MIAMI — Would you live in a place built from life-sized Lego bricks?
Some people in South Florida already do — in a first-of-its-kind apartment project using innovative new building blocks designed to be assembled much like a giant toy kit. But unlike the structures your rambunctious 5-year-old can smash like the Hulk in seconds, the Miami company behind the blocks says they’re built to last and have been tested to withstand Category 5 hurricane winds.
RENCO, the company that developed the design and formula for the blocks, touts them as cleaner and greener than traditional construction methods. Rather than typical blocks of concrete, these are made from a mix of recycled glass and plastic, resins and limestone powder called calcite fused together under heat. Rather than blueprints, workers follow color-coded diagrams to fit the blocks together, then lock them in with glue.
“We can build projects now that are faster, cheaper, more economical, more sustainable and more resilient than typical, conventional construction,” said RENCO President Kenneth Smuts. “I think that’ll give many opportunities for workforce housing, and for builders and developers to get more projects done to help solve a lot of social problems that a lot of our cities are having now.”