Archinect - News

European space scientists experiment turning lunar dust into building blocks

2018-08-24T16:25:00-04:00

Scientists with the European Space Agency (ESA) have created a terrestrial simulation of moon dust to practice making bricks with. And it appears lunar “soil” is significantly different from its terrestrial equivalent, as it can be crushed, burned and compressed to form building materials, or used as the raw material for 3D printing.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is experimenting with lunar dust as a building material with goals to avoid lifting hefty materials from Earth into space. Lunar dust is electrically charged and primarily composed of basalt (like volcanic rock) with 40% of its mass made of oxygen. ESA is testing this unique material to create solid blocks, which could potentially construct launch pads or lunar habitats.

Sidewalk Labs' Toronto waterfront smart city raises dystopian concerns

2018-08-10T14:40:00-04:00

Sidewalk’s vision for Quayside — as a place populated by self-driving vehicles and robotic garbage collectors, where the urban fabric is embedded with cameras and sensors capable of gleaning information from the phone in your pocket — certainly sounds Orwellian. Yet the company contends that the data gathered from fully wired urban infrastructure is needed to refine inefficient urban systems and achieve ambitious innovations like zero-emission energy grids.

Last fall Sidewalk Labs, a Google-affiliated company, announced plans to build a new smart city model on 12 acres of the Toronto waterfront named Quayside. The design would include infrastructure with sensors and data analytics with the claim of building an overall more streamlined, economical, and green urban space. Sidewalk Labs' partnership with Canada is the beginning of an urban model they hope to expand globally.

While the goal may look utopian, many see an ominous future where governance is under threat rather than the projected promise of urban innovation. Concerns center around tech monopolies, the collection and commodification of city data, and a democratic process of decision making for our environments.

Should New York's subway rails be paved over for driverless cars?

2018-07-24T19:03:00-04:00

Visions of the future [autonomous vehicles] will bring have already crept into City Council meetings, political campaigns, state legislation and decisions about what cities should build today. That unnerves some transportation planners and transit advocates, who fear unrealistic hopes for driverless cars — and how soon they’ll get here — could lead cities to mortgage the present for something better they haven’t seen.

With new technologies emerging, cities are debating the most effective transportation systems to fund. Caught in the midst of this struggle is the proposition of paving over the New York subway in order to create an underground highway for autonomous vehicles. Those championing the idea believe this system would move the most people using the least amount of space, when theoretically services like Lyft and Uber no longer have to pay drivers.

Many, however, believe this is an unrealistic faith in new technology to solve all of our cities transportation problems. If everyone uses their own private, self-driving car this could create enormous amounts of traffic. Not to mention the belief that there is something inherently better about everyone traveling together on public transit rather than in their own isolated vehicles. Should cities invest in these new transit models replacing public infrastructure with private systems? Or hold out for unknown future technologies?

A call to embrace automation in the job market with a collaborative vision

2018-07-18T17:17:00-04:00

This partnership between human and machine is what lies ahead as automation tools permeate our lives at a quickening pace. As many worry about the potential for robots to steal our jobs (or lead a violent overthrow of society), the reality may be more nuanced: They may end up being something more like creative collaborators [...] We must re-tool the workforce, be ever learning, and open to rapid change to reduce the negative impact.

Brooks Rainwater asserts urban spaces as the testing grounds for the impending automation revolution and asks whether this will simply eliminate jobs or create new, better ones. While job displacement estimations vary, there is no denying the tremendous impact emerging technologies will have on our future workforce. Rainwater empowers present decisions of embracing these inevitable changes through forming collaborative partnerships with automation.

Is vertical farming the future of agriculture?

2018-07-11T14:36:00-04:00

The astronomical capital costs associated with starting a large hydroponic farm (compared to field and greenhouse farming), its reliance on investor capital and yet-to-be-developed technology, and challenges around energy efficiency and environmental impact make vertical farming anything but a sure bet. And even if vertical farms do scale, there’s no clear sense of whether brand-loyal consumers, en masse, will make the switch from field-grown produce to foods grown indoors.

A look at the benefits and costs to vertical farming taking into account new technologies, the architecture and economics of production, and consumer demand. In these indoor spaces food is being grown hydroponically, meaning without soil and using artificial LED lighting. As new innovations emerge disrupting the agriculture industry, the impact of indoor farming remains open ended.

LED lighting used for an indoor farming operation. Image: Agritecture.

Startup Katerra wants to revolutionize the construction industry

2018-06-27T15:18:00-04:00

A Menlo Park company called Katerra announced that it had acquired Michael Green Architecture, a 25-person architecture firm in Vancouver, British Columbia. On June 12, the company revealed that it had bought another, larger architecture firm, Atlanta-based Lord Aeck Sargent. This comes five months after Katerra raised $865 million in venture capital from funders led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which has also invested heavily in the co-working startup WeWork.

Startup Katerra looks to revolutionize the construction industry through streamlining the entire process with their design-build model. The company has acquired Michael Green Architecture, known for designing tall wood buildings, and Lord Aeck Sargent.

With these two firms obtained, Katerra will now consolidate by designing and building its products in house. Michael Green Architecture's influence can be seen as Katerra is developing a catalog of mass timber products for residential and commercial building projects. Uniquely Katerra has also created a system to guarantee price early on, a rarity in the industry.

How big tech companies are shaping US city development

2018-06-25T16:05:00-04:00

I’m not saying America’s cities are turning into dystopian technocapitalist hellscapes in which corporations operate every essential service and pull every civic string. But let’s take a tour of recent news from the metropolises.

Farhad Manjoo unpacks the extreme impact big tech companies have on US city construction citing cases from Amazon, Elon Musk's Boring Company, and Bird's electric scooters. Are these innovations simply breaking through the red tape of local government or are they dominating with no input from the public?

This digital architecture scale could solve all of your conversion issues

2018-04-18T19:04:00-04:00

The Smart Scale Ruler was created by Joanne Swisterski, an Interior Designer looking to solve scale and unit issues once and for all. This digital ruler can be customized for Architects, Designers, and Builders. Solving the common problems of out of scale drawings and differing units, this innovative new tool makes conversions simple for everyone.

Smart Scale Ruler by Joanne Swisterski.

The Smart Scale Ruler uses a long screen to display a custom ruler created by the user. This is done by inputting a physical reference of distance and the desired distance. The screen regenerates to create a ruler based on these parameters. Whatever is displayed can be converted to metric or imperial with one button. It can similarly be used to divide spaces equally for 2D drawings, and with a ratio applied for perspective drawings.

Check out how it all works:

The Smart Scale Ruler Kickstarter campaign is currently live with $40,283 pledged of their $51,722 goal. If this is a tool you would like t...

TV series Project Impossible showcases unprecedented engineering feats

2018-03-26T17:53:00-04:00

The History Channel will soon air Project Impossible, a series following the next generation of massive engineering projects considered unthinkable only a few years ago. Shot in 14 countries, the first season includes 10 one-hour episodes focusing on undertakings shaping the future of our society. Season one looks at projects tackling sea level rise, and technological breakthroughs like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

MOSE wall sea barrier system located in Venice, IT.

The series features engineering feats such as the Venice MOSE wall, a complex sea barrier system made of massive steel flap gates. With the growing threat of sea levels rising, the flaps will also rise from the sea floor to prevent the Adriatic from flooding Venice.

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) located in France.

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France is also quite a feat of engineering. This fusion reactor releases huge amounts of ...

UNStudio's new tech start up, UNSense, launches with smart city and solar brick innovations

2018-03-14T19:50:00-04:00

UNSense, a new arch tech startup based in Amsterdam, is being launched by UNStudio. Operating as an independent sister company to UNStudio, the company will explore and develop new integrated tech solutions specifically designed for the built environment.

UNSense explores new technologies related to the built environment. Image: UNSense.

The new tech innovation boasts a wide range of collaboration with data analysts, algorithmists, neuroscientists, policy makers, students, municipalities, sociologists, economists, data architects, business case modellers, financial specialists, architects and more.

CitySense will collect data through sensory digital infrastructure. Image: UNSense.

Initial technology solutions include CitySense and Solar Brick. CitySense collects data through sensory digital infrastructure in order to design experiences improving life in the city. Trials are currently running in South East Amsterdam and a number of other Dutch cities.

Solar Brick allows for massive ...

Instant, customizable digital architectural stencils hit the market

2016-09-06T14:38:00-04:00

With a press release that makes references to Banksy's iconic global stencils, the new digital architectural stencil set from Morpholio enables architects to instantly make customizable stencils of complex designs, from faces to condo layouts to intricately shaded trees. The initial image can come from a photograph, drawing, or render.

As Toru Hasegawa, co-creator of Morpholio Trace Pro explains: "Software should mirror the gestures, intuition and behavior of the creative. Trace Pro seeks to amplify it, and in doing so, make it as smart and elastic as possible."

This video illustrates the process, which involves gliding the stencil tool over a particular design, capturing it, and then replicating it/editing it at will with the assorted tool bars:

The Bartlett exhibiting award-winning “Innovation in Technology” projects now until Jan. 31

2014-01-23T21:13:00-05:00

To any of our readers in the London area, you can still get a chance to stop by The Bartlett's Innovation in Technology Prizewinners' Exhibition at The Lobby Gallery now until next Friday, Jan. 31. The event is free and open to the public! The exhibition highlights five award-winning projects all by students in The Bartlett's BSc and MArch Architecture programs.

Here's a glimpse of the projects if you can't check out the exhibition in person:

Pictured above: Superimposed Landscapes – Fragments of misperception by Andrew Walker, MArch Architecture Year 4, 2013, Unit 14.

MAMM Pavilion, Medellín, Colombia, 2013
By Unit 22, MArch Architecture, Years 4 & 5

3D Lenticular Façade, 2014
By Matthew Lyall, BSc Architecture, completed 2013, Unit 1

PEMY (Pre‐Ecopoiesis Mars Yard), 2013
By Sonila Kadillari, MArch Architecture, completed 2013, Unit 11

The Reward System, 2014
By Yoonjin Kim, BSc Architecture, completed 2013, Unit 0

You can learn more about the exhibition on Bustler.

Images courtesy of The Bartlett School of Architecture.