Darwin Hall Site Visit

Councillors from Lichfield City Council have had their first chance to walk around Darwin Hall community centre.

The site visit gave the Councillors an opportunity to see how works were progressing on site and get a feel for the community centre in reality rather than on paper plans.

Gavin Orton, Project Architect, and Andy Wells, Site Manager for Greswolde Construction talked the Councillors through the design and construction of the building, particularly regarding the sustainable technologies being incorporated. The Councillors commented on how well the buildings sits within the residential area and the enjoyment of key windows framing views of Lichfield Cathedral.

Links for week commencing 25th Jan 2010

Online Books
Downloadable architecture-related books sourced by the A Daily Dose of Architecture blog

Refurb, don’t rebuild
Via the Guardian, English Heritage express concern over the quick-fix trend to rebuild schools from scratch.

Sick Building Symdrome
Created in Birmingham blog post – Urban Design in the 1870s

Designed by Nature
Details of all the lectures featuring in the BAA’s forthcoming series

Abstract geoglyphs
Quite an old post, but too beautiful not to get a mention: BLDGBLG reports these streetplans carved into the dust of the Californian desert.

Debating Collaboration in Architecture

Dean Shaw and I have agreed to take part in a debate taking place tomorrow at RIBA West Midlands. The debate will form the basis of the next issue of AREA magazine, the regional newsletter for RIBA members in the region.

The theme of the debate is collaboration. We will be discussing how collaboration can help to achieve better design and add value.

In their words:
We want to look at the working practices of the modern architect, who typically works alongside a multi-disciplinary group of professionals, community leaders/groups and artists as well as a diverse range of public agencies to achieve design excellence

Specifically, I’ve been asked to go along because of my interest in Web2.0 and digital communication, and in particular I’m hoping to contribute by sharing ideas (which is truly in the spirit of Web2.0 of course!) about alternative media, online collaboration, and how this can shape a project, improve a design and ultimately create better buildings and places.

I would welcome any thoughts or comments prior to tomorrow’s debate. Do you think that a collaborative improves a project? Do online collaborative tools actually work? What value can social / digital media add to a project? Is this where the future of collaboration in construction lies?

Rest assured I will be sure to remind everyone that my contribution has been enhanced because of the wealth of knowledge and experience available to me through channels such as blogs, twitter and social networks!

Many thanks in anticipation.

Lorna Parsons
Practice Manager

_ _ _

UPDATE: 18.01.10

Here is a small sample of some of what was discussed at the debate. The juiciest bits and some fairly conclusive answers will be published in the next edition of Area magazine and the full transcript will eventually be available to download from the RIBA website.

Leadership: Does collaboration threaten the traditional role of team leader? Do collaborative design teams require a leader and who should that be? Could that leadership be rotated?

Artists and Architects: Why do architects like working with artists? Is it because artists appeal to architect’s creative juices? Are artists more flexible? Is it because art is unconstrained and often temporary?

Social Media / Web2.0: How can web-based tools help us to work more effectively? Do they threaten a deduction in productivity? Do they need to be managed, and by whom?

Community Consultation: Can we expect involvement of end-users to create better places? A sense of ownership is essential for a successful project, but does this need to be managed, and if so, by whom?

Kinaesthetic Learning

We have been leading a number of workshops with Primary School pupils as part of the Staffordshire Building Schools for the Future programme. Larry Priest has been appointed as Client Design Advisor and consulting with pupils is an integral part of the consultation process from the outset of the programme.

The main theme for the 3 days of workshops is Kinaesthesia: an awareness of the position and movement of the parts of the body by means of sensory organs (proprioceptors) in the muscles and joints). Pupils considered the body shape as a footprint to explore ideas about learning spaces; social spaces; colour and outside spaces. Where on the body would formal learning take place? Or eating lunch? The body shape proved an effective way of expanding traditional thinking.

The consultation process has been shared online by Cantoo Design who specialise in interactive consultation processes.  They have created this video of the workshop sessions too:

Darwin Hall – Ground Source Heat Pump

Engineers have started work on the ground source heat pump (GSHP) for Darwin Hall in Lichfield. The first phase of work involves drilling 3 x 100m deep bore holes located in the southern area of the site. A closed U-tube filled with water and anti-freeze will be placed within the bore holes. The natural heat from the surrounding ground will heat up the water which is then pumped up to the surface. Via a heat exchange unit, the GSHP will provide the community centre with all its heating and hot water needs. The system will provide the building with an internal temperature of approximately 24ºC. The costs for running the GSHP will be around £1 per day. For every 1 unit of electricity used to run the GSHP, an equivalent of 4 units will be produced – giving an energy efficiency of approximately 400% (typical boilers operate at 70-95%).

Darwin Hall, Lichfield

Darwin Hall, Lichfield started on site in September 2009. This community centre is being funded through Section 106 contributions from the Darwin Park estate and will provide the local community with much needed facilities. So much so, that the week the slab was laid, Lichfield City Council received a telephone call from a member of the community wanting to book the hall for a new Judo Club.

Greswolde Construction are appointed as the main contractor and are making good progress on the project – using the mild weather we’ve been having to progress works on the shell.

Throughout the design stages, we were searching for a brick that combined variety of tone and texture with a ‘handmade’ quality. On a visit to Belgium with David Saddler of Wienerberger, we came across their Hectic range, which seemed to embody all of the elements we were looking for. To achieve the look, after the bricks have received the final firing, they are put into a container and set alight with petrol. Darwin Hall is the first project in the UK to use the Hectic Red brick.

Creative Partnerships In Construction

Dean Shaw, Associate at Bryant Priest Newman, will be Speaker at the forthcoming Forum for Tomorrow breakfast seminar to be held at the Radisson Hotel, Queensway, Birmingham.

This networking event takes place on Friday 20th November, and will be an opportunity to learn more about new ways of creative collaboration. Dean will consider traditional roles of the construction industry design team, and will be presenting schemes where creative partnerships in construction have ensured a project’s success.

Book your place here.

The Power of 140 Characters

So, Dean writes a tongue-in-cheek TO DO list before dashing off for a few days holiday and leaves it for us when we get into the office on Thursday morning.

I take a picture and share it with the world via Twitter.

The message and image is viewed numerous (98 on last count) times and re-tweeted – in other words it’s copied by other people on Twitter and sent on to their network.

Su Butcher, Practice Manager at Barefoot & Gilles, messages me back saying how much she likes the “get on the front page of the AJ” item.

I reply to Su copying in the Editor of the AJ: “Perhaps @kieranlong can help. Kieran, have I ever told you how much I admire and respect you? (Item 7: http://yfrog.com/iydx2j )”

Kieran replies immediately: “@lornaparsons @subutcher We’ll do our best to help you with that one! Got anything beautiful to put on there?”

I go to the AJ site to get Kieran’s email address. Whilst scrolling down the homepage I spot that we have already achieved number 7 on Dean’s list (though strictly speaking it’s not not fully adhering to his brief): http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/best-architects-to-do-list-ever/5210164.article

Nevertheless, I share the link to the AJ with Twitter and receive lots of lovely replies saying how much we’ve cheered people up, love the list, brilliant, priceless, etc. etc.

I have cheekily emailed Kieran (subject line: “…and did I say how much I like your glasses?”). Even if the AJ don’t put Electric Wharf on the front cover (even though it’s a very worthy contender!), we are definitely under their radar.

Anyone who is still having doubts about the power of Twitter, please see me after class.

Lorna Parsons
Practice Manager

PS. Kieran Long really does have very cool glasses.

Web2.0 and Architecture

Hello Digital is the annual Midlands Media festival and I was lucky enough to get a place at the main industry event on Wednesday 21 October. This international and interactive conference at Millennium Point, Birmingham was aimed at SMEs (and yes, that was me in The Birmingham Post last week – one for the clippings scrapbook!).

Among the speakers was local MP Sion Simon who was keen to encourage the region to recognise and share its digital strengths. His speech was uplifting, inspiring and informative. There is a concentration of Social Media talent in Birmingham – Architects, Engineers and Surveyors in the region are gradually embracing Social Media / Web2.0 and using the tools to improve communications, ultimately improving the quality of the end result of their projects. The success of Be2Camp Brum in August is a testament to the region’s strengths.

At the RIBA Practice Stakeholders Forum, which takes place tomorrow, I’m thrilled to see that the RIBA have invited Paul Wilkinson (co-founder of Be2Camp) to live stream the event via the Be2Camp site. Additionally, there is a section of the afternoon dedicated to social media: ‘Tweets, blogs and other useful things’ with the speakers sharing ideas about how they use these tools, how they save time and communicate more effectively. But it’s important to remind Architects that there is more to Web2.0 than Twitter. Back in July, Hugh Davies wrote an article in Building Design about