CRM Blog | From The Rooftop
How Construction Can Move To A Circular Economy
21.01.2021 |A Discussion
Construction is traditionally a very linear economy. Resources are gathered and turned into the products that make up each part of a building until ultimately discarded. However, with many industries transitioning to a circular economy to reduce waste and costs, its time construction started doing the same.
By re-using the products and resources already circulating the economy, unnecessary waste is reduced and the amount of extraction necessary for new projects is reduced. As a result,
- Costs can be reduced on certain products that are cheaper to purchase used than new
- Circular solutions can assist with attaining green certifications on new structures
- Allows businesses to offer services that attract more green-conscious consumers
How would it work?
A focus on design for deconstruction would make it easier for construction companies to engage in these programs. By building a new structure that’s easy to tear down, with minimal damage to construction materials, it is easier to reclaim the products that can be reused in remodeling projects or new buildings.
Suppliers and equipment vendors are already beginning to offer take-back and end-of-life schemes, allowing construction companies to reduce the total waste on projects and reduce the costs associated with demolition or remodeling works.
The Fundamentals of Passive Design
14.01.2021 |A Discussion
Passive design is design that utilises the climate to maintain a comfortable temperature range within the home. This reduces the need for supplementary heating or cooling, which accounts for approximately 40% of energy use in the average Australian home. Passive design is most effective with active users that understand how the home is working in conjunction with the climate, and as such, know when to open or close windows or operate adjustable shading devices.
If you are designing a new home, or looking to renovate your existing one, passive house design is an essential consideration that can save you money, unnecessary carbon emissions and provide a more comfortable environment. We recommend using an expert in passive design; however, it is equally important you understand the principles being implemented so you can become an active user.
Glenn Murcutt's Palm Beach House - Photography by OZ.E.TECTURE
Orientation
The orientation of your home on its site is the single most important aspect (design joke) to understanding your homes ability to take advantage of climatic features such as sun and cooling breezes. For example, facing north in most climates allows maximum exposure to the sun and shading of walls and windows in summer. Good orientation therefore improves solar access and reduces the need for auxiliary heating
Heating
Passive solar heating
Passive solar heating is the least expensive way to heat your home. Design for passive solar heating keeps out summer sun and lets in winter sun while ensuring that the building envelope keeps that heat inside in winter and allows any built-up heat to escape in summer. Orientation, thermal mass, sealing and other elements all contribute to the design of a house that benefits from passive solar heating.
Insulation
Insulation acts as a barrier to heat flow and is essential for keeping your home warm in winter and cool in summer. It can also help with weatherproofing and soundproofing. A well-insulated home provides year-round comfort, cutting cooling and heating bills by up to half and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Climatic conditions determine the appropriate level of insulation as well as the most appropriate type to choose.
Glazing
Glazed windows and doors bring in light and fresh air and offer views that connect interior living spaces with the outdoors. However, they can be a major source of unwanted heat gain in summer and heat loss in winter. Up to 40% of a homes heating energy can be lost and up to 87% of its heat gained through glazing. These thermal performance problems can be largely overcome by selecting the right glazing systems for your orientation and climate while considering the size and location of window openings in your design.
Skylights
Skylights can make a major contribution to energy efficiency and comfort. They are an excellent source of natural light, allowing more than three times as much light as a vertical window of the same size, and can improve natural ventilation. However, they can be a major source of unwanted heat gain in summer and heat loss in winter. Factors to be considered when selecting from the many skylight options available include sizing and spacing (to control glare and heat gain), energy efficiency and appropriateness for climate.
Cooling
Passive cooling
Similarly, passive cooling is the least expensive way to cool your home. To be effective, passive cooling techniques need to cool both the house and the people in it with elements such as air movement, evaporative cooling, and thermal mass. Passive cooling design techniques can be applied to new homes as well as renovations, across a range of different climate zones
Shading
Shading of your house and outdoor spaces reduces temperatures. Shading can include eaves, window awnings, shutters, pergolas and plants. Shading of glass to reduce unwanted heat gain is critical, as unprotected glass is often the greatest source of heat gain in a house. However, poorly designed fixed shading can also block winter sun.
Regulating
Sealing your home
Air leakage accounts for 15 to25 percent of winter heat loss in buildings. Sealing your home against air leaks is one of the simplest upgrades you can undertake to increase your comfort while reducing energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions. Sealing your home can also create condensation and indoor air quality problems without appropriate ventilation.
Thermal mass
Thermal mass is the ability of a material to absorb and store heat energy. High density materials such as concrete, bricks and tiles have high heat storage capacity and are therefore high thermal mass. Lightweight materials such as timber have low thermal mass. Thermal mass moderates indoor temperatures by averaging daynight temperature extremes by absorbing excess hat energy throughout the day and releasing it at night as the temperature cools.
The Global Sand Shortage - How is it Possible and What do we do?
18.12.2020 | A Discussion
How can we be running out of Sand?
Imagery of deserts display sand as a universal and limitless commodity. However, construction aggregates such as sand and gravel are different, with specific requirements regarding size, smoothness, weight and more depending upon the application. As such, all this sand is mostly useless when it comes to producing the biggest consumer, concrete. Instead, we need the more angular stuff found in the beds, banks, and floodplains of rivers, as well as in lakes and on the seashore.
Ever-increasing demand for infrastructure and technology has resulted in unrestrained mining in order to produce every building, road, window, smart phone screen and virtually all electronic equipment; resulting in sand and gravel becoming the most-extracted materials in the world, exceeding fossil fuels, to the sum of 50 billion tonnes per year. This is despite records surrounding sand extraction being incredibly unreliable and underreported in many countries, while official statistics often not including non-construction purposes such as beach nourishment.
The Environmental Impact
The demand for that material is so intense that around the world, riverbeds and beaches are being stripped bare, and farmlands and forests torn up to get at the precious grains. And in a growing number of countries, criminal gangs have moved into the trade, spawning an often-lethal black market in sand and even spurring disputes between nations.
The environmental impact of our global demand for sand is enormous. The churned-up sediment can cloud the water, suffocating fish and blocking the sunlight that sustains underwater vegetation. Further, the clouded water damages the very infrastructure it builds, clogging water supplies. So much sand has been mined in specific areas in the past it has led to the collapse of bridges due to exposing the foundations, such as in Portugal in 2001 when 70 people died as a bus passed over.
What is the solution?
Material scientists are working on ways to replace sand in concrete with other materials, including fly ash, the material left over by coal-fired power stations; shredded plastic; and even crushed oil palm shells and rice husks. Others are developing concrete that requires less sand, while researchers are also looking at more effective ways to grind down and recycle concrete.
Further, advancements in other material technologies which can reduce our dependence on aggregate based construction, such as wooden skyscrapers, will go a long way to subduing the crippling effect sand mining is having on our environment and the communities within.
Smart Buildings and Smart Cities - Why build them and how?
11.12.2020 | A Discussion
With nearly 70% of the worlds population expected to live in cities by 2050, the ongoing upgrading of city infrastructure is imperative. To do this, digital construction tools are being implemented heavily into the design of smart buildings and smart cities. A smart building uses automated processes to control the buildings operations. Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, and security are connected and controlled automatically by a central system. In this weeks article, we will be looking at how these smart systems are shaping the future of cities and what tools create them.
What Can Smarter Cities Improve?
