Story at a glance:
- A closer look at some of the latest sustainable products and projects, from a new arena to building materials
- Roca Tile USA offers highly resistant indoor and outdoor floor tiles and more.
- Zauben’s Model Z is a living wall designed with hydroponic technology that conserves 75% less water than plants grown in soil.
Living walls, tile, a coffee table book that inspires—these are just a few of our favorite sustainable building materials, products, and projects we’ve come across in spring 2021.
Greentiles
Pigment, pictured here, is Roca Yile USA’s terrazzo look. It has 50% recycled content and is part of the Greentiles program. Photo courtesy of Roca Tile USA
Greentiles are Roca Tile USA’s latest way of proving their commitment to the environment.
The company’s product range offers a wide selection of materials and designs for a variety of situations—from versatile wall tile to highly resistant indoor and outdoor floor tiles, including single colors, marble, wood, concrete, fabric, decorative tiles, and more.
Greentiles qualify for LEED points, so you have even more options for your next project. Roca Tile USA is an offshoot of the Roca Corporation—a global leader in manufacturing, distributing, and marketing high-quality ceramic and porcelain tile.
Evergreen Architecture by gestalten
Cover of “Evergreen Architecture,” gestalten 2021. Courtesy of gestalten
Publisher gestalten’s Evergreen Architecture showcases the many ways in which design can incorporate natural elements in spaces all over the world.
This beautiful combination coffee table book and educational resource includes the repurposing of unused spaces into biodiverse oases that filter rainfall pollutants, contribute to effective water management systems, enhance the energy efficiency of the buildings they adorn, and help to lower temperatures in urban areas.
Highlights include Milan’s Bosco Verticale, the Urban Forest in Brisbane, and Heatherwick Studio’s design for Maggie’s Leeds (pictured), a cancer support center. Available July 20 in the US.
Zauben
An example of a Zauben living wall. Photo courtesy of Zauben
Living wall and green roof company Zauben is breathing life back into the built environment with sustainable green products like Model Z—a living wall designed with hydroponic technology that conserves 75% less water than plants grown in soil.
Model Z self-irrigates and monitors plant health 24/7. Zauben’s products combine biophilic design with IoT sensor technology to monitor plant care while improving air quality. From $7,500.
Turf Reed Panels
Turf Design’s new Reed wall panels. Photo courtesy of Imperfct
Turf Design’s new Reed wall panel designs fuse texture and visual interest with impressive performance capabilities.
Turf panels are renowned for reducing sound and empty-room echo. Reed wall panels can be customized to fit any environment and design without sacrificing performance. Their undulating form is created by a dense row of fluted felt that is 60% pre-consumer recycled.
“As industry leaders begin to reshape the interiors of their organizational spaces, the issue of villainous echoes and noise becomes more eminent,” says Rob Perri, Turf’s president. “Our performance fosters a sense of peace and quiet, as the Reed Wall Panel soothes sound while helping to create groundbreaking ambiences.”
University of Texas at Austin Moody Center
Gensler designed the new University of Texas at Austin Moody Center to create stimulating urban spaces, integrating sports facilities with current and future UT development. Rendering courtesy of Gensler
Designed by Gensler in collaboration with Oak View Group, CAA ICON, Live Nation, and C3, The University of Texas at Austin Moody Center draws from Austin’s culture and sense of community as core design concepts by combining indoor and outdoor spaces.
The space plans to be green by recovering, reusing, and recycling 95% of all construction waste and reducing total water usage by using low-water plumbing inside and efficient irrigation technology outside.
The Moody Center is slated to be one of just two arenas in the US that cool from the bottom up, which experts say saves on energy costs. The Moody Center is targeting LEED Gold and is slated to be completed by spring 2022.
