Archinect - News

Construction input prices rise 0.3% in October, led by increased energy costs

2024-11-14T14:19:00-05:00

A new report by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), analyzing the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data has revealed that construction input prices increased 0.3% in October. Nonresidential construction input prices also increased 0.3% for the month.

Last month, prices in all three energy subcategories increased. Natural gas prices increased by 29.3%, unprocessed energy materials prices rose 9.9%, and crude petroleum prices went up by 7.3%. Overall, construction input prices are 0.2% lower than they were a year ago, and nonresidential construction input prices are 0.5% lower.

Chart credit: Associated Builders and Contractors

“Higher energy prices drove the increase in construction input prices observed in October,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While prices for a few other materials, like concrete and copper products, also rose for the month, overall input prices are lower than they were one year ago and have fallen 5% since reaching an all-t...

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.

Construction Input Prices drop 0.9% in September

2024-10-11T14:34:00-04:00

A new analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) has show construction input to have decreased by 0.9% for the month of September. Nonresidential construction input prices also decreased 0.9% for the month.

Prices of concrete products were up 0.3% and steel miil products went down 1.3%. Gypsum products also rose 0.6% in September. Overall construction input prices are now 1.9% lower than a year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 2.1% lower.

Chart credit: Associated Builders and Contractors

"The decline in construction input costs observed in September was almost entirely due to a large decrease in oil prices," ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said. 'Certain materials, like gypsum, fabricated structural-metal products, asphalt and lumber exhibited sizable price increases for the month."

Chart credit: Associated Builders and Contractors

"While domestic freight rates are low by historical ...

Construction input prices tick up by 0.1% in August

2024-09-13T10:45:00-04:00

Construction input prices increased slightly by 0.1% in August, according to a recent Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data.

Nonresidential construction input prices increased 0.2% for the month. Overall construction input prices are now 0.7% lower than they were a year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are down by 0.9%.

Chart credit: Associated Builders and Contractors

“Construction input prices are now down almost a full percentage point over the past year,” ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said. “This is a welcome development for contractors, a plurality of whom now expect their profit margins to contract over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index. Moderating materials price escalation, along with easing labor constraints and the near certainty that the Federal Reserve will begin lowering interest rates at its next meeting, should provide some relief to con...

Construction input prices up again by 0.4% in July

2024-08-14T15:17:00-04:00

Nationwide, construction input prices increased by 0.4% in July, according to a new analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). Nonresidential construction input prices also increased 0.4% for the month. Overall, construction input prices are 1.1% higher than they were a year ago, and nonresidential construction input prices are another 0.8% higher.

This ends a two-month streak of consecutive declines following six straight months of increases to begin 2024. "Despite the monthly uptick, which was largely driven by higher petroleum and natural gas prices, input prices are up just 1.1% year over year," ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu stated.

Chart credit: Associated Builders and Contractors

"The lack of materials price escalation over the past 12 months is a welcome development for contractors, just 34% of whom expect their profit margins to expand over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidenc...

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.

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...

Construction input prices fall 0.3% in June

2024-07-15T15:28:00-04:00

Construction input prices fell by 0.3% in June, according to the latest Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Producer Price Index. For the month, Nonresidential construction input prices declined by 0.4%. Overall construction input prices are 1.1% higher than year-ago levels, while nonresidential construction input prices are 0.7% higher.

Prices for lumber and wood products remain unchanged, while the cost of softwood lumber decreased by 0.5%, and concrete products went up by 0.4%. This is the second consecutive month of overall input price declines following a spate of consecutive increases that were recorded beginning last December.

Chart credit: Associated Builders and Contractors

“Construction materials prices dipped in June, perhaps a reflection of declining project starts in a number of construction segments and an associated dip in demand,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “For instance, input prices fell in the mu...

A lack of product standardization is hindering mass timber’s growth in North America, expert warns

2024-07-15T11:43:00-04:00

Product standardisation—or the lack thereof—is a major obstacle to mass timber adoption, especially in the lower-rise and mid-rise “sweet spots.” It comes as Europe is miles ahead of North America (Asia-Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand) in developing mainstream mass timber systems.

“They [North America] have a mature market where woodworkers and integration shops work alongside billet producers to service the market,” Adrian Mitchell told the outlet. “It is not about whose panel size got designed by the engineer into a project from the start, giving that manufacturer an advantage because no one else produces that panel size, which is happening here.”

Nevertheless, an increase in demand within the U.S. has led to forecasts that the total domestic market, which was valued at $179.4 million last year, will reach $655.6 Million by 2032, according to Yahoo! Finance.

How construction costs are contributing to challenges for architects

2024-07-12T16:12:00-04:00

When we asked architects in our recent Archinect Business Survey about their economic outlook, one of the five big factors behind the architecture industry’s current economic slowdown mentioned most frequently by participants was high construction costs.