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
According to a study titled The carbon footprint of Australias construction sector by Man Yua, Thomas Wiedmann, Robert Crawford, and Catriona Tait; Globally the construction sector was, directly and indirectly, responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2010. Another study, completed in 2017, titled From leaders to majority; a frontrunner paradox in built-environment climate governance experimentation by Jeroen Van Der Heijden, reports operation and maintenance of buildings account for almost a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. The reduction of emissions to eventual carbon neutrality is of paramount importance, and smart building systems are a key component in achieving this outcome. By having operational components linked, buildings are able to operate in a more efficient and symbiotic way. Examples of this include:
- Automatically switching off devices and systems outside of operational periods
- Monitoring of heating, lighting, and ventilation systems
- Automatic adjustment of these systems to reduce unnecessary energy usage
- Gathering of data pertaining to the above, to be used in designing more efficient buildings in the future
These systems, used in conjunction with design optimization tools, demonstrate a clear path toward carbon neutrality if employed widely and correctly.
COMFORT
As has become painfully obvious to everyone during the period of this pandemic; the comfort of the spaces we occupy is crucial. By utilizing smart building systems, we can not only eradicate unnecessary emissions but improve our personal comfort. Smart systems are constantly monitoring and adjusting to maintain the optimal environment. As such, any changes in temperature, light levels, air quality, and more will be instantly recognized and accommodated. This allows architects and engineers to design smarter building systems that can interact with the smart system. Louvers can rotate with the movements of the sun to control internal temperatures and prevent excessive direct light. Windows and ventilation systems can work in tandem to control passive and artificial airflow. The quality of air can be monitored, meaning a preference towards a system can be dictated by traffic peaks and lows.
These are just some examples of how these systems are and will be instilled within our urban environment, and we believe it cannot come soon enough.
What tools are being used to design our future cities?
Building Information Modelling (BIM)
BIM is a 3D based modelling process that gives insights and tools to more efficiently and effectively design, construction and manage independent buildings and city infrastructure. Smart city projects are obviously complicated with a variety of teams working across an unimaginable number of components. BIM enables teams to work together more effectively, resolve problems early in the process and accurately predict results while reducing waste and ensuring timely project completion. Research has found BIM results in better communication, fewer errors, and reduced conflicts. When data from smart electrical grids, traffic management and other applications are combined with BIM data from individual buildings, a digital world is formed. Smart cities can leverage this information to improve infrastructure utility, environmental performance and sustainability.
Generative Design (GD)
Generative Design requires the architect or engineer to develop the parameters as opposed to the final product. By compiling the requirements of the building and inputting the previously mentioned data, GD can produce endless design outcomes ranked in order of effectiveness to meeting each outcome. This changes the role of architects and engineers to develop appropriate frameworks, inspect results and amalgamate solutions to create the final proposal.
Related information can be taken back to policy makers to help them make better decisions with regard to sustainability and climate change challenges, more intelligent design, and more.
We can no longer create our living and working worlds, make life better for residents and take care of the environment without using the data that surrounds us. Smart cities are a powerful approach to managing these challenges and are untapped sources of sustainable growth. The data delivered through digital tools such as BIM and GD are important elements to unlocking this potential.
How Companies Can Manage the Trade-Shortage
04.12.2020 | A Discussion
Australia, and many other countries, are experiencing a skilled trade shortage. With more young people going to university than ever and the minimum age for school leavers rising to 17, what can companies do to deal with the shortage and how can we attract more people to choose a trade.
1. Upskill Existing Employees
To make up for a shortage in skilled workers, many companies have begun offering training to their existing employees to meet the need. This can mean in-house training or external.
Many businesses are offering their employees incentives to return to school to get the education they need. While this option can be more expensive and time-consuming, it can also pay off in the long run. Not only does it ensure your employees are trained to industry standard quality but can also act as an incentive to attract talented workers.
2. Dynamic Roles
Considering employees with a range of experience means they may be able to apply their skills in various ways. An applicant or existing employee with experience across different sectors or areas within a business may be able to plug the gaps if given more ability to do so. Its worth discussing with your existing employees and any potential candidates in case the solution was under your nose the whole time.
3. Update Your Recruitment Policies
When skills shortages become a serious concern, it might be time to re-evaluate how you recruit new employees. New staff members don't have to be perfect immediately. Without negatively impacting your company, you can hire applicants with most of the requirements and help them grow into the role. Or, you could try hiring applicants with all the right skills, but with less experience than desired.
This in combination with transferable skills and good training procedures allows you to focus on finding motivated individuals and turning them into elite employees.
4. Partner with Educational Institutions
Though not a guarantee, it is worth reaching out to nearby educational institutions to offer job-placements to their students. This gives you a consistent stream of new workers and them the ability to offer guaranteed employment to students. You can also open your company up to apprenticeships, co-op work placements and internships, which can help cultivate the next generation of skilled workers. Further, it makes sure you stay up to date with the latest in your industry.
5. Use Freelance Workers
One of the most obvious ways to fill a skills shortage is by hiring contingent workers. With freelancers, consultants, contractors and more, you can fill massive gaps in your operation quickly and in a cost-effective manner. Contingent workers are becoming more and more common across industries due to their availability and job specific cost. As a result, many more sites offering contingent services are available and may have what you are looking for.
4 Ways to Become a More Sustainable Construction Company
04.12.2020 | A Discussion
Construction is one of the worlds biggest contributors to emissions and waste, with different reports suggesting construction is responsible for 39-50% of all carbon emissions worldwide. As such, it is crucial that everyone within our industry incorporates sustainable practices into their decision-making processes to combat this. Here are some tips on how you can make your construction business a more sustainable one.
1. Integrate Sustainability Internally
Moving towards greater sustainability begins with prioritizing it within your companies operations. Offering sustainable material options and expertise is a great way to start. Further to this, offering sustainable options will place emphasis upon hiring staff with experience in these products. Finally, by including sustainable options for your clients you help support other sustainable businesses while potentially adding a competitive advantage to your company.
2. Prevent Unnecessary Waste
Inaccurate estimating of materials required for a job creates unnecessary waste of material, transportation, and storage. By utilizing tools that reduce the potential for inaccuracies you are minimizing each jobs environmental impact to only whats necessary. Further, these tools can save you and your client money, leading to a more profitable project for everyone.
Just -In-Time production is another method of reducing waste, by ordering materials only in exact amounts and when needed to reduce storage time, thus reducing costs and emissions waste.
3. Remove Paper Documents
Construction documents require a lot of paper. As such, reducing printing as much as possible can have a significant impact on your companies sustainability goals and lead to more effective communication across the job. Construction software solutions that display documentation online allows everyone involved in the project to access the latest documents and work on them at the same time. No more wasted time due to miscommunication over the latest issue and a lot less paper waste too.
4. Reduce Transportation
Expanding upon point number one, making sustainability an internal goal of your company, requires decisions in areas such as transportation. The CO2 emissions produced by transporting materials, equipment, and workers to and from site are enormous. Careful planning and scheduling of deliveries can prevent equipment idling or unnecessary trips to collect forgotten materials, drastically reducing emissions. Further, sourcing local suppliers wherever possible to reduce transportation distance will also greatly reduce emissions.
Housing Affordability - The Crises Remains
27.11.2020 | A Discussion
Despite the recent falls in the housing market, housing affordability remains a pertinent issue to many Australians, and many more across the globe. More than 800 million people do not have adequate housing and 330 million are financially overstretched according to UN statistics. Lets go over why this is the case and some potential solutions to the housing affordability crisis.
Affordability Ratios and Housing Costs Are Up
Firstly, the typical Australian household is spending, on average, 6.5 times their gross annual income to buy a median-priced dwelling of $524,000. Less than 20 years ago this number was 4.5 times. Further, on average, it takes 8.7 years to save for a 20% deposit and households are spending 35% of their income on their mortgage once secured.
Wages Growth Is Slow
But while house prices remain elevated, incomes arent growing at the same rate. Wages only slightly beat inflation over the year, ending June up by 2.3%.
Struggles to Secure Loans
Increased focus on borrower spending behaviour has resulted in increased difficulty securing a loan, with some reports suggesting up to 45% of Australians struggling.
