‘sand.stone.road’ by thomas kosbau + andrew wetzler
‘sand.stone.road’ by thomas kosbau and andrew wetzler from the usa is the grand prize winning entry
of ‘iida awards 2010‘, organized by designboom in collaboration with incheon metropolitan city.
recognizing the need for a healthier alternative to asphalt, the project proposes a biologically treated
and processed paving material that uses a common microbe to alter the properties and behavior
of loose grains of sand into stabilized sandstone.
designer’s own words:
‘the world is suffering from a material found outside of every doorway. asphalt has been used as
the conventional paving material for the last 80 years. extremely toxic chemicals are released in
its production, installation, and are off-gassed throughout its lifetime. asphalt greatly contributes
to the urban heat island effect, reaching peak temperatures of 48-67 degrees celsius. at current
consumption levels, approximately 28,000,000 barrels of crude oil were required to create
south korea’s 86,990 km roadway system. this is roughly 5 times the amount of oil released into
the gulf of mexico. our project proposes the use of an organic process to create sandstone from sand
as an alternate paving surface, thereby mitigating the harmful effects of asphalt.’
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for those who wish to republish an excerpt of this article, please have the courtesy
to mention that the project is a part of the iida awards 2010 competition,
organized by designboom in collaboration with incheon metropolitan city,
and link back to the original publication on designboom. thank you.
iida awards 2010 results netizens choice now open
DESIGN
shortlisted poster designs iida awards 2010
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'wind heater' by jihae kim iida awards 2010
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good job; Magnus Larsson showed the way :
http://www.magnuslarsson.com/architecture/dune.asp
USA! USA! USA!
wonderful
I’m praying for see this project maked real. Congrats!!!
I did´t get it.
I this will stay firm?
How would this take cold winters? Asphalt, being very viscous, but not fully solid, is able to take the expansion and contraction of roads due to seasonal changes in cold climates. It is also very easily repaired when cracks and potholes do form.
Interested in learning more on the subject of making roads from sand. Please provide any literature reference, any researchers working in this field, any R&D intitution involved in this research, or any valid links that I can explore this somewhat further. Regards.