditional concrete

2024-03-15T12:45:00-04:00

A group of materials companies in Sweden has collaborated on a hybrid wall element with a lower carbon footprint than conventional concrete wall elements.

The joint venture, comprising concrete element manufacturer Heidelberg Materials Preca and engineered timber manufacturer Metsä Wood, is now rolling out the element for live construction projects.

Image credit: Heidelberg Materials Preca / Metsä Wood

The wall consists of a facade element in a sandwich construction with an outer layer made of 'climate-improved' concrete, intermediate insulation, and a load-bearing inner panel made of strong, material-efficient laminated veneer lumber. According to the group, the wall module has approximately 30–50% less of a climate impact than an equivalent traditional concrete wall while also being 60% lighter.

Image credit: Heidelberg Materials Preca / Metsä Wood

To test the wall, the team constructed a home using the elements. The structure was equipped with moisture sensors to monitor the wall ...

Researchers look at the possibilities of wood fly ash by-products as an alternative in rammed earth construction

2024-03-02T08:00:00-05:00

New findings published in the journal Construction and Building Materials from a team of materials researchers working at the University of British Columbia Okanagan's School of Engineering have demonstrated the sustainable qualities of using wood fly ash by-products as alternatives to traditional concrete additives.

The study was undertaken in light of some recent popularity of rammed earth construction in the architectural field, an ancient form of building whose mastery has propelled the 2022 Pritzker Prize winner Diébédo Francis Kéré and several others to prominence parallel with the industry's fight against climate change.

"Everything old is new again and that is precisely why we've been investigating rammed earth construction," Dr. Sumi Siddiqua explained to the UBCO news outlet. "There is an increasing demand for sustainable building products here in Canada and around the world, and materials like fly ash are just the start of a new and important trend."

Siddiqua’s team was...

U.S. General Services Administration will spend $2 billion on low embodied carbon construction projects nationwide

2023-11-10T16:26:00-05:00

The Biden Administration has announced a new investment of $2 billion into 150 different federal building projects meant to minimize carbon emissions in 39 states.

The funding will be dispersed through the U.S. General Services Administration and used to purchase low embodied carbon materials in furtherance recommendations produced by the previously-established Buy Clean task force agenda. It is sourced from the Inflation Reduction Act and supports the reduction of 41,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions while creating over 6,000 jobs annually, according to a press release.

"The U.S. government has a huge share of the market -particularly of concrete and asphalt- and that I think helps drive the industry towards meeting an ever-increasing level of innovation when it comes to decarbonizing," White House Senior Advisor for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation John Podesta told Reuters.

According to the GSA on November 6, the breakdown of procurements is: $384 million f...

NYC rolls out new mass timber construction grant program

2023-10-05T13:02:00-04:00

The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has announced the launch of the New York City Mass Timber Studio in an effort to join industry leaders who are elsewhere raising the bar for the use of sustainable materials in the built environment.

The Studio is operated with support from the Mayor’s Office for Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ) and has begun applications for its first round of $25,000 grant funds. The money will be allocated to design teams looking to conduct design, technical, and economic feasibility assessments for mass timber products.

The U.S. Forest Service (which had already invested in a separate industry-facing program using mass timber) and Softwood Lumber Board are also aiding in its operation, with technical assistance from WoodWorks and advisory support from the American Institute of Architects New York and the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB).

Victoria Cerullo, the Acting Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Climate & Envir...

Further action on decarbonization in the construction sector is needed, urges UN/Yale study

2023-09-15T17:21:00-04:00

A new report driven by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Yale University's newly-formed Yale Center for Ecosystems + Architecture (Yale CEA) has recommended drastic reductions in the industry’s use of certain construction materials as it faces the environmental headwinds of sector-wide change.

While heeding a "back-to-the-future revolution" in methods and products/technologies used for building, the authors say the worldwide growth of urbanization has necessitated an overabundance of new buildings constructed using an unacceptable amount of concrete and other harmful materials. The findings of the report suggest the efficacy of reusing existing buildings at a larger scale while at the same time concentrating more resources toward the production of adequate alternatives in addition to adopting a "circular economy" and policies that help to curb the industry's 37% share of global emissions.

Where the report recommends a three-pronged solution toward reducing embodied concrete e...

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.

Construction materials prices fell a percent in November in recent report

2022-12-12T14:02:00-05:00

According to a recently released analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index data by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), construction input prices have fallen 0.9% in November from October readings. Additionally, nonresidential construction input prices fell 0.8% in November.

