Jorge M. Perez Art Museum, Miami FL
Everything you like about concrete and a lot less of the material you don’t need.
Voided concrete slabs enable many ways to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint and generally improve a project’s sustainability.
Designers seeking to benefit from the use of concrete, with its traditional consumption of environmental resources, can be greatly improved with the implementation of efficient voided building methods. This results in high weight-bearing slab construction, which not only saves material (concrete) but also enables larger spaces to be spanned at the same weight. This was the design idea behind the development of voided concrete slab system.
The benefits of voided slabs clearly extend into all areas of triple-bottom-line consideration, having proven itself in a diverse collection of high-profile projects on several continents. Case studies summarized here will highlight the ways in which CobiaxUSA has made a real difference.
By Example:
By The Numbers:
People
40% Fewer columns without beams
Safe, Reliable Performance. — Voided slabs enhance the most comfortable and secure building material in the world, concrete.
Flexible layout
Secure construction
Earthquake resistant
Thermally efficient
Aesthetically pleasing
Advances in building technology should never be at the expense of safety. That’s why many years of research have gone into voided concrete slab technology. These voided flat plate slab solutions fulfill the most stringent international standards, and due to the reduction in the weight of the slabs, the risks of sudden loads are reduced (e.g. during an earthquake). CobiaxUSA quality assurance guidelines set standards for plastic-based building materials. CobiaxUSA systems help to ensure permanent structural stability for many generations to come. Construction companies, engineers, architects, and owners can be assured that they will benefit from the numerous advantages of voided concrete slab systems, without increasing risk.
Increased Earthquake Safety — According to the National Institute of Building Sciences, earthquakes generate internal forces within buildings and lightweight construction with less mass is typically an advantage in seismic design.
Planet
20% Less carbon in the environment
Lower Impact, Longer Life — CobiaxUSA systems can greatly reduce carbon impacts by reducing material volumes, reuse, and transport.
Resource-efficient
Reduces carbon impact
Reduces waste
100% recycled void-formers
More energy-efficient building use
Can benefit from local resources
The use of plastic and voiding material replaces at least 25 – 30% of the concrete used for conventional building methods. This greatly reduces the carbon emissions during cement production and the amount of concrete ultimately required in the slab. The void formers themselves are made of 100% recycled plastic. Further, the construction remains stable over several decades and centuries.
Profit
35% Less weight impact on costs
Reduced Material & Labor — CobiaxUSA systems can eliminate columns and reduce substantial weight in floors and in the foundation.
Lower floor-to-floor heights without beams
Life-cycle energy savings
Simplified concrete formwork
Compliments post-tensioning systems
Less concrete and reinforcing steel
Improves resiliency
The required volumes of concrete that need to be transported will be reduced by about 30%, as does the vehicle load. The bearing components of the structure can be made lighter and more elegant due to the reduction of the load to be carried. When voided concrete slabs and post-tensioning are combined, the required post-tensioning is ~25% less than a comparable solid slab. Thanks to the lighter design of the building itself, the available net space also increases; this, in turn, leads to an increase in the possible returns.
Columbia University Medical Center, New York NY