portfolio hand in over, ‘energy comfort and buildings’ still to go….

spent a lot of quality time last week finally getting stuff down on paper, and it didn’t even look too bad.   i think.

also spent some time re-formatting existing pages and groupwork, but that still needs a little work.

have been a bit dissapointed not to have heard anymore from my handy, and previously very helpful and enthusiastic panel of tree root experts – but once ECB is handed in on wed, i will bug them with renewed vigor…!

i don’t like to have a winge, but ECB (energy comfort and buildings) has been a bit of a washout in terms of  support from the tutor, mike. i managed to get one email out of him after requesting that he let everyone know exactly when they should hand in the project, when i realised that he had given me the wrong date back in november (the last time i got to speak to him).

to be fair, i could have been banging on his door more regularly and attempting to drag out info about what is expected in our project, but he make you feel like you are asking obvious questions, and just doesn’t give you many straight answers, so i sort of gave up.

anyway, i have been chatting with the other students, who are equally confused, but we had a look at a couple of last year’s projects from a similar course (mike couldn’t find the correct ones), and we have decided on an approach to our building assessment between us that we hope will get us through.     fingers crossed please.    as i also have quite a lot of getting down on paper for this project too for the wed deadline.

i am proposing a system of transparent external insulation on a solid brick walled building to increase its thermal efficiency, and to replace the steel framed, single glazed windows with double glazed timber framed ones. to put up external shading louvers on the south of the building to reduce unwanted solar heat gain. to improve the dingy interior decoration, florescent lighting and signage. to increase natural light in deep plan parts of the building using opaque walls, and to remove the suspended ceilings that are blocking a lot of natural daylight, therefore making the most of the big windows, light well, and reducing the need for electric lighting to automatically be turned on in the daytimes.

mmm. well now i just need to get that into my project, along with post occupancy survey result analysis and compare the buildings energy consumption figures  with current standards.

office for replica.

office for replica in their factory in walthamstow, london.

started this design sept/oct 2007 and now it is built!! i was asked by loraine at replica to design a new office for their factory, where they design and produce shop/department store window displays and lighting installations, and also replica food. they needed a warm, larger office space, that is free standing and quick to build, with a £20,000 budget, which was pretty tight.

i measured up and provided existing drawings, then discussed with the client, what was required. i researched structural options. i drew up a couple of different design options for the office which is in a space 10.5m by 4m with natural light needed and a stair up to a first floor level workspace with lots of storage. i looked at steel prefab mezzanine platforms with in filled wall panels. but then found a local practice who have been working on a plywood prefab system, that is routed using their own machine and slots together to make a series of ‘cassettes’ that make up the walls and ceiling combined with wooden beams and blown paper insulation. i visited the local building control officer to discuss the feasability of the timber option, and with some conditions of fire doors, ambulant width stairs, clear vision panels and insumescent varnish, he was happy.

i met with bruce of wilson bell architects to discuss the project and introduced him and dom (who runs the router workshop) to the client. we decided on a plan and reasonable timescale. bruce has been implementing the project, making sure it will stand up strongly, making requested and suggested alterations to the design as the project has run along, and producing all of the detailed drawings that were needed to feed to the router, dom has been routing, and building it! i have been along for a couple of days to help with the construction on site so i could see how the details all work, and to record the construction with photos. bruce will also now be producing the drawings required for building control, which explain the timber system and show the engineers calcs to prove it’s stability, as well as details of the fire retardant treatments.

i have ordered lovely green rubber for the office floor and have been discussing lighting, windows and heating options. i have also cut a concrete block wall in preparation for it to be knocked through with the least disruption when the time is ready for the transfer from the old office to the new, linking the two spaces. the client is happy, and the office looks great.

side-line in office construction…

final tutorial before prelim portfolio hand in

just had a good positive tutorial with steve at uni.

anxiety had been relived a little, but i still have a lot of work before thursday.

