Materials

Eight projects with integrated cooling techniques that beat the heat

July 25, 2023 Ellen Eberhardt 0

Passive cooling techniques in architecture, reflective paint and water-filled windows are featured among the methods that designers and architects are using to mitigate heat in energy-efficient ways. With a summer featuring record-breaking temperatures across the globe, we have gathered eight public and residential projects that use integrated cooling to provide much-needed relief from the heat.

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Reset Materials exhibition shows building fragments made from eco-friendly materials

July 17, 2023 Amy Frearson 0

An exhibition has opened at Copenhagen Contemporary that suggests what a city made out of experimental biomaterials might look like. Named Reset Materials, the exhibition at the Copenhagen-based art centre contains a showcase of architectural fragments made from 10 different low-carbon materials, including earth, biocement, mycelium, silicon and straw. Overseen by Swiss architect and curator Chrissie

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ConForm adds “restrained yet rich” all-marble extension to Victorian house

July 12, 2023 Tian Lin 0

London studio ConForm has added a marble side extension to a Victorian terraced house in Hampstead, London. ConForm added the distinctive side extension to the house and used marble to contrast the addition with the existing house. “We approach all projects regardless of typology with a meticulous research phase to find opportunities to create lasting, impactful and

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GAF applies solar-reflective coating to mitigate Los Angeles heat islands

June 8, 2023 Ben Dreith 0

American roofing firm GAF has completed the first phase of a public-private initiative that seeks to mitigate urban heat in Los Angeles through solar-reflective coating. The GAF Cool Community Project completed the first phase of their public project in Los Angeles’ Pacoima, covering asphalt roads and public areas in a 10-block radius to see if

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Grimshaw and UEL develop Sugarcrete blocks that “could replace the traditional brick industry”

May 4, 2023 Amy Peacock 0

Architecture studio Grimshaw and the University of East London have collaborated to create Sugarcrete, a biomaterial construction block with an interlocking shape made from the sugarcane by-product bagasse. Sugarcrete was developed to be a low-cost and low-carbon reusable construction-material alternative to brick and concrete. The concept, design and fabrication of the material were led by staff

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Mass timber “definitely not the right way to go” says Benjamin Kromoser

March 23, 2023 Nat Barker 0

Mass timber will not become a mainstream building product because it uses too much wood, construction material expert Benjamin Kromoser claims in this interview for the Timber Revolution. “If we go more in the direction of mass-timber buildings we don’t have enough material, so the idea of scaling it up in the near future will

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Are mass-timber buildings a fire safety risk?

March 22, 2023 Nat Barker 0

Architects enthusiastic about mass timber must improve their understanding of fire safety or risk disaster, experts tell Dezeen as part of the Timber Revolution series. Uncertainty among governments and insurers over whether mid- and high-rise timber buildings are safe in a fire remains a key obstacle to the greater adoption of engineered-wood buildings. No consensus

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“Timber alone cannot get us out of this mess”

March 20, 2023 Philip Oldfield 0

Concrete as well as timber will be required to address the twin challenges of averting climate disaster and building the infrastructure the world needs, writes Philip Oldfield as part of our Timber Revolution series. There is a paradox in our desire for a low-carbon built environment. On the one hand, we know buildings are responsible

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“We need to start using our wood more efficiently”

March 7, 2023 Maximilian Pramreiter 0

A Timber Revolution requires us to focus on reducing mass-timber structures’ raw-material use instead of trying to design the tallest possible wooden building, writes Maximilian Pramreiter. The renaissance of wood as a building material continues and has major potential to support climate-friendly construction – but it must be used efficiently. From the second half of

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Henn and TU Dresden complete world’s first carbon concrete building

February 21, 2023 Rima Sabina Aouf 0

German architecture firm Henn and the Technical University of Dresden have completed the world’s first building made of carbon concrete – a form of concrete reinforced with carbon fibre instead of steel. Called the Cube, the 243-square-metre building was constructed as a test of the new material and will provide a laboratory and event space

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