"Construction costs are exceeding even the most pragmatic estimate," the owner of a large Seattle-based architecture firm shared in our survey. Another small-firm owner in New York City said: "Construction costs are so high that they quickly outstrip the value of a project." "Clients are telling me that it is getting harder and harder to build and that costs show no sign of slowing down," another NYC architect working at a large firm told us.

When asked about clients' sentiments in the current economic environment, one respondent told us, "They are in a holding pattern," reflecting a common reality of uncertainty felt directly by many architecture firms.

Construction input prices decline in May for the first time since December

2024-06-25T11:16:00-04:00

New analytic reporting on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index data for May from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) has documented an overall 0.9% decrease in construction input prices.

For the month, nonresidential construction input prices fell by 0.8%. Overall construction and nonresidential construction input prices are 2.1% and 2.2% higher, respectively, than a year ago. The cost of concrete decreased slightly by 0.1%, while the cost of steel products rose by 0.5%. Gypsum product prices went up by 0.4%, and decreases were also recorded in 2 of the 3 energy subcategories.

Chart credit: Associated Builders and Contractors

"For contractors, this data provides excellent news along two fronts," said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. "First, construction input prices fell for the first time since December and, despite rising somewhat sharply over the first four months of 2024, are up just 2.1% year over year. Second, the Producer Price Index’s economywide m...

Tohoku University researchers develop real-time stress monitoring materials for aging infrastructure

2024-06-14T08:08:00-04:00

A team of researchers from Japan’s Tohoku University has developed a new mechanoluminescent construction material they say can be used in infrastructure to monitor daily use stress information in real-time in order to avert potential future catastrophes that may result from its aging stock of bridges, roads, and dams.

"What makes our material truly innovative is that it operates without a power supply, complex equipment, or on-site observation and is easily combined with IoT technology," Professor Chao-Nan Xu explains.

Image: © Tomoki Uchiyama, Chao-Nan Xu et al.

Their findings were published in the Applied Physics Letters in early April. The material works by responding to mechanical strain with luminescence using Pr-doped Li0.12 Na0.88 NbO3 (or LNNO). The LNNO finish is then applied to the surfaces of objects, emitting an afterglow produced with the application of a flashlight and then measured quantitatively using a series of light sensors.

"Our findings are expected to allevia...

Construction input prices rise another 0.5% in April

2024-05-14T14:37:00-04:00

The latest analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index data for April from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) shows a 0.5% increase in construction input prices.

For the month, nonresidential construction input prices increased by 0.6%. Overall construction and nonresidential construction input prices are 2.3% and 2.2% higher, respectively than a year ago. The cost for concrete and steel mill products decreased slightly at 0.2% and 2.7% each over April, while prices increased in 2 of the 3 energy subcategories for the month overall.

Chart credit: Associated Builders and Contractors

“Construction input prices jumped half a percentage point higher in April and have increased 3.5% over the first four months of the year,” ABC’s Chief Economist Anirban Basu stated. “While iron, steel, asphalt and gypsum product prices fell in April, oil and copper prices surged, driving the monthly increase. Rising input prices will put pressure on profits at a time when ne...

New U.N. report warns of potential decades-long rebuild for Gaza

2024-05-09T12:02:00-04:00

A new report on the socio-economic situation in Gaza from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has established a baseline for rebuilding as a cease-fire deal that would end the seven-month Israel-Hamas war continues to be up in the air. The findings lay out the most realistic timeline for recovery, which first requires an estimated 37 million tons of debris removal and the construction of temporary shelters for Palestinians who have lost more than 80,000 of their homes since the fighting began in October.

Israel will have to allow five times the volume of construction materials as it had after its two most recent incursions in order for Gazans to regain "normalcy" by 2040. The UNDP stated it would likely take another four decades to rebuild entirely, given the number of damaged residential structures. Around 25,000 buildings have been reported destroyed in Gaza, with 32 hospitals now knocked offline and another 100 schools or universities being completely destroyed, accordi...

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.”

Archinect - News

Construction input prices rise 0.3% in October, led by increased energy costs

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

Construction Input Prices drop 0.9% in September

Construction input prices tick up by 0.1% in August

Construction input prices up again by 0.4% in July

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

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

Construction input prices fall 0.3% in June

A lack of product standardization is hindering mass timber’s growth in North America, expert warns

How construction costs are contributing to challenges for architects

Construction input prices decline in May for the first time since December

Tohoku University researchers develop real-time stress monitoring materials for aging infrastructure

Construction input prices rise another 0.5% in April

New U.N. report warns of potential decades-long rebuild for Gaza

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

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

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

NYC rolls out new mass timber construction grant program

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

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

Construction materials prices fell a percent in November in recent report

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

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

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

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

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

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

Materials prices rise 20% in 2021 according to new report

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

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

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

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