‘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.’

'sand.stone.road' by thomas kosbau + andrew wetzler iida awards 2010 winner

'sand.stone.road' by thomas kosbau + andrew wetzler iida awards 2010 winner

'sand.stone.road' by thomas kosbau + andrew wetzler iida awards 2010 winner

'sand.stone.road' by thomas kosbau + andrew wetzler iida awards 2010 winner

— 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.