Researchers from Northwestern University, in Evanston, Ill., have developed a plan for significantly reducing the carbon emissions that result from the production of concrete, the second most used substance in the world, behind water. In the report "Decarbonizing Concrete: Deep decarbonization pathways for the cement and concrete cycle in the United States, India and China," the researchers, in collaboration with San Francisco–based ClimateWorks Foundation, outline the full life cycle of cement and concrete, pinpointing "key decarbonization levers and opportunities," according to a Northwestern press release. “One clear conclusion we arrived at in the course of our research is that there is no single solution, but rather a range of small and large changes that will be necessary to achieve net-zero emission targets,” said project lead Eric Masanet, in the same release. The report examines two different approaches to concrete production—a production-centric approach and a whole-system approach—and offers 30 different decarbonizing solutions, such as utilizing efficient kilns and bioderived fuels. [Northwestern University]
Harvard University's Graduate School of Design has announced the four finalists for its Wheelwright Prize. Now in its ninth cycle, the prize awards $100,000 to a "talented early-career architect to support expansive, intensive design research," according to a GSD press release. This year's finalists are Germane Barnes, founder of the Miami-based Studio Barnes; Puerto Rican architect and artist Luis Berríos-Negrón; Iulia Statica, co-founder of Office for Architecture, Urban, and Environmental Research in New York and London; and Catty Dan Zhang, assistant professor of architecture for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Read more about the Wheelwright Prize and last year's winner, Daniel Fernández Pascual, here. [Harvard GSD]
Aiming to reduce the waste generated while creating custom 3D printed objects, researchers from the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering have crafted a moving platform that dynamically supports objects as they're printed, eliminating the need for printed supports, conserving materials and improving the sustainability of 3D printing. “When you’re 3-D printing complex shapes, half of the time you are building the parts that you need, the other half of the time you’re building the supports," said Yong Chen, a lead researcher and professor of industrial and systems engineering, in a USC press release. "[I]n terms of printing time, we have a savings of about 40%.” [USC Viterbi]
The residents of Crenshaw, a majority-Black neighborhood in Los Angeles, have raised $28 million to purchase a nearby 43-acre site, hoping to transform the property's abandoned mall into a mixed-use project that meets the needs of its community, not the needs of developers. "As the area gentrifies, there are concerns about people being forced to move out of the neighborhood because they can’t afford to stay," writes Adele Peters for Fast Company. "It’s the latest of a long list of pressures on Black Angelenos, from neighborhoods that were razed to build midcentury highways to disinvestment." [Fast Company]
The Swedish city of Kiruna is on the move. After decades of iron ore extraction deformed its landscape, the Arctic city will shift 2 miles to the east—but how can an entire city's worth of buildings actually move? That's the question facing the Gothenburg, Sweden–based firm White Arkitekter and the Oslo, Norway–based firm Ghilardi + Hellsten Arkitekter, the winning team now responsible for the relocation and new master plan. The winning team has planned the move over a series of phases scheduled to help the city and its residents "crawl" to Kiruna's new location, aiming to preserve "its character and collective memory," according to a White Arkitekter project description. [White Arkitekter]
Almost two months have passed since a winter storm hit Texas, leaving more than 4 million residents without power and water. Researchers from Texas A&M University are hoping to outline precautions to prevent future power disasters. Chanan Singh and doctoral student Arun Karngala studied the distribution of power through the grid, creating a "reliability framework" that can assist utility companies for "uncertainties that may arise," according to a Texas A&M press release. The framework can also measure the impact of solar panels. “If the installed solar capacity is increased from one time the peak demand to two times the peak demand, the reliability indices show steady improvement," Karngala said in the release. "The improvement in indices tapers off after the installed solar capacity is increased more than 2.5 times the peak demand.” [Texas A&M]
Autodesk has released Revit 2022, a new edition of the BIM software that includes a number of customer-requested features. "With Revit 2022, we doubled down on where Revit is most useful to you," states Autodesk product marketer David Smolker in a blog post. "Based on your feedback and popular requests, we are delivering more effective design to documentation workflows, improved interoperability for project teams across all stages of design, and a raft of design productivity enhancements that will raise the quality of life when working in Revit." [ARCHITECT]
Got a new or recently introduced building product or collection? ARCHITECT has extended the deadline for its annual Product Call to the final deadline of April 21. [ARCHITECT]
