For many, 2020 represents a milestone for assessing existing sustainability goals. Increasingly, this aim merges the development of innovative processes and applications with ecologically beneficial goals. The following examples are paradigmatic building blocks for 2020:
One of the most emblematic building blocks is the clay brick, a simple yet energy-intensive material unit. Gabriela Medero, a civil engineering professor at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, has developed an alternative brick boasting an environmental footprint that is less than 10% of a standard module. Composed primarily of pulverized construction debris, the so-called K-Briq is sourced and manufactured on the site of local Hamilton Waste & Recycling and fabricated under pressure without the use of a kiln. “The K-Briq looks like a normal brick, weighs the same, and behaves like a clay brick but offers better insulation properties,” Medero said in a BBC interview. “It is sustainable and not kiln-fired so it is far better for the environment.”
The prevalence of “live” materials has also gained ground over the last decade. In 2010, North Carolina–based architectural designer and BioMason CEO Ginger Krieg Dosier made headlines with her modified version of a brick created with Sporosarcina pasteurii bacteria. More recently, scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder have similarly created a bio-designed block using microbial builders. In this case, the researchers inoculate Synechococcus cyanobacteria, which similarly synthesize calcium carbonate by absorbing carbon dioxide, within a gelatin-infused sand solution. The resulting material, which requires no firing and thus no kiln, not only exhibits improved environmental performance but also has the durability of conventional brick. The building modules remain “alive” after fabrication, with between 9% and 14% of bacterial colonies still growing after 30 days. The living material embodies an uncanny regenerative capacity: Even if a brick is split, the pieces are theoretically capable of growing into whole units.
Source, a roof-mounted hydropanel, maximizes water harvesting. Developed by Scottsdale, Ariz.–based Zero Mass Water, Source is an off-grid water-capturing device that requires just air and sunlight. A single Source array consisting of two 4-foot-by-8-foot hydropanels delivers between 4 and 10 liters of freshwater a day—enough drinking water for one to four people. Each array can store up to 60 liters of water, which is mineralized by the system with magnesium and calcium for optimal electrolyte balance and taste.
This story was excerpted from PROSALES’s sister publication ARCHITECT.
