The Inverse Honeycomb Grassblock | Winner 1st Place Local / 2nd Place National ORCO Student Design Competition

This design for a CMU Grassblock [a collaboration with Thomas Lin (USC '14), Jeffrey Su (USC '14), and Rebecca Streeter (USC '14)] is based on the concept of fulfilling three needs: sustainability, economic profitability, and design flexibility.

 

Sustainability:  Grassblocks are an under-utilized green product which allow for natural drainage.  Unlike paved systems, grassblocks do not cause substantial interference with an area's natural soil structures.

 

Economic Profitability:  The Inverse Honeycomb Grassblock can be manufactured using current industry standards for CMU dropboxes, so the start-up cost does not exceed that of any other CMU block.  The individual Honeycomb units are easily handled by a single person, eliminating the use of heavy machinery during installation and dramatically reducing labor costs.  Additionally, any damaged Honeycomb units can be replaced on an individual basis, unlike paved areas which must be completely redone.

 

Design Flexiblity:  The main liitation of existing grassblock units is an utter lack of design flexibility.  The greatest visual attribute of the Honeycomb unit is that each dropbox yields two CMU pieces -- a full hex unit, and a half hex unit.  The half unit is the visual inverse of the full unit, allowing for a virtually infinite play of varying solid and void relationship patterns.