Buildings

Everyone has scraped or cut themselves at one point or another. Once a finger has an unfortunate encounter with the edge of a knife or your knee falls against rough pavement, exposed skin is damaged and you start bleeding. It's all temporary, though. A scar is eventually all that is left from a painful injury. Machines aren't so lucky. Tiny cracks that form in all plastic structures widen over time. Fixing these cracks before they become an issue would increase the overall integrity of anything made from plastics. This isn't an unrealistic concept: In 2001 aeronautics engineers at the University of Illinois developed a self-healing man made material. The idea was to eliminate microscopic...

Modern urban centers from Manhattan to Hong Kong now boast neighborhoods that house well over 100,000 people per square mile, while providing their inhabitants an excellent quality of life. As world civilization voluntarily and inexorably urbanizes, new megacities will be built everywhere. It is estimated that within the next few decades the number of megacities on earth - defined as an urbanized area with over 10 million inhabitants - will increase from around 20 today to over 400. So what innovations being pioneered today will enable cities like this to provide a high quality of life, and how will cities of such size and density reduce their vulnerability to economic or physical...

After spending 25 years designing over 600 communities in 45 states and 10 countries, we wrote the book Prefurbia to make an awareness for those involved in the processes of land development about new ideas, techniques and methods that we had discovered relating to suburban site design. In addition to these new methods, the book explains problems with the current regulatory systems, mostly caused by our minimums based regulations, and ending with an example of a new type of "rewards based" ordinance. No matter how great it may be, any development plan is secondary to the presentation. The site plan is only part of the process to approval - the best site plan is only as good as the...

The push to reduce energy consumption is broad and deep. And for homeowners who are looking to reduce their energy costs, there are standard practices, such as turning down the thermostat, changing out light bulbs and purchasing energy-efficient appliances. But the U.S. building sector's energy consumption is still expected to increase by 35 percent between now and 2025 and commercial energy demand is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 1.6 percent, reaching 25.3 quads (1015 Btu) in 2025. That translates into a critical need to develop and deploy emerging energy-efficient technologies that can deliver reliable energy and peak-demand reductions throughout the lifespan of...

When innovative buildings pop up in the news, no one is ever surprised to hear that the next architectural wonder will be built in the UAE. Dubai, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi all seem to be competing in the green building department. The eventual goal is for buildings to generate much of their own energy. Burj-al-Taqa (translated to mean energy tower), which will hopefully break ground in Dubai soon, follows this principle and will supposedly be completely self-sufficient. Plans for its creation began in 2007 when the German architect Eckhard Gerber, dreamt up the design. Virtual images of the building popped up in hundreds of articles and we all wondered if this candle-shaped building would...

Sitting on a beach is the last thing most of us think about in the cold month of December, but it is an appealing escape. Beaches are the most popular destination spot and who could blame the millions of tourists whose tension is washed away by warm waves, exotic drinks and sunny skies. Nothing is ever perfect, though. The ocean may be too cold, and the sand is often scalding hot. It is just the nature of the beast and humans have to accept the fact that we cannot control everything. Yet, designers in Dubai may disagree. The Palazzo Versace Hotel, breaking ground on Dubai's coastline, is planning on creating its very own climate. The hotel's sand will never burn sensitive soles thanks to a network of heat...

Research teams at Clemson, UCLA and the University of Southampton in the UK are pioneering novel nanoscale sensors for detecting environmental toxins and other harmful airborne chemical and biological agents. At Clemson, researchers have developed nanoscale cantilevers that potentially could be placed in a handheld device and used for real-time chemical alerts in detecting harmful gases on the battlefield, in healthcare and even at home. The nanoscale cantilevers look like tiny diving boards under an electron microscope. Researchers have found that the cantilevers can vibrate much like a guitar string. By measuring the amplitude and frequency under different conditions, the scientists...

Venice floods more than one hundred times a year. At the beginning of this month, Venice was caught in another onslaught, as the sea level around the city rose higher than most people can remember. The last time locals and countless visitors had to wade through water this deep was over thirty years ago. It is floods like the most recent one that make it clear how important a flood barrier really is. Things were different a century ago when floods occurred at an average of ten times a year, but Venice has always been sensitive to changes in water levels because the city itself is built on hundreds of small islands. It doesn't help that Venice is sinking a few centimeters every year, as...

An apartment with a view is coveted property. After a hard day at work, sitting down in front of a panoramic window while sipping a glass of wine is a wonderful way to unwind. A decent view is hard to come by. Not only that, but when actually given options, it may be hard to decide between the ocean view, city view, west side, or east side facing apartments. The answer: Individual rotating floors. Just make a choice and viola! The apartment slowly turns to face whatever you are in the mood to see that day. Dubai, home to 1/3 of the world's cranes, is constantly expanding. High rise buildings, hotels and skyscrapers are popping up like daisies. The latest technology and newest ideas are...

Solar panels have been the topic of thousands of articles over the past couple of years. It seems like everyone is going pro-solar, but there is one thing that few people have addressed: Dirt. Solar panels glisten in the sun after first being installed, and make any building look modern, shiny and new when viewed from above. But after a little while, these panels reflect a little less and don't function as well. Tree branches hanging overhead drop sap onto anything below, flocks of birds leave behind a mess after spending the night overhead while dust, grime and mold adds to the layers of dirt already coloring the solar panels a splotchy brown. Dirt is a major problem with solar panels...

Few plants show up on the table in as many forms as the soybean. This hairy legume has been an important component of various foods and drugs in asia for over 5,000 years. In that time, it has been squeezed, pressed, boiled and engineered into soymilk, tofu, edamame, sprouts, flour, or vegetarian cheeses. Soybean oils are also found in soaps, cosmetics, plastics, clothes and biodiesel. Soy is everywhere and now we can literally surround ourselves with the stuff by using it as foam insulation in our homes. Insulation is appealing to homeowners because it reduces energy costs: A properly insulated home will stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter since the flow of heat...

Cities are hot: Filled with skyscrapers, traffic and hot pavement, heat simmers between buildings causing the "heat island effect". Stagnant heat is trapped in the narrow city gaps and air conditioners cooling the inside of buildings spill even more heat out the walls. Trees offering natural cooling and shade are minimal and soil that helps water evaporation (thereby cooling the area) is non existent. Replacing the trees and soil are dark streets that store heat and reach temperatures up to 70F (21C) hotter than lighter surfaces. Stifling heat is depressing (unless you're at the beach), and the added smog and clouds that form because of it, don't help matters either. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that...