But we already had giant LEGO. Theyâre called LEGO.
And when I was growing up in the 1970s, doctorâs offices tended to have unofficial (I assume) giant âLEGOâ made out of styrofoam in their waiting rooms. They were actually pretty good if they were new enough, but being foam they werenât that durable.
These are quite a lot bigger.
itâs a shame that the pegs arenât round like with real lego. if they were round they could act as hinges and allow more dynamic creations. with regular lego (and even the giant lego for toddlers) i would frequently build things with moving pieces simply by attaching blocks together at a single corner.
Building my house out of these now. Dressing in this:
I donât know if Iâd say all-plastic bricks are in any way a more âgreenâ building material than your traditional fired-clay onesâŚ
Depends on how you evaluate âgreenness.â Letâs say (just for argument) that these are made out of strictly recycled product. By some measures the use of fossil fuels to recycle plastic into these blocks (I think theyâre polystyrene, incorrectly and commonly known as Styrofoam) is worse than the use of fuels to create bricks. On the other hand, highly stable plastics are a significant environmental problem in their own right and expanded polystyrene isnât commonly recycled, finding its way back into the environment. So in this hypothetical, itâs a toss up.
Realistically though? Kiln-fired bricks are not the material of choice for indoor division. Compared to other methods of dividing rooms, how does it stack up? Synthetic gypsum is made as a byproduct of coal-burning, natural gypsum is mined. Both these processes release carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere. So does the production of plastics, which uses petroleum byproducts Petroleum, unlike coal, does not need to be burned in order to retrieve the byproducts. But, then distillation of petroleum byproducts also takes up energy likely from hydrocarbon burning. Other things that go into wallboard are paper (the destruction of oxygen producing, CO2 eating, trees), and often⌠plastic. Irony.
My point being that figuring out whatâs greener isnât always straightforward. Iâm not even arguing one over the other, because these calculations need to start from source material harvest costs through the end of the lifecycle. I actually have no idea whatâs better for the environment as a building material. My guess is that drywall is still a solid bet, but that is based on a lot of assumptions that Iâm not comfortable pretending are true. Itâs also based on my subjective interpretation of what presents the biggest environmental problem right now, and thatâs AGCC. But how do you compare two different global environmental problems? Itâs inherently not going to be an apples-to-apples comparison. This is only the beginning of any environmental scientistâs thought process.
Iâm thinking this could actually be used to make functional, if light, pavilion style housing by modifying the finishing caps to interface to something like the Epic Metals modular roofing deck system ( http://www.epicmetals.com/ ) much as has been demonstration with aluminum T-slot profie housing like the iT House. Then enclosure could be provided with translucent panel systems like Kalwall ( https://www.kalwall.com/kalwall-products/facades/walls/ ) or triple-wall polycarbonate panel. (which can integrate LEDs) With a pavilion design an open plan interior would allow outfit by use of various free-standing freely-changeable furnitecture also made with this blocks. Epic also has a composite floor deck system with would readily integrate with pin pier or helical pier foundations. A perfectly practical home could be possible. Would certainly be a fun experiment.
Interesting⌠I actually kinda want to see these as metal bits, though I daresay that would add a fair bit to weight. Maybe a kind of skeletal/beam system to bare most of the load that you could just slide the end lego pieces into when building walls⌠the point being the skeletal frame takes the load and the wall is there for wind blocking. Would be nice to have proper window shudders and glass panes too.
That could be done. Look itâs going ot have crap R values but as a kidâs playhouse or the like my fears mainly would be how the plastic handles vs weathering over time.
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