In a collaboration with Japanese architecture firm Nikken Sekkei, Tokyo-based builder and developer Sumitomo Forestry released plans for a wood-and-steel-composite high-rise building template that would stand 350 meters (approximately 1,148 feet) tall. The concept plan, called W350, features balconies on all four sides of the mixed-use structure, and is intended "to create an environmentally friendly and timber-utilizing [city] where it becomes a forest through increased use of wooden architecture for high-rise buildings." The company hopes to complete the structure by 2041 in celebration of its 350th anniversary and estimates construction will cost $5.64 billion. [Sumitomo Forestry]
President Donald Trump unveiled his long-awaited infrastructure proposal this week. In it, the administration details plans to spur $1.5 trillion in private-public partnership investments in infrastructure improvements and construction with $200 billion in federal grants over the next 10 years. [ARCHITECT]
Snøhetta revealed plans for the world's first net-energy-positive hotel in northern Norway. The hotel is expected to generate its own power and consuming 85 percent less energy than a modern hotel, according to the firm. [ARCHITECT]
A team of researchers from Brown University and University of Nebraska–Lincoln has developed a new titanium-based material for making lead-free perovskite solar cells. Popularized in 2009 as a cheaper, silicon-free option for solar cells, perovskites typically contain lead. While the new material does not yield cells that are as efficient as perovskites yet, it represents a promising start for the material. [Brown University]
Researchers from MIT have developed a hardwired chip to protect Internet of Things devices using public-key cryptography, which is usually accomplished using software that requires large amounts of energy and memory storage. This chip reduces power consumption of public-key encryption by 99.75 percent and increases transaction speed 500-fold. [MIT]
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, one of two major U.S. companies pursing hyperloop transportation routes,signed an agreement with the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) and the Illinois Department of Transportation to explore potential routes between Cleveland and Chicago. NOACA voted in December to appropriate $600,000 for its share of the feasibility study. If constructed, the route would transport travelers between the two cities in under 30 minutes. [NOACA]
This week, the Rockefeller Foundation announced a $3.7 million grant to fund the Resilience Accelerator, a collaborative program between the foundation's 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) nonprofit and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. According to a 100RC press release, "the Resilience Accelerator will fast-track progress on eight separate projects over two years and will invest in high priority resilience projects in 100RC network cities." The grant money will also support Columbia's Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes. [100RC]
New York–based architecture firm DFA released concept plans for a mixed-use, flood-resistant complex that would be constructed above storm-surge levels on the Hudson River. The firm predicts that after the year 2050, an upper level observation deck would need to be repurposed into a new entryway due to sea level rise. [ARCHITECT]
