Archinect - News

In 2022, breakthroughs in 3D printing and material science challenged how we build, and what we build with

2022-12-22T08:00:00-05:00

2022 was another productive year in laboratories across the United States and beyond, as colleges, manufacturers, and startups strove to challenge the orthodoxy of construction materials. While teams of students and researchers at institutions from Virginia Tech to ETH Zurich sought to push the boundaries of traditional materials such as timber and concrete, disruptive startups sought to broaden this palette with the introduction of everything from recycled plastic to mushrooms.

These investigations into material science were matched by equally impressive advancements in construction processes, marking 2022 as a year that asked ‘how’ we build as well as ‘what’ we build with. As with previous years, 3D printing featured heavily in 2022’s highlights of intriguing construction innovations, be it new nano-structural 3D printed systems that can sense their own movement, or a growing portfolio of real-world 3D printed homes which signal the arrival of the once-novel process as a viable ma...

Company uses algae to develop masonry blocks with help from SOM, Autodesk, and Microsoft

2022-06-10T08:15:00-04:00

Prometheus Materials, a Colorado-based developer of zero-carbon building materials, has announced the securing of $8 million in funding from investors including Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, The Autodesk Foundation, and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund.

The funds form part of an effort by Prometheus to develop a zero-carbon alternative to traditional Portland cement by using microalgae. From its facility at Longmont, Colorado, the company hopes to develop commercial-grade masonry blocks as an “affordable, strong, and durable zero-carbon alternative” to concrete blocks.

Prometheus President, CEO, and Co-Founder Loren Burnett. Image: Prometheus Materials

“To prevent catastrophic climate change, we cannot simply replace fossil fuels with renewable forms of energy – we must also decarbonize the way we create building materials,” explained Loren Burnett, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Prometheus Materials.

“By using biological rather than chemical means to create a strong, dur...

MIT researchers create new material as light as plastic and strong as steel

2022-02-07T12:48:00-05:00

Chemical engineering researchers at MIT have announced the creation of a new material that is “stronger than steel and as light as plastic, and can be easily manufactured in large quantities.” The material, for which the team has filed two patents, may one day be used as a structural material for buildings and infrastructure.

The new material centers on breakthroughs in the binding of polymers; micro chemical substances composed of molecules that form the building blocks for modern artificial minerals and plastics. Polymers typically bind together in spaghetti-like chains or strings, which can be artificially shaped into three-dimensional objects.

However, MIT’s research has uncovered a means of binding polymers not as linear strings, but as two-dimensional sheets or planes, a feat previously thought impossible after decades of research.

“We don’t usually think of plastics as being something that you could use to support a building, but with this material, you can enable new...

Recycled plastic blocks designed to hold similar properties to concrete

2022-01-26T16:32:00-05:00

Sustainability startup ByFusion has developed what they describe as “the first construction-grade building material made entirely of recycled, and often un-recyclable, plastic waste.” Named ByBlock, the interlocking blocks use the same principles as LEGO with protrusions on the top surface allowing for blocks to be pieced together to form retaining walls, sheds, privacy fencing, accent walls, landscaping, and furniture.

To create ByBlock, the company collects discarded plastic, which is shredded and superheated before being fused into the completed block with no fillers or adhesives used. The blocks are sized to the same dimensions as standard concrete blocks (16x8x8 inches) but generate 41% less greenhouse gas emissions than concrete blocks during manufacturing, and hold the same thermal resistance value despite being 10 pounds lighter.

Image via ByFusion

"Every ByBlock prevents 22 pounds from being landfilled or incinerated," ByFusion claims. "ByBlocks are designed to integrate...

Waste car tires could make concrete stronger, say Rice University researchers

2021-07-27T14:50:00-04:00

Scientists at Rice University have published research which proposes repurposing waste tires in the production of concrete. By converting waste from rubber tires into graphene, the researchers believe the new composite can be used to strengthen concrete, and thus reduce the thickness of concrete needed in the construction of buildings.

“Concrete is the most produced material in the world, and simply making it produces as much as 9% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions,” says Rice University chemist James Tour. “If we can use less concrete in our roads, buildings, and bridges, we can eliminate some of the emissions at the very start.”

Rice scientists optimized a process to turn rubber from discarded tires into turbostratic flash graphene. Courtesy of the Tour Research Group

Of the 800 million tires discarded every year, approximately 16% are discarded in landfills; the remaining majority being burned for fuel. As Tours argues, “reclaiming even a fraction of those as graphene wi...

Recycled paper could cool buildings without electricity, say researchers

2021-07-05T10:42:00-04:00

A team of researchers at Northeastern University has created a sustainable material that can cool buildings without the need for conventional AC systems. Led by associate professor Yi Zheng from the university’s College of Engineering, the team has developed a “cooling paper” made from 100% recyclable paper, intended to cover the roofs of houses, warehouses, and office buildings, as well as being incorporated into the construction of new buildings.

