Landscape Architect & Specifier News

FEB 2015

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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ORCO Block & Hardscape www.orco.com took home the award for Most Sustainable Manufacturer at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Orange County Chapter's "Greenest in the County" Eco-Awards. The awards not only recognize sustainable practices, but also educating the public about sustainable business practices. ORCO President Rick Muth pointed to the company's leadership in energy efficiency, waste reduction/recycling and water reduction. Since 1946, ORCO has employed dry-cast manufacturing methodology, using just enough cement to provide the specified strength. More recently, the company has re-engineered its products to contain pre and post-consumer recycled content and locally sourced aggregates to meet the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED criteria for low impact development. Pre-insulated concrete masonry block walls, for example, do not require large construction staging areas, but because of their mass lessen air conditioning and heating loads on buildings. The ORCO staff has six LEED APs, including Veronica Slavik, the corporate development director. The company also offers environmental programs for its six manufacturing plants. USGBC's Orange County "Greenest in the County" Eco-Awards event was held September 25, 2014. Other award winners included LPA Inc., Snyder Langston, Chapman University and the city of Anaheim, recognized with its second Biennial Eco-City award. 20 Landscape Architect and Specifier News h a rd s c a p e s n e w s Cobblestone Controversy Continues For the first time, the Ada County Highway District has installed permeable pavers in downtown Boise, Idaho. The pavers will go in two downtown alleyways, one between 3rd and 4th streets north of Main Street, and one between 13th and 14th streets north of Main. The alleys typically puddle water. ACHD spokesman Nicole Pineda told the Idaho Statesman the preparation for the pavers included digging out the space, pouring a cement border, then adding layers of aggregate and gravel. The pavers are gapped with gravel to infiltrate stormwater. Two alleys in downtown Boise are the first locations for installation of permeable pavers by the county highway district. Pho Tos: Ad A Coun Ty highwAy disTriCT The center of rome is paved in beveled black basalt cobbles called sampietrini, meaning "little stones of st. Peter's," indicating they were used at the Piazza san Pietro, but also for all the main streets during the pontificate of Pope sixtus V (1585 to 1590). The stone is good for carriages, but not for modern high-speed vehicles. The stones are slippery when wet, and prone to potholes. replacements stones are difficult to produce, and only a very small cadre of people are trained in replacing the old cobblestones. PhoTo: wikiPediA. CreATiVe Commons Eco-Awards " Put a tongue in every wound of Caesar, that should move the stones of Rome to rise and mutiny." —Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene ii Rome has had cobblestoned streets and pathways for some 2,000 years. Today's major thoroughfares in Rome's central, historic district are still cobbled. While the city has been talking about removing cobblestone from streets for years, it appears there's new impetuous to remove them from the Via Nazionale (pictured) as a traffic safety measure. The cobblestones were placed in the 16th and 17th centuries. Rome's new alderman for public works, Maurizio Pucci, got some international attention in December 2014 when he said the public works council wanted to remove cobblestones on both roads and pedestrian ways, and replace it with smooth asphalt to make the roads safer for drivers and pedestrians, while requiring less maintenance. Following that announcement, Rome City Councilor Maurizio Pucci suggested that in lieu of paying contractors to remove cobblestones, the contractors could keep the stones, and essentially sell them to the highest bidder. While not denying that cobblestones will be removed from the Via Nazionale to improve road motoring, Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino denied any "selling off" of the historic cobblestones, indicating they would be reused for nonvehicular areas. Viviana Di Capua, president of the Association of Historic Centre Inhabitants, noted that while cobblestones are integral to Rome's identity, they haven't been maintained very well. Rome airport screeners occasionally find cobblestone or pieces of mosaics taken as souvenirs in travel bags. orCo Block & hardscape headquarters in stanton, Calif., shows off the use of its concrete masonry units, and permeable 'Pavingstones'. PhoTo: PrnewsFoTo/orCo BloCk & hArdsCAPe Permeable Pavers Right Up Boise's Alley After Before

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