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Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a new type of material that can create adaptable, strong structures by learning from its surroundings. Dubbed a ‘mechanical neural network’ by its creators, the material uses a unique lattice structure that can... View full entry
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... View full entry
Los Angeles and Portland-based architecture firm West of West is currently working on a new creative office community in Hollywood, California. The studio's 6344 Fountain project integrates hybrid cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction within an adaptive reuse development. According... View full entry
Construction is underway in Houston on the first multistory 3D printed building in the United States. Designed by two assistant professors of architecture at Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP), the two-story, single-family home merges 3D printed... View full entry
A professor of architecture from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has been awarded a $1 million grant for the development of windows that incorporate screens of microalgae. Professor Kyoung Hee Kim, who has spent decades researching the topic, believes her “biochromic windows”... View full entry
Montana has become the first state in the nation to adopt broad-ranging regulatory approval for the use of 3D printing in construction. The state’s building code regulators recently voted to approve local contractor Tim Stark’s request to 3D print walls as an equal replacement for either... View full entry
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.
— Science Daily
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 &mdash... View full entry
Researchers from Flinders University’s Chalker Research Lab have developed a more sustainable alternative to making bricks by using waste products. The team used low-cost feedstocks to make lightweight but durable polymer building blocks, which can be bonded together with an... View full entry
Industry groups are applauding lawmakers after the passage of the Biden Administration’s recently proposed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, pointing to its more than $5 billion in provisions they say are “critical” to enacting climate change-related policies and modernizing... View full entry
The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture's Materials Lab and Interior Design Program have been awarded a $60,000 grant from the Angelo Donghia Foundation. The money will be used to reimagine how students learn about materials by reframing the Materials Lab’s existing collection... View full entry
Researchers at MIT have developed a type of 3D printed material that can sense how it is moving and interacting with its surrounding environment. The 3D printed lattice materials contain networks of air-filled channels, allowing engineers to detect when bending, squeezing, or stretching of the... View full entry
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... View full entry
A research team out of the University of Virginia (UVA) has developed a new innovative and sustainable approach to building that utilizes the power of 3D printing to create structures made of soil implanted with seeds. The team consists of Ji Ma, an assistant professor of materials science... View full entry
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $39 million to 18 projects dedicated to developing technologies that can transform buildings into net carbon storage structures. The initiative titled the Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere (HESTIA) program... View full entry
Even though the buildings in Sana'a are thousands of years old, they remain "terribly contemporary", says Salma Samar Damluji, co-founder of the Daw'an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation in Yemen.
Damluji says it is easy to see why these mud buildings have not lost their appeal – they are well-insulated, sustainable and extremely adaptable for modern use. "It is the architecture of the future," says Damluji.
— BBC
Yemen’s largest city Sana'a may even supplant Franis Kéré's home country as the world’s leading rammed earth capital, with a host of stunning, UNESCO-protected sites scattered around its Old City area. The material is one of many in an arsenal of alternatives being used to combat high... View full entry