i was worried that i have ideas, but am having a bit of a block in how to best present my research and ideas. steve has suggested, that as the research into root technologies and material systems is what i have been focusing on (rather than developing the housing typology using these systems) then i should present this work in my portfolio format.

he seemed interested in the work i have been doing and was encouraging me to continue in the same directions. the next step after the portfolio hand in is to look at how the placing pattern of anchor or foundation rooting points will determine the formal arrangement of the main mass of the walls.

we discussed the fact that my chosen site in china – where i have been having another bit of a worry about how to determine the specific geology of the site – is fine, and that it is ok to make certain assumptions and to then apply english best building codes to the project.

steve also suggested investing in a ‘log splitter’ to help with the applied technology studies that i have been working on – to test and experiment with the stacked timber construction i am developing.

i have made a plywood ’shutter’ to put the logs that i have split around it and test different methods of securing them.

i have been working quite hard recently to learn the Microstation programe, as was suggested by jonas – as drawing in solids rather than with surfaces, as with rhino (which i now feel pretty comfortable with) is supposed to make my life easier…..   i am getting on ok, with basic ‘feature based solids modeling’ and it is not so hard after all, but it has slowed me down a bit, and even though i have been attending the recent GC workshops, and found it interesting and potentially very useful for parametric arrays of housing, and i think i understand the basic principals of how it works, i am still pretty outfaced by the programming and maths aspects of it. so, for now, i am going to be satisfied with learning one programme at a time.

mostly, now i meed to spend a bit of time translating all my sketches and ideas into clear portfolio pages and printing for thurs.

the china report, by anna and rachel…

Diploma Unit 4 dtudy trip to China Dec 2007

published (in a slightly edited form) ASD Real Time Vol 13 Issue 7 – 14 January 2007

http://www.asd-realtime.org/2008/01/13/unit-4-rabid-dogs-in-china/

Just before Christmas Diploma Unit 4 went to China for 2 weeks to work with architecture students in the City of Guangzhou, and to help develop proposals for a new city on a flood plain south west of Guangzhou (one & a half hours by train from Hong Kong).

We arrived in Guangzhou, a large city of 16 million people, which is over industrialised, smoggy, concrete and with 10-lane urban highways which we couldn’t figure out how to cross. Our first introduction to the city was on the 3rd floor of our hotel, where we found a labarynth of dark red velvet karaoke rooms and all the beer we could drink… We fitted 25 in their best room. Cheesy western music sung by Chinese people and a helpful man called Candi.

The next morning was a site visit to Foshan, the new city we were to work on, and our first meeting with the Chinese students we were collaborating with. We walked around a muddy island, accessed only by a canoe-sized boat with a hole and two old men paddling. Remains of buildings litter the island’s edges where the flooding has claimed them. Rabid dogs roam the bamboo forest and the local buildings are clad in bark. An imposing concrete factory has been built ready to facilitate proposed new construction.

The government has chosen this area to build a new city, in a high risk flood zone. There are currently 5 villages, allotments and privately owned land. Infrastructure has already been built with highways, bridges, street lighting, grassy verges and marble benches, and
compulsory purchase orders placed on the private land to become part of the city. The scale is incredible, a city proposed from nothing, the empty infrastructure feels creepy. We hear that people who have caused trouble about letting their land go have been killed. The Chinese government wants leisure parks and all things western and grim despite the existing communities.

We worked with the Chinese students on arrayed development proposals, for urban design for the new city of Foshan. The proposals all had to have an element of flood mitigation. The students were all very friendly, with good English, and we had plenty of opportunities to practise chopstick skills, avoiding eating chicken claws and heads, a local delicacy.

We had long days working in the Fine arts academy, invariably struggling with hangovers, helped from karaoke the night before. One evening ping pong, football and basketball championships were organised. China thrashed England in the football and a good competition was had in the ping pong, with Jonas’ style shining through. A lovely display of
sparkley lime green from the football team, who won on style if not goals.