The Most Impacted
Millennials are unsurprisingly the most impacted by the housing crises, despite over 85% believing home ownership is important. Many hopeful homeowners are living with their parents longer to get ahead, with the number of Australians who think they will be at least 30 before leaving home jumping from 20% in 2017 to 34% in 2019.
Possible Solutions
Levers such as stamp duty and the first home buyers grant just arent cutting it. To allow lower income households and younger generations the opportunity to own their own home, our country requires more foundational changes. Increased transport infrastructure to carry people from affordable regions to job hot spots and more job creation in affordable areas are key. Further, it is worth considering the changing, or complete removal of, stamp duty. This could be replaced by a broad-based land tax instead. Finally, reducing the cost of construction by increasing the prevalence of pre-fabricated housing could allow more people into the market.
Without some or all of these changes being made, millennials and low-income households are only going to drift further away from the dream of owning their own home.
Jane Jacobs - The Death and Life of Great American Cities
20.11.2020 | A Discussion
Jane Jacobs was not a formally trained urban planner, however, is widely considered the most significant urban thinker of the last century. Rebuking the ideas of the supposed experts of the time to propose an urban strategy focused on neighbourhood street life, ultimately revolutionising the way we and planners forever view cities around the world.
Jane Jacobs 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities is a seminal work on effective urban planning and a self-entitled attack on the city planning of the time. It introduced a new way of thinking about planning for cities at the high point of the demolition focused days of urban renewal. The importance of street life, local plans, eyes on the street, mixed use, old buildings, transit, neighbourhoods, diversity, and appropriate density are all mainstream ideas in urban design and planning today. They were revolutionary when Jacobs introduced them over half-century ago.
Famous for her opposition of Robert Moses, it is first important to understand what Jane Jacobs novel is rebelling against. During this period, architects and urban planners sought to design cities by imposing efficiency and order, propagating for large superblocks, towering structures, and vast plazas. Jane Jacobs rebukes this idea in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities as she proposes that instead, it is the urban actors that establish and retain order. Jane Jacobs describes how storemen, doormen and neighbours are the ones who keep an eye on the streets, and as such, cities rely upon a vast array of activities that accommodate all ages, cultures and income classes to retain order. This contrasted with urban planners, most notably Robert Moses, who believed that segregating people into their factions via income level housing blocks and differentiated business districts while establishing vast transportation infrastructure to allow for efficient movement to places of culture such as museums, parks or beaches. Throughout the introduction of this book, Jane Jacobs refutes the notions of numerous underlying ideals within urban planning at the time. She rebukes the Garden City, Le Corbusiers Radiant City and Decentrists, all of which propagate a large scale and rigged solution to urban design. Instead, Jane Jacobs advocates for a a most intricate and close-grained diversity of uses that give each other constant mutual support, both economically and socially. Areas that lacked this intricate mutual support, Jane Jacobs believed would die out and become wastelands, leading to numerous sociological and economic problems. A notion that ultimately proved to be correct after the principles of Moses ultimately led to the displacement of over half a million people in return for expressways through New York City.
The work of Jane Jacobs serves as a reminder to planners and designers everywhere that an understanding and engagement with the community shareholders of the project is crucial in ensuring the security of its identity throughout development. Further, she reminds the shareholders to assert themselves to insure their community values. In Janes own words, "It is not easy for uncredentialed people to stand up to the credentialed, even when the so-called expertise is grounded in ignorance and folly. This book turned out to be helpful ammunition against such experts. But it is less accurate to call this effect influence than to see it as corroboration and collaboration".
Hospital Design in a Post-Pandemic World
06.11.2020 |A Discussion
Healthcare workers across the world have been at the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals reaching capacity and shortages of necessary supplies all while working in the highest risk of environments. As such, some innovative solutions have been utilised to cope with the influx of highly contagious patients to ensure enough beds are available without further outbreaks.
As a result of this pandemic highlighting the shortfalls in health care systems and design globally, resolving these issues where possible before the next mass-scale health crises is critically important.
Some key concerns include:
More remote healthcare services, telehealth
Hospitals design anticipating more surge capacity
The adoption of prefabricated/modular components, allowing for greater flexibility
Flexible Design
Hospitals need to be more flexible not only in the number of patients they can handle, but the way in which they can handle them. By being able to rapidly transform spaces in scale and isolate areas efficiently, such as ICU units converting into COVID-19 units as some hospitals have done, hospitals can rapidly deal with influxes of patients and prevent further outbreaks. To do so, it needs to be possible to easily cordon off areas of the hospital to mitigate the spread of an infectious disease. This requires, for instance, physically walling the areas off and advanced HVAC systems that can appropriately purify the air.
Modular design in hospital construction is also likely to become more prevalent. Modular design allows for custom-building spaces, including movable walls to adjust capacity and the ability to seal off areas from the rest of the hospital. Modular units also give hospitals the flexibility to devote the bulk of its space to a health crisis without having to curtail non-life-threatening surgeries or treatments. A modular wing of a hospital remains open and treat patients receiving elective surgery without jeopardizing their health, safely cloistered off from the main hospital unit, even equipped with a separate ventilation system.
Changing Where Care is Delivered
Hospitals are designed differently than most buildings. Large elevators and wide hallways need to accommodate patients on hospital beds being moved around the facility. However, most were not designed to withstand such a rapid influx of patients as seen this year. This led to the construction of so-called alternative care facilities (ACFs), which helped ensure any patient who needed a bed, or a ventilator could get them. Field hospitals were set up in some countries at convention centres, playing fields, and even parking lots. Some of these sites included thousands of temporary beds with medical the equipment needed to treat patients.
The future of medical centres is likely to include so-called micro-hospitals. These smaller in scale emergency care facilities are designed for shorter stays to help patients avoid longer waits and can provide the same level of care as larger hospitals.
These tiny hospital centres can already be found in some places, seen as a potential solution to address the inequality around access to care during a pandemic. In addition to taking some pressure off larger hospitals, micro-hospitals can be quickly built according to an area specific needs, even in communities typically underserved by existing infrastructure. This in conjunction with increased investment in non-face-to-face health services would offer citizens an urban environment better prepared for another pandemic event.
Bernard Tschumi - The Architecture of Rebellion
30.10.2020 |A Discussion
B.Tschumi was a graduate of ETH Zurich in 1969, receiving a degree in architecture. Following this, he was a teacher at many notable universities in the UK and USA, including the Architectural Association, Princeton University, Cooper Union and Colombia University. Additionally, Bernard established his own successful architecture firms, Bernard Tschumi Architects (BTA), in New York City and, Bernard Tschumi Urbanistes Architectes (BTUA), in Paris.
Bernard Tschumi was a controversial figure throughout his life as an architect. As a student, he was greatly influenced by the 1968 riots in Paris and the ideologies of the Situationist International. During this period, students and workers demanded higher living and educational standards be imposed, hierarchies be abolished, and cross-disciplinary, socially relatable content be taught. These demands came as a revolution against the strict, historical principles of the institutions. Most notably to Tschumi, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, a famed architectural school known for its difficulty and style that has influenced many architects across the world. The student strikes inspired Tschumi to reconsider the role of architecture in developing and enforcing the hierarchies and oppression of the time. Further to this, the cross disciplinary demands on students inspired Tschumi to investigate influences of differing mediums to inform his architectural approach.
The revolutionary thinking of Bernard Tschumi was apparent from his early career as an academic. The Manhattan Transcripts (1981) was one of Tschumis earliest projects that demonstrated how cross-disciplinary techniques can breed new architectural results. Greatly influenced by famous, Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, a pioneer in the use of montage as a film technique. Bernard Tschumi utilised similar techniques by taking stills of dynamic scenes from films, diagramming the movement of the actors and using these forms to generate architectural use, form and social values . By doing this, B.Tschumi aimed to explore the relationship between spaces, their use and their meaning. a stark contrast to architectural thinking of the time. He stated, The transcripts aimed to offer a different reading of architecture in which space, movement and events are independent, yet stand in new relation to one another, so that conventional components of architecture are broken down and rebuilt along different axes1 Bernard Tschumi.
