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The London-based architecture firm, PLP Architecture, recently won the international Delftseplein competition for its hybrid tower project known as "Tree House." The $177m (£137m/€160m) project will stand at 459 feet (140 meters) and will be constructed using mass timber and concrete... View full entry
Although concrete is common building material that's readily available and easy to use, the environmental impact it generates is a costly one, specifically with regards to how it is manufactured. Estimates indicate that every pound of cement produces one pound of CO2 emissions, for example, a fact... View full entry
The demand for that material is so intense that around the world, riverbeds and beaches are being stripped bare, and farmlands and forests torn up to get at the precious grains. And in a growing number of countries, criminal gangs have moved in to the trade, spawning an often lethal black market in sand. — BBC
Writing for BBC Future, Vince Beiser explains how sand — a very specific kind of sand — has become the second most consumed natural resource on the planet, fueling global environmental destruction, criminal enterprises, and even "sand wars." "The demand for that material is so intense... View full entry
Can Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology help industrial manufacturing facilities reduce their carbon footprints? A recent report by Vox shines a light on what had until recently, been considered a somewhat defunct solar energy generation approach. Concentrated Solar Power is harnessed by... View full entry
Between 1946 and 1958, the United States detonated 67 nuclear bombs on, in and above the Marshall Islands — vaporizing whole islands, carving craters into its shallow lagoons and exiling hundreds of people from their homes.
[...] It then deposited the atoll’s most lethal debris and soil into the dome.
Now the concrete coffin, which locals call “the Tomb,” is at risk of collapsing from rising seas and other effects of climate change.
— The Los Angeles Times
A stunning report from The Los Angeles Times highlights America's deteriorating nuclear legacy on the Marshall Islands, where a vast concrete dome built to contain radioactive soil imported regionally and from Nevada is beginning to fail amid rising sea levels. According to the report... View full entry
Next year, if all goes well, a pair of footbridges intended to be cancer-proof will open in Geelong, a town 75km south-west of Melbourne, Australia. These bridges, which will act as prototypes for more than 150 others planned for the expanding city, will be constructed using a novel approach that combines glass-fibre and carbon-fibre rebars. They will, though, cost about the same as equivalent conventional bridges. — The Economist
The potentially ground-breaking construction approach has been developed by Australian university Deakin and Austeng, an engineering firm. The structural system selectively deploys pricey carbon fiber rebar to strengthen the construction assembly where necessary, while glass fiber rebar members... View full entry
The National Transportation Safety Board members that have been investigating a March 15, 2018 bridge collapse at Florida International University have concluded that the design firm FIGG Bridge Engineers, Inc. responsible for the project underestimated the loads created by the bridge's concrete... View full entry
Released this month, California Concrete: A Landscape of Skateparks, takes the birthplace of skateboard culture and celebrates the dynamic landscapes created by Cali's expressive skateparks. Amir Zaki, creator of the book, is an artist and photographer who grew up skateboarding and has spent... View full entry
When you have two concrete parallel walls, like we do in our rehearsal spaces and then in the Justice Forum [an intimate theater space], parallel walls are really bad for acoustics. You get a condition called flutter echo, where you have two sound waves bouncing off two parallel hard surfaces. So we had to break that sound up. What we needed to do was create a random texture which would diffuse and break up the sound. That’s where we came up with crinkled concrete. — CityLab
In a recent interview with CityLab, Steven Holl Architects' senior associate Garrick Ambrose discusses a design solution the firm created in order to mediate acoustics within their newly opened Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts expansion, The REACH, in Washington, D.C. Image ©... View full entry
China may be the biggest consumer of sand right now, but the issue is a global one. A UN report published earlier this year showed that sand extraction is far outstripping the rates at which it is replenished. According to a team of scientists who recently wrote about the topic in Science Magazine ($) and The Conversation, “Sand and gravel are now the most-extracted materials in the world”–measured by weight, they surpass fossil fuels and biomass. — Forbes
Writing in Forbes, Laurie Winkless probes the far-reaching and destructive impacts of skyrocketing global sand consumption as the world's urbanizing cities demand more and more of the substance to fuel new construction. View full entry
The Michael Maltzan Architecture (MMA)-designed Sixth Street Viaduct project in Los Angeles, a new $488 million span considered the largest bridge project in the city's history, is taking longer to complete than originally expected. Although the bridge has been under construction for over... View full entry
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
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... View full entry
Construction is ramping up on a major mixed-use development in Downtown designed by Frank Gehry.
Over the weekend, the one of two concrete pours was completed at The Grand, laying down the foundation for the project’s 39-story residential tower. When finished, the Bunker Hill tower will hold 400 housing units, 20 percent of them affordable units.
— Curbed LA
Photo: Weldon Brewster, image courtesy of Related-CORE. Curbed Los Angeles reports that the first of two mat foundation pours for the residential tower of the enormous Gehry-designed The Grand project took "15 hours, and required about 140 workers and 1,348 trucks," installing 13,478 cubic yards... View full entry
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... View full entry
Under a plan announced last week by Mayor Anne Hidalgo, thickets of trees will soon appear in what today are pockets of concrete next to landmark locations, including the Hôtel de Ville, Paris’s city hall; the Opera Garnier, Paris’s main opera house; the Gare de Lyon; and along the Seine quayside. — citylab.com
"Islands of freshness" are on the way to Paris, according to a recently-unveiled plan by mayor Anne Hidalgo. The environmentally-aggressive mayor is aiming to have 50 percent of the city's land area taken up by permeable surfaces and planted areas, Citylab reports, and so, she is turning spaces... View full entry