The last day with the Chinese students was a presentation where all work was pinned up for some visiting architects. All the work looked interesting on the wall and reflected the weeks’ hard work. In the afternoon, the Chinese students showed us around the city, with an opportunity to do a bit of Christmas shopping. In the evening we went for drinks with the Chinese students, which turned into an exceptionally messy night: Dancers with snakes, men in shiny shirts, transvestites in tight dresses entertained us. We danced, drank and played dice until we were good and rotten, and then retired disgracefully back to the famous karaoke bar, followed by some involuntary late night swimming.

Feeling slightly worse for wear, we managed a site visit to the Guangzhou TV tower by Mark Hemel, and Zaha’s Opera House, followed by a tour of another new tower, these were enormous steel creations reflecting the scale of the city and in stark contrast to the peaceful Daoist temple visited later that day in a local village with interesting timber
canterleivered roof details. We ended the trip by relaxing at a hot springs where massages restored us.

The trip was a fascinating insight into the speed of development currently in China. A great opportunity to experiment with the design methodologies we have been developing, and mixing these with the Chinese students’ approaches to design. We would like to thank all the students for their warmth and hospitality at Guangzhou Fine Arts Academy.

The end

wood is good

Timber Construction
p. 1072 – 1075     Sustainable Timber Construction
Author Merl, Adolf |

Timber is quantitatively one of the most important renewable raw materials for construction and is widely considered to be the most significant sustainable building material. The application of timber, however, should not proceed without due consideration of the suitability of the material and an intelligent selection of the structural system. The consideration of social, ecological and economical aspects, over the entire life-span of a building, must be taken into account as much as the architectural and technical requirements when choosing structural systems and materials. Planning and construction within an interdisciplinary team, therefore, play decisive roles in realising sustainability for the construction industry. The principle of not felling trees from a particular area, while simultaneously reforesting that area, is a fundamental policy of the forestry industry. Architects and engineers are in the position to provide considerable assistance to the success of sustainable economies through intelligent planning and use of materials – sustainable construction is construction with timber.

Why Blame Willows?
Salix udensis ‘Sekka’ – a perfectly well-behaved willow

People often make reference to the invasive nature of willows. It has been said that they can destroy water pipes, clog drainage fields and septic tanks, crumble the foundations of homes, and that they are prone to blow over in storms. If these factors are not bad enough, willows are also messy with catkins dropping in the spring and leaves falling in the autumn.

While it is true that some vigorous growing willows can do some of these things, is all of this blame on willows really warranted? For instance, with regard to their falling over in storms, willows, with their quick-growing roots, are actually less likely to blow over compared to many of the shallow rooted trees. A good example is Blue Spruce (found on many suburban lots) which have a much higher risk for windthrow.

As to the notion of destroyed pipes and foundations, if pipes are leaking and foundations have cracks, willow roots will take advantage of these available resources. However, the same could be said for many other large trees and shrubs. Willow roots cannot drill holes in pipes nor damage solid foundations.

Whenever there is some uncertainty, especially around older homes and exterior plumbing, it is prudent to be cautious when planting willows. Also, it is wise not to plant any water-loving trees on or near septic tanks and drainage fields.

Salix nakamurana var yezoalpina – an alpine willow that remains low to the ground

Keep in mind that the genus Salix is a large and diverse plant group with nearly 500 species. Only a few are responsible for their bad reputation. Unless the area can accomodate large trees, avoid using Salix alba (White willow), Salix fragilis (Crack willow), Salix babylonica (Weeping willow), Salix nigra (Black willow) and the others that become large shrubs.

Coppicing (pruning back to the ground each year) will keep the roots of the large and medium willows in check. With less top growth providing energy to the roots, the root size is correspondingly less. City gardeners can enjoy many of the brightly coloured basketry willows by giving them this annual pruning.

It is certain that as willows become more popular and well-known, many more of the small and alpine types will become available.