The “cooling paper” reduces heat gain in two ways. The paper’s light color reflects warm solar rays away from a building, similar to Purdue University’s ultra-white paint that we reported on earlier this year. Meanwhile, the porous microstructure of the natural fibers in the cooling paper absorbs warmth generated inside the building, from electronic, cooking, and human body sources, and re-emits the warmth to the exterior.

Previously on Archinect: Researchers create ultra-white paint that could cool buildings

The experiment began wit...

Snøhetta and Saferock are developing net-zero concrete from waste materials

2021-05-28T10:39:00-04:00

Snøhetta has announced details of their partnership with Norwegian startup Saferock to develop net-zero concrete for the future of construction. To develop the product, the team has looked to exploit the vase residues and waste streams created by the world’s industrial processes. The result will be an alternative concrete mixture to widely used Portland-based concrete, and produced on site to reduce transport emissions.

Image: Bjørnar Øvrebø

The team’s process focuses on geopolymer concrete; a manufactured molecular material made of waste minerals from mining industries and power plants. The production of geopolymers has a CO2 footprint that is at least 70 % lower compared to the production of traditional Portland cement, turning the formerly environmentally hazardous waste into a productive construction material. In addition, geopolymers have several properties that are superior to Portland cement, such as higher temperature and chemical resistance, and significantly lower permeabil...

Cement-based batteries could turn concrete buildings into giant energy stores

2021-05-21T08:58:00-04:00

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have published unique research into the idea of rechargeable batteries made from cement. The team, led by Doctor Emma Zhang and Professor Luping Tang at the institution’s Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, believes the development of this technology may yield a future where twenty-story concrete buildings can store energy as one giant battery.

The concept for Chalmers’ battery system begins with a cement-based mixture, to which small amounts of short carbon fibers are added to increase the material’s conductivity. A metal-coated carbon fiber mesh is then embedded within the mixture, with iron for the anode and nickel for the cathode, forming a high-strength battery system on an architectural or urban scale.

Schematic illustration of a design for the metal-coating battery. Image: Emma Zhang and Luping Tang

The research, published in the scientific journal Buildings, estimates that the new battery’s capacity ...

Composite shelters being developed to aid hospitals in COVID-19 testing and treatment

2020-03-31T15:28:00-04:00

The new Tupelo shelters are designed to be easily and strategically combined with additional rigid-walled Tupelo shelters as well as soft tent shelters. [...] the new shelter’s dynamic design can adapt to fit needs in healthcare for treatment and testing, and perhaps in the evolving classroom setting as well. The shelter can be “flat-packed,” meaning the shelter walls can be stacked on top of each other for high-volume, rapid transportation to affected areas.

Rhode Island-based Core Composites, a leading company that has built and designed advanced composite-based, rigid-wall shelters for the U.S. military, is working to quickly develop an easily deployable shelter that can be used for COVID-19 testing and treatment, and to aid over-capacity hospitals.

Ultra-thin materials are poised to transform technology

2020-01-22T12:21:00-05:00

two-dimensional materials will be the linchpin of the internet of everything. They will be “painted” on bridges and form the sensors to watch for strain and cracks. They will cover windows with transparent layers that become visible only when information is displayed. And if his team’s radio wave-absorber succeeds, it will power those ever-present electronics. Increasingly, the future looks flat.

Amos Zeeberg of The New York Times takes a look at the wide world of super-thin materials, a growing class of substances that have the potential to reshape humanity's technological capabilities.

The materials include graphene, an incredibly strong and conductive "2-D form of carbon" that can be used to create electronics, including fast-charging batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. Other materials, like molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), can be embedded within concrete to create stress sensors or "painted" on to surfaces to, for example, convert table tops into battery charging membranes.

"Increasingly," as Zeeberg puts it, "the future looks flat."

Engineered quartz countertops pose hazards for material fabricators

2019-12-02T18:47:00-05:00

workers have gotten sick, and even died, after cutting this engineered stone and breathing in its dangerous dust, public health officials say. Overseas, some are even calling for a ban on selling engineered quartz for countertops.

NPR takes an investigative look at some of the workplace safety issues that have arisen amid explosive growth in the engineered quartz industry over recent decades.

The report looks into the incidence of silicosis—a debilitating and progressive lung disease caused when someone inhales silica dust in large and regular quantities—among engineered quartz workers. Silica is a major component of many engineered stone varieties, including in Cosentino's Stone System and Silestone product lines, which are highlighted in the report. The report delves into the company's hit-and-miss efforts to reduce and eliminate the creation of the toxic dust particles that cause the disease by replacing "dry cutting" and "dry grinding" processing operations with water-mediated techniques.

See how Joseph Choma built the “Chakrasana” arch using his fiberglass folding technique

2017-09-05T14:23:00-04:00

Design Topology Lab founder Joseph Choma continues to put his fiberglass hand-folding technique to the test in a new larger scale structure called “Chakrasana”, which is currently on display at Clemson University, where Choma is an architecture professor.

Weighing in at only 400 pounds, the accordion arch pavilion was designed, fabricated by hand, and installed by Choma and a team of four people within 30 days. Design Topology Lab further explains their fabrication process below:

Photo: Joseph Choma.