Though the decline in materials prices is positive news, they are still up nearly 40% since February 2020. Construction input prices are up 11.9% from this time last year, with nonresidential construction input prices 11.5% higher. However, input prices increased in only four of the 11 subcategories on a monthly basis. Natural gas inputs saw the largest decrease in prices, falling 15.8% last month, while unprocessed energy prices dipped 7.8%, and crude petroleum prices declined 2.3%.

Graphic: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics / Associated Builders and Contractors

“The decline in wholesale prices for many construction inputs is generally positive news,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban...

MIT Mextrópoli installation provides a critical exploration into the use of sustainable construction materials

2022-09-28T14:50:00-04:00

A new architectural installation from MIT’s Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU) for the Mextrópoli Architecture and City Festival in Mexico City is leveraging the school’s recent innovations in materials research to weave a narrative about the centuries-old capital through four materials: paper, wood, earth, and concrete.

With the help of collaborating artist Marisa Morán Jahn, faculty members Sarah Williams, Caitlin Mueller, and Rafi Segal worked to create two pavilions for the installation that is meant as an invitation to visitors to explore the city’s history and future potential under the title Sueños con Fiber/Timber, Earth/Concrete.

Image by Future Urban Collectives

Photo by Marisa Morán Jahn

Photo by Walter Shintani

Photo by Rafi Segal

The first pavilion, Fiber/Timber, repurposes the city’s iconic wood Montaña Rusa rollercoaster in a form inspired by the colorful Pre-Columbian art practice called papel picado, which again offers itself as a portal to the ci...

Federal Buy Clean task force issues first recommendations for low-carbon construction materials

2022-09-21T12:29:00-04:00

The Biden Administration has unveiled the first set of recommendations under its Federal Buy Clean Initiative, an undertaking that aims to drive the development of American-made, low-carbon construction materials, while also supporting job growth.

During a visit to the Cleveland-Cliffs Direct Reduction steel plant in Toledo, Ohio, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. General Services Administration Administrator Robin Carnahan, and Deputy National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi announced that the federal government will prioritize the purchase of green construction materials, which will encompass 98% of materials purchased by the government.

The Federal Buy Clean Initiative is a part of President Biden’s economic plan, which includes the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Law, the $485 billion Inflation Reduction Act, and the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act. As detailed by the White House, the federal government is the largest direct purchaser of construction materials in the world...

American University in Cairo students develop self-luminous concrete that can glow in the dark

2022-07-15T17:10:00-04:00

A quartet of undergraduate engineering students at the American University in Cairo has developed self-luminescent concrete they say is a possible offset to the material’s poor environmental performance.

Working under the stewardship of Professor Mohamed Nagib AbouZeid, the students were able to develop a sunlight-absorbing concrete that, similar to the natural process known as bioluminescence, releases its energy at night in the form of light rays to offset the high costs of roadway illumination in line with the country’s sustainability goals and ahead of its turn as host of the UN’s COP27 summit in November.

An AUC engineering student holds up a sample of her team's work. Image courtesy The American University in Cairo.

“The idea of our research came from wanting to make an integral construction material, just like concrete, but more sustainable and environmentally friendly in both its creation and function, especially in light of what the world has come to with energy shortages a...

June's NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI shows builder pessimism at an all-time high

2022-06-21T08:30:00-04:00

A new poll conducted by the National Association of Home Builders shows builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes is at its lowest level after six straight months of decline. The poll measures builder perceptions of current and future single-family home sales, and the traffic of prospective buyers. All three categories posted declines in the latest monthly data with buyer traffic falling most sharply, a sign that homebuyers — especially first-time ones — are giving up.

The now-familiar cocktail of increasingly higher interest rates and home prices is once again causing headaches for contractors looking to fill America’s shortage of 4 million homes. The NAHB has been pushing the Biden Administration to take action on the supply-side of the problem since last year, and now says that a 19% increase in the average cost of construction materials will require even further measures be taken in the form of jobs training, tariff rollbacks, and a ban on Russian timber in the hopes of combatting the nationwide problem.

The group's new poll indicates an atmosphere of waned confidence in an industry beset by labor shortages and a string of business failures for the past two years. All three categories of measure reported percentage point decreases of 1 (sales conditions), 2 (expectations), and 5, a record for buyer traffic, which has fallen belo...

White House seeks to promote sustainable construction materials with new task force

2022-02-21T10:53:00-05:00

The White House has announced the establishment of a task force to enhance the sustainability credentials of federally-funded buildings. The Buy Clean Task Force will promote the use of construction materials with lower embodied carbon emissions and pollutants across their lifecycle, including at each stage of their manufacturing process.

