Archinect - News

Vibrant pavilions by Foster + Partners and NEON utilize recycled everyday materials

2024-06-12T06:02:00-04:00

Real estate developer and operator Brookfield Properties has today announced the launch of two pavilions, one designed by Foster + Partners and the other by NEON, as part of the London Festival of Architecture (LFA).

“Radial” by Foster & Partners and “Squiggle” by NEON are located outside of two of Brookfield Properties’ key London office buildings. They were designed as landmarks, inspired by themes of circularity, community, and sustainability. The structures respond to the LFA’s theme of “Reimagine,” in which they utilize everyday materials in innovative ways to encourage reflection on material recycling, reuse, and climate change.

"Radial" by Foster + Partners. Photo: Aaron Hargreaves

“Radial” aims to function as a space for pause and reflection. It features a radial pattern of flags made from 100% reused and recycled construction materials, including plastic bottles and scaffolding.

Photo: Aaron Hargreaves

The flags hang above curved wooden benches and are colored in tones of ...

Zaha Hadid Architects designs world's first green hydrogen refueling network for recreational boating

2024-02-10T08:00:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has designed the world’s first green hydrogen refueling infrastructure for the recreational boating industry. Refueling stations will be installed at 25 Italian marinas.

The project is being spurred by an approximately $108 million investment led by NatPower H, a global developer of technologies for the production, storage, and distribution of green hydrogen. The refueling network will begin installation in the summer of 2024, with a target to grow to 100 stations throughout the Mediterranean over the next six years. There are further ambitions to expand to the world’s most popular regions for recreational boating.

According to the firm, the eventual 100 refueling stations will be operational by 2030 and will deliver up to 3,650 tons of green hydrogen annually. This will erase approximately 45,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the Mediterranean’s recreational boats every year.

Rendering: Tecma Solutions / Zaha Hadid Architects

This project addresses the ...

Holcim and Zaha Hadid Architects team debuts second 3D printed concrete bridge concept

2024-01-14T08:00:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has released details of a second collaborative effort with Holcim on a 3D printed bridge concept that was first debuted as part of the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale.

The new ten-ton Phoenix design offers an evolution of the innovations seen in the previous Striatus bridge, the original blocks of which the team was able to recycle in the second iteration.

Image: Vincent Delesvaux

For the project, Holcim was able to deliver Phoenix with a 25% overall reduction in CO2 footprint compared to its earlier counterpart, thanks to the use of an updated ECOCycle circular technology and a special proprietary concrete ink that was also developed by the company. The construction was completed recently in Lyon, France, on the grounds of Holcim’s Innovation Hub. Its proponents are now citing it as a milestone for the design industry’s quest to develop low-carbon structural solutions at different scales.

Image: Holcim

Shajay Bhooshan, head of Zaha Hadid Architects' Computati...

Better green materials are still needed to trigger a revolution in the building sector, experts say

2023-12-14T13:56:00-05:00

Repeated calls for the decarbonization of architecture are sometimes met with criticisms as to their lack of substance, and in some cases, practicality or overall feasibility, Canada's National Observer tells us.

The only mycelium binders on the market are, for example, unsuitable to certain weather conditions, according to Yale Center for Ecosystems and Architecture’s Mae-ling Lokko. Other products like composite wood materials can contain formaldehyde, which puts a damper on the new heights mass timber designs are reaching in Europe and North America. The current limitations of bio-concrete, hemp, and algae materials are also well-known.

To enact a truly revolutionary turn, both additional investments into developing new alternative products and a better understanding of a building’s end-of-life recyclability are needed, Lokko and Naomi Keena of McGill University's School of Architecture told the paper.

Canada and its vast reserves of agricultural waste derived from applicable c...

Provencher_Roy uses recycled glass material to complete Darwin Bridges reconstruction in Montreal

2023-11-02T13:45:00-04:00

Provencher_Roy has shared photos following the firm’s completion of a bridge reconstruction project in Nuns’ Island, Montreal.

The new Darwin Bridges makeover represents the first instance of Ground Glass Pozzolan (GGP), a recycled glass product developed with researchers from the Université de Sherbrooke and the City of Montreal, being used in an architectural design worldwide.

The project succeeded in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 44 tons, while using over 88,000 pounds of locally sourced recycled glass (the equivalent of 70,000 wine bottles). A green space was enacted in a void created by removing the existing central median strip, and safety lighting has been installed to prevent tunnel sensation.

