Landscape Architect & Specifier News

FEB 2013

LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.

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hardscapes news Brick Award Spotlight: Carmel City Center Above: Construction under the central flush fountain in Hanover Square called for the pavers to be mortar set over a waterproof base. Left: The Brick in Architecture-awardwinning Carmel City Center includes luxury apartments and commercial space sited on two acres of claypaved city streets, a roundabout, and urban plazas punctuated with fountains. In August 2010, the first phase of Indiana's Carmel City Center development brought 62,000 square feet of commercial space and luxury apartments to the Indianapolis suburb. The project's design team, led by Pedcor Design Group (PDG), chose clay pavers for the plazas, streets, and public ways to match the brick on the exterior walls of the surrounding buildings. Seismic design considerations required separating the buildings from walkways and streets, and setting the parking garage below an elevated plaza deck. The resulting paver design was so complex that the craftsmen laid a matrix of 42 unique paver sizes and patterns using seven different colors. The walkways and street expansion systems also integrated pavers and a setting bed into the overall design. At wet areas around the central fountain in Hanover Square, pavers were mortar-set over a rubber polymer waterproof membrane. Expansion joints were included in the pavement design to accommodate paver movement and create a watertight condition. Engineered slopes were necessary to accommodate pedestrian usage and integration of the fountain equipment into the plaza construction. Except at the fountain, the pavers were set on a bituminous setting bed. The Carmel City Center development and its team, including PDG, project builder and brick mason Smock Fansler Corporation, and paver manufacturer The Belden Brick Company, was named Best in Class by the Brick Industry Association for Paving and Landscape Architecture Design in the 2012 Brick in Architecture Awards. Concrete Advantages Found in Jute Fibers Researchers noted that interest in reinforcing cement compositions with economical, sustainable natural fibers instead of steel or synthetics is surging. Researchers Create Bricks With Paper Waste Spanish scientists are developing a method of crafting clay bricks with a mixture of waste from paper products. Adding waste to the brick making process allows organic content material to help fuel the machines, which could reduce fuel consumption. Researchers in Spain are taking sustainability to new lengths by making bricks out of paper waste, though the process will need more fine-tuning before the pavers see the light of a local backyard. To make the bricks, a team of scientists from Spain's University of Jaen gathered cellulose waste from a paper mill, along with sludge left over from the purification of the plant's wastewater. Both were then mixed with building clay, pressurized, and extruded in one long sausage-like piece. That "sausage" was sliced into brick shapes and fired in a kiln. The researchers found 22 Landscape Architect and Specifier News the paper content required less firing time, potentially saving on energy and production costs, and the bricks tested with better insulating properties than standard bricks. Though the brick forms were small, fullsize units were created and reportedly displayed similar qualities. The mechanical resistance of the bricks was found to be lacking during testing, however – registering better than the legal minimums, but lesser than conventional bricks. Additional waste material from products like beer, biodiesel and even sewage are being tested to improve the mixture. A new report from the American Chemical Society has discovered the benefits of jute — the cheap fiber used to make burlap, twine and other common products – as an inexpensive, sustainable reinforcement for mortar and concrete. A previous study proved that jute, which is second only to cotton as the most widely used natural fiber, reinforces cement compositions and improves resistance to cracks. The new study discovered that adding jute fibers also delays the hardening of concrete and mortar, which must be trucked to construction sites.

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