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MVRDV has designed what the firm describes as a “pointillist” master plan for a health and technology campus in the Dutch city of Nijmegen. The project aims to reimagine the Noviotech Campus by unifying the currently disjointed campus buildings and adding new buildings in the empty spaces... View full entry
A new multi-use complex made nearly entirely of wood has been introduced to Barcelona’s Trinitat Vella district. Called the Center for Community Life, the new public building will form part of a community facility hub for the districts of San Andreu and Nou Barris set to be built in the... View full entry
Six months after the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, columnist Kunle Barker wrote in the UK Architects' Journal to take a stand against the industry’s oneiric focus on “lofty ideals of zero-carbon and on soundbites” and towards a more considered system of new project evaluation, advocating... View full entry
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.” — Bloomberg Green
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. Related on Archinect: How 'Anthropocene mining'... View full entry
The homes of wealthy Americans are responsible for about 25% more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than low-income households, according to a new study released Monday by University of Michigan researchers. — Smart Cities Dive
The study, writes Smart Cities Dive's Jason Plautz, found the GHG impact of U.S. homes is lowest in Western states and highest in Central states, and the carbon footprint of wealthy neighborhoods can be as much as 15 times higher than lower-income areas. CoreLogic, a database of tax assessor... View full entry
Potential carbon tariffs have been an active topic at the United Nations climate conference that wraps up this weekend in Madrid, where nearly 200 nations have been at odds over how to counter the continued global rise of greenhouse gas emissions. And some diplomats say it’s inevitable that governments will turn to trade barriers in the effort to fight climate change. — Politico
Politico reports that as international cooperation toward achieving global carbon reduction goals falters in the face of a climate change-denying American presidential administration, European countries are considering implementing carbon tariffs on imported goods to force a change. The... View full entry
Skanska USA has introduced a new open-source database tool, the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (“EC3”), which estimates and evaluates the carbon emissions contained within a variety of construction materials...The searchable database is based on environmental product declaration (EPD) data and has a list of more than 16,000 materials...categorized by performance requirements, design specification, project location, and global warming potential. — Construction Dive
The new technology enables owners, contractors, and designers to calculate a project's carbon footprint, reports Construction Dive. Currently in pilot testing, the tool "has helped participating projects to achieve embodied carbon reductions of up to 30% with little to no cost impact. View full entry
The Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF), a coalition made up of over 30 building industry leaders that includes the American Institute of Architects, Perkins and Will architects, Autodesk, the American Institute of Steel Construction, and the American Concrete Institute Foundation, among others, has... View full entry
...an approach known as bioclimatic design: using the environment around a building to passively manage the temperature and light inside, rather than mechanically heat and cool a space. Structures designed that way are energy efficient, which leaves them with a smaller carbon footprint. — The Daily Beast
Cities across the U.S. are experiencing heat waves. However, designing cities and structures for hot climates is nothing new. Early architects have developed design solutions for regulating temperatures. Yet, with this progression, a reliance has grown towards cooling systems like air conditioners... View full entry
Ahead of the new academic year, Dickinson College has opened a new $19 million residence hall that will house 130 students.
The High Street Residence Hall, the Carlisle liberal arts college's first new residence hall since 1973, is part of a $46 million campus investment plan that began in 2012. Officials said demand for on-campus housing exceeded available space, prompting the start of construction on the new residence hall last year.
— cpbj.com
Deborah Berke Partners' new dormitory for Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA is now open for the upcoming academic school year. Residence Hall at Dickson College by Deborah Berke Partners, located in Carlisle, PA. © Deborah Berke Partners.The 40,500 square foot building is currently targeted to... View full entry
“We are simply not making significant strides in crucial metrics that predict building performance,” states Greg Mella, FAIA, Director of Sustainable Design at SmithGroupJJR and co-chair of the AIA 2030 Working Group, in a new report that gauges the progress made by firms voluntarily... View full entry
In bone, the proportions of protein and mineral are roughly equal – the mineral gives bone stiffness and hardness, while the protein gives it toughness or resistance to fracture. While bones can break, it is relatively rare, and they have the benefit of being self-healing [...]
“All of our existing building standards have been designed with concrete and steel in mind. Constructing buildings out of entirely new materials would mean completely rethinking the whole industry."
— cam.ac.uk
Bioengineer Dr. Michelle Oyen of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering and her lab are working on ways to build artificial compounds that mimic bone and eggshell. Eventually, once scaled up, the compounds could be used as building materials.When the mineral compounds are "templated" onto the... View full entry
We might think that most of the carbon emission come from the industrial sector and livestock, but a new study suggests that the real environmental problem is represented by the things we buy. [...]
“We all like to put the blame on someone else, the government, or businesses ... But between 60–80 per cent of the impacts on the planet come from household consumption. If we change our consumption habits, this would have a drastic effect on our environmental footprint as well”.
— nextnature.net
You can read the full report, "Environmental Impact Assessment of Household Consumption", published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, here.Related on Archinect:A cardboard and carbon-emission economy: the long-term effects... View full entry
How do building shapes vary from one city to the next, in particular with city size? And could this lead to a more general understanding of how energy consumption changes as cities grow or shrink? [...]
They conclude that on average, the shapes of buildings in North American cities converge on a cube-like shape as cities get bigger—that’s the most energy efficient shape.
That should have important implications for energy use in future megacities.
— technologyreview.com
