Image: laurencemartin.co.za
Holding both a diploma in business development and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from South Africa’s top-rated University of the Witwatersrand, Laurence Grigorov serves as director of Laurence Martin Developments. After over a decade of guiding the Johannesburg company in construction and residential development, Laurence Grigorov has developed an abiding appreciation for architecture, good design, and innovative construction materials.
In the Netherlands, StoneCycling provides bricks made from crushed construction waste. The Amsterdam-based company was started in 2013 after one of its founders, Tom van Soest of Design Academy Eindhoven, discovered that 65 percent of waste in the Netherlands was produced by the construction industry, and hoped to find a better use for it. Experimenting with crushed construction waste and mixing them in different proportions, van Soest discovered recipes to make effective bricking material in hues across the spectrum. StoneCycling also offers a variety of tables and lamps made of waste-based materials, hoping to spur the concept of sustainable construction by demonstrating its profitability and inspiring competition.
In contrast, engineers of the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore have produced an entirely new type of concrete, the flexible ConFlexPave, which promises to be more resilient and enduring than contemporary concrete. ConFlexPave is created by mixing polymer microfibers into the harder materials to enable the substance to flex under tension. Not only would it require less maintenance than standard concrete, but it also could be prefabricated in thin slabs for easier installation, thanks to its malleability and reduced weight. Small tablet-sized slabs have so far successfully proven to be able to yield slightly to stress without brittle cracking or chipping, as well as return to their original shape, combining some of the best properties of metal and stone.
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