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84 Harrington Street in Cape Town, South Africa has been named the world’s tallest building built using hempcrete blocks and hemp construction materials. Developed by Hemporium and Afrimat Hemp, the project establishes the standard for constructing a secure, carbon-neutral, multistory skyscraper.
Industrial hemp is a botanical category of Cannabis sativa cultivars developed primarily for commercial or therapeutic purposes. Hemp is one of the plants on earth that grows the quickest, along with bamboo.
The desire to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is driving a significant rise in the market for bio-based building materials. Hemp construction is regarded as the gold standard for CO2 reduction in buildings.
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Previously, hempcrete was used to construct hemp homes in South Africa. However, this was not practical for a project of 84 Harrington’s magnitude. The 12-storey 84 Harrington Street building featuring a total of 50 apartments was, therefore, inspired by hemp blocks created in Europe. These blocks have reportedly been successfully used to commercialize hemp in the building sector.
Hemporium reported identified the preferred partners in the light of the above. The partners are Wolf and Wolf Architects and Afrimat Hemp. This is according to Tony Budden the director and founding partner of Hemporium.
Wolf & Wolf Architects is a firm that specializes in modern and environmentally friendly architecture. Afrimat Hemp on the other hand is a company that concentrates on building carbon-neutral structures. It also focuses on maximizing the potential of the industrial hemp market.
The Hemporium and Afrimat Hemp collaboration think employing hemp in a multistory structure has several advantages. First, hemp is entirely natural, CO2-absorbing, energy-efficient, and long-lasting. Secondly, provides superior acoustic performance, ensuring privacy between units. Furthermore, the material has the capacity to absorb and release moisture. This helps control the internal humidity of buildings and maintain healthy indoor air quality.
According to the collaboration, the reduced density of hemp also decreases the weight of the walls on the foundations and, as a result, the price of concrete.
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