Transmaterial » ceramics

Woven Stone

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:00:29 +0000

Woven Stone is part of the ASI Specialty Products Magna Mosaic Collection. Earth tones combined with dimensional, geometric features create a powerful and sculptured look, lending an artistic element to any space. The continuous, controlled texture of Woven Stone creates a sense of movement, suitable for the most modern of interiors, including retail, hospitality, healthcare and corporate projects.

Contact: Architectural Systems, Inc., New York, NY, USA.
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CarbonCure

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:00:11 +0000

CarbonCure is a precast concrete technology developed to sequester carbon dioxide. The CarbonCure Block System has been installed across North America at concrete manufacturing facilities to store CO2 within concrete masonry units during the production process, permanently locking away the greenhouse gas in the form of synthetic limestone. CO2 is injected into concrete through a modified core bar during the molding stage. The result is a more environmentally-responsible concrete product with equivalent performance and cost to traditional concrete.

In addition to sequestered CO2, CarbonCure blocks have a lower carbon footprint than traditional masonry units due to reductions in their steam curing temperature and cement content. As a result, the total CO2 emissions reduction is approximately 250 grams per block.

Contact: CarbonCure Technologies, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Terrazzo Lumina

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:00:09 +0000

Terrazzo Lumina Slabs and Tiles are refined concrete surfaces designed to propate and emit light. Illumination travels within the concrete via embedded light-guides and is emitted in pixelated form. The manufacturing process is quite flexible and various geometries and configurations of light terminals are possible. The placement of the light source relative to the emitting surface is also flexible (and serviceable), making the product versatile for use in bar tops, flooring, wall features, and infrastructural projects.

Contact: SensiTile Systems, Ypsilanti, MI, USA.
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Mercury Glass

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:00:49 +0000

Silvered glass “Mercury Glass” was invented in the nineteenth century as a decorative substitute for more expensive silver tableware. Where traditional Mercury Glass has a thin glass wall, however, Suzan Etkin Enterprises creates hand blown silvered glass with thick, undulating walls and deposits a film of pure silver into the vessel interior. The thick, undulating wall gives the glass the appearance of liquid metal, transforming a 19th century technology into a 21st century material with unmatched light reflection and refraction properties.

Suzan Etkin engineers and tests each project for safety. Overhead glass vessels can be filled with anti-shatter foam or resin, and Mercury glass elements can assume structural properties when reinforced with steel embedded in structural foam or resin.

Contact: Suzan Etkin Enterprises, New York, NY, USA.
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ExoSkeleton

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:00:10 +0000

ExoSkeleton is a quilted concrete panel made from organic duck cloth canvas and cast concrete. Two layers of the canvas are quilted using reinforced stitching in a structurally stable configuration. The reinforced stitching is engineered to withstand the fluid lateral forces specific to the amount of uncured concrete relative to the diameter of the pocket created by the sewn fabric. The formwork is then hung in a vertical configuration supported at the top, similar to the arrangement of a shower curtain. At the base of the fabric, friction pilings or a trough are set plumb to the supports at the top of the fabric and serve as the foundation of the cured form.

Developed by Thompson Young Design, ExoSkeleton’s canvas fabric is configured to allow pumped concrete to self-support in compression and framed laterally by the tensile strength of the fabric within the diamond shaped quilted pockets, which are connected to a foundation. The canvas can be removed once the concrete is cured, or it can be incorporated into the finish.

Concrete supports more than its own weight in compression, and the material nature of fabric offers a high strength in tension. As long as the balance of concrete in compression relative the tensile strength of the fabric is stable, concrete will stack. When coupled, the compressive stability of concrete and the tensile strength of fabric combine to frame the curing process of concrete to achieve infinite concrete configurations.

Contact: Thompson Young Design, Charleston, SC, USA.

SorbtiveMEDIA

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:00:41 +0000

Many lakes, ponds and rivers suffer from algae blooms and depleted dissolved oxygen as a direct result of excessive nutrients entering waterways after rainstorms. Phosphorus is the accelerant that causes algae blooms to grow rapidly. SorbtiveMEDIA is an oxide-coated water filtration system engineered to remove pollutants including phosphorus. It is produced from natural and recycled aggregates, and is applied in a wide variety of low-impact development landscape applications.

SorbtiveMEDIA is an appropriate solution for impaired watersheds or protecting water resources, with proven phosphorus treatment performance exceeding current North American regulations. Available in a variety of gradations or as porous concrete products, SorbtiveMEDIA can accommodate many landscape designs and stormwater treatment systems.

SorbtiveMEDIA can be flexibly applied to sand filters, infiltration trenches, and filter cartridges, and is also a perfect match for LID applications such as bioretention cells, rain gardens, gabion walls, porous concrete pavement and permeable pavers systems. SorbtiveMEDIA is a safe, non-hazardous material that does not decompose or leach captured pollutants.

Contact: Imbrium Systems, Rockville, MD, USA.
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Fusion

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:00:16 +0000

Fusion incorporates the iridescent color features of dichroic glass with clear or low iron options. Fissures and air bubbles also become integral components of the finished glass pieces, making the final appearance even more visually captivating. Comprised by up to 30% recycled content and offered in multiple colors and finishes, Fusion is a celebration of the robust decorative potential of glass.

Contact: Nathan Allan Glass Studios Inc., Richmond, BC, Canada.
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Fly Ash Panels

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:00:22 +0000

Fly ash is the waste product of burning coal that is comprised mainly of silica, alumina, iron, and calcium. Fly ash is often combined with cement as an additive, but only up to a certain percentage of concrete may be fly ash.

Carolyn Dry has developed a method of fabricating building panels and insulation out of nearly 100% fly ash in order to sequester these heavy metals so that they do not leach out and pollute the environment. Essentially cooking the ash into a solid, Dry utilizes a flux which allows processing at lower temperatures—thus using less energy and fewer chemicals. Components such as building panels, bricks, and insulation may be produced without the need for binders such as cement.

Contact: Natural Process Design, Inc., Winona, MN, USA.
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Imagine Tile

Blaine Brownell — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:00:58 +0000

Imagine Tile, Inc. can take any two-dimensional image and incorporate it into the glaze of an incredibly vivid, commercially-rated ceramic tile. Imagine Tile uses a patented process which treats ceramic glazes like printing inks. Pure minerals and ores are ground micro-fine and suspended in a liquid to produce substances similar to printing inks. The mineral and ore-based image is printed and coated with a refractory material that creates a glass finish. Once the tile is fired at approximately 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit, the glazes fuse with the body of the tile. The result is a graphic and durable decorative tile.

Imagine Tile meets or exceeds ASTM standards for commercial floor and wall applications, and independent tests certify that the product is frost-proof, UV and chemical resistant, as well as ADA compliant. Moreover, Imagine Tile possesses a surface MOH rating of 7 or higher. The product is supplied with a five-year manufacturer warranty.

Contact: Imagine Tile, Inc., Bloomfield, NJ, USA.
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Sphere Glass

Blaine Brownell — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:00:47 +0000

Sphere Glass provides a novel form for three-dimensional glass. Hemispherical glass spheres are fused to clear or cast background glass panels. Spheres can be added to one side or both sides of the panel, and they can be cast (textured) or clear, with or without color. The spheres may be made up to two feet in diameter.

Contact: Nathan Allan Glass Studios Inc., Richmond, BC, Canada.
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