Concrete is susceptible to fluid and vapour infiltration and migration. Crystalline waterproofing technology improves the durability of the concrete by filling and plugging pores, capillaries, and micro-cracks with a non-soluble, highly resistant crystalline formation.
The winner of the 2020 International Highrise Award (IHP) for the world’s most innovative high-rise is the ‘Norra Tornen’ twin towers project in Stockholm, Sweden, designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam.
Design firm DIALOG has developed a prototype design that could see hybrid mass timber towers sprouting in major cities and climbing as high as 105 storeys. The patent-pending design will also produce hybrid timber towers that are zero-carbon—a made-in-Canada solution to one of the world’s most pressing issues: climate change.
When the topic of buildings and carbon emissions come up, most people think of climate control, minimizing power usage, and sourcing renewable electricity—all of these are important ways to do better by the environment. Operations are the major source of sustained, long-term emissions, and the primary focus of Canada’s Climate Action Plan as it relates to the commercial building sector. However, there is an opportunity to improve the environmental impact of buildings from the ground up.
CarbonCure Technologies, a Canadian cleantech company that develops carbon dioxide (CO2) removal (CDR) solutions for the concrete industry, has gotten an investment by leading technology and property developers.
Forty of the world’s top cement and concrete companies have unveiled a joint industry ‘2050 Climate Ambition.’ The statement demonstrates their commitment to drive down the carbon dioxide (CO2) footprint of the world’s most used manmade product, with an aspiration to deliver carbon-neutral concrete by 2050.
Designed by Snøhetta, the new timber office building for trekking and travel company ASI Reisen, situated in Natters, Austria, is inspired by a symbiosis between nature and humanity. Surrounded by a lush exterior, the four-storey structure combines timber frame construction with solid wooden elements to optimize material use and allow for the greatest amount of open floor plans.
Kamp C, a Belgium-based provincial centre for sustainability and innovation in construction, has printed a house using the largest 3D concrete printer in Europe. The 90-m2 (969-sf) dwelling was printed in one piece with a fixed printer. This is a world first, according to Kamp C.
Hot-dip galvanizing has been applied to reinforcing steel in concrete used for precast panels, barriers, and bridge decks since the early 1970s. While new technologies have surfaced in decades past, none have matched the performance or economic savings that galvanized reinforcing steel has delivered.
Concrete temperature monitoring becomes more critical in cold weather as low temperatures decrease the rate of strength development affecting the durability of the structure. For this reason, accurate and consistent temperature readings of concrete elements are important so that the quality of the structure is optimized.
