Construction

Three reasons concrete doesn’t live up to its environmental claims Author Alice Moncaster Senior Lecturer in Engineering, The Open University Up to 8% of all global anthropogenic human-made emissions are due to just one material, cement. And our use of it is rising. The cement and concrete industry is encouraging this use, for example, by claiming that using concrete will reduce the “whole life” carbon emissions from buildings. The absence of regulations to measure this has allowed such claims to play an important role in persuading designers and specifiers to use certain products. However, research conducted by my colleagues and...

Road to nowhere: why the suburban cul-de-sac is an urban planning dead end Author Timothy Welch Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland The cul-de-sac is a suburban trap. It’s virtually useless as a road, doesn’t support public transport, cycling or walking, and doesn’t work well as a play or gathering place. Its literal translation from the French is “bottom of a sack” – which sounds a lot less glamorous, you’ll agree. And yet we persist with them. The calls for more housing that resonate across many urban societies almost always include plans to repurpose broad swathes of agricultural land...

House under the hill in Nashtarood, Iran by mrk office / Mohammad Reza Kohzadi Project name: House under the hill Architecture firm: mrk office Location: Nashtarud, Tonekabon County, Mazandaran Province, Iran Tools used: AutoCAD, Rhinoceros 3D, SketchUp, Lumion, Adobe Photoshop Principal architect: Mohammad Reza Kohzadi Design team: Mohammad Reza Kohzadi, Mohammad Aghajani Collaborators: Visualization: Built area: 327 m² Site area: 5304 m² Design year: Completion year: 2021 Client: Private Status: Under Construction Typology: Residential › House mrk office: In this project, due to the special position of the site in terms of topography and surrounding landscape, it has been tried...

Samira Rathod designs Cool House to protect occupants from hot Indian summers Indian studio Samira Rathod Design Atelier has completed a house in Bharuch with inward-facing windows and courtyards that draw breezes through the building to keep it cool during the hot summer months. The studio headed by architect Samira Rathod designed Cool House as a direct response to the context, geography and climate of its site in Bharuch, a city in Gujarat in western India with an extremely hot and arid summer climate. Cool House was designed by Samira Rathod Design Atelier "The name Cool House has come from the...

Olson Kundig unveils Austin home with cantilevered walkways Metal siding, cantilevers and a rolling window supported by counterweights that slides into the floor characterise Caddy Shack in Austin by Olson Kundig. Located in Austin, Texas, the rusted steel-clad home was completed for a retired professional golfer. It uses a stilt system to hover above a ravine in a suburban neighbourhood. Caddy Shack is located on a steep site The main entry is at the top of the slope. Most of the living spaces are on this middle level, which is accessed from a bridge at the same elevation as the street....