Image © Stephane Brugger

“The concept was always there, but the design and construction standards of the time favored the automobile. For this project, we were therefore working in a paradoxical 1960s context, on an innovative urban project to improve the user experience, while a...

Christo and Jeanne Claude’s Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped to be recycled for Paris Olympic Games

2023-09-20T11:55:00-04:00

The Mayor of Paris has announced that Christo and Jeanne Claude’s Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped installation is to be recycled for use in the city’s upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games. As reported by ARTnews, the effort will be led by the environmental organization Parley for the Oceans.

Under the plans, 269,000 square feet of blue polypropylene fabric and 9,800 feet of red polypropylene rope will be recycled. The recycling of the fabric and rope is in addition to the reuse of the wood and steel substructures which have already been reused by carpentry and steel producers.

Photo: Benjamin Loyseau. Copyright: 2021 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

“The fabric and ropes will be recycled into shade structures, tents or barnums for our next major events in Paris, in particular the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Paris Mayor Anne Hildago said in a statement reported by ARTnews. “This is a very fine example of the art world’s ability to adapt to climate challenges.”

The installation w...

3XN GXN and British Land share new transformation project of London's Euston Tower

2023-07-13T13:57:00-04:00

3XN GXN, alongside property development company British Land, has announced that they are leading the redevelopment of London’s Euston Tower. Built in 1970, the commercial high-rise was viewed as a cutting-edge office space. However, changing tenancy needs have seen a gradual reduction in its inhabitants, leading to the building’s vacancy in 2021.

The aim for the renewed Euston Tower is to transform it into a pioneering, welcoming, net-zero workspace in the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter. The project falls in line with the sustainability goals and expertise of British Land, the Greater London Authority and Borough of Camden, and 3XN GXN. As noted in a release, the joint vision for the project sets out to lead the way in low-carbon retrofit and construction techniques, as well as using inclusive design to support the workspaces and local community.

Image courtesy of 3XN GXN.

As stated by 3XN Senior Partner Audun Opdal, “We are proud to work on this highly progressive project and...

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...

Zaha Hadid Architects designs Ukrainian Expo 2030 master plan with demountable and redeployable pavilions

2022-12-06T11:48:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has published details of its proposed master plan for the Odesa Expo 2030 bid. In seeking to secure the Expo 2030 contract for the southern Ukrainian city, the design team has presented a scheme composed of “demountable” and “redeployable” pavilions after the event has concluded.

Image credit: Zaha Hadid Architects

“Future development in Ukraine will see a fundamental transformation of the country’s economy towards energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies,” the team said. “Zaha Hadid Architects’ design for ODESA EXPO 2030 targets the effective re-use of all facilities after the exhibition has closed, a challenge that all Expos share with major public events the world over; creating an Expo of the future where nothing is wasted.”

Image credit: JK Lab

Located on former farmland close to the city center, the proposed expo site is anchored by a main axis that will provide access to a series of national pavilions toward the south and a coastal eco park to the nor...

ETH Zurich students construct timber dome entirely from waste materials

2022-10-20T12:00:00-04:00

A group of research students at ETH Zurich has completed a timber geodesic dome constructed from nothing but demolition waste. The research group, led by assistant professor Catherine De Wolf of the university’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, sees the project as a demonstration of the potential for circular economics.

Photo credit: Catherine De Wolf

Photo credit: BuserHill Photography

Work on the project began in October 2021 when the group, titled the Circular Engineering for Architecture lab, gained permission to salvage materials from an old car depot scheduled for demolition. Through dismantling an entire floor of the building, the group salvaged OSB panels, wooden beams, steel girders, and plastic piping for use in the pavilion.

Photo credit: Catherine De Wolf

Photo credit: Anna Buser

According to the group, the decision to construct a geodesic dome from the waste materials was due to the shape’s stable, efficient, and elementary structural properties....

Food for thought on circular design and who should own the built environment

2022-10-11T12:43:00-04:00

Back in June, we covered news of research set to be undertaken at Penn State on the subject of embodied carbon in cities. The research, one of many stories this year focusing on embodied carbon, signals a growing awareness in academic and professional circles of the need to include whole-life perspectives on buildings when calculating their environmental impact: from conception and construction to demolition and reuse.

Given the sizeable 40% impact of the AEC sector on global carbon emissions, it is no surprise that conversations on embodied carbon, life-cycle analyses, and our attitude towards waste in buildings have also garnered mainstream attention.

This week, The New York Times published an article by freelance writer Jessica Camille Aguirre titled ‘How to Recycle a 14-Story Office Tower.’ While the title may evoke ideas of an IKEA-s...

