Archinect - News

De Zwarte Hond designs flexible timber office park in Amsterdam

2023-06-22T11:30:00-04:00

De Zwarte Hond has designed a timber office building for Dutch energy company Alliander. Located on the Noordzeeweg in Amsterdam Westpoort, the new offices are described as circular and flexible, consisting of workshops, warehouses, test facilities, and educational and park buildings.

Image: Jaques Tillmans Foto Focus / De Zwarte Hond

Sustainability guided the design of the roughly 226,042-square-foot complex, which resulted in high flexibility, scalability, and modularity. Materials such as wood were used as much as possible, and harmful substances like glue, PU foam or sealant were minimized. The parking building’s detached set-up allows it to grow or shrink. In addition, the structure’s façades are made of weather-resistant Corten steel.

Image: Scagliola Brakkee / De Zwarte Hond

The office is gas-free and energy neutral due to approximately 37 square feet of solar panels and thermal energy storage. Its use of timber allowed the project to store 560 tons of carbon dioxide. Much con...

MVRDV's new demountable science building has over 120,000 reusable components

2023-05-25T19:36:00-04:00

Construction of MVRDV’s Matrix ONE project, a laboratory and office building in the heart of Amsterdam Science Park, has been completed.

The six-story, 140,000-square-foot structure is the largest of seven buildings that now make up the Matrix Innovation Center, a site for scientists and entrepreneurs to develop sustainable solutions for current and future issues.

Image: MVRDV / © Daria Scagliola

As the main hub at the Center, Matrix ONE aims to be a guiding example to the other buildings at the Amsterdam Science Park. The building was made to be demountable, in which connections such as screws and bolts allow elements to be detached and reused. In addition, its floors are made using prefabricated concrete slabs with no fixed connections.

Image: MVRDV / © Daria Scagliola

The platform Madaster was used to provide a material passport system that registers all the materials and products incorporated in the building. It provides insight into the carbon dioxide storage for over 120,000 ...

Appels Architekten designs prefabricated wooden home in Bavaria

2023-03-28T14:49:00-04:00

Zurich-based firm Appels Architekten has designed an open, simplistic family home in Bavaria, Germany, composed of wooden cubes.

Called “House by the Lake,” the home balances privacy and spaces for gathering. As detailed by the architects, this configuration allows residents to retreat or participate in communal living at any time.

Photo © Florian Holzherr

All of the private rooms are housed within a sculpture of wooden volumes. Ample open space is made available both horizontally and vertically, drawing light into the house and offering views into the garden and surrounding environment. These features are maximized through the house’s generous ceiling height, light interiors, and expansive windows.

Photo © Florian Holzherr

Swiss researchers have developed a carbon-storing building insulation made from plant-based materials

2023-02-13T15:49:00-05:00

A Swiss research team from Empa's Building Energy Materials and Components Lab explores the potential for using raw, plant-based materials as insulation for buildings.

Led by scientist Dr. Jannis Wernery and researchers from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, the project is based on binding carbon dioxide in insulation materials, preferably waste products from agriculture and forestry, over the long term. This method aims to combat embodied greenhouse gas emissions in buildings by removing carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon stored in biomass can be permanently fixed through the use of heat treatment.

The resulting material, known as biochar, can store carbon dioxide throughout the life of a building and be used again following the deconstruction of a building, reports Rémy Nideröst of Empa. However, Dr. Wernery explains, "there is still a lot to do before the idea can be put into practice."

The researchers must ensure that the new insulation materials can be used as a fe...

Carmody Groarke develops bricks made of city waste for museum facade in Ghent, Belgium

2022-11-18T04:00:00-05:00

Waste from the city of Ghent, Belgium, is being turned into the building blocks of a major cultural institution. For a renovation and expansion of the Design Museum Gent, an innovative new recycling process is turning old bits of broken concrete and glass into the bricks that will cover the museum’s exterior.

The Gent Waste Brick was designed by London-based practice Carmody Groarke in partnership with materials designers BC Materials and Local Works Studio. Together, they developed an energy-saving method that takes ground construction waste materials, mainly crushed concrete, masonry, and glass, from demolished buildings and infuses lime to form dry-cured bricks. This approach utilizes local materials rather than extracting clay or importing mass-produced bricks from elsewhere. As reported by Fast Company, the materials were collected mostly from within five miles of the museum.

The bricks are formed in a shipping container-sized mobile processor and then dry cure for 60 days, a much less energy-intensive process than traditional brick production. As a result, they will reportedly produce a third of the amount of carbon dioxide over a 60-year lifespan than a conventional brick. For the museum expansion, the Gent Waste Bricks will be used on the museum's facade, which is expected to co...

