Usman Haque of Haque :: design + research: PROJECTS, ETC.

This talk at the London Met was very inspiring! The underlying theme to the work of Haque Design is based around the following 3 factors;

1. Architecture
2. Inter-action
3. Design + Research

To see the website click here. The projects that have been completed are based around reactions. Some of the technology that is used has shown a type of intelligence by adapting to the actions taking place.

Some of the projects that Usman Haque talked about;

• Evolving Sonic Environment III This is the technology that according to the research seemed to learn and react quicker the longer it was running for.
  
• Burble This was done in London's Holland Park. The concept behind this is the motion causing the colour change. But each balloon reacts to the colour of its neighbour, the balloons were "communicating" with each other and changing accordingly.
  
• Sky Ear This is similar to the Burble, except instead of reacting to motion, its reacts to mobile phone signals caused by people calling phones that are floating in the Sky Ear and causing the colour changes.

These are some of the projects that Usman Haque has carried out, the website it worth looking at for more projects and information.

The only aspect that didn't come up with the talk is sustainability, the big topic at the moment. The projects and exhbits are great, but the question relating to sustainbility seems un-answered and would be interesting to know what plans Haque :: design + research have got in place to cater for sustainability.

Underground London @ The NLA Building Centre

Underground London is an exhibition looking at the changes the climate is bringing and prompting a vision of a complete underground infrastructure for the city. This will include upgrading the existing facilities and installing new technologies. This exhibition looks at planned changes for London and the steps the city is going to take to make it a more sustainable city.

To compliment the exhibition there are a series of breakfast talks. The first of these was David Anderson, the Engineering Director from Crossrail. This talk was looking at the new line that Crossrail have planned to put in across London. The main focus was on the stations and how they are going to be efficient and better then the existing underground stations. This talk was interesting but the delivery of the presentation was hard to keep up with. This wasn't helped during the question time from an annoying audience member insisting on making herself heard!

The second breakfast was given by Alex Michaelis, from Michaelis Boyd Architects. This talk was very interesting focusing more on the new technologies that could be harnessed to make the city a more sustainable place.

The first of these was a private house that was built with height restrictions, so the design focused on the idea of having half the house underground. This has lead to a lot more people looking into extending their homes down instead of up. The main reason for this is getting the planning permission for the height extension on the existing building. To see more about this private house, check the website here and search for the Oxford Gardens house. Note the built in slide on the stairs down to the swimming pool!

Some of the sustainable ideas that Alex Michaelis and Arup were working on were very interesting. They were working towards making London a sustainable city;

1. Eco-sewer. This works on the basis that everyday between 6-9 in the morning and evening, hot water passes through the sewers of London. This energy could be harnessed and used to power turbines to create energy.

2. Eco-travelator. This is much more conceptual then the eco-sewer. The idea works towards the removal of cars and buses. The travelator would connect key points around London with each other, by travelators. They would be powered via solar power to reduce the energy consumption.

Energy Island, this works with the Ocean Thermal Energy Conservation (OTEC). This works on the knowledge of temperature changes between deep and shallow waters in the sea, can create electricity. The energy island would also be a docking port for large tankers to help protect the docks built around the country. The tankers are getting bigger and the docks are suffering, with the use of the energy island the tankers would be able to dock comfortably.

Mark Elton @ Kingston MLT, friday 29/02/08, 11:30

Mark Elton is from ECD Architects. ECD stands for Energy Conscious Design, to see their website click here.
The talk was themed around Wolseley UK Sustainable Building Centre in Lemington Spa, to see the website specific for the Wolseley Building Centre click here.

The building was designed by the following team;

• Techniker//engineers,
• Fulcrum Consultants,
• DWB//Dobson White Boulcott//Quantity Surveyors,
• RGA Landscape//landscape architects.

The part of the talk that I was most interested in was the roofing system, that had been chosen for this building. The roofing is a Sedum roofing system. These differ from the typical green roof systems because its not structually dependent. Green roof's come in 2 styles;

1. Intensive is mostly made up of turf and plants needing soil
2. Extensive is mostly made up of Alpine plants also needs soil

A sedum roofing is a low maintenance matting, which is rolled out onto roofs. The main benefits from a sedum system are;

• Aesthetic benefits, green roofs are visually attractive.
• Protecting the waterproof membrane, the membrane lasts longer as a result of green roofing protecting the membrane.
• Reduced cooling, the plants on the roof absorb a lot of the heat on hot days and stops the building heating up.
• Biodiversity, wildlife live and breed on the roofs and help with to sustain the plants.
• Noise abosrbing, Mark Elton claims the noise from the airplanes is less with the sedum roofing in place.
• Storm water run off, this acts like a sponge and stores water which can be used in other ways.

The main disadvantages from the sedum roofing are;

• Cost, the client has to want to do it and it would cost about 30% extra.
• Maintenance, this is low compared to the intensive and extensive roofing, but needs checking once or twice a year, mainly to remove any unwanted plants from the roof.

The other material that interested me in this build is the GGBS (Ground Granulated Blast furnaced Slag). Click here for more information about GGBS. The main benefit of GGBS is the CO2 emissions are lower then standard concrete, and this helps the Wolseley building take big steps towards being a zero carbon building.

Picture source here.

FAT @ BCL

6.30pm Wednesday 30 January 2008
Darwin Lecture Theatre, UCL
Gower Street
London WC1

SEAN GRIFFITHS (FAT)

Ruining Architecture
Sean Griffiths is a director of Fat. He studied architecture at Manchester Polytechnic and the Polytechnic of Central London, before forming Fat in 1993. Fat is renowned as one of the most innovative architectural practices in the UK and recently completed the acclaimed Islington Square affordable housing project in Manchester The practice is currently working on major housing projects in London, a rural masterplan in Dorset, and a Park in Rotterdam. Sean also writes about architecture and urbansim and is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Westminster. He is presently the Louis I Kahn Visiting Professor at Yale School of Architecture.

The above info is taken from the BCL website, for more info click here.

The talk was interesting but in some places a little boring because the main focus was with architecture. A floor plan is just a floor plan. The work that was shown was FAT's most well known work and it was good to learn about the inspiration behind the projects. I found from the talk, the concepts for the ideas were great and pushing the boundaries, but the reality had to be calmed down and didn't really do the work justice.

To see the FAT website click here.

The Future Laboratories

This lecture was given by Future Laboratories.

Future Laboratories is a trend forecasting company. They try and predict new trends in society by using three factors;
1. Interrogation
2. Observation
3. Intuition
A combination of three help to give an insight as to how the trends are likely to change.

One of the main themes in the lecture is that design is changing to focus more on the experience of an event, rather then a physical object. Looking at the life/work balance, and thinking do we live to work or work to live?
The lecture was very interesting lecture and it will be interesting to see how these predictions evolve over the next couple of years.