a rounding-up of sorts

last night was the opening of our end of year exhibition, and all went reasonably smoothly (apart from lizzy nearly knocking over yin’s model as she accidentally sprayed champagne all over everyone…), and the work seemed pretty well received. i only had four images up and didn’t get to choose them, but i was quite happy, and both of my models were included which i had lots of good feedback about.

we still don’t have our official marks, but jonas (tutor) has told me i don’t need to worry, i have done well. it is still frustrating waiting for the final marks – to see it on paper, and all done!

but most excitingly of all – we head off tomorrow to the highland wildernesses, to get happily lost and and come back smelling of woodsmoke and whiskey….

CV

i have started the job hunt today! – one CV carefully hand delivered. not exactly pushing the boat out, and maybe setting myself up for disappointment approaching my favorite first… but after this next few weeks of ‘one last big push’ for hand-ins i will start in earnest….

i am also picking up my IDS diary from the binders tomorrow which is quite exciting – for a hand-in on thursday.

francesca :

i have heard back from Francesca the environmental consultant today, who may have some useful info about building in China from her experience of building in the region. but i will have to wait until after the weekend as she is crazy busy. we will see…

newsflash two.

after the shock of the tornado in Burma the other week, two days ago there was the biggest and most devastating earthquake that China has seen for years and the epicenter of the quake was in the province directly north of my site. the reason i am mentioning it here is that the risk is the same as my site in terms the landslides triggered by the quake, and the excessive regional rainfall currently exaggerating the problem.

sadly, many have lost their lives in collapsed buildings due to the quake, but many lives could have been saved by reducing the many landslides that buried many other buildings and obliterated roads making the movement of aid impossible in some places. the planting of trees in combination with drainage channels and piling which is very much in the plans of the Chinese government, but is slow to implement on a such a massive scale will help. this is why my project proposes such an important system that can be realistically and quickly reproduced on a village scale, to protect the local population from landslides and provide a longterm sustainable and productive eco-system.

news flash

even old news is good news, and i just found this….

on    www.planetark.com

Coppice willow fuels big UK power supply deal UK: October 22, 2004 LONDON – UK utility RWE npower will start burning willow branches as well as coal at its Didcot power plant after signing the country’s first major purchase order for renewable biomass supplies. German-owned RWE npower (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) said yesterday it will take 30,000 tonnes of processed coppice willow annually from ESD Biomass, in a deal which would help it meet tough new rules on renewable energy. Biomass is usually mixed in a ratio of 10 percent with low-sulphur coal and is seen as one way Britain could cut carbon dioxide emissions which are blamed for contributing to global warming. The two firms said the pact represents a major boost for the embryonic biomass sector. “This is the first time producers and a large energy generator have agreed a long-term relationship to co-fire specifically-grown energy crops within existing power stations, rather than making use of biofuels that happen to be around,” RWE npower spokesman Kevin McCullough said. The agreement also represents an important new market for some UK farmers who are keen to diversify into new areas in the wake of recent EU agriculture reforms, the company said. ESD Biomass spokesman Neil Bryson told Reuters his firm is now calling on growers to sign up to its new “power plant contracts” now so that supplies will be available in time – it takes three years for the willow trees to mature. Several other UK power firms are testing biomass fuels such as wood chips, chicken litter and cereal pellets to generate electricity, including the country’s largest coal-fired plant Drax, which is owned by a group of banks. Environment experts say if the trial at one of Drax’s six power units is successful, willow-based biomass could eventually provide five percent of the power station’s fuel by 2009 and cut out 700,000 tones of carbon dioxide emissions. RWE npower, Britain’s third biggest energy supplier, says it is merely planning ahead. “By March 2009, generators will have to make sure that an increasing proportion of the biomass they use comes from purposely-grown energy crops including willow,” it said. Electricity suppliers are required to obtain 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources, including biomass, by 2010. Story by David Cullen REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

email to environmental consultant

Francesca is working on a school not far from my project site in the mountains of SW china, and although I have quite a lot of content for my IDS Report, I showed it to a few people today and it was suggested that I contact Francesca to see if there was anything she could add in terms of comparison between UK and Chinese construction management, practice and law.

I need to get this diary in to the binders tomorrow though, so you may have to check my sketchbooks for the last installments of my bloggers diary……

china query: francesca.galeazzi@arup.com, francesca_galeazzi@hotmail.com

hello Francesca, (Galeazzi)
I met you for a tutorial chat at the MET the other week.
my project is on a hillside in tiger leaping gorge, SW china, made from solid wood and stacked coppiced willow insulation.
I am sure you are busy, but I was just wondering if I could pick your brains on a couple of things related to your experience of building near there.
this is just to make a couple of comparisons between UK construction considerations and Chinese/remote locations in the mountains.

what would you say would be the hardest thing to get done on site over there that in the UK would be easy?
how does health and safety on site and in the design compare to the UK – lifting, balustrades etc?
how are construction materials transported to site, and how possible was it to source them locally?
what sort of contract was used for the project?

I would be super grateful if you had time to answer any or all of these questions.
thanks very much for your time,
Anna.

rationalisation

some simplification of the individual unit ‘boxes’, but keeping the same articulation language on the front elevation with the separate units defined by the stacked timber in between – creating the effect of a natural fallen rock mass on the hillside.

i have also brought the bathroom away from the back of the house (the side up against the embankment) giving it natural light and ventilation, as well as using it as a sliver through the house defining the change from less private to more private as you move through the house.

the justification for the insulated parts between rooms becomes more clear as i show storage recesses are cut into them for the rooms, and the charcoal-stove flue passing through the one between the kitchen/living space.

it may seem a bit scary to be making alterations at this stage, but they are all good things to consider, and although i now need to do more drawings, none of the changes alter the general concept, and i am happy to have had the opportunity to discuss and rationalise my project further so it is as realistic and workable as possible for the local Tibetans that would in theory be building it.

planning the final count-down :

three weeks to go until portfolio hand-in as well as this little diary and my ‘report’.

i have pinned-up a calender print-out on my wall and filled in all the remaining days with all the remaining work.

didn’t quite fit.

this could be interesting….

last crit ever….

a strange feeling – possibly exaggerated by my lack of sleep – that yesterday was my last crit ever.

i was one of the first to present, and it was good to get it out of the way and to have a discussion with the panel while they were still quite fresh.

it was a useful process, to push to get some things completed, and to put it up on the wall always helps me to clarify where my strengths and more importantly at this point – my weaknesses lie.

i had plenty of information, research and ideas to put up on the wall, but there was not enough big wow images amongst the detail – so i need to crack on with this.

we discussed the issues of building in a remote location in china, and the possibility of having trouble getting enough skilled builders willing to take on the challenge of the construction methods i am proposing. it was suggested that i need to have good justification for my chosen forms if i was going to convince the Tibetan locals that my buildings are worth the effort, and therefore a certain amount of rationalisation may be necessary in the design, and a very clear construction sequence plan.

model frenzy

have spent the last four days sticking together very small pieces of wood….

went down to visit my dad to shut myself away and concentrate on making stuff without distraction. not going to badly, but a very slow process – good to have time to consider the actual construction sequence for the building by working through the details at model scale, especially the way that the stacked timber should be replaced easily and where extra insulation is required (needs a little more thought about insulating the back of the units where they meet the access gap before the timber piling against the bank).

pleased with the outcome of the stacked timber though – looks really interesting with a sort of mottled texture, very cosy and solid.