One year after publishing The Manhattan Transcripts, Bernard Tschumi won his first major work, the Parc de la Villette. This gave Tschumi the opportunity to transition his previously theoretical concepts to reconceive use, form and social values1 within architecture to reality. Synchronically, a project of this scale, awarded by the French Government, to an architect widely known for his contrasting philosophies, represented a new approach to architecture Peter Blundell (2012). This new approach would severely contrast typical Parisian open spaces commonly referenced in paintings such as George Seaurats A Sunday on La Grande Jatte . Public parks were uniformly designed as an escape from the city during this time, however, Tschumis design included a vast array of cultural facilities to blur this boundary and create a park based on culture, rather than nature Tschumi. Further to this, a series of points (steel follies), are located throughout the site; none of these structures possess a specific use except to emphasize the movement through the park Tschumi. While controversial, these structures articulate clearly the revolutionary thinking of Bernard Tschumi. By incorporating these structures, the function of the site remains unique to the visitor and un-imposed; allowing for constant reinterpretation and continued cultural relevance, addressing previously mentioned issues relating to the 1968 student riots. The game of architecture is neither function (questions of use), nor form (questions of style), nor even the synthesis of function and form, but rather the bringing together of possible combinations and permutations between different categories of analysis - space, movement, event , technique, symbol, etc I am not interested in form ,I attack the system of meaning. I am for the idea of structure and syntax, but no meaning. Tschumi
Bernard Tschumi continued to challenge the traditional methods and preconceptions of architecture throughout his career, however, he also consistently met criticism regarding his projects. Often described as an intellectual who dismisses human needs in return scholarly superiority; Thomas Hines 1994 article in The New York Times supports this claim, stating the eroticism he finds in architecture is really an obsession with rules and the architects desire both to impose and to transgress them . Further to this, Hine describes Mr. Tschumis Art5 as in a hermetic world that lacks the primitive, truly architectural pleasures created by light and shadow, colour and texture, expansiveness and enclosure, rhythm ad incident. Ultimately, I believe it is this kind of criticism that Tschumi himself would have welcomed and encouraged; he developed his work by questioning the decisions of those made before him and reconceiving the urban environment via new forms of experimentation. Tschumis use of external influences to inform his architectural explorations was revolutionary and deeply significant to architecture and society. However, the impact his interpretation of these influences has had is matched by the ongoing impact of his influence on other modern architects. Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Zumthor and many more have referenced Tschumi in their work, often implementing his principles or techniques in their analysis of the problems associated with contemporary cities. One such example of this is Rem Koolhaas Junkspace, specifically, in Bigness, or the Problem of Large, Koolhaas identifies a similar separation between contemporary structures and the cities inhabitants; declaring these faceless, bland and random buildings as separate entities, larger than they need to be and leading to a rich orchestration of chaos.
MOS Architects - Housing No.5 Rosseua Lake College
23.10.2020 |A Discussion
MOS Architects is uniquely situated to challenge the architectural conventions of our time, rebuking existing notions of corporate professionalism and architectural uniformity, and instead prioritising playful exploration and constant contrarianism. Founded by husband and wife Hilary Sample and Michael Meredith, who both occupy teaching positions at Princeton and Columbia respectively, their work incorporates a rare blend of academia, technological innovation, and technical proficiency. However, as theyre firm has grown, questions have arisen regarding the continued un-conventionality of their architecture.
Representation is a word synonymous with MOS Architects and it remains the defining aspect of their practice that is most discussed and debated amongst those within the industry. Hilary Sample herself spoke of MOS belief that the future of architecture (Sample, 2009) was unconventional forms of representation in a 2009 lecture she gave at the University of Michigan. Defining unconventional representational techniques is difficult and often construed as simply drawing conventions. However, I would argue MOS has a much broader idea of what representation means, including areas such as such form, method, and concept. If we look at MOS early work exploring parametricism, they are utilising new technologies to generate new formalities, although, it is also clear they are undermining the results of their own experimentation. This is clearest in works such as afterparty, in which the high-tech (Meredith,2019) form is clearly generated by using advanced computational methods, while presenting itself with a primitive (Meredith, 2019) aesthetic. Furthermore, the conceptual framework behind the project itself is equally unconventional; designed for the Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA) Young Architects Program, the pavilion rebuked the academic discussions of the time to look for new promiscuities, new methods of design after the party of a sort of high-formalism that has dominated academic discourse of late (MOS, 2009). This antagonistic attitude towards contemporary ideas and methods has continued despite their success and the inevitable pragmatism that goes with running a profitable practice, with Michael stating, were kind of constantly contrarian (Meredith, 2019) in a recent interview. This outlook pervades MOS identity and projects to this day, with even their office statement dismissing the quote-unquote professionalism that is cold at its core, while emphasising their desire to be horizontal and fuzzy as opposed to tall and shiny. Their unbuilt project Housing No.5 exemplifies the evolution of their representational vexing; proposed in 2016, Housing No.5 was to be situated on the shore of Lake Rosseau in Ontario, Canada, offering student and faculty accommodation to the nearby college. While conventional in its brief, MOS typically challenged the ideals of student housing and its obligation to future inhabitants. Focused on the development of the individual (MOS 2016), their proposal aimed to merge community, individuality and nature into a series of dormitories (MOS, 2016). To achieve this, MOS fostered community with sheltered paths and gathering areas (MOS 2016), built individuality with unique self-contained residences (MOS 2016) and embedded nature (MOS 2016) into the daily routines as they live amongst the tree-lined lakefront (MOS 2016). The proposal utilises the topography of the site to align with the landscape (MOS 2016), while the continuous roof allows for paths, stairs and ramps to form between the breaks between units which are comprised of clusters of two to three. The continuous roof is penetrated by operable chimneys that act as light wells and ventilation shafts in the form of dumb geometry (Meredith 2019) such as cylinders and rectangles. These simple forms are an expansion upon MOS recent contrarianism towards smart geometries developed using the parametric tools once employed. Michael Meredith discusses this notion in a 2019 interview, in which he states smart geometry was the thing everyone talked about at the time, thats why we did it with just cubes, dumb geometry (Meredith, 2019). Furthermore, despite advancements in technology, MOS has continued to utilise drawing conventions that rebuke the corporate architectural aesthetic, opting for colourful drawings and atmospheric renderings.
In doing so, MOS creates architectural documents that appeal to a wider audience than simply architects and architectural students. There documents are easily read and understood spatially without a formal education in architecture. This is important not only to differentiate themselves as a practice, but also for the field of architecture itself, which has become reclusive from the input of the broader public, culminating in an industry that simultaneously criticises those who are successful financially while applauding those who merely criticise. An opinion shared by other architects also occupying the world of academia such as Andrew Kovacs, who stated in an interview recently that for some reason I think architects dont like things that are successful at the end of the day (Kovacs 2019).
Housing No.5 also raises questions regarding the validity of MOS claims to be the constantly unconventional (Meredith 2019) practice that they claim to be. When investigating the proposal documentation, the logistical requirements of the site and its brief had an enormous impact upon the overall proposal. MOS claims to be prioritising individuality through unique forms for each dormitory, however, when viewing the plan it becomes apparent that each dorm is identical in shape and volume, while enclosed common shared space is almost non-existent, a single room placed on the East-South corner. Further, MOS additionally claims to be establishing community (MOS 2016) and embedding nature (MOS 2016) via the continuous roof, penetrated by trees and divided by paths and gathering spaces. However, it could be argued this area would act as more of an extended awning over the site than a community gathering space. Finally, walking diagrams aim to articulate MOS consideration of the individual and their routine movement patterns throughout the site. Upon closer inspection, the movements have less to do with the design proposal and more to do with the proximity of the site to the remaining campus.
The key consideration when viewing these documents is not if the proposal adequately meets the brief while offering a pleasant environment for its occupants, which I believe it does. It is whether the identity MOS has established and advertised of themselves as an unconventional firm, both through the production of their own work and the criticisms of others, is clear to see architecturally. Or, if the architecture is conventional, are they simply utilising a representational and marketing aesthetic that works, to sustain a financially viable practice like any other. I would argue that while MOS is undoubtedly, historically unconventional, questioning representation, technological and academic conventions; they have had to establish structural mechanisms within their practice as they have grown like everyone else in order to remain viable, especially post the 2008 financial crises.
Why Prefabrication Is The Future of Architecture
16.10.2020 |A Discussion
Prefabricated housing is the future of Australian architecture. In Australia, prefabricated modular housing makes up only about 5 percent of the construction industry. Compared to European countries such as Sweden, where prefabricated modular housing makes up 70 percent of the construction industry, there is huge potential for this market.
Muji Hut - Prefabricated home designed by Muji. Image from Dezeen
The Main Types of Prefabrication
- Simple elements: Beams, columns or other parts of a structure that have been manufactured to be easily bolted into place onsite.
- Panelised systems: These are used for walls and include elements such as insulation, utilities, waterproofing and external and internal cladding. These components are designed to allow for rapid assembly and flat pack transportation.
- Volumetric systems: Three dimensional modular objects that comprise the floor, ceiling and wall components for a single room.
Why Would Prefabrication Benefit Australia?
The housing affordability crisis is already affecting many Australians who are struggling to buy their first homes. This in conjunction with rising costs and a lack of supply versus demand, prefabrication offers the best opportunity to provide affordable housing at scale. By reducing manufacturing costs, construction becomes both faster and cheaper.
The Additional Benefits
Emergency Housing and Infrastructure
Low-cost emergency housing can be produced in response to natural disasters and accommodation for currently homeless people. While prefabricated methods can also be utilised in future events like the COVID-19 pandemic to provide emergency testing and treatments facilities, helping to prevent overrun hospitals.
Safety
Prefabrication means a controlled environment. By producing the components within a factory to be simply assembled, many risks associated with the typical building site are removed; offering a safer work environment to tradespeople.
Sustainability
More planning means less wasted time and materials in the production process, again reducing costs. These savings can then be passed onto the owner or be invested into higher quality materials that provide better thermal performance and further reduce energy usage. Also, fabrication workshops can plan how to maximise recycling of any waste before the production process even begins.
Trade shortages and re-training
Currently there is a huge trade shortage in Australia, however, those currently working in manufacturing areas such as automotive manufacturing could be upskilled and apply their existing knowledge to prefabricated construction, offering more opportunities for employment and higher quality workmanship
Cedric Price - The Most Influential Architect You Have Never Heard Of
09.10.2020 |A Discussion
Over his half-century career in architecture, Cedric Price built few buildings, and fewer still fewer remain. As such, the legacy of Price is itself difficult to materialise. Snowdon Aviary and London Zoo are the last remaining significant built works of Prices that stand today. However, to those within the industry, his influence remains as present as any heritage listed site, impacting generations of architects. Some may even argue that, while not having his name on them, he has a vast array of built works throughout the world as his principles and ideas influenced those who created many iconic pieces of our built environment, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers to name two.
The most famous of Cedric Prices work is without question, Fun Palace. The concept was initiated by Joan Littlewood, theatre director and founder of Theatre Workshop London. Ruairi Glynn describes the belief behind such a revolutionary concept in his 2005 article, stating the idea was to build a laboratory of fun with facilities for dancing, music, drama and fireworks. Central to Prices practice was the belief that through the correct use of new technology the public could have unprecedented control over their environment, resulting in a building which could be responsive to visitors needs and the many activities intended to take place there. As indicated by the above, the marketing material for the project was similarly utopian, choose what you want to do or watch someone else doing it. Learn how to handle tools, paint, babies, machinery, or just listen to your favourite tune. Dance talk or be lifted up to where you can see how other people make things work. Sit out over space with a drink and tune in to whats happening elsewhere in the city. Try starting a riot or beginning a painting or just lie back and stare at the sky. Fun Palace was more than merely a utopian yet superficial vision. The design summarised the enigmatic and exuberant nature of Cedric Price. Cutting edge technology was being employed within the built environment in a whole new way, and as such, the role and significance of the architect was being changed. An open, steel structure with travelling cranes contained the architectural elements that were split into their parts, acting as a kit that could be endlessly altered and reconfigured to the whims of its inhabitants. Cinemas, restaurants, workshops, lounging spaces and just about anything else could be continuously arranged, scrapped, and re-arranged, resembling a large shipyard - Ruairi Glynn.
The philosophies behind Fun Palace are widely considered more revolutionary to the field of architecture than the design itself. Cedric Price had for the first time, broken the monotonous narrative of the genius architect, in round glasses and a turtle-neck jumper, dictating the urban environment all citizens dwell within. An unhealthy image of structural dictatorship closely related to another narrative of an industry comprised almost exclusively of privately educated, white men puffing cigars in a lecture theatre, of which Cedric Price was a part of. For the first time, the concept behind the building was dynamic, ever changing and at the control of its user. Further to this, the structural fabric was on display, proudly articulating the inner workings as a necessary tool for its use, rather than hidden away from public view. The world-famous Centre Georges Pompidou, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, would utilize these concepts in built form; exposing the infrastructure of the building to maximize the interior space with no need for interior columns. Cedric Prices greatest achievement was one of provocation. He was more concerned with criticizing the accepted narratives of architecture, both philosophically and in his work, than producing buildings. This is never clearer than when reading a series of maxims Cedric Price wrote in a 1972 article for Pegasus. These statements encapsulate the mind of Cedric Price and his distaste for accepted normality of behavior within the industry.
It does not matter who designed the safety pin - we should just be delighted that they did - Price 1972.
The house is no longer acceptable as a pre-set ordering mechanism for family life. Housing is rapidly becoming a consumable commodity. This is a major motivational force in the individuals and familys use of the house - Price 1972
Why dont umbrellas disintegrate in sunshine or at least grow in the rain? - Price 1972
The value of permanence must be proven, not merely assumed.- Price 1972
Central to the activital shortfall is the inability of architects and planners to concentrate with sufficient expertise on the environmental servicing of people.- Price 1972
How little need be done? should be the designers first question. Then perhaps we would no longer have to pay people to paint TURN LEFT underneath arrows on the roadway.- Price 1972
Shortage of time is likely to become an increasingly large element in the conscious design process: not merely in achieving a particular means but even in deciding whether there is time to bother designing such a means.- Price 1972
No one should be interested in the design of bridges they should be concerned with how to get to the other side.- Price 1972
Reading Reviews
25.09.2020 |A Discussion
This week, we are doing seven, short reviews of some influential books and articles by both architects and critics. We suggest you copy the title and give these a read yourself, well worth it. Architecture is critical to everyone, and we think it's important everyone has an opinion on our urban environment and those shaping it. Let us know what you think.
Berlin: A Green Archipelago - Ungers O. M. and Rem Koolhaas. The City in the City. Berlin: A Green Archipelago. Zurich: Lars Muller Publishers (2013), 10-25
A Green Archipelago is a concept proposal that will act as the driver behind the urban environment of Berlin during a period of controlled urban density decrease. The manifesto rebukes the concept of more construction offering the city primordial state. Instead, Ungers and Koolhaas suggest dismantling malfunctioning parts of the city, to weed out the substandard. This would render the remaining buildings as an archipellago, in a green lagoon of nature. By fragmenting the city in this way, the outcome of urban density decrease is achieved will retaining the components of the city that offer clear benefit to the urban users. However, the concern with this notion should be the questions of who and what is the definition of substandard. This is a subjective term, and as such, it vulnerable to a potentially dictatorial implementation from those tasked.
Vittorio Aureli, P. - Working on the ruins of superdutch: a comment on the work of metahaven POA. London: Bedford Press, 43-48
Pier Vittorio dissects the work of Metahaven while proposing that creativity has evolved from a weapon of counter-cultural movement deployed against social conformism, to a fundamental asset of capitalist development. Vittorio affirms his claims by exploring the work of Metahaven, specifically, their investigation into the dystopian fall-out of the neo-liberal economy. Vittorio suggests that Metahaven have articulated the way identity, incarnated as branding, is a fundamental asset of post-Fordist political economy. Vittorio does not discuss the possibility that design has always been a fundamental asset to both politics and economy, nor does he attempt to ration why design cannot occupy both the role of a counter-culture and an economic necessity synchronically.
If you behave like an idiot, youve got to take responsibility about it - Legislating architecture. Zurich: Edition Patrick Frey (2016), 335-42
Arno Brandlbuher and Tom Emerson discuss the English legal system, predominantly common law, and its impact upon British cultural progression. They discuss this idea architecturally and describe how it has defined British cities in comparison with European cities. Specific examples of the impact of common law are mentioned, with Tom stating if youve been enjoying certain rights, like the right to light, you have the right to that piece of sky, even if the land beside it isnt yours. Tom and Arno discuss how this has prevented the progression of differing views to how the urban environment should be planned and designed in Britain. The discussion then discusses Tort law, that essentially defines your responsibility as a citizen and the potential to be punished for essentially acting like an idiot.
Kersten Geers - Perfectly fine for Mies
The Seagram Building symbolizes the nuance and difficulty in critiquing modern architecture and the subsequent alienation of the public from the discussion altogether. As large-scale globalization occurred, modern architecture such as The Seagram Building began synthesizing formal principles from varying cultures. As such, the distinction of good architecture became subjective. Mr Jencks and Geers exemplify this subjectivity, describing the rear of the building as botched and indecisive Geers, and a perfect example of European contextualism Jencks. This lack of objectivity has caused indifference among common people, abandoning the urban environment to be discussed only by academics. Consequently, causing a Emperors New Clothes Effect Osborn 2020, in which those without the distinction of Architect obviously cannot see or simply dont understand the true complexity of modern architecture.
Colin Rowe - letter to the Harvard Architectural Review (1986), published as Letter: On Precedent and Invention, in Colin Rowe, As I Was Saying: Reflections and Miscellaneous Essays, Alexander Caragonne (ed.), volume two, Cornelliana (Cambridge, Mass. and London: The MIT Press, 1996), 367-370.
Colin Rowes letter to the Harvard Architecture Review is a commentary on the misunderstanding of the creative process. He discusses his inability to comprehend how anyone can begin to act without resorting to precedent Rowe. Architecture is complex, not complicated. There are no defined or unique solutions; nor should there be. As such, each project should be the distillation of precedent and experimentation organised within its context. This more scientific approach to design does not void architecture of its subjectivity or creativity, it merely clarifies the design process like that of musical composition.
Bruther - Nexus. 99 Notes. A eulogy of machine buildings framing the disorder 2G, No. 76 (2017), 141-159
99 Notes provides a pocketbook lexicon that covers the roles of flexibility, the vernacular and the machine within architecture, while also making poignant points about the role of architecture itself. Defining the architectural machine as both an extension of the body and recreates a world within itself articulates the paradox and fluidity of the architectural machine . This paradox is reflective of the paradoxes of contemporary urbanity. 99 Notes acts as a reminder to architects to question the relevance of their work while enforcing that architecture is useful , never finished and shared knowledge.
Food Truck Architecture - A Micro-Urban Phenomena
18.09.2020 |A Discussion
Introduction
Food trucks are a unique architectural component of our urban and suburban environment that establish diversity and culture, offer necessary amenities and encourage economic growth. However, their ongoing role within the urban environment is questionable and as such this essay explores the possibilities of transient architecture Osborn 2019, to disperse the barrier between urban and suburban environments while exploring the reciprocal relationship between food trucks and urban actors Jane Jacobs 1961.
What is a food truck?
In order to begin to understand the role and impact of food trucks within the urban environment we must first define what we consider to be a food truck. A food truck is a moveable vehicle equipped to sell food. This definition is important as it highlights a key component of how food trucks interact with the urban environment, via transportation. The architecture of a food truck is unique due to its spatial considerations and the necessity for renovation. Common features of a food truck include a hinged window to allow for customer interaction and the secure lockdown of the vehicle while in transit, two large benchtop spaces along either side of the vehicle to allow the staff, generally 2, to operate back to back. Movement reduction is paramount in the spatial considerations of the food truck and as such all necessary appliances remain underneath or on top of the benchtops within arms reach. Other architectural features of food trucks commonly found include durable, no-slip, inflammable floors such as laminate or vinyl; Ventilation, usually attained via roof vents in addition to windows and emergency exits. Easy access to inventory and the minimisation of movement are the key considerations within the architecture of a food truck, as such, these architectural considerations are designed generally with stations in consideration. Food truck operators commonly separate the preparation process of their food into stations, acting like a factory line. By reducing the food preparation into components, each staff member has a zone within the food truck within which they complete a singular or potentially dual tasks. For example, a doughnut producing food truck in Melbourne has two operators either side of the food truck; the first operator shapes the batter and places it into the deep fryer, while the second, removes the batter and serves the customer. This set up is the most common found among all food trucks, as it solves the logistical issues associated with preparing and serving food within a small space while maximising efficiency of production. However, within this framework, the architecture of each food truck in unrecognizable from the other. This is due to two main considerations. Firstly, no two food trucks prepare the exact same food; food truck and culture are simultaneous, and as such, every burger, poke bowl, salad etc are somewhat different and require different preparation. This factor impacts the tools, machinery, appliances, size of containers, product longevity and more; resulting in an entirely unique layout for each food truck. The ramifications of this extend further and establish the second unique component of food truck architecture, the necessity for renovation. As previously mentioned, each food truck follows a specific formula, but the individual components are entirely unique every time. As such, it is impossible to produce a vehicle that could serve this vary array of needs or be customisable enough to adapt to the user without impeding the mentioned process of production imperative to speed and mitigation of movement in order to serve customers rapidly. While the topic of food truck architecture is widely un-studied, it is noticeable unique yet formulaic with numerous intelligent spatial considerations included.
