Minimizing Environmental Impacts with Clay Roofing
Clay roof tiles offer numerous benefits to commercial and residential projects. Inherently, the material is associated with minimal environmental impact in its sourcing, extraction, as well as manufacture. As environmental awareness in building design and construction has increased, the greatest focus has been on sustainable building materials, both in manufacture and performance.
Specifying More Resilient Buildings
Resisting natural disasters and reducing environmental impacts are major challenges in the United States. During an average year, there are 10 tropical storms (six of which become hurricanes) and more than 1200 tornadoes touching down. In South Florida, Hurricane Andrew left a wake of destruction in 1992 that totaled more than $25 billion in property damage and resulted in 44 fatalities.
A Face-lift: Travertine cladding and paver repairs
Built in 1982, Capital One Plaza is a 22-story structure in Houston, Texas. The building exterior wall consists of ribbon windows and 30-mm (1 1⁄8-in.) thick travertine panels connected to precast concrete spandrel panels.The cladding was fabricated by placing travertine panels face-down in formwork, installing stainless steel wire loop anchors into predrilled holes in their back surface, and casting concrete against this to encapsulate the stainless steel anchors.