The task force will develop recommendations on certain material types to prioritize in federally funded projects, as well as increase the transparency of embodied emissions through supplier reporting. This will include incentives and support to domestic material manufacturers seeking to report and reduce embodied emissions.

The task force is comprised of representatives from the Council on Environmental Quality, the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the General Services Administration, the White house...

Developer Fabrix employs urban mining to cut carbon footprint in its projects

2022-02-01T17:46:00-05:00

When old office blocks are demolished, their steel frames are typically smelted down to be recycled, emitting thousands of tonnes of carbon in the process. But at One Broadgate, the steel beams that once framed the London headquarters of inter-dealer broker TP Icap Plc will instead be salvaged from the site and recycled by developer Fabrix. Chief Executive Officer Clive Nichol says the example proves it’s possible to “apply the circular economy to structural elements of buildings.”

Fabrix has purchased 139 tons of steel from the contractor behind the demolition of One Broadgate and plans to use it on other projects in London. The process, known as urban mining, recovers and resells raw materials from waste products.

As reported by Bloomberg Green, engineering consultant AKT II estimates that reused steel could reduce the carbon impact of a building by up to 80%. The U.K. is attempting to encourage this practice, in which construction materials with large carbon footprints would be resold through a marketplace. This move comes at a time of ballooned steel prices in the U.K.

Materials prices rise 20% in 2021 according to new report

2022-01-18T16:54:00-05:00

Although the prices of some raw materials fell in December, costs are still sky high for contractors looking to purchase them, according to a new analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Overall, the price of construction materials jumped nearly 20% in 2021, the group said Thursday.

In addition, according to the Associated General Contractors of America’s (AGC) 2022 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook Survey, material costs were listed as a top concern for contractors this year.

Though prices moderated for some construction materials in December, they still ended the year with large gains. For example, the price index for steel mill products rose 0.2 percent in December, its smallest rise in 15 months, but soared 127.2 percent over 12 months. The index for diesel fuel declined 5.3 percent for December but increased 54.9 percent for the year. Prices for other materials, such as plastic construction products and lumber and plywood, yielded accelerated price hikes in December.

The Association believes that rising materials prices are threatening to set back a strong outlook of economic recovery in 2022. They’ve urged the Biden administration to reconsider its plans to double tariffs on Canadian lumber and to remove other trade barriers that are driving infl...

How 'Anthropocene mining' offers architects growing alternatives to the way we build cities

2021-12-17T14:05:00-05:00

Why don't we re-use what we've already extracted, rather than gouging the planet for ever more raw materials? This thought has spurred a growing band of architects and building firms to look at how to re-use the huge range of materials already hiding within our built environment, from concrete and wood to the metallic bounty within electronic waste

Architecturally-rich cities are both a fount of reusable materials and a way of circumventing the awful cycle of environmental and human destruction caused by mining for the raw substances needed to help mitigate the effects of the built environment on climate change.

Recent projects like the updated version of the Barbican-backed London Centre for Music replacement, which aims to reuse 90% of the site’s existing materials, or the Parisian Montparnasse Tower remodeling currently being undertaken by Bellastock offer the industry high-profile models of how to adapt to the new mandate of climate-sensitive materials usage set forth in Duncan Baker-Brown’s groundbreaking 2017 book The Re-Use Atlas.

Previously on Archinect: This house made of trash teaches a lesson in green housekeeping

"The hardest thing is to change our way of thinking," Bellastock technical director of reuse Mathilde Billet told the BBC. "We need to imagine the city as a material bank, conducive to re-use. There are no ...

Francis Kéré and others are attempting to muddy up the rising use of concrete in West Africa

2021-11-22T15:24:00-05:00

Architects, officials, and villagers confirm the trend: People are discarding traditional materials, mostly mud, in favor of concrete, as soon as they can afford it. As living standards increase making concrete more accessible, some of the world’s hottest, poorest landscapes are rapidly morphing from brown to cinder block grey.

Architects like Francis Kéré have been attempting to buck the trend of using concrete by experimenting with upgraded versions of terrestrial materials like mud bricks that simultaneously provide tools for community-building in developing countries like Burkina Faso.

Facade detail of Kéré Architecture's Burkina Institute of Technology. Photo: Jaime Herraiz.

The ancient material is much more heat-adaptable when compared to concrete, which is increasingly valuable in an area whose number of extreme heat days is expected to rapidly increase over the next three decades due to climate change.

