Material Efficiency: Concrete Masonry

• Increased life cycle environmental value, due to concrete masonry's low embodied energy compared to products such as steel and aluminum, and to the assembly's long life, durability and low maintenance needs. A structural system, excellent seismic performance.
• A preferred design material - its unitized installation, availability of a tremendous range of color, texture, and size combinations provides an expansive designer's palette.
• Can be designed to cmu's modular, standard sizes to reduce waste.
• Structural and aesthetic design flexibility.
• A finish material, including indoors - glazed or burnished cmu provide a variety of finished surfaces, from bold to subtly beautiful, and which do not need painting and do not promote mold growth.
• Increased acoustic performance.
• Increased fire safety.