All that leftover PPE can be used for building materials, according to a new RMIT study

2022-08-25T19:48:00-04:00

Engineers at RMIT University have developed a method to use disposable personal protective equipment (PPE) to make concrete stronger, providing an innovative way to significantly reduce pandemic-generated waste. [...] Joint lead author, Dr Rajeev Roychand, said there was real potential for construction industries around the world to play a significant role in transforming this waste into a valuable resource.

According to the RMIT researchers, an incredible 54,000 tons of PPE waste has been produced daily since the start of the pandemic. "With a circular economy approach, we could keep that waste out of landfill while squeezing the full value out of these materials to create better products — it's a win on all fronts," the team’s research leader and corresponding author, Professor Jie Li, said.

Three separate materials were shredded and then mixed into concrete at rates between 0.1 and 0.25%. Science Daily reports that, among other deliverables, the research found that:

rubber gloves increased compressive strength by up to 22%
isolation gowns increased resistance to bending stress by up to 21%, compressive strength by 15%, and elasticity by 12%
face masks increased compressive strength by up to 17%

According to the scientists, "the next step for the research is to evaluate the potential for mixing the PPE streams, develop practical implementation strategies, and work towards field trials." ...

Developer Fabrix employs urban mining to cut carbon footprint in its projects

2022-02-01T17:46:00-05:00

When old office blocks are demolished, their steel frames are typically smelted down to be recycled, emitting thousands of tonnes of carbon in the process. But at One Broadgate, the steel beams that once framed the London headquarters of inter-dealer broker TP Icap Plc will instead be salvaged from the site and recycled by developer Fabrix. Chief Executive Officer Clive Nichol says the example proves it’s possible to “apply the circular economy to structural elements of buildings.”

Fabrix has purchased 139 tons of steel from the contractor behind the demolition of One Broadgate and plans to use it on other projects in London. The process, known as urban mining, recovers and resells raw materials from waste products.

As reported by Bloomberg Green, engineering consultant AKT II estimates that reused steel could reduce the carbon impact of a building by up to 80%. The U.K. is attempting to encourage this practice, in which construction materials with large carbon footprints would be resold through a marketplace. This move comes at a time of ballooned steel prices in the U.K.

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...

How 'Anthropocene mining' offers architects growing alternatives to the way we build cities

2021-12-17T14:05:00-05:00

Why don't we re-use what we've already extracted, rather than gouging the planet for ever more raw materials? This thought has spurred a growing band of architects and building firms to look at how to re-use the huge range of materials already hiding within our built environment, from concrete and wood to the metallic bounty within electronic waste

Architecturally-rich cities are both a fount of reusable materials and a way of circumventing the awful cycle of environmental and human destruction caused by mining for the raw substances needed to help mitigate the effects of the built environment on climate change.

Recent projects like the updated version of the Barbican-backed London Centre for Music replacement, which aims to reuse 90% of the site’s existing materials, or the Parisian Montparnasse Tower remodeling currently being undertaken by Bellastock offer the industry high-profile models of how to adapt to the new mandate of climate-sensitive materials usage set forth in Duncan Baker-Brown’s groundbreaking 2017 book The Re-Use Atlas.

Previously on Archinect: This house made of trash teaches a lesson in green housekeeping

"The hardest thing is to change our way of thinking," Bellastock technical director of reuse Mathilde Billet told the BBC. "We need to imagine the city as a material bank, conducive to re-use. There are no ...

MVRDV uses recycled champagne bottles to help Bulgari put sustainability on display in Shanghai

2021-12-10T13:03:00-05:00

Bulgari is getting a timely makeover this holiday thanks to a green facelift from MVRDV.

Using recycled champagne bottles, the Dutch firm was able to produce a dazzling new jade-like facade for the luxury retailer’s new Shanghai flagship.

Image: © Bulgari/Xia Zhi

A nod to the Art Deco style that has characterized both the city and brand, MVRDV’s installation continues its use of the cornice motif used for Bulgari formed by layered panels of brass and the recycled bottles. The panels are backlit at night to create an enticing glow for shoppers at the city’s Shanghai Plaza 66 shopping mall.

Image: © Bulgari/Xia Zhi

Per the architects: “The glass is completely recycled, produced at the Magna factory in Teutschenthal, Germany, which specializes in glass treatment. The project demonstrates the potential of sustainable recycled materials, even in luxury contexts, and takes one step towards MVRDV and Bulgari’s goal of store designs that are built using 100% circular economy materials.”

Image...

