Ready for a building in Harlem that cleans itself? Well, a new 8-story condo that will be going up on West 116th Street is made of self-cleaning concrete. The building was designed by Grzywinski Pons Architects (which also did the Hotel on Rivington). We didn't pay as much attention in chemistry as we should have, but the concrete contains titanium dioxide and, according to the Post, "cleans itself and the air around it" when UV rays hit the building. The air around it? Give this baby a decade or two of more ozone layer depletion and it should pre-clean itself and offer to do the whole block. Curbed has also learned they are developing a self-cleaning apartment based on a chemical reaction with beer and wine spilled on a specially treated floor.
· Whitewash [NYPost]
· Surest Sign of Fall: THOR Will Officially Open [Curbed]