Famed architect Wallace Neff spent his final days in a 1,000-square-foot concrete bubble house. He first designed these structures near the end of WW2, when the government was looking for low-cost solutions to the upcoming housing shortage. Read on for instructions on how to build your own!...
Concrete “listening ears” were replaced by radar, but they left an impact on designers. Matali Crasset, the artistic director of French concrete specialist Concrete by LCDA, has created a collection of concrete furniture, including a lamp shaped like the military listening devices. ...
Devastating fires in California continue to burn. The namesake of one of the massive fires, the Getty Center, was built knowing that a fire of this magnitude was a serious possibility. Richard Meier designed it to be fire and earthquake safe with ?????????? ???????? ?????......
The Getty Fire rages on. Neighborhoods are evacuated. Homes are destroyed. Firefighters “…make some tough decisions on which houses they were able to protect. Concrete homes tended to survive.”...
Built with ICFs, this complex is certified with the National Green Building Standard with the Emerald certification and is considered ??? ?? ??? “???? ?????? ????????? ????????? ????? ???? ?????” in Stevensville, Maryland....
We recently stumbled upon the website “Trees Full of Money” and their outstanding article on ICF construction inspired by an episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. This is a great article to share with contacts who have questions re ICF, as they describe the product, process & benefits. ...
... which opened in Oct.1959. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built for $3 million, it remains a stunning example of the beauty and flexibility of concrete. Wright wanted to use stone, but concrete was less expensive. It took 7000 cubic feet of concrete and 700 tons of structural steel...
Urban Heat Islands: UHI is when a city experiences much warmer temperatures than nearby rural areas. We know the cause is the different surfaces in each environment and how much heat they absorb and hold. One might assume that concrete is the cause. In fact, it can be a solution....
"Every time a car drives down the road, it leaves little bits of its tires, little bits of its brake pads, little bits of its exhaust. Then when it rains, that rain carries all of that pollution into Puget Sound. That is part of what is killing our salmon and killing the ecosystem."...
All new lots in New Orleans must (use porous paving) in city's fight with water woes. New Orleans is a city often inundated by water and, just as often, a city frustrated in its attempts to deal with it. Article by BY JESSICA WILLIAMS | STAFF WRITER at The Times-Picayune...
A big thank you to everyone who came out for the Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF) training in Salt Lake City last week! 150 contractors and other professionals involved in the construction industry signed up and 140 showed up! Fortunately, everyone was gracious when we ran out of seats and it became ...
High-performance ICF envelopes and lower renewable energy costs make energy efficient schools. ICF systems construction is faster, easier and less labor intensive than other methods, offsetting solar panel costs. "The most cost-effective way to save energy is not to need it!"...
The New York Times published...aerial images showing a mile-long stretch of Mexico Beach where at least three-quarters of the buildings were damaged, but Dr. Lackey saw his [concrete home] still standing, majestic amid the apocalyptic wreckage, the last surviving beachfront house on his block....
Buildings both contribute to and are vulnerable to climate change. In the U.S., the heating, cooling, and operation of buildings and homes account for more than 40% of carbon dioxide emissions each year—more emissions than are produced by either transportation or industry....
In a typical year, fire departments are called to more than 1.7 million fires, one every 18 seconds. Over 80,000 are in apartments, 2,000 in hotels and motels, and 740 in dormitories. These structure fires cause more than $9 billion in property damage each year, about half in residential properties....
A new study by researchers based at Oregon State University and the University of Idaho corroborates Center for Sustainable Economy’s 2015 and 2017 research demonstrating that logging is by far the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon and that changes in greenhouse gas accounting...