“In a city known for its rectilinear Miesian skyscrapers, (architect Jeanne) Gang (FAIA of Studio Gang) brought back the curve by wrapping her residential tower with sinuously swerving concrete balconies.” This highly descriptive intro from GreenSource describes Aqua Tower, a sustainably designed, 82-story residential tower and hotel near Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago.

Aqua’s design embraces the spirit of the iconic, concrete twin cylinders of Marina City that Bertrand Goldberg designed nearly 40 years earlier along the Chicago River.

Aqua is a reinforced concrete structure with hundreds of green design concepts, applications, and energy-saving features including 9-inch-thick concrete balcony slabs that shield apartments from intense sunlight. In addition to savings in air-cooling energy during the summer, this profile also helps with drainage. To create each unique floor slab, the construction team re-used an edge-form steel plate to guide the concrete pour, reducing the need for six miles of formwork.

Among the other sustainable concrete applications are two staircases connecting residents to the public green space spooning against Aqua’s footprint. More on Aqua.

Concrete is resistant to wind, hurricanes, floods, and fire. Concrete, as a structural material and as the building exterior skin, has the ability to withstand nature’s normal deteriorating mechanisms as well as devastating natural disasters. Reinforced concrete can provide blast protection for occupants.

As the destruction in Haiti has demonstrated, concrete must be properly designed. Buildings and homes built with reinforced concrete walls have a record of surviving earthquakes intact, structurally sound and largely unblemished. In reinforced concrete construction, the combination of concrete and steel provides the three most important properties for earthquake resistance: stiffness, strength, and ductility. More on the disaster resistance of concrete.

Lubbock, Texas, has emerged as a national leader in constructing energy-efficient, disaster-resistant concrete homes. Dozens of substandard, deteriorating homes have been demolished and replaced with homes built using insulating concrete forms (ICFs). With funding support by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the City of Lubbock has constructed more than 100 homes for low-income families using the innovative, high-performance, and energy-efficient ICF technology.

During periods of high usage, heating and cooling bills for these low-income families have shrunk by hundreds of dollars. Read the case study.

Think Harder with Concrete

A variety of promotional efforts including the launch of a new Web site were all part of PCA’s launch of a concrete industry branding and imaging program during World of Concrete 2010. Anchored by the tagline, “Think Harder. Concrete,” the program hopes to improve the image of concrete by promoting its core benefits of durability, economy, and sustainability. Start Thinking Harder.

Nominations Open for 2010 Sustainable Leadership Awards

All members of the building industry are encouraged to submit nominations for the 2010 PCA Sustainable Leadership Awards. Now in its third year, this initiative identifies and honors government leaders who advance sustainable development in their communities through the use of concrete and cement-based products.

The competition includes four categories: (1) Leadership in Sustainability Policy, (2) Homes and Residential Building, (3) Non-Residential Building, and (4) Infrastructure. More information and to access the nomination form. The deadline to submit entries is May 3, 2010.

Introducing the Concrete Joint Sustainability Initiative

The Concrete Joint Sustainability Initiative (CJSI) unveiled its 2010 goals and initiatives to align sustainable development activities within the concrete industry at a press conference during World of Concrete 2010.

CJSI, a unified group of 26 concrete associations, revolves around the sustainable values of concrete and serves as the industry’s primary portal for educational and outreach efforts related to the sustainability of concrete structures.

For more information, visit the CJSI Web site.

For the third year in a row, GreenSite highlighted the latest and greatest in sustainable technology and techniques at the 2010 World of Concrete. The Concrete Joint Sustainability Initiative helped assemble a variety of presentations on a wide range of pertinent issues. The presentation topics included earning LEED points, tips for a sustainable jobsite, a hands-on demonstration of pervious concrete, and using materials such as precast concrete, reinforced concrete, and lightweight concrete to achieve green attributes on a project.

Green Concrete Paves the International Builders' Show

The sustainability of concrete was prominently featured at the 2010 International Builders' Show in January. The 22nd annual Concrete Pavilion included 14 exhibits showcasing a variety of concrete homebuilding products.

Visitors learned how concrete stays cooler than asphalt, how concrete roof tiles reduce air conditioning loads, and how permeable and pervious concrete pavements drain stormwater. A computer kiosk demonstrated monthly energy savings of concrete systems compared to conventional frame.

Donn Thompson from PCA and Dennis Graber from the National Concrete Masonry Association conducted a joint presentation on the Green Advantages of Concrete Wall Systems. The NAHB Concrete Homebuilding Council luncheon featured discussions of sustainable concrete home projects in North Carolina, Washington D.C., and Phoenix.