Landscape Architect Articles

LASN PMBR News November 200511-07-05 | News

Brick Ordinance Would Dictate New Home Building Materials

Columbia, Illinois wants to require brick for new homes.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports, that the Columbia, Ill. city council will require 50 percent of new houses in a subdivision to have brick on three sides, 30 percent to have brick on the face and the other 20 percent can have any other material. Columbia, Ill. is one of the fastest growing suburbs in the metropolitan St. Louis area, located 12 miles from downtown St. Louis.

Alderman Jeffrey Huch went on record to show his opposition to the ordinance, as the proposed brick ordinance was sent to the city attorney to be put in its final draft form. At the city council meeting, Huch was reported objecting to dictating the aesthetics of homes, and said that the community already shows diversity in new home materials. The ordinance, planning and zoning committee still needs another look at the draft before it goes to the city zoning board for a public hearing and vote, and then back to the city council for a final vote.

Water-Retentive Pavers Help Reduce Heat In Urban Areas

Heat islands are quickly becoming a problem in urban areas around the world. They are essentially a bubble of hot air which can engulf an entire city. The radiant heat emanating from paved areas and buildings, which retain solar heat, generates the hot air.

To help alleviate this problem, the Matsuo Corp. in Ibaraki, Japan has developed a water-retentive pavement called Eco-Pavers, which are made from recycled waste materials such as concrete, asphalt and the incinerated ash of urban garbage. The Eco-Pavers are nearly as strong as ordinary pavement blocks. (According to Matsuo Corp., their strength is about 60 percent of that of ordinary pavement blocks.) Unlike regular pavement, they absorb and retain rainwater and groundwater. When retained water evaporates, the heat on the surface of roads is reduced through vaporization, resulting in lower temperatures in the area. The blocks retain water as a result of a process called ?EUR??,,????'??vibration concrete molding.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??We knead a thick concrete in a mixer, put it into molds, press and vibrate it into shape and then remove it from the molds quickly,?EUR??,,????'?? said Hitoshi Nishiwake, president of Matsuo Corp. ?EUR??,,????'??As our concrete is thick, water-retaining voids remain in the finished product.?EUR??,,????'?? According to the size of the voids, the paver blocks become either water-permeable or water-retentive. The retentive blocks will always retain and store water due to the capillary phenomenon of the voids. The blocks were first tested on the lots of privately owned houses.

The surface temperature of the Eco-Pavers was lower than the air temperature by 2-3? C and lower than the surface temperature of ordinary paver blocks by 10? C or more.

Source: Daily Yomiuri Online

Some Bemoan Replacing Brick Sidewalks with Cement

The sidewalks in old town Noblesville, Ind. are bumpy, have gaps and broken-up bricks, with vegetation growing up through the spaces, and will be replaced with four-foot-wide concrete sidewalks.

The Noblesville Times (Indiana) reports that some neighbors on Hannibal Street between 10th and 14th Streets, part of old town Noblesville, are at odds with the city replacing the aging brick sidewalks in front of their homes with a more pedestrian/biking friendly smooth cement sidewalk. The bricks, some residents feel, is what gives the neighborhood character.

The Noblesville Engineering Department, however, aims to make city sidewalks safer and in compliance with federal guidelines for disability access. Some residents have taken bricks from the sidewalks as keepsakes before contractors start the demolition. The sidewalks on South 10th Street have been replaced with a ?EUR??,,????'??stencil?EUR??,,????'?? concrete surface that resembles brick. The project, funded with a federal grant, also calls to replace curbs and resurface the street.

Gulf Rebuilding Will Push Cement Consumption to Record Levels

While it is hardly surprising, rebuilding the Gulf region will push cement consumption even higher than current record levels. Portland Cement Association (PCA) sources estimate rebuilding New Orleans will require at least 4 million tons of cement during the next four to five years. Disruption of the cement supply due to port closures in New Orleans is expected to have a minimal effect. Katrina is being considered the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. Estimates put property damage in excess of $125 billion.

?EUR??,,????'??Normally hurricanes cause excessive wind damage, blowing off roofs,?EUR??,,????'?? notes Ed Sullivan, chief economist for the PCA. ?EUR??,,????'??Water is responsible for most of the structural harm in New Orleans. Because of this bottom-up damage, high-concrete intensity building sections like basements and foundations will need replacement. In addition, more nonresidential buildings than normal were damaged by the floodwater and will need replacement.?EUR??,,????'?? According to Sullivan, an increase in demand for cement in the Gulf Coast region will not occur until clean up is completed. Cement will be needed not only for rebuilding, but to complete the jobs started before the hurricane. The port of New Orleans is the nation?EUR??,,????'???s second largest import terminal for cement, processing nearly 10 percent of all cement imports.