Israeli develops “smart” brick to cut costs

An Israeli entrepreneur has developed a smart building block that has the potential to revolutionise the construction industry, reducing building and running costs for new homes.

The new block, currently under development, is called S-brick. It looks like a large concrete Lego piece with large holes and a V-shaped part which can be removed, exposing the inner porous structure.

Most building blocks on the market today are considered “dumb” in that they provide the structural scaffolding for the building, on top of which other elements are added – just as things were done 100 years ago. Some of the more “advanced” blocks on the market include insulation space or holes for light switches and other infrastructure elements, but the S-brick provides a more comprehensive solution which could change the way buildings will be built, used and maintained in the future, reports Iddo Genuth on Israeli news website i24news.

The S-block is made from a special concrete developed in Germany that is as strong as steel – eliminating the need for expensive and time-consuming metal reinforcements in the building. Each block has holes for running pipes, plumbing and electrical wires. The outer part of the block is removable, allowing easy access for inserting the pipes during construction and inspecting and maintaining them later on.

Zohar explained to i24news that the S-brick could reduce building costs by as much as 50% – due to savings on iron, sand, water and other building materials, as well as manpower, cranes and more. The S-brick will also bring thermal improvements to the building, reducing heating and cooling costs significantly. Inserting and fixing pipes of all types inside the walls of the building will no longer require drilling and breaking the walls, all the infrastructure will be accessible through removable faces on each block, using a special tool. The S-brick will also result in much less debris at the building site and a quieter construction process.

The blocks are delivered to the building site in pre-determined stages of finishing which eliminate the need for additional finishing work at the building site. The blocks themselves do not require scaffolding, coming as they do complete and their attachment which precludes the need for mortar or leveling. Attaching one block to another is a process similar to connecting Lego pieces and in the not too distant future, special building robots will be able to handle a large portion of the S-brick building process.

For more information on the S-brick visit http://kitebricks.com/