Recycled concrete performs as well as conventional concrete, new study finds

2020-12-09T13:04:00-05:00

Results of a new five-year study of recycled concrete show that it performs as well, and in several cases even better, than conventional concrete. Researchers conducted side-by-side comparisons of recycled and conventional concrete within two common applications -- a building foundation and a municipal sidewalk. They found that the recycled concrete had comparable strength and durability after five years of being in service.

Find the complete study Recycled aggregate concrete from large-scale production to sustainable field application by University of British Columbia Okanagan researchers here.

Biocycler wants to recycle construction waste into new building materials

2018-01-30T15:09:00-05:00

Waste from construction and demolition sites accounts for approximately 15-30% of all landfill content in the United States. According to NASA's estimates, more than 500 million tons of often non-biodegradable building materials containing carcinogens and other toxins are sent off to the junkyard yearly.

Seeking to alleviate some of these environmental consequences of the built environment, Chris Maurer of redhouse studio has created the Biocycler, a mobile machine to be placed at demolition sites in order to recycle waste. Maurer, who previously served as director of the non-profit firm MASS Design Group in Rwanda, has teamed up with both NASA and MIT for the project, which is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to build a working prototype.

The machine, which will collect waste on site, uses living organisms, primarily mushrooms, as binders to form ground up trash materials into bricks. Fungi—Earth's great decomposer—contains mycelium, the vegetative part of mushrooms that ...

Mosul scheme focuses on housing some of the city’s 900,000 internally displaced people post-liberation

2017-10-31T19:05:00-04:00

A prototype affordable housing scheme for post-Daesh Mosul by Weston Williamson + Partners has received an honourable mention in the Rifat Chadirji Prize. It was the only UK entry among the finalists.

The prototype focuses on housing some of the city’s 900,000 internally displaced people who will be returning to their homes following its liberation. It addresses the long term housing crisis as well as the situation immediate post-occupation and suggests a predominantly autonomous, self-build housing process.

Opportunities for choice and adaptation over time are incorporated, ingraining sustainability through a sense of ownership. People can build what they need as they need it; funding is used more efficiently and more directly.

In the short term, data about the current condition of the city can be gathered through crowd-sourcing mechanisms. Waste material from the city centre can be cleared to the city periphery, to be processed into basic building materials, for a range ...

This man is building an entire village from recycled plastic bottles

2016-09-16T14:37:00-04:00

"Humanity went through stone age, went through ice age, and today, going through plastic age. We need to find solution,” explains Robert Bezeau, the man intent on amending the global reach of plastic waste by building houses out of it. A transplant to Panama from Montreal, he has started building an entire village from discarded plastic bottles, placing them inside metal cages, and then stacking them into a simple house structure.

A recent scientific study estimates that currently, there are over 150 million tons of plastic waste in our oceans, and by 2050, that amount could outnumber fish. In places like Bocas del Toro, where Bezeau is building his plastic village, a rapid influx of new residents produced waste at a rate the city couldn't handle, resulting in an overflow of plastic garbage.

To cope with the issue, Bezea began gathering plastic bottles from locals and using them as building insulation. Check out The Atlantic's video below for his story.

Bezea isn't the only one buildin...

Turning plastic trash into "LEGO"-like building materials

2016-07-25T20:36:00-04:00

The [plastic] materials are thoroughly cleaned, before being ground into a rough power, mixed, melted and extruded into a range of shapes – mostly beams, blocks and pillars – which lock together to form buildings. Importantly, [Conceptos Plásticos] also trains communities in how to build these structures, giving them ownership over their homes [...] Like LEGO blocks, these interlocking structures don’t need adhesive to be strong and sturdy, which makes them a good option for mobile shelters.

Related on Archinect:

I scream you scream we all scream for this Indonesian library made out of 2,000 recycled ice cream buckets

2016-07-08T17:51:00-04:00

Designed by SHAU in Bandung (Indonesia's West Java capital), the two-story structure's facade is made from (you guessed it) a grid of recycled plastic ice cream buckets. The ground floor is kept open for various events and activities, and the actual library is located behind the buckets, on the second floor.

The kicker is that the buckets are arranged facing either in or out, forming a pattern in binary code that reads, in Indonesian: "book is a window to the world". Clickthrough the link for more info from GCR, and check out more photos in the gallery below.

Less ice cream, more libraries:

Making bricks from cigarette butts could drastically reduce environmental cost

2016-05-27T15:06:00-04:00

adding butts can cut the energy needed to fire bricks by up to 58 per cent. Fired-clay bricks incorporated with cigarette butts were also lighter with better insulation properties – meaning reduced household heating and cooling costs. Importantly, bricks incorporated with 1 per cent cigarette butts maintained properties very similar to those of normal bricks.

