CU Denver Grads Find a Way to Turn Tires Into Sustainable Tiles

Recently, Olivia Collier and Maslin Mellick, both 2022 master of architecture graduates, took home the Colorado Green Building Guild (CGBG) Student Project of the Year for the work they did in a studio class led by Professor of Architecture Julee Herdt. The class was tasked with creating a “Clean-Tech Manufacturing Facility for Sustainable Building Products.” This meant they were not only going to invent a material but also design a physical place to make it. “We didn’t know we were going to focus on tires at first,” Mellick said. “We were researching nature’s byproducts, society’s waste, and how we could use that to elevate our architecture and our inventions.” …

Their solution—which involves devulcanization, a process of recycling rubber by breaking down the toxins and sulfur components—creates a new building material with all the positive properties of rubber without the toxic off-gassing.

Their invention, coined “Tire Tiles,” would come in two styles: “Solid” and “Void.” Solid could be used in colder climates for wall assembly that would provide thermal, waterproofing, and acoustic benefits. Void, which includes gaps and spaces, would be used in warmer climates, for breathable wall assembly and solar shading. …

Source: CU Denver