
Translucent Bricks
Glass bricks are not new to architecture. However, until now, they have not been suitable for producing load-bearing walls or providing effective thermal insulation. Empa, a Switzerland-based materials science and technology research institute, has developed a translucent glass brick that bests these feats. Researcher Jannis Wernery led a team—including Michal Ganobjak, Wim J. Malfait, Janis Just, Marcel Käppeli, Francisco Mancebo, and Samuel Brunner—that added silica aerogel, a high-performance insulating material, inside glass building bricks to lessen heat transmission. They also put offset spacers between the bricks’ glass panes to ensure stability and strength.
“The glass brick has a measured thermal conductivity of 53 mW/(m∙K) and a compressive strength of nearly 45 MPa. This is the highest insulating performance of any brick found in the technical literature, let alone on the market. Additionally, it comes with the property of light transmission,” an Empa press release said. The company's foray into making glass bricks that can withstand heavy loads in wall and façade applications, manage building temperatures with proper insulation, and provide AEC professionals with an aesthetic option they did not have before, can change the way buildings look and behave. [Empa]
Carbon-negative Concrete

According to a 2022 study published in Resources, Conservation & Recycling Advances, more than four billion tons of Portland cement—an ingredient used to make concrete—are manufactured yearly, representing about 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. In the last 65 years, global demand for the material has increased tenfold.
Researchers at Washington State University—Xianming Shi, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and doctoral student Zhipeng Li—set out to produce a carbon-negative concrete that would be nearly as strong as conventional concrete. “The researchers infused regular cement with environmentally friendly biochar, a type of charcoal made from organic waste, that had been strengthened beforehand with concrete wastewater. The biochar was able to suck up to 23% of its weight in carbon dioxide from the air while still reaching a strength comparable to ordinary cement,” a WSU Insider article says about the research.
Their findings, published in Materials Letters early last month, could help reduce the cement and concrete manufacturing sectors' carbon footprints. [Washington State University Insider]
Bioplastics and the Environment

ARCHITECT columnist Blaine Brownell, FAIA, explores a recent breakthrough in bioplastics that could "redefine plastic as a much more environmentally responsible material," he writes in his latest. “As we face the grim realities of our oil-based plastic problem, PHA offers an enticing solution that promises to reduce the quantity of global plastic waste, petrochemical dependence, and adverse human health effects.” [ARCHITECT]
Education Architecture in Latin America

The Center for Architecture in New York will present an exhibition entitled CAMPUS AULA: Educational Architecture in Latin America that explores nine university projects in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru that redefined the educational experience in their respective locales. Curators Jeannette Plaut and Marcelo Sarovic, co-founders of the Santiago, Chile-based architectural platform, CONSTRUCTO, selected the schools, they believe, that integrated themselves into their surrounding communities and accounted for social and cultural ways of living.
"Educational processes require spaces of coexistence that foster encounters—places for shared activities and emotions,” Plaut and Sarovic said in a press release. "The projects exhibited in CAMPUS AULA include flexible, multiprogrammatic spaces where new types of learning can occur, as well as places that mediate the relationship between the interior and exterior, reinforcing the importance of the student experience with the broader context."
The exhibition will be on display from May 4 to September 2 and will run in conjunction with the AIA New York 2023 Design Awards exhibition—which features recipients of The American Institute of Architects New York’s annual awards program that honors the work of AIANY members, New York–based architects, and stellar projects in the Big Apple. [Center for Architecture]
Jellyfish-inspired Robots that Could Clean Oceans

The Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems is a collective of scientists who research machine learning and robotics in Germany. Roboticists at the institute have created a jellyfish-inspired, underwater robot that, they hope, can collect waste on ocean floors. The apparatus, which is about the size of a human hand, can trap trash underneath its body without coming into contact with sensitive ocean life such as coral reefs.
"When a jellyfish swims upwards, it can trap objects along its path as it creates currents around its body. In this way, it can also collect nutrients. Our robot, too, circulates the water around it,” Tianlu Wang, a postdoctoral researcher at the institute, said in a news brief. “This function is useful in collecting objects such as waste particles. It can then transport the litter to the surface, where it can later be recycled. It is also able to collect fragile biological samples such as fish eggs. Meanwhile, there is no negative impact on the surrounding environment. The interaction with aquatic species is gentle and nearly noise-free.” [Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems]
Racist Overtones at Milan Design Week
A collection of glass figurines with racist overtones was on display during Milan Design Week 2023 in an exhibition entitled Campo Base produced by six Italian architecture firms—including Massimo Adario in Rome; Giuliano Andrea dell’Uva in Naples; Eligostudio in Milan; Marcante-Testa in Turin; Hannes Peer in Milan; and Studiopepe in Milan—and curated by Federica Sala, editor of The Good Life Italia. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Hello Human—a PR company that connects independent creatives with like-minded journalists—said the figures “depicted Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Indigenous people as sub-human, reinforcing demeaning and racist stereotypes. Our first question is how could something like this happen at Milan Design Week in 2023?”
“What has become very apparent from various conversations we have had with various people in our industry, is that many still do not understand why these figures are so deeply offensive,” Hello Human continued in the deleted Instagram post’s caption. “This includes the curator and designer of the show and many others who belong to the wider show. There is a clear lack of communication and dialogue happening within the design industry, something we desperately need all roles within the industry to work on in order for this not to happen again.” [Elle Decor]
The Remedy for Supply Chain Issues

During the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chain issues wreaked havoc on several businesses and manufacturers. According to a Penn State news article, researchers at the university say that although the complexity of supply chain logistics can contribute to delays and disruptions, “complex and diverse supply chains may actually protect cities from shortages under stress.”
The research team comprising Nazlı B. Doğan, Alfonso Mejia, and Michael Gomez shared their findings in Urban Sustainability, with one takeaway being that complex supply chains can be resilient during tough times. “We found that complexity can be a good thing,” Mejia said in in the Penn State story. “Cities with diverse supply chains—sources from a broad range of domestic and global suppliers—appear to be better protected against shocks and experience less-intense shortages.” [Pennsylvania State University]
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