Related on Archinect:

Dump your old vector files in the Digital Junkyard to be recycled into real-world objects

2015-07-24T21:28:00-04:00

The Digital Junkyard is an experiment in virtual salvage. It is a repository of donated digital information that is used to generate real physical and spatial objects...This project is an embodiment of the growing collective intelligence that technology affords us; and an experiment in ideas about digital ecology. It also honours the time and energy that designers put into testing and making mistakes.

No, this isn't some snarky Craigslist ad. Recently launched by architecturally trained designer and artist Car Martin, the Digital Junkyard is a website with a mission to transform as much of your unwanted vector files into a new physical object or creative idea of sorts, in the real world. In addition to "dumping" their files, users can "salvage" and download donated files, and can eventually check out the resulting "artifacts" -- although that section of the site is yet to be filled.

The Digital Junkyard accepts a maximum of 250 MB and is mainly looking for vector files. More specifically:

Adobe (.ai .eps .pdf)
Autodesk (.dwg .rvt)
Mcneel/Rhino (.3dm .gh.ghx)
Sketchup (.skp)
GIS (.mxd & shapefile folders)
Other (.svg .dxf)

Screenshot via djunkyard.com

While the Digital Junkyard can be a practical outlet for architects and designers to clear up their digital workspaces, Martin's website has an introspective side to it that is greatly relevant at this point in our tightening relationship wit...

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

Apple 2 campus taking shape, NCARB names names, and cities sell out: News Round-Up for September 2, 2014

2014-09-09T18:04:00-04:00

Friday, September 5:

Beijing public transit commuters can now pay fares with empty bottles: Beijingers can insert a recyclable bottle and receive equivalent rebates in train fares or mobile phone credits.
Community Bus Stops Transform Brazil: Thousands of Brazil's bus stops are unmarked, leading fed-up residents to install their own signage under the Que Ônibus Passa Aqui? (Which Bus Stops Here?) program, one of the world's biggest community projects.
Town Becomes a Beer Ad, but Residents Don’t Feel Like a Party: Crested Butte, Colorado, population 1,500, was outfitted for a three-day party to publicize Bud Light, with 1,000 partiers vetted and shipped in by Anheuser-Busch. The town's Mayor agreed to host the party to the tune of $500,000, in part to help boost the town's mostly tourist economy during the difficult "shoulder" season between summer and winter.
Gehry's Revised Eisenhower Memorial Loses Two Controversial Tapestries, But Concerns Remain: Nitpicking continues over the Memori...

Beijing public transit commuters can now pay fares with empty bottles

2014-09-05T14:29:00-04:00

Residents of Beijing can use one of the city’s 34 newly installed recycling machines to trade empty bottles for phone card rebates or free public transit passes. Those who choose the phone card rebate just need to type in their phone numbers or scan their cards and the rebate will be automatically applied. The value of the rebate will correspond to the value of the type of bottle that was recycled.

Read the original Chinese language report here.

Brave New Recycling Economy: Movement Turns Trash to Treasure

2014-08-18T17:14:00-04:00

Every piece of garbage can be turned into raw material that can be used in future products. With his influential Cradle to Cradle movement, Germany's Michael Braungart espouses a form of eco-hedonism that puts smart production before conservation.

Recently on Archinect: Student Works: This house made of trash teaches a lesson in green housekeeping

Turning waste into building blocks of the future city

2013-07-12T12:32:00-04:00

What if the rubbish was refabricated to become real urban spaces or buildings? If it is plausible to adapt current machinery, how much material is available? At first sight, any sanitary landfill may be viewed as an ample supply of building materials. Heavy industrial technologies crush cars or to automatically sort out garbage are readily available. 3-D printing has exhausting capabilities if adjusted to larger scales.

Gary Anderson, architect and designer of the recycling logo

2012-05-18T14:31:00-04:00

When I finished my studies, I decided I wanted to go into urban planning and I moved to LA. It seems funny, but I really played down the fact that I’d won this competition. I was afraid it would make me look like a graphics guy, rather than an urban designer. I didn’t even mention it on my résumé. Also, the symbol itself languished for a while. I remember seeing it once on a bank statement, but then it disappeared.

The Financial Times has an interesting story about Gary Anderson, an engineer/architect/urban planner that designed the famous recycling logo in a competition in 1971.