Materials

Hannah begins construction on “first multi-storey 3D-printed house in the US”

October 4, 2022 Ben Dreith 0

Ithaca, New York-based design studio Hannah has begun work on Cores, a building in Houston that it says will be the first multi-storey 3D-printed structure to be completed in the United States. The hybrid structure is being constructed from 3D-printed concrete combined with wood framing and was designed as a multi-storey single-family home. With 4,000

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University of Virginia 3D-prints living soil walls that sprout greenery

September 5, 2022 Rima Sabina Aouf 0

University of Virginia 3D-printed soil structures

University of Virginia researchers have invented a method of 3D printing with seed-impregnated soil, which could be used to create walls and roofs teeming with plant life. Prototypes built by the researchers start off looking like ordinary raw-earth structures. But over the course of a few days, they sprout and become covered in greenery, leading

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ETH Zurich creates dramatically contoured concrete slab ceiling

July 8, 2022 Rima Sabina Aouf 0

Researchers at technology university ETH Zurich have created a deeply ridged ceiling called the HiRes Concrete Slab, which they claim saves energy while offering a spectacular aesthetic. The HiRes Concrete Slab is a prototype installed at ETH Zurich’s NEST research building in the Swiss city of Dübendorf, where it forms the ceiling of an office

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SFMOMA exhibition explores the architectural provocations of Neri Oxman

May 13, 2022 Rima Sabina Aouf 0

Exterior of SFMOMA with work by Neri Oxman

Melanin-enriched building materials and decomposing pavilions are among the pieces on show in San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition of Neri Oxman’s work, Nature x Humanity. Curator Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher discusses five key works. An architect, designer and pioneering materials researcher who founded The Mediated Matter Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and

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MIT engineers build load-bearing structures using tree forks instead of steel joints

May 5, 2022 Rima Sabina Aouf 0

Tree forks from the MIT Digital Structures research group

Discarded tree forks could replace load-bearing joints in architecture projects using a construction technique developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The system combines generative design and robotic fabrication to allow tree forks – the pieces of wood where a trunk or branch splits into two – to be used as the Y-shaped

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Smart Circular Bridge built with flax completes in The Netherlands

May 5, 2022 Rima Sabina Aouf 0

Almere flax bridge by Smart Circular Bridge project

The Eindhoven University of Technology has led a project building a bridge that is partly made from flax in The Netherlands, aiming to demonstrate the material’s potential to replace steel in construction. The bridge in the city of Almere is built from flax fibres combined with bio-resin and polyurethane foam blocks, creating a light and

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Dezeen Debate newsletter features 10 new construction materials

March 24, 2022 Karen Anderson 0

3D-printed mycelium Tree Column by Blast Studio with curvy silhouette

The latest edition of Dezeen Debate features 10 promising new construction materials. Following news that hemp could be used as a low-cost, low-carbon way of reinforcing concrete, we have rounded up 10 promising new construction materials, including plastic that’s stronger than steel and 3D-printed mushroom columns. Commenters are amazed. One called the materials “marvellous”. Other

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Ten future materials that could change the way we build

March 17, 2022 Rima Sabina Aouf 0

The race is on to engineer alternatives to traditional building materials that either perform better or tread more lightly on the planet. From super-strong plastics to fungus columns, we’ve rounded up 10 materials that could be the future of construction. 2DPA-1 super-strong plastic Invented by Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemical engineers, 2DPA-1 is light and mouldable

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Hemp rebar could offer low-cost, low-carbon alternative to steel

March 15, 2022 Rima Sabina Aouf 0

Hemp rebar by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Researchers at the USA’s Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have invented an alternative to steel rebar made from hemp, which they claim avoids the problem of corrosion while cutting carbon emissions from construction. The hemp rebar could be used to support concrete structures in the same way as steel and other rebars are today, but with a

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ICON and Lake Flato build 3D-printed House Zero in Austin

March 4, 2022 Ben Dreith 0

Construction technology outfit ICON and architecture studio Lake Flato have completed a 3D-printed, modern ranch-style home in Austin to be displayed during the SXSW festival. ICON, the company to first sell ready-to-own 3D homes in the US, worked with San Antonio and Austin-based architecture studio Lake Flato to design House Zero. The home is sited

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