“It’s a matter of time, it’s a matter of belief. It’s a matter of political will,” Kéré, told National Geographic. “But there’s a lot of accumulated knowledge now. In 10 years, you’re going to be surprised by our success.”

Decarbonizing the AEC sector means innovation in architectural systems, and career pathways for architects

2021-11-22T12:52:00-05:00

As part of the AEC sector’s effort to decarbonize in light of the industry’s contribution to climate change, architects, engineers, and researchers are increasingly devoting efforts not only to the design of space but to the composition of materials, structural systems, and façades.

In the past three months alone, AEC researchers have developed 3D printing technology to convert wood waste to building materials, composite concrete made from recycled cement and carbon dioxide, and a recycled paper composite which could cool buildings without electricity.

Archinect Feature: University of Florida Graduates Mani Karami and Drew Kauffman Create Photobioreactor Facade Systems for Algae Architecture

While some devote energy to conceiving and producing materials for a more sustainable built environment, others are investigating how these materials could form part of broader façade or structural systems. In last year’s Archinect Spotlight on Thesis Projects, we spoke to University of Flori...

Colorado to add “nutrition labels” to show embodied carbon on construction materials

2021-10-20T15:05:00-04:00

Backers of the law say the labels, or “environmental product declarations,” will be another key factor in cutting greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado and worldwide. The clean energy think tank RMI says building emissions make up at least 39% of the global greenhouse total, and that the carbon created in producing the materials for those buildings is at least 25% of that.

via Carbon Leadership Forum

Michael Booth reports on Colorado House Bill 21-1303 aka "Buy Clean Colorado" passed earlier this year, which will require a carbon-use label aka "environmental product declarations" for materials used in public construction projects.

As prices for construction materials begin to level off, higher labor costs will impact the industry entering 2022

2021-09-22T13:45:00-04:00

Since lumber, steel, and other construction material costs began skyrocketing during the summer of 2021, Archinect has followed the ongoing fluctuation of construction costs. During our July construction coverage, the cost of lumber began to drop, which brought a slight glimmer of relief. However, this eventual "return to normalcy" isn't without its additional challenges.

Previously, Archinect reported that the decline was "attributed to a number of factors, including reductions in both speculative trading and DIY home building, and a gradual normalization of supply chains as economies re-open following over a year of reduced output."

According to a recent report from Construction Dive's Sebastian Obando, however, the next looming issue the industry continues to be at odds with is project delays and labor costs.

Previously reported on Archinect: Construction Casualties: The Deadly Cost of Skyscrapers for Immigrant Laborers

Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban...

BIG imagines a future for metal production on land and sea

2021-05-18T12:18:00-04:00

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has unveiled their design for the future of metal production, combining land and sea-based elements. Collaborating with The Metals Company, a developer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor rocks, BIG sought to bring innovative, sustainable, whole-system design processes to critical battery metals. The resulting suite of BIG’s designs includes seafloor mineral collector robots, carbon-neutral vessels, and waste-free metals processing and recycling plants to enable a circular supply chain.

Aerial of system. Image: Bjarke Ingels Group

The Metals Company’s production process centers on polymetallic nodules — fist-sized rocks containing battery-grade nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese found on the ocean floor. BIG’s brief called for an integrated suite of assets that work together to lift nodules off the seafloor and up to a purpose-built production vessel, before transferring them to a hydrodynamic shuttle carrier, and onward to a land-based plant. Th...

Schiphol Airport to turn its grass cuttings into structural panels

2021-05-17T15:34:00-04:00

The Netherlands’ Schiphol Airport is to send grass cut on its approximately one thousand hectares to panel maker Ecor to make ceiling panels, partition walls, furniture and flooring for use at the airport and elsewhere.

Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport estimates that its annual amount of grass clippings will be enough raw material for partnering manufacturer ECOR to produce 100,000 square meters (1.8 million square feet) of panels.

"Before starting large-scale production, the panels were extensively tested for practical use at the airport," the airport announced in a press statement. "They are certified, fire-resistant and have the same level of quality as the well-known MDF panels."

Contractors petition Biden to ease rising lumber costs

2021-02-25T11:45:00-05:00

Following the sudden, dramatic price spikes on an array of building materials in 2021, the Associated General Contractors of America has appealed to President Joe Biden to take action to ease the skyrocketing cost of lumber.

According to Construction Dive, "AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr asked Biden to urge domestic lumber producers to ramp up production to address growing shortages, as well as to make the crafting of a new softwood lumber agreement with Canada a top priority of his administration."