Food Trucks, The Urban Environment and People
Food trucks are unique from an architectural standpoint due to the transient nature of their interaction with the urban environment and the persistently changing manner by which the urban environment both impacts and is impacted by its urban context. Many of the common means by which we analyse how a building interacts with urban actors (Jane Jacobs 1961) can be utilised when observing the role of food trucks within the urban compared to the suburban context. When in a stationary state, food trucks have a reciprocal relationship with their broader environment. The first example of this is the role of a food truck within a suburban environment. Generally, a food truck will be prevalent within a suburban environment during times of events and activities, most prominently in Australia, festivals. During festivals, numerous food trucks are provided with a designated zone, establishing an almost cordoned area by which the urban actors will have a prolonged interaction with the wider cordoned zone of the food truck, a space generally decided upon by the coordinators of the festival to be far away from the main performance areas, either on flat ground or atop a hill as to keep the congestion away from places of high movement volume. Due to the long-term stagnancy of this situation, benches or simply grassed areas in front of the food trucks will become entirely spaces of consumption. While the users interaction with the food truck itself is minimal due to the rapid production level, the following interaction is prolonged. Users will collect their food, find a space in front of the food truck with numerous other actors and consume their food in this zone. This interaction significantly impacts the urban environment causing congestion, noise and waste. Likewise, this symbiotic relationship also impacts the food vendor; huge lines and a demand for further increased production times are necessary while also being highly profitable due to the scarcity of alternate food options. The often-remote nature of these events also ensures the food truck must always be capable of housing enough produce to meet these requirements, despite regularly operating at a level far lower. In comparison, when analysing the reciprocal relationship between food trucks and the urban environment, the length of the interaction between user and vendor is greatly reduced, along with overall volume. The most notable impact on this is the City of Sydneys restricted areas and exclusion zones, generally excluding food trucks from operating on main streets, instead pushing them to off streets. This, in conjunction with the expanded volume of food vendors via restaurants and delivery services, along with the initial start- costs associated with food trucks, drastically impacts the financial viability of food truck ownership due to the limited potential interactions with urban actors. Misha Ketchells 2019 article titled Kebab Urbanism, Melbournes other cafes makes the city a more human place, outlines the severity to which the urban environment and food trucks share a reciprocal relationship as he investigates kebab vans and their role filling a void within the urban context of Melbourne, a city with far less restrictions upon the operating spaces and hours of food trucks within the city. Misha Ketchell describes the loud, inaccessible and unpleasant areas in which these kebab vans operate proliferated throughout the city, often filling the space of day-time businesses by utilising driveways and parking spots full only hours earlier. This concept of a semi-permanent interaction is entirely unique to food trucks and vans, while synchronically providing an alternate means of income for day-time businesses. Further to this, Misha explores the cultural prowess of these kebab vans, labelling them local icons that offer an alternative to the spread of generic urbanism as they operate across many different spaces and spectrums ranging from the car to the pedestrian, temporary to permanent, formal to informal. Finally, it is important to consider the negative interaction food trucks have with the broader urban environment. Due to the roaming nature of food truck architecture, fuel and waste have a significant detrimental impact upon the broader environment. Returning to the necessity for renovation, food trucks solely utilise inefficient, petrol or diesel reliant vehicles to operate within, having a significant negative impact upon the environment. Food trucks also have varying degrees of food wastage, dependant upon the level of user-interaction on any given day in accordance with the previously mentioned requirement of potential high user interaction. This volatile economic marketplace can lead to numerous occasions of significant food waste. Overall, it is clear that ,within the correct urban environment, food trucks can have a significant and beneficial impact on the broader urban environment, establishing alternative means of both main and residual income for operators and land owners while acting as diverse cultural pop up zones, expanding the cities ethnic diversity while providing a reasonably low cost entrepreneurial enterprise for operators, most notably migrants.
The Future of Food Truck Architecture
Food trucks saw an increase in popularity over the past 10 years, however, they have recently seen a significant decrease due to the evolution of alternate food-based architectures. The most notable of these include food delivery services such as Deliveroo and Uber-Eats. These services reduce the required architecture of providing food to urban actors to zero. Utilising the existing infrastructure of cars, bicycles and the actors themselves, existing restaurants can provide the same service benefits to the broader urban context with no associated costs, no running costs all while retaining the residual income. Further to this, actors can also participate in the process, utilising their spare time to generate revenue with no requirement for training or investment. The popularity of these services is directly in conjunction with the decline of food trucks serving the urban environment. As a result of this, the future architecture of food trucks is likely to be rendered exclusively to event-based activities. This has numerous detrimental and beneficial ramifications. Firstly, the uprising of internet based, sharing economy platforms to provide goods and services offers an entirely new and immediate source of income for urban actors; with no set-up costs or designated hours, the potential for people to earn an income immediately has significant benefit to low-income peoples, most notably migrant communities. Alternatively, when examining the research compiled during this analysis, it is apparent to me that there is the potential for a combination in these architectures that may be mutually beneficial while reducing the negative associations of both. Nigel Bertram and Leon van Schaiks; Suburbia Reimagined explores the potential for sub-division structures to offer new possibilities for sustainably integrating generations between established and arriving migrant communities. The authors advocate for the repurposing of malls and railways to cul-de-sacs and social units, to provide a rich life for all age groups and assist the growing disparity in amenities provided to suburban environment. These spaces occupy the same, previously mentioned, existing fabric of the urban environment so commonly utilised by food trucks and vans after day-time businesses, Misha Ketchell 2019, close. By renovating these areas in accordance with the proposal of Nigel Bertram and Leon van Schaik, it would be possible to additionally incorporate the usage of driveways and parking spots Ketchell 2019, by food trucks in order to offer more night time activities and food based services to suburban areas, synchronically, establishing an additional, and regular, means of income for food truck businesses. By incorporating food trucks in this manner, delivery services that currently do not service these suburban regions due to distance and/or minimal restaurants would be able to. This would generate an alternate source of income of suburban regions, predominantly composed of lower-income individuals including migrants and young people. Furthermore, by welcoming this notion of Transient Architecture Osborn 2019, the dependency upon large scale investment and re-development of the suburban architecture would be minimised, as existing architecture would utilise for both daytime and night-time activities. Finally, the environmental impacts of this separation between suburban and urban would be minimised, reducing the need for food trucks to follow the crowds, while simultaneously offering more amenities to suburban actors Jacobs 1961, reducing the necessity for travel to the urban centers.
Conclusion
Food trucks play a significant role in providing diverse and small-scale cultural experiences to both the urban and suburban areas of the broader environment. Their role within the community is imperative due to the uniqueness of their transient architecture, allowing them to serve both urban and suburban regions, establishing and/or benefiting existing cultural activities and events. This is especially important in Sydney, as night-time activity and the overall night-time economy has reduced significantly, resulting in severe backlash from the broader public that occupy these urban areas. However, despite the uniqueness of food truck architecture and its impact upon the broader environment, economic innovation and legislative action are significantly impeding their role within the city. It is therefore necessary to make changes to these factors in order to reinvigorate the food truck architecture or consider intelligent design alternatives to ensure their cultural and economic relevance remains for years to come.
Andrew Kovacs - How this architect is re-thinking our cities
04.09.2020 |A Discussion
This essay investigates the work of Andrew Kovacs and argues for its potential impact upon the built environment, architectures ability to establish a broader audience and the transparency of the architectural process.
Andrew Kovacs work flickers between the boundaries of art and architecture, amalgamating in spaces that are liberated from the homogeneity plaguing the urban environment and demonstrating a clear capacity to be employed with practicality and purpose. One key feature of Andrew's work is the transparency of his references. His ongoing work 'Archive of Affinities' is an ever-evolving exhibit of the reference material Andrew employs. This project, one with "no client, cost, or due date" - Kovacs, offers vital insight into the wide variety of matter influencing his designs and proudly displays it via Instagram. This project lays the foundation for the conceptual framework of all Andrew's work. By exploring the archive, we begin to understand the importance of oscillating between mediums and the use of colour; architectural photography, advertisements, art, and collages all provide a unique lens to a singular subject matter, architecture. Further, the platform in which the archive is displayed articulates Andrew's attempts to reach a broader audience, beyond the architecturally educated. These principles are closely related to postmodernism, an era Andrew considers highly successful. While critics have argued it is simply an Instagram page, the project began in 2010, before Instagram was available for public use. Instead, I believe the platform was used by Andrew specifically for its gridded format, a layout with long-standing architectural significance including projects such as Gerhard Richter's 'Atlas' and Alison Smithson's 'The Heroic Period of Modern Architecture'. Andrew Kovacs public display of cross-disciplinary references, the ever-evolving approach to the project, and his desire to reach a broader audience are equally apparent in his other proposals.
Andrew's proposal for a Performing Arts Center, The Anatomical Arena: A Continuous Performance, exemplifies this. The notion of an ongoing and ever-evolving project he established within 'Archive of Affinities', is a key consideration of the design. Andrew has previously explored how this notion can be utilised within the built environment at a large scale in the project 'DOTS' alongside Space Saloon; a rigid framework is provided with a flexible infill, allowing the programs of the building to adapt with user needs, changes in technology and the evolving needs and desires of culture. This strategy has again been implemented within the Performing Arts Center, with four cascading terraces elevating the public from the street to the theatre. These terraces act as the frame which houses various cultural performances, ultimately providing a "cultural terraced landscape" - Kovacs. By bringing the theatre to the public, in an ever-adaptive topography, Kovacs continuously exposes both art and architecture to a broader audience and allows each to reinterpret itself as this growing user base changes. Further to this, Andrew again blurs art and architecture by deploying recognizable forms as programmatic strategies. Enormous cones and tires act as seating areas, doors offer ornamentation to the facade with no potential for entry and the overall form of the theatre vaguely reflects a radio. These ubiquitous forms further engage a currently un-engaged public by acting as architectural pop art, without the transience, due to the built-in adaptability of the proposal. The lack of rigour within the proposal is its greatest asset, the recognizable forms become an urban programmatic collage; establishing an architectural language similar in fantasticality to James Wines with adaptability that makes it suitable across cultures and socio-economic boundaries. Finally, the use of recognizable objects by Kovacs is applicable to the built environment due to its reusable and reproducible qualities; as the proposal interacts with its broader urban environment, the scheme allows for fragments to exchange between topographies, thus reducing unnecessary waste and allowing specific objects to be produced at scale as opposed to consistently unique productions.
Andrew Kovacs must be recognised as one of the most significant architects and architectural theorists of the contemporary period. His work not only shimmers between art and architecture, as many have done before, but does it in a manner that critiques the flaws contemporary architectural thought and implementation within the built environment, while synchronically, offering solutions that engage the broader public and retain the relevance of architects within modern society. Kovacs ability to merge mediums, periods and technologies is unique, and one that may invite architecture back into the relevance of popular culture. The Anatomical Arena invokes the processes of collage, established by Pablo Picasso, and Pop Art ,established by Andy Warhol, in an architectural language and I hope this inspires further movements as they did Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism among generations of architects to come.
Smart Buildings Will Create a Better World
21.08.2020 |A Discussion
A smart building uses automated processes to control the buildings operations. Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, and security are connected and controlled automatically by a central system. In this week's article, we will be looking at how these smart systems are shaping the future of cities. 
Environmental Sustainability
According to a study titled 'The carbon footprint of Australias construction sector' by Man Yua, Thomas Wiedmann, Robert Crawford, and Catriona Tait; Globally the construction sector was, "directly and indirectly, responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2010". Another study, completed in 2017, titled 'From leaders to majority; a frontrunner paradox in built-environment climate governance experimentation' by Jeroen Van Der Heijden, reports "operation and maintenance of buildings account for almost a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions". The reduction of emissions to eventual carbon neutrality is of paramount importance, and smart building systems are a key component in achieving this outcome. By having operational components linked, buildings are able to operate in a more efficient and symbiotic way. Examples of this include:
- Automatically switching off devices and systems outside of operational periods
- Monitoring of heating, lighting, and ventilation systems
- Automatic adjustment of these systems to reduce unnecessary energy usage
- Gathering of data pertaining to the above, to be used in designing more efficient buildings in the future
These systems, used in conjunction with design optimization tools, demonstrate a clear path toward carbon neutrality if employed widely and correctly.
Enhanced Comfort
As has become painfully obvious to everyone during the period of this pandemic; the comfort of the spaces we occupy is crucial. By utilizing smart building systems, we can not only eradicate unnecessary emissions but improve our personal comfort. Smart systems are constantly monitoring and adjusting to maintain the optimal environment. As such, any changes in temperature, light levels, air quality, and more will be instantly recognized and accommodated. This allows architects and engineers to design smarter building systems that can interact with the smart system. Louvers can rotate with the movements of the sun to control internal temperatures and prevent excessive direct light. Windows and ventilation systems can work in tandem to control passive and artificial airflow. The quality of air can be monitored, meaning a preference towards a system can be dictated by traffic peaks and lows.
These are just some examples of how these systems are and will be instilled within our urban environment, and we believe it cannot come soon enough.
Construction Robots Will Change Our Industry Forever
14.08.2020 | A Discussion
AI and robotics are revolutionizing many industries, but construction is a slow mover, and so far, we have not seen any dramatic changes. This is set to change eventually, but one company has convinced us it may be sooner than we originally thought.
Built Robotics
Built Robotics is a San Francisco based software company that converts existing heavy-duty equipment with AI-based guidance systems like that of autonomous vehicles. In doing this, processes such as earth removal become autonomous, monitored by equipment operators. The potential for this technology is huge. Firstly, the costs of labour are dramatically reduced meaning lower construction costs, but further to this, these machines can now work around the clock with drastically low safety concerns. We found a fantastic interview with Built Robotics Founder Ready-Campbell, check it out.
The Potential for This Technology
What is most exciting about this company to us, is the implications this technology could have across all construction processes and what that means for the industry, as Ready-Campbell states:
"If we can figure out ways to let the humans focus on the design, the aesthetic, the art that goes along with building, and then let machines do the more repetitive and mundane tasks, we can actually shape our environment in a way that could have a radical impact on everything."
Now we don't believe construction sites will be filled with autonomous robots anytime soon, the complexity of most processes are just too difficult to replicate as it stands and having a different robot for each one is simply not economical. However, we could see companies like Built Robotics become incredibly influential. Processes such as earth removal, demolition, compacting and more are easily convertible to this system, while also being crucial to almost every major project in the world.
What's Next?
Expect to see companies like Built Robotics continue to expand their repertoire of autonomous services. In conjunction with this we expect to see additional robotic improvements in areas such as prefabricated housing. If these two areas continue to develop as they are it could offer new and exciting opportunities within the industry, lower construction costs and drastically improve the speed of development.
3D Printed Architecture is the Future
7.08.2020 | A Discussion
3D Printing is surrounded by a lot of hype, but is it really the future of construction? In this article we will try to break down the benefits, the risks and the logistics behind using 3D printing in a commercial construction setting.
THE BENEFITS
3D Printing is an amazing technology. Already widely used both commercially and recreationally; everything from printing the lost battery cover on the remote to rapid prototyping and tooling can benefit from this technology. In industries that utilise 3D printing heavily already, we generally see some key reasons why.
Speed of prototyping
Reduced cost of tooling
Minimal material waste
Low volume manufacturing
More advanced geometries
most of thee benefits can be broken down into speed, costs, waste and complexity. In regards to manufacturing components for use within the construction industry, 3D printing will likely increase its dominance as the technology develops. However, large scale projects such as entirely 3D printed buildings is currently still speculative.
THE RISKS AND LOGISTICS
3D Printing isn't all perfect, yet. As we mentioned, large scale printing offers significant challenges across industries, especially within construction. These issues include:
Equipment costs
Post processing requirements
Software Expertise
Recyclability
Printing large-scale parts requires large-scale printers, and this means a lot of expense both up-front and in running the machine. Further to this, sourcing employees with the experience in the appropriate software is key. Further, 3D printing requires labor intensive processing to achieve professional finishing and durability; on a small scale this is negligible, however, as the production size grows so does the labor.
These hurdles and simply that, and with the potential of 3D printing being so vast, companies will solve them over time. What this meaning for construction is likely an increase in 3D printed components making their way onto sites and potentially an increase in local manufacturing due to the reduced costs. However, with demand growing for affordable housing and an increasing population, it's possible 3D printing may be used for large-scale projects including modular homes sooner rather than later.