“Similar to paper folding, the process begins with a crease pattern composed of mountain and valley folds. Two 54 yard long rolls of 33.3" fiberglass cloth were stitched together using a full flat felled seam to create one continuous 32' 10" x 21' 9" sheet, with zero material waste. All the edges were precisely sewn to prevent sharp, rough or frayed edges. Using a painter's masking tape, a crease pattern was drawn on the fabric surface. The intricate pattern was composed of a total of 87...

Joseph Choma demonstrates his nifty paperfolding technique for fiberglass

2017-07-11T20:20:00-04:00

In his latest design investigation, Joseph Choma, the founder of Design Topology Lab and an architecture professor at Clemson University, is helping shape up a future for fiberglass being used as a primary building material. Choma has been developing a fabrication technique that allows him to create structures by hand-folding fiberglass — a technique that he describes is as simple as folding paper.

Photo credit: Ken Scar, Clemson University

By selectively coating resin on fiberglass cloth, parts can fold easily along the fabric hinges, Choma describes. The process doesn't require any molds or fasteners, which could mean less production cost and less material waste. In developing the technique, Choma is driven by the belief that fiberglass will become a primary building material in the next decade, possibly replacing steel. Typically used as a secondary component, fiberglass is noted for its resistance to corrosion and to harsh elements like fire. Choma's technique indicates that it's...

Color-changing green-hued aluminum composite material reflects sustainable design of new mixed-use community

2017-05-08T09:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Alucobond®

The Marine Gateway mixed-use development officially opened this spring in south Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, as the first major transit-oriented development integrated into Vancouver’s Canada Line rapid transit rail system. It’s also served by the South Vancouver Bus Loop.

Designed to achieve the principles of smart growth – which places a priority on sustainable, mixed-use communities designed to enhance quality of life – Marine Gateway was developed by PCI Developments Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, on a one-block former industrial site that is now a new urban town center.

“PCI’s goal for Marine Gateway was to transform a vacant and underutilized four-plus acre industrial lot into a vibrant, transit-oriented mixed-use town center that combines retail, entertainment, office, residential and transit onsite,” said Andrew Grant, president, PCI Developments Corp. “PCI saw the opportunity to directly integrate with rapid and bus tra...

Creating Brand Recognition with 3A Composites USA's Corporate ID Programs

2017-04-10T09:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by 3A Composites USA

Every company wants to establish a brand on a local, regional, national or even international level. A company strives for an image that is recognizable by potential customers no matter where they are in the world. In fact, the first face-to-face interaction with a customer might be at a company’s own location. This initial impression can make or break the customer’s willingness to spend their money. Maintaining a well-loved and respected brand appearance is imperative to a company’s success. This is where 3A Composites USA’s Corporate Identity programs fit in.

When starting the design phase, a company must choose which colors and materials will fit their desired image. This can be a daunting process due to all of the available materials and the look these materials can potentially convey. To simplify this process, 3A Composites USA has focused on working closely with architects and designers to aid companies in their selections both i...

New Harwyn Alucobond Office Pods Continue To Revolutionize Modular Design

2016-11-07T09:00:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Alucobond®

The Harwyn Office Pod is a portable home office born from founder Jason Fremder’s need for a demarcation between home life and profession life.

Fremder explains the idea for the pod was born simultaneously with the birth of his first daughter “my home office was no longer a quiet sanctuary…one sunny afternoon, when working in the backseat of my 4WD in the driveway at home, the idea for Harwyn struck me like a bolt of lighting.”

The award-winning Harwyn office pods have taken the design world by storm offering beautifully designed prefabricated modular spaces. The small team at Harwyn is dedicated to innovative design working with the “100 to 1 concept ratio” which, as the designers explain, “…for every 100 great ideas we put to paper, one will emerge as exceptional to make its way from sketchpad to design.”

Today the brand, and designs, have evolved as well as the company’s clientele. In a recent installation for a residential dwelling in Austr...

Greg Lynn: The future of glue in architecture is bright

2016-03-14T13:41:00-04:00

Glue is the future of architecture. At least that’s how architect Greg Lynn sees it. And he’s not alone. “Mechanical assembly is already waning in many industries,” Lynn says. “An airplane now is glued together. A car now is glued together. Even a lot of appliances are being glued together.” So why not skyscrapers?

How to make big things out of small pieces

2013-08-18T12:42:00-04:00

MIT researchers have developed a lightweight structure whose tiny blocks can be snapped together much like the bricks of a child’s construction toy. The new material, the researchers say, could revolutionize the assembly of airplanes, spacecraft, and even larger structures, such as dikes and levees.

Finding 3D printed materials unsuitable for structural applications, this group of researchers has been investigating new ways of building "big things out of small pieces". The configurations proposed are claimed to be much less susceptible to sudden failure, providing redundancy and predictable, incremental yields for easier repairs. The researchers have also been examining different configurations that would allow new geometries including joints that aren't fixed, opening a host of new possibilities in engineering reactive or robotic structures.