Transmaterial » intelligent

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.

Flight Assembled Architecture

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:00:33 +0000

Flight Assembled Architecture is a demonstration project that exhibits research conducted on flying machine enabled construction by ETH Zürich professor Raffaello D’Andrea and architects Gramazio & Kohler. The first installation to be built by flying machines, Flight Assembled Architecture utilizes software-controlled flying robots to place foam bricks individually in order to construct a large open-weave structure. Imagined as a scale representation of a 600 m tall towering city, the installation “addresses radical new ways of thinking and materializing architecture as a physical process of dynamic formation,” says D’Andrea.

Contact: ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

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.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

SITumbra

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

SITumbra is a passive solar facade system that mediates between the seasons to reduce solar heat gain in summer and allow useful solar transmission in the winter. The shading configuration can be customized to suit regional locations and seasons. Not only does the system reduce solar heat gain, but it also provides thermal insulation. SITumbra is comprised by recyclable and renewable lightweight materials to offer structural strength, transparency and energy efficiency. The system is manufactured to customized specifications for size, geometry, color and materials.

Contact: SITumbra, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

Lumisty

Blaine Brownell — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:00:40 +0000

Lumisty first drew widespread attention when it was used on the windows of Pleats Please, Issey Miyake’s clothing boutique in SOHO.

Upon first encountering the product, people are often struck by what seems like an optical illusion. Walking past a window with Lumisty applied, a perfectly clear, transparent glass surface becomes partially fogged. Two or three steps later, the same window is completely fogged. As the viewer’s angle shifts, so does the transparency or translucency of the film.

Contact: Madico Inc. / GlassFilm Enterprises Inc., Woburn, MA, USA.
Find more information in Transmaterial.

Foam

Blaine Brownell — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:00:09 +0000

OMA developed Foam as part of their work for Prada. In addition to the design of new spatial typologies, the development of new materials expands the interior palette of the new Prada epicenter stores. Ranging from translucent cast resin for shelves to bubble-textured silicone floor mats, the creation of a new substance called Foam manifests a radical redefinition of surface and material.

Foam is a polyurethane cast of an aggregate condition between solid and void. It is both a regular and irregular structure of sponge-like consistency that can be cast in stages from hard to soft, and from transparent to opaque. It forms a substance which can be used to build objects as well as entire spaces, a further interpretation of solid and void.

Foam was developed beginning with an architectural model using a regular cleaning sponge. Because the visual effect of this backlit texture was very intriguing, OMA initiated an extensive search to recreate this material in 1:1 scale. The architect made hundreds of prototypes in order to test hole sizes, percentages of openness, translucencies, depths, colors, etc.

In its multiple and varied manifestations, Foam offers a new definition of functional and visual properties between artificial and natural, irregular and regular, transparent and opaque, translucent and solid, flexible and rigid qualities in the design of interior environments.

Contact: Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Find more information in Transmaterial.

Eco-Cement

Blaine Brownell — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:00:56 +0000

Developed by John Harrison of TecEco, Eco-Cement is made by blending reactive magnesium oxide with conventional hydraulic cements. Mimicking nature, Eco-Cement concretes absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in order to harden into materials used for the built environment. As Eco-Cements are also chemically benign, large amounts of various wastes can be incorporated into the concrete matrix. The Eco-Cement technology offers partial solutions for global warming, climate change, waste, and cost-effective mass housing.

Contact: TecEco Pty. Ltd., Glenorchy, TAS, Australia.
Find more information in Transmaterial.

It

Blaine Brownell — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:00:25 +0000

Jakob + MacFarlane, the Paris-based architects known for their Georges Restaurant at the top of the Centre Pompidou, have designed a form of seating called “It” which is inspired by organic structures. Made from hand-shaped and fire-lacquered resins with a high-gloss finish, It seating has a complex curvilinear form which is perforated with nearly spherical voids for lightness and rigidity.

Contact: Sawaya & Moroni, Milan, Italy.
Find more information in Transmaterial.

Foldtex

Blaine Brownell — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:00:23 +0000

Timm Herok developed Foldtex as a lightweight folding material in order to challenge traditional notions of product fittings, corner connections and surface finishing techniques. Foldtex consists of at least two layers, one which is flexible and the other which is stiff. When incisions are made in the stiff layer, thus exposing the flexible layer below, a folding hinge is created at that point.

Folding grooves may be made via CNC milling, although simple folds may be made with a hand-held milling machine. Separation cuts are then completed using a cutting knife. Foldtex may be individually adapted in its strength and surface qualities through the use of veneers, layering, staining, and painting. A high finish may be achieved either before or after the milling of the template.

Contact: Foldtex, Frankfurt, Germany.
Find more information in Transmaterial.

Reynobond with EcoClean

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Reducing air pollution by way of photocatalysis is not limited to concrete. Alcoa Architectural Products has recently partnered with Toto to develop a titanium dioxide coating for their exterior-grade aluminum panels. According to Alcoa, the hydrophobic coating is the world’s first coil-coated, smog-reducing aluminum architectural panel.

In the presence of sunlight, Reynobond with EcoClean causes organic particulate matter near its surface to break down, and this material is washed away later by rain. 10,000 square feet of EcoClean surface has a similar cleansing effect as 80 trees, and can counteract the pollution produced by four cars per day.

Contact: Alcoa Architectural Products, Eastman, GA, USA.