Tag: Buildings

New Sciences Building’s Green Features Are Pure Gold – News Center

by Wei Fullmer on December 9, 2020 in Building Material

The Sciences Building was recognized for its environmental sustainability by the U.S. Green Building Council. The building was reviewed for the commitment to sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, indoor environmental quality and cutting-edge design.

The new Sciences Building has been awarded LEED Gold status by the U.S. Green Building Council, becoming the eighth building on The University of Texas at Dallas campus to earn LEED certification.

The Sciences Building joins the Engineering and Computer Science West building, the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center and the Bioengineering and Sciences Building as the only structures on campus to achieve

Tech It Out: Self-cleaning concrete helps prolong buildings’ life

by Wei Fullmer on October 27, 2020 in Building Material

Over 2,000 years ago, the Romans invented what we now know today as cement-based concrete. It is one of the world’s most crucial building materials, and is also the most prone to environmental risks.

With extensive exposure to air, rain and pollution, concrete structures tend to get dirty, discolored, and fractured. But scientists have found the future cement to help keep buildings safe.

Xu Xin, a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, said, the material’s surface can absorb water. When people reduce cement’s ability to retain water, it becomes hydrophobic.

Hydrophobic literally means “fear of water.”

University Buildings | Building Design + Construction

by Wei Fullmer on October 25, 2020 in Building Material

Emory Student Union, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Emory Student Union, at Emory University, Atlanta, the unanimous choice of the jury as this year’s Platinum Award winner in BD+C’s “Building Team Awards.”

October 24, 2020 |
ROBERT CASSIDY, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Emory University Student Center wins the top award in 2020 Building Team Awards

The wing-like exterior design of the Student Union is inspired by birds in flight and is meant to convey the school’s mission for innovation and discovery. All photos: Brad Feinknopf.

October 22, 2020 |
John Caulfield, Senior Editor

The Mori Hosseini Student Union at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University takes home a Silver Awa…

The Weekly show: Universal design in multifamily housing, reimagining urban spaces, back to campus trends

October

Wood buildings could combat climate change, study finds

by Wei Fullmer on August 7, 2020 in Building Material

Wikimedia Commons

Could wood buildings save the climate? New research from Yale indicates that the use of engineered wood in urban construction could help cities absorb excess carbon from the environment.

This collaborative study from Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the School of Architecture and colleagues from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany modeled the effects of building materials on carbon emissions and storage. They found that timber products have the potential to turn our buildings into carbon sinks.

“Natural carbon sinks such as land ecosystems and oceans have been able to offset anthropogenic emissions

Designing a flexible material to protect buildings, military personnel // Mizzou News // University of Missouri

by Wei Fullmer on August 1, 2020 in Building Material

May 26, 2020
Contact: Eric Stann, 573-882-3346, [email protected]

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Shake, rattle and roll.

A team of engineers at the University of Missouri has designed a flexible material that can help buildings withstand multiple waves of energy traveling through a solid material, including the ground motions found in earthquakes.

Even though they are miles from the epicenter of an earthquake, buildings can collapse due to how an earthquake’s energy makes the ground shake and rattle. Now, a team of engineers led by Guoliang Huang, a James C. Dowell Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University