LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.
Issue link: https://landscapearchitect.epubxp.com/i/120967
hardscapes news BIA Award Spotlight: Ogden Int���l School Above: Project designers Nagle Hartray Architecture (with associate architects Schroeder Murchie Niemiec GazdaAuskalnis) specified clay brick veneer on the exterior and interior of Chicago���s Ogden International School. The dual use connects the interior and exterior spaces, and the school���s brick and stone fa��ade connects it to neighboring buildings. The Chicago Public Schools��� building standards require safe, durable and sustainable new school construction, made to last 100 years. The design of the new Ogden International School of Chicago, however, varies significantly from the CPS school prototype. Bordered by an historic library, a Scottish Rite Cathedral, high-end condominiums and retail space, the surrounding neighborhood features buildings rich with historical significance. The selection of clay brick and masonry finish materials (Illinois Masonry Corp.) proved key to meeting this design challenge. The brick veneer serves as the first layer of protection for the building���s envelope, managing water and vapor migration with contiguous cavity insulation and fluidapplied air barrier systems. The ultimate goal of the cavity wall design is to keep the water out of the building and promote a safe, healthy and acoustically sound learning environment. Certified LEED Gold, the Ogden International School of Chicago has fulfilled the aspirational design goals of the Chicago Public School System, and earned a 2012 Brick in Architecture award for Best in Class Educational Design to boot. Light-Transmitting Concrete Fa��ade Premieres For the Aachen University project (pictured), designed by Aachen-based architects Carpus & Partner, optical fibers were incorporated into 136 separate 150cm by 50cm concrete panels, forming an area 30m wide by 4m high. Transparent Concrete���s Future in America Unclear Italian company Essroc Italcementi Group unveiled their trademarked i.light concrete in 2010 at the Shanghai World Expo, using the panels to build the Italian Pavilion (pictured). The transparent effect is most evident when seen from the outside at night. Translucent concrete panels, a singularly futuristic building material, still have not found a home in North America in the three years since their worldwide debut. ���The concrete is a proprietary product that uses a special mix of cement and chemicals that hold the resins together,��� said Christopher Eagon, the Ohio-based marketing manager for Essroc Italcementi���s North American offices. The 2010 Shanghai World Expo, the European-made transparent panels made their North American debut in October 2011 at the Greenbuild show in Toronto. Since then, no requests have been made for the material in North America ��� so far. The material has the same strength and crack-resistant abilities as standard concrete, 24 Landscape Architect and Specifier News Eagon said, but the polymer-based resins allow light to be transmitted through it. The resins are treated to protect against ultraviolet rays, so the transparency of the material will not change over time; the resins��� color can be changed, as can the shape and panel dimensions. In Shanghai, the panels covered about 40 percent of the pavilion, using almost 3,800 transparent panels made from 189 tons of transparent concrete. The cost to produce the material in North America has yet to be finalized, but estimates place the price at roughly $2,700 per square meter. The concrete panels, are guaranteed to last as long as a panel made from traditional concrete, and can be poured straight into forms at the building site. Concrete, the world���s most-used building material, is usually a drab backdrop for the people and events that live and work around it. A new ���media fa��ade,��� unveiled in December at RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany, is changing that with light-emitting concrete panels developed by German concrete manufacturer LUCEM. Each panel is fitted with color-changing technology, and the colors are timed to appear brighter approximately one hour before sunset. The light panels are made with red, green and blue chips, and can generate more than 16 million colors. The LED-panels are controlled using an internet-based DMX technology system, with each panel containing three percent optical fibers. The panels can be controlled independently, making the entire fa��ade into a large display screen. The light shows on the screen can be controlled via the Internet or a mobile device, and interactive elements such as text and logos can be displayed on the screen.