Researchers utilize shrimp shells to create stronger and more sustainable cement

2022-08-11T14:55:00-04:00

A team of Washington State University (WSU) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers has discovered a method to create stronger cement by putting nanoparticles from shrimp shells into cement paste. The innovation could lead to reduced seafood waste and lower carbon emissions from concrete production.

The findings were reported in the journal Cement and Concrete Composites. The research team created nanocrystals and nanofibers of chitin, a biopolymer widely present in nature, especially in marine invertebrates, insects, and fungi, from waste shrimp shells. When the chitin was added to cement paste, the resulting material was up to 40% stronger. The set time was also extended by more than an hour, which is a desired quality for long-distance transport and hot-weather concrete work.

“The concrete industry is under pressure to reduce its carbon emissions from the production of cement,” said Somayeh Nassiri, an associate professor at the University of California, Davis, who...

Texas A&M researchers receive $3.74M for the development of 3D-printed hempcrete buildings

2022-06-21T15:33:00-04:00

A project by researchers at Texas A&M University has received a $3.74 million grant for the development of resilient, 3D-printed building designs using a new green material called hempcrete. Its usage has the potential to lower the environmental impact of traditional construction methods and make housing more affordable and available.

The funding was made available by the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere (HESTIA) program. Leading the project is Petro Sideris, assistant professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who will develop residential and potential commercial construction designs. His team consists of assistant professor Maria Koliou, department head and professor Zachary Grasley, and professor Anand Puppula from the department, and associate professor Manish Dixit and professor Wei Yan from the Texas A&M College of Architecture.

Hem...

South Brooklyn Marine Terminal to be converted into one of the country's largest offshore wind port facilities

2022-03-07T13:46:00-05:00

Last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced an agreement that will transform the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) into one of the largest offshore wind port facilities in the country. This move will help establish New York as a leader in offshore wind and meet its climate goals of 100 percent clean electricity by 2040.

The deal, which was formed in collaboration between the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), Equinor, its partner bp, and Sustainable South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SSBMT), will upgrade and build out the site as an operations and maintenance base. The terminal will become a power interconnection site for the Empire Wind 1 project, an initiative that will create an offshore wind farm across an 80,000-acre stretch of water 20 miles south of Long Island. Heavy lift platforms will be built on the 39th Street Pier for wind turbine staging and installation for Equinor and other developers. The port will also serve as a hub for the Equinor ...

The U.S. Department of Energy has invested over a billion dollars into mostly failed carbon capture programs since 2009

2021-12-31T11:08:00-05:00

The Biden administration wants to shove more money into projects that are supposed to capture CO2 emissions from power plants and industrial facilities before they can escape and heat up the planet. But carbon capture technologies that the Department of Energy has already supported in the name of tackling climate change have mostly fallen flat, according to a recent report by the watchdog Government Accountability Office.

According to the report, the Department of Energy (DOE) has invested about $1.1 billion in 11 carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects since 2009. Of those, only three were ever built, however, the sole participating coal plant shut down in 2020, leaving only two industrial projects in operation.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggests that Congress consider implementing a mechanism for greater oversight and accountability of DOE CCS demonstration project funding. GAO also recommends that the DOE improve its project selection and negotiation processes and that they should establish more consistent scopes, schedules, and budgets for projects.

The Global Cement and Concrete Association lays out roadmap to achieve net-zero concrete by 2050

2021-10-19T12:18:00-04:00

The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) announced that forty of the world’s leading cement and concrete manufacturers have come together to commit to cut carbon dioxide emissions by a quarter by 2030. This is a major statement in the association’s race to produce carbon-neutral concrete by 2050.

This move, according to the GCCA, marks the largest global commitment by an industry to reach net-zero. GCCA members account for 80% of the global cement industry volume outside of China, along with several large Chinese manufacturers. The association has published a detailed roadmap that lays out the path the industry will follow to reach the half-century goal. The GCCA notes that the roadmap actions between now and 2030 will prevent almost 5 billion tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere.

The plan includes identifying and implementing m...

Researchers from the University of Tokyo develop a new building material made of recycled concrete and carbon dioxide

2021-10-18T18:38:00-04:00

Researchers from the University of Tokyo’s Department of Architecture have developed a promising new kind of concrete that has the potential to reduce emissions from the construction industry.

Approximately 7% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions come from the manufacture and use of cement, which is the main component of concrete. In addition, a large proportion of these emissions is due to the necessary use of calcium, which is primarily obtained by burning limestone. Professor Ippei Maruyama and Calcium Carbonate Circulation System for Construction (C4S) project manager Professor Takafumi Noguchi investigated a less carbon-intensive method of capturing calcium.

They subsequently found a way to take concrete waste and captured carbon dioxide and combine them in a process to create a usable form of concrete called calcium carbonate concrete. As noted in the research team’s report, Japan is estimated to have accumulated around 100 billion tons of concrete, with the annual amount ...

Researchers develop a feasible solution for self-healing concrete in the construction industry

2021-06-21T19:23:00-04:00

The cases against concrete and its environmental impacts are prevalent in the AEC community. As a result, numerous attempts and research initiatives have been made to help mitigate the material's environmental impact. Research from firms like Snøhetta and their net-zero concrete to companies like CarbonCure and CarbonBuilt (formerly CO2Concrete) and their carbon-sequestering cement products are a few examples of concrete change — no pun intended.

Recently, researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), lead by associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Nima Rahbar, have developed a new method for producing concrete with "self-healing" capabilities to strengthen the durability of concrete structures.

The research paper, titled "An Enzymatic Self-Healing Cementitious Material," was published in Applied Materials Today, a peer-reviewed journal focused on cutting-edge applications of novel materials. Co-authors were Suzanne Scarlata, professor of Chemistry & Bi...

Production of precast concrete product that cures in 24 hours using carbon dioxide takes a step forward

2019-08-14T11:00:00-04:00

The product is the result of a six-year collaboration between LaFargeHolcim and Solidia and uses a special binder — produced at lower temperatures — and patented curing process that uses CO2 rather than water. By adding and absorbing CO2, Solidia Concrete reaches strength in less than 24 hours unlike precast concrete made with Portland cement, which takes 28 days to reach strength.

Construction Dive takes a look at a new business venture launched by LafargeHolcim and Solidia Technologies that will bring carbon-sequestering precast concrete production capabilities to the United States.

The new Solidia Concrete product, according to the companies, cures in less than 24 hours through a patented process that pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Typically, conventional Portland cement-based concrete cures with water and takes nearly 30 days to reach its final strength. The product's first commercial venture will supply EP Henry’s paver and block plant in New Jersey with the reduced CO2 cement, according to a press release.

According to Construction Dive, the new concrete can potentially reduce the carbon footprint of precast concrete by 70 percent.

How much pollution does cement really produce? Is there a cleaner solution?

2019-06-28T19:06:00-04:00

Cement is everywhere, but few notice the impact it has on the environment. A standard building material used everywhere, it is often confused with concrete. Cement is a key component in making concrete. By burning limestone at extremely high temperatures, this process turns the stone into a fine powder that's then mixed with clay and other minerals. This powder material, called clinker, is mixed together with other materials to create concrete. Despite its inexpensive and readily available supply, cement production is responsible for high levels of carbon dioxide emissions surpassing the emissions produced from trucks.

Image © Bloomberg

Huelva Cultura & Leisure Center in Andulusia is constructed with Larfarge Holcim's Agilia® ready-mix concrete. Image © LafargeHolcim

Thanks to Vanessa Dezem's Bloomberg piece, we learn why cement is so hazardous to the environment and what solutions have been made by manufacturers to help alleviate its hazardous output. The science behind cement and wh...

Innovators turn carbon dioxide and industrial waste into carbon-negative products

2019-06-26T15:38:00-04:00

Scientists from round the world are meeting in Germany to improve ways of making money from carbon dioxide. They want to transform some of the CO2 that’s overheating the planet into products to benefit humanity. They don’t claim the technology will solve climate change, but they say it will help. Carbon dioxide is already being used in novel ways to create fuels, polymers, fertilisers, proteins, foams and building blocks.

BBC environmental analyst, Roger Harrabin, details three novel ways to turn excess carbon dioxide into potentially profitable carbon-negative products: high-grade fertilizer from agricultural waste products; food-grade beverage carbonation and biogas from horse manure; and most interesting for the architecture and construction industry, building blocks made from the ash of a waste incinerator plant.

Blocks using the latter innovation by British firm Carbon8 Aggregates have already been used in the construction of the Renzo Piano-designed Shard tower in London, the tallest building in Western Europe.

Can the Gulf of Mexico be used to store carbon dioxide?

2019-06-11T11:41:00-04:00

research from American and European scientists suggests that Texas — especially the waters along its coast — could be a pretty good place to store carbon from the petroleum industry.

In an effort to find new methods for storing carbon dioxide emissions, European researchers have been experimenting with injecting liquefied CO2 into the seabed surrounding former drilling sites in the North Sea. Studies so far show that leakages are minor and carbon sequestration potential is high using this approach.

“This is not a solution for climate change, but a mitigation process until we change the way we live,” Doug Connelly, a marine geologist and coordinator of the STEMM-CCS experiment, told Grist.

Even so, lawmakers in Texas, the oil-loving state that produces the nation's highest carbon emissions, are intrigued. The idea is receiving extra attention as a bipartisan carbon capture and sequestration bill gains traction in the United States Senate.

Tip Meckel, economic geologist at the University of Texas at Austin, is supportive of the the idea, he explained to Grist, “When we think of offshore carbon storage in the Gulf of Mexico, we could inject enough to significantly ...

How cement could make us miss our climate goals

2018-06-29T14:04:00-04:00

According to the CDP report, the cement industry is the second-largest industrial emitter of carbon after the steel industry. And when accounting for its use in human-made structures, it is responsible for more than a third of the world’s carbon emissions. But unlike the transportation sector, in which a new type of fuel can dramatically decrease the sector’s pollutants, cement’s problem is, well, cemented in its formulation [...]

In his longform piece for The Outline, Mike Disabato explains why the cement industry shows little interest in earnestly reducing the tremendous environmental impact of its (nearly) indispensable product.

"No one in the cement industry has seriously engaged in the herculean task of enhancing the material’s molecular chemistry, nor have they looked to use [Franz-Josef] Ulm’s alternative at scale, according to the professor," writes Disabato. "Why introduce a new product if everyone is already buying your old one?"

The quest for low-carbon cement is beginning to look a little brighter

2017-12-08T18:39:00-05:00

Since 2008, Solidia Technologies [...] has been quietly developing a new cement-making process that produces up to 70% fewer CO2 emissions at a cost that DeCristofaro claims is on par with or better than conventional cement. Solidia, which was formed in a bid to commercialize ideas developed at Rutgers University in New Jersey, is not the first company to attempt to make environmentally friendly cement. But industry experts say it’s the most promising yet.

"Of course, the startup now needs to show that this lower-emission cement can be made into concrete that’s at least as good as others, and can be scaled up in a way that’s affordable," Quartz explains. "That’s what Solidia is working on right now."

I Melt With You: "Indoor City" installation explores dissolving spatial boundaries in an era of climate change

2017-03-14T17:44:00-04:00

With layered narration from writers and the input of a climate scientist, the 40-foot long table installation known as "Indoor City" designed by Founder Rome Prize Fellows Phu Hoang and Rachely Rotem (MODU) with Jonathan Berger, Hussein Fancy, Christoph Meinrenken, Jack Livings and Matthew Null, tackles the dire conceptual heft of designing for massive systemic weather change.

By placing carbon ice on the installation, the idea is to track how divisions between urban spaces and the environment release more carbon dioxide into the air, thereby creating more stress on the environment (and making the urban spaces quite unpleasant to live in as a result). The project advocates for a more integrated design concept while allowing visitors to enjoy what amounts to a trippy installation. Here's a video of the installation, which is part of the 2017 Cinque Mostre show and will be viewable in person at the American Academy in Rome until April 4th:

The logistics of building NASA's carbon-dioxide insulated, "Ice Home" on Mars

2017-01-03T13:04:00-05:00

If you don't think you can handle another year on Earth, the possibility of dwelling comfortably on another planet is closer than you might expect. After announcing a winning design from Clouds Architecture Office and Space Exploration Architecture last October, NASA has released more detailed logistical plans for building a carbon dioxide insulated, ice-filled exterior home that could be assembled by robots in preparation for human habitation. The design uses naturally occurring resources found on Mars and predicts that with the planet's estimated daily water extraction rate, it would take about 400 days for the exterior to be filled with water. As the article notes:

The “Mars Ice Home” is a large inflatable torus, a shape similar to an inner tube, which is surrounded by a shell of water ice. The Mars Ice Home design has several advantages that make it an appealing concept. It is lightweight and can be transported and deployed with simple robotics, then filled with water before the...

Icelandic researchers turn CO2 into stone

2016-06-14T13:06:00-04:00

Scientists think they have found a smart way to constrain carbon dioxide emissions - just turn them to stone. The researchers report an experiment in Iceland where they have pumped CO2 and water underground into volcanic rock. Reactions with the minerals in the deep basalts convert the carbon dioxide to a stable, immobile chalky solid. Even more encouraging, the team writes in Science magazine, is the speed at which this process occurs: on the order of months.

It feels rare to hear good news from the climate front these days. Here's some more: