Elastopave®: Not just another material, but a totally new concept for infrastructure.

In the coming decades, there will be an ever-growing global trend toward urbanization. Researchers, scientists, urban planners, and architects are already predicting that two thirds of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050. One of the biggest challenges facing these cities includes creating not only modern architecture geared to these needs, but also suitably adapted, modern, and above all sustainable infrastructure. Because sidewalks, parking areas, patios, pedestrian zones, and private traffic surfaces make a big contribution to inhabitants’ well-being and hence to a sense of feeling at home. And precisely for this, there is now the material to match: Elastopave^® from BASF. This product exploits the prin­ciple of binding suitable mixes of crushed mineral with polyurethane to yield a strong, water- and air-permeable surface.

With Elastopave^®, urban planners have everything under control

The latest example is the new parking lot for 120 cars at the BASF Lemförde location. The new parking lot in different blends of marble and other minerals clearly demonstrates the advantages: “The surface is not sealed, and rainwater seeps away within seconds and replenishes aquifers,” Grieser-Schmitz explains. And what’s possible in Lemförde can be an efficient and pioneering solution for the paving of plazas, public spaces, and sidewalks in many municipalities. And this is how it works: Thanks to an intelligent mix of selected stone, the surface has many interconnected voids and hence a high degree of porosity. Given suitably absorbent ground, rainwater can percolate effectively and prevent large puddles from even forming. Elastopave^® is easy to process, and the stone mix can be flexibly varied to blend into the immediate surroundings. In addition, it also eliminates the downstream costs associated with fully sealed surfaces, e.g. wastewater charges. The bottom line is real benefits in design, attractiveness, longevity, and eco-friendliness.

The intelligent product is also capable of diminishing the risk of flooding. The Chinese city of Hangzhou regularly battles with heavy rainfall and is therefore planning not just to adapt its infrastructure to these acute weather events, but to undergo a complete transformation – into a “sponge city” whose surfaces soak up water like a sponge. By 2020, at least 20 % of the city core will be modernized – making extensive use of Elastopave^®. The Moganshan Road and the associated cycle path along the popular West Lakes were only recently surfaced with the PU system.

Stone bonded with Elastopave^® is suitable not only for paths and driveways, but also for any applications where crushed stone or gravel need firm bonding – in indoor stone carpeting, in garden design, e.g. patios, gabions, and outdoor furniture like park benches or table tops, and for design and art objects. Let yourself be inspired by this material’s incredible versatility. Elastopave^® – water-permeable, strong, and eco-friendly.