Archinect - News

Drexel team uses bacteria to create self-healing concrete

2023-12-29T11:40:00-05:00

A team from Drexel University has published their research into a self-healing system for concrete. The team, operating in the University’s College of Engineering, embedded bacteria in their concrete system that, when activated by water, can repair cracks in the concrete.

Named ‘BioFiber,’ the Drexel system sees a polymer fiber encased in a bacteria-laden hydrogel and a protective, damage-responsive shell. A grid of BioFibers embedded in a concrete structure can improve the system’s durability, prevent cracks from growing, and enable self-healing, according to the research published in the journal Construction and Building Materials.

The team was inspired by the ability of human skin tissue to self-heal, and the ability of vascular systems to help organisms heal their own wounds. The team identified a strain of Lysinibacillus sphaericus bacteria as a bio-healing agent for the fiber, which is found in soil and can produce a stone-like material capable of healing exposed cracks in con...

36% of all U.S. bridges are structurally deficient, study finds

2023-08-29T13:49:00-04:00

A study of every bridge in the U.S. Department of Transportation database has discovered a need for $319 billion worth of major repairs or replacement work on a total of 222,000 spans across the country.

The findings published in the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s 2023 analysis also showed an overall decline of 560 bridges in need of repair versus last year. The news comes a little less than two years removed from the belabored passage of the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a piece of legislation that included no less than $40 billion for bridge projects through the end of 2027.

Construction Dive has more analysis of the new report, which showed an increase in the overall share of bridges that are in "fair" condition simultaneous to a decline of those in both "poor" and "good" categories.

Previously on Archinect: A new infrastructure approach could save millions per year, say researchers

West Virginia leads all states, with 20% of all its br...

New York State passes bill allowing NYCHA to acquire funding from private investors

2022-06-06T14:47:00-04:00

City leaders and lawmakers say thousands of public housing residents in New York City who have been forced to live with leaks, mold, broken elevators, and busted boilers may finally see better living conditions in what could amount to a fundamental shift in how public housing is funded in the city.

Last Thursday, the state Legislature passed a bill that would allow the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to establish a public-benefit corporation that could raise billions for much-needed renovations across 25,000 apartments. Called the Public Housing Preservation Trust, the entity would allow NYCHA to issue bonds and borrow money from private investors to pay for repairs. Under the program, the Authority would move away from direct federal subsidies, converting housing units from public housing under Section 9 of the U.S. Housing Act to the voucher-based system known as Section 8 that allows access to additional federal funding. Through Section 8, eligible low- and moderate-income families are provided assistance to rent housing in the private market.

Previously on Archinect: Private developers to renovate 1,673 NYCHA public housing units in East New York

Many tenants and some legislators oppose the plan, however, citing concerns that the legislation could threaten certain ...

New video tells the story of a dissolving house saved by a record-breaking metal box

2022-02-10T11:47:00-05:00

In a rainy region of western Scotland, an architectural masterpiece has been given a new lease of life. Built in 1904, the Hill House is regarded as one of the most iconic residential homes to be designed by the famous architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. After over a century, however, the masterpiece mansion is feeling its age.

The Hill House Box, designed by Carmody Groarke, was completed in 2019. Now, a new video by British YouTuber Tom Scott offers new insights into the original building, the issue with its façade, and the architectural intervention undertaken to save it, including interviews with the building's managers.

Due to the wet, windy climate common to Scotland’s west coast, many buildings in the region are clad in a lime coating infused with small stones and pebbles. Once dried, the mixture forms a weatherproof layer to protect the building’s external walls from the elements. However, for the Hill House, Mackintosh departed from convention and replaced the lime coati...

San Francisco's sinking Millennium Tower: new $100 million plan promises 'cheaper' fix

2018-12-07T15:48:00-05:00

All sides in the Millennium Tower debacle appear to be nearing an agreement on a $100 million-plus fix to stop the 58-story high-rise from sinking further [...] The latest plan calls for drilling piles into bedrock from the sidewalk on the building’s southwest corner. The proposal would be less extensive and intrusive than the plan floated in April, which called for drilling as many as 300 micro-piles to bedrock through the building’s concrete foundation.

City of San Francisco will yellow-tag sinking Millennium Tower if safety deadlines not met

2018-09-13T17:49:00-04:00

The department also took Millennium’s managers to task for not being more communicative about the crack and their efforts to find the cause. The department said it “continues to be frustrated with the communication” with the tower’s managers over a variety of issues. “We often do not find out information about the building until we first receive calls about an issue from the media or read them in a news report,” the department said in its letter Wednesday.

In the ongoing saga of the sinking Millennium Tower, the City of San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection has given the tower's managers until tomorrow to comply with a handful of safety measures, in response to a crack that appeared on a window on the 36th floor earlier this month. If management misses the deadline, the tower could be yellow-tagged, which could restrict access to the building until it is safe.

Repair of natural environment: Australia's creative team for 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale announced

2017-08-23T13:19:00-04:00

Australia's creative team for the 16th International Venice Architecture Biennale has been announced at events in Sydney and Melbourne. Baracco+Wright Architects will collaborate with artist Linda Tegg to cultivate and nurture thousands of temperate grassland species within the pavilion alongside large-scale architectural projections. Visitors will enter a physical dialogue between architecture and endangered plant community. Reminding us what is at stake when we occupy land.

Explicitly addressing the theme of Freespace, 'repair' responds by encouraging new ways of thinking and seeing the world, ‘of inventing solutions where architecture provides for the well-being and dignity of each citizen on this fragile planet’. 'Repair' will frame and reveal an architectural culture in Australia that is evolving through processes that integrate built and natural systems to effect repair of the environment, and in so doing, repair of other conditions such as social, economic and cultural ones.

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China's record-breaking glass bridge already closed again after two weeks

2016-09-13T14:40:00-04:00

A glass-bottomed bridge in China that was heralded as a record-breaker when it opened just 13 days ago has closed. Officials said the government was planning urgent maintenance work in the area and the bridge closed on Friday, with a re-opening time to be announced. [...] He said there had been no accidents and the bridge was not cracked or broken. [...] The bridge can accommodate 8,000 visitors a day but the spokesman told CNN that 10 times as many people wanted access daily.

Yibada reports that the bridge upgrades were going as scheduled and that the attraction was set to re-open to the public this week.

Previously in the Archinect news:

Los Angeles selects HDR to manage its $1.4 Billion Sidewalk Repair Program

2016-07-08T14:14:00-04:00

The city of Los Angeles has selected HDR to serve as program manager for the next three years for its robust Sidewalk Repair Program. The 30-year, $1.4 billion program aims to repair sidewalks to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and ensure universal access for all Angelenos. The second largest city in the U.S., Los Angeles is home to roughly 11,000 miles of sidewalks, many of which hinder passage because of cracks, buckles and bulging tree roots.