Archinect - News

Asphalt Art Initiative expands pedestrian safety program to these 25 North American Cities

2023-11-14T15:53:00-05:00

Another round of funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies' Asphalt Art Initiative has been announced in an effort to improve the pedestrian safety of 25 different cities in North America.

Grants of up to $25,000 were awarded also in Mexico and Canada for the first time in the program’s history. This fourth round will bring the total number of cities impacted by the program to 90. The initiative says they chose from a field of 200 applicants, and that each selected project will be installed by the end of 2024.

Mexico City, San Francisco, Calgary, and Portland are among the larger metros of the group, which also includes smaller American cities like Stamford, Connecticut, and Anderson, South Carolina.

A 2021 Asphalt Art Initiative installation in Pittsburgh, PA. Lead artists: Tim Englehardt and Randi Stewart. Image: Sean Carroll

The latest grantees, divided into three respective categories, are:

"Improve a challenging intersection using curb extensions and other tools"

United States: An...

Researchers have found ways to use mushrooms to decarbonize construction waste

2022-10-21T14:59:00-04:00

Megadeveloper Lendlease is one of the entities behind a new study into the use of mushrooms as a means of decarbonizing construction waste through their application on discarded asphalt roofing shingles.

The company teamed with Rubicon Technologies, Mycocycle, and Rockwood Sustainable Solutions to complete a pilot project at the latter’s facility in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Image courtesy Mycocycle

Shingles removed from a total of 214 homes following a recent re-roofing project at the U.S. Army’s Fort Campbell installation in nearby Kentucky were then broken down thanks to an infused mix of three different strains of fungi in a process called mycoremediation.

"Every asphalt shingle from those 214 homes would have gone to a landfill," Sara Neff, Head of Sustainability at Lendlease Americas, said of the 11 to 13 million tons of the product the EPA estimates winds up in landfills annually.

Image courtesy Mycocycle

"There was simply no viable use for them," she continued. "We understand the i...

NASCAR is converting the LA Coliseum into a short-track race venue

2022-01-10T19:22:00-05:00

The track will only have two weeks to set and cure before the February 6 weekend race, which is about half the normal time, but he doesn’t expect any issues. Temporary barriers, like those used on a street circuit, will be installed to define the oval, which was designed with help from simulations conducted on the iRacing platform. A pit lane won’t be required as the Clash will consist of several short heat races and a non-stop main.

The quarter-mile track project cost about $1 million (which is apparently the going rate for a mile of paved road in the US). 1,560 tons of high-performance asphalt was poured to make the track after a protective layer of plywood and other materials was placed over the original natural grass field along with a five-inch thick layer of dirt.

The 2028 Olympics venue recently underwent a $315 million renovation that modernized the 99-year-old stadium. NASCAR has yet to confirm a 2023 edition of the short track race that would coincide with the Coliseum’s centennial celebration. The race could be seen as a success depending on whether or not it draws to the building’s 93,000-seat capacity.

The executive in charge of the installation told the New York Post he was optimistic about the event, although certain fans don't seem to be sharing his enthusiasm.

How can cities become "heat-proof" and how does this affect the built environment?

2019-07-02T18:57:00-04:00

On top of climate change, cities grow hotter and hotter due to an increase in urban heat island effect. According to Philip Oldfield's Guardian piece, "What would a heat-proof city look like?," there are four solutions cities can implement to decrease rising temperatures. Oldfield explains green roofs/vertical gardens, reflective roofs, water treatments (ponds, pools, misters), and dynamic shades would aide in mitigating increased temperatures. However, before understanding these solutions, it is essential to point out what causes this rising heat phenomenon.

Built environments worsen summer temperatures thanks to specific design elements and building materials. Asphalt and concrete absorb heat and bounce sun rays back onto street surfaces and surrounding areas. Tall buildings and glass skyscrapers create "urban canyons" which trap heat at ground level. Traffic and automobile dependency also contribute to heat emissions making city streets sizzling p...

Fighting urban heat with cool pavement in Los Angeles

2017-08-21T13:33:00-04:00

It’s known as the “urban heat island effect,” and it refers to the pockets of intense heat captured by the concrete, asphalt, dark roofs and the dearth of foliage that define many American cityscapes. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti wants to reduce the city’s average temperature by 3 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 20 years.

Los Angeles is the first U.S. city to test cool pavement to fight urban heat, coating streets in a special gray paint known as CoolSeal, that can lower the temperature as much as 10 degrees. The officials say that the hope is that cooler streets will lead to cooler neighborhoods, less air conditioning use and fewer heat-related deaths.

Los Angeles is one of the only cities in the nation that experiences heat-related deaths in the winter, a phenomenon expected to worsen alongside temperatures. “Not everyone has the resources to use air conditioning, so there’s concern that some low-income families will suffer,” says Alan Barreca, an environmental science professor at the UCLA. “That bothers me on a moral dimension. The pavement would provide benefits to everyone. “It can protect people who have to be outdoors,” he added.

The coating costs about $40,000 per mile and lasts seven years, officials said. To determine whether CoolSeal is cost-effective and how it influences drivers, Spot...

Rotterdam considers paving its roads with recycled plastic

2015-07-10T18:39:00-04:00

The construction firm VolkerWessels unveiled plans on Friday for a surface made entirely from recycled plastic, which it said required less maintenance than asphalt and could withstand greater extremes of temperature– between -40C and 80C. Roads could be laid in a matter of weeks rather than months and last about three times as long, it claimed. The company said the environmental argument was also strong as asphalt is responsible for 1.6m tons of CO2 emissions a year globally