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How will they build the places where we live in the future? Will we have “anti-smog” streets and houses? To what extent will research and innovation enhance the quality of life in the cities of the future? For the 10th International Architecture Show of the Venice Biennale, Italcementi presented the positive results of research into the use of photocatalytic active principles, results that could indeed increase the quality of life in our cities. Italcementi was a main partner in the Show with its new active principle TX Active®.
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Cité de la Musique et des
Beaux-Arts, Chambéry, France | City, Architecture and Society was the Show’s theme, and TX Active® is a photocatalytic active principle for cement products capable of significantly reducing organic and inorganic polluting agents in urban air while preserving the aesthetic quality of buildings. A meeting entitled Architects and materials for the cities for the future, which took place during the Italcementi Day at the Show, allowed attendees to see through the lens of the results of the PICADA project and to understand how the application of photoactive cements can contribute to better quality of life in the city.
The findings of the PICADA project – Photocatalytic Innovative Coverings Applications for Depollution Assessment, part of the European research programme Competitive and Sustainable Growth – have shown that photocatalytic building materials and coverings absorb and eliminate volatile polluting substances in a range spanning between 20% and 80% depending on atmospheric conditions and the availability of the light radiation that stimulates the photocatalysis process.
Italcementi, whose laboratories have patented TX Active®, has been collaborating with researchers from the PICADA project for the development of test routines and in-lab implementation, in order to study the photoactive removal of organic and inorganic substances in the concentrations commonly found in urban outdoor environments.
During this process the expertise of the Italcementi laboratories was an indispensable asset in measuring the emissions of volatile organic compounds in building materials. “The positive consequences of using photocatalytic active principles, as shown by the results of the European project PICADA,” says Fabrizio Donegà, Italcementi Deputy Chief Operating Officer and head of business operations in Italy, “are persuading modern architecture and local administrations. The lab tests conducted on photoactive cements show how three minutes exposure to light radiation is enough to obtain a reduction of polluting agents of up to 75%. Italcementi’s goal is to provide the architectural community with TX Active®, a product with a high innovation content based on our R&D work, so that today’s urban projects and the cities of the future can make the environment and quality of life their priorities.”
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