Using nature’s structures in wooden buildings
A new approach enables architects to use discarded tree forks as load-bearing joints in their structures.
Designing the built environment through a service lens
Senior Carene Umubyeyi seeks to advance sustainable structural design in her home country of Rwanda and beyond.
Q&A: More-sustainable concrete with machine learning
MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab researchers aim to design concrete mixtures that use AI to shrink environmental footprint and cost, while recycling byproducts and increasing performance.
Timber or steel? Study helps builders reduce carbon footprint of truss structures
New analysis could help identify optimal materials for the crisscrossing struts that bolster bridges, towers, and buildings.
2,050-year-old Roman tomb offers insights on ancient concrete resilience
New research on ancient Roman concrete inspires durable and sustainable modern constructions.
Predicting building emissions across the US
MIT researchers have analyzed greenhouse gas emissions from future buildings across America and outlined region-specific solutions.
Concrete’s role in reducing building and pavement emissions
MIT researchers find emissions of U.S. buildings and pavements can be reduced by around 50 percent even as concrete use increases.
Mitigating hazards with vulnerability in mind
To mitigate natural hazards equitably, PhD candidate Ipek Bensu Manav of the MIT CSHub is incorporating social vulnerability into resilience engineering and hazard recovery.
360-degree transparency for construction sites made simple
Jeevan Kalanithi SM ’07 is CEO of OpenSpace, a company founded by three Media Lab graduates using computer vision to benefit the construction industry.
Visualizing cement hydration on a molecular level
Imaging technique could enable new pathways for reducing concrete’s hefty carbon footprint, as well as for 3-D printing of concrete.
Electrifying cement with nanocarbon black
A collaboration between MIT and CNRS has yielded a cement that conducts electricity and generates heat.
Unravelling carbon uptake in concrete pavements
MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub research finds natural carbon uptake in concrete could offset 5 percent of US pavement cement production emissions.
Fengdi Guo awarded first place in LTTP Data Analysis Student Contest
In an award-winning paper, the PhD student and MIT CSHub research assistant measures how the weight of vehicles deteriorates pavements.
3 Questions: Hessam AzariJafari on mitigating climate change with reflective pavements
MIT postdoc explains how reflective pavements can significantly — and often indirectly — mitigate climate change and extreme heat.
Explained: Cement vs. concrete — their differences, and opportunities for sustainability
Concrete is the world’s most consumed construction material. Yet there’s a lot the public doesn’t know about it or its environmental impact.