A wall construction formed of solid wood members. The wall construction provides for a heating and cooling system that synergistically works with the inherent insulative properties of solid wood members. The wall construction comprises channels formed in the solid wood members to accommodate conduits for heating and cooling. The conduits are routed through multiple solid wood members of a wall and are positioned to efficiently heat and cool the interior of a building. Other grooves may be formed in the top side of the solid wood members to accommodate conduits for heating, cooling electrical service and communications carriers.

Various implementations are directed to a single face building block and masonry wall assembly and methods. Each building block includes a single face shell, first and second webs extending from an interior surface of the face shell, and a pier that has a proximal surface disposed between distal ends of the webs and a distal surface that is opposite and spaced apart from the proximal surface of the pier. Interior surfaces of the webs, the proximal surface of the pier, and a portion of the interior surface of the face shell between the webs define a pocket. In addition, the building blocks may include a ledge that extends outwardly from the distal surface of the pier. This ledge forms a channel with an upper surface of the pier stacked above the block.

A block and various block assemblies are disclosed. The block has at least one side including one or more tapered slots. Each of the slots has one or more apertures. The at least one side has a bottom end comprising at least one footing and a top end comprising a groove. Blocks are stacked by fitting the footing of one block into the groove of another block. A block assembly comprises a first block, a second block, a double key, and connector tubes. The first block is connected to the second block using the double key, which is inserted into a slot on each of the blocks. A connector tube is threaded through apertures on the slots and the double key.

An apparatus includes a monolithic retaining wall formed by combinable modular retaining wall blocks. Each of the combinable modular retaining wall blocks defines (A) vertical grooves extending along a vertical direction, and (B) horizontal grooves extending along a horizontal direction. This is done in such a way that the monolithic retaining wall, which is formed by the combinable modular retaining wall blocks, defines (A) spaced-apart instances of the vertical channels extending vertically through the monolithic retaining wall, and (B) spaced-apart instances of the horizontal channels extending horizontally through the monolithic retaining wall, in which at least some of the spaced-apart instances of the horizontal channels intersect at least some of the spaced-apart instances of the vertical channels.

This disclosure provides methods, systems, and kits for building seawalls using mechanically interlocking blocks. The interlocking blocks have interiors that can be filled with sand, gravel, or cementitious material after formation of a wall. The interlocking blocks that can be connected on any side to form a structure, wall, foundation, floor, building, flotation device, gardening structure, or toy. The interlocking blocks typically comprise center openings and connecting openings on each side and can be connected with hardware through the connecting openings. The center openings allow for materials such as pipes, wires, conduit, and rebar to pass through interlocked blocks. Connected blocks can also be filled with fortifying material to strengthen the structure. Sides of connected blocks can be covered with faceplates to direct flow of fortifying material and aid in the creation of desired configurations. Also provided are connectors for connecting sides of the interlocking blocks.

A preformed block is used for housing and routing electrical power cables, and comprises a central cavity. At least two adjacent faces of the block have an opening which connects to the central cavity. Electrical power cables can thus be routed within the block between those openings, from a side face (leading to a trench) to the top face (leading to an electrical installation on top). There is also provided an electric vehicle charging station using the precast block and a method of casting a block.

The present disclosure provides a building block (100) that is designed to hold utilities, including but not limited to, electricity and plumbing. The building block (100) of the present disclosure can resist compression forces and moment and can connect to other building blocks (100) to form a modular wall system with the ability to distribute the forces in a way that reduces the stresses on each individual block. The building block (100) of the present disclosure may include a body with an upper end (11) and a lower end (10), one or more main compartments (16, 17), and one or more inner pass-through openings (19), wherein the upper end (11) comprises a first upper cut (13), a second upper cut (14), and one or more protrusions (18), and the lower end (10) comprises a first lower cut (12) and one or more slots (110). The present disclosure also provides a building system including more than one multi-purpose building blocks (100) and a base (2).

A glass brick having a luminescent solar concentrator inserted inside it, between the preformed glass portions which constitute the body of the glass brick is provided.

A modular, self-contained unit that includes utility input and output connections and connective pathways in communication with the input and output connections that provide an internal flowpath for utilities such as, but not limited to, chilled and heated domestic water, chilled water, processed chilled water, compressed air, various gaseous services, electricity, and digital data communications. The internal flowpaths may also comprise a service pathway in communication with an isolation component that allows control and use of the utility by an end user (or other end-user equipment, end-user systems, or end-use devices). The self-contained modular units may be directly or indirectly in communication with similar self-contained modular units, such that the utility services may flow through and into multiple units. The self-contained units may be moved manually, automatically, or electrically through various implements, and the self-contained units may be sized to allow easy entry into spaces through standard openings to the spaces.

Embodiments relate to an enhanced method for building walls by primarily reducing the time for assembly. The design is for a molded multi-segment plastic composite construction block that interlocks horizontally, vertically and orthogonally with a clearance-fit, does not require mortar for structural integrity and is self-aligning. The blocks are molded out of natural-fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites with thermal expansion coefficient less than 0.0002 per degree Celsius and compression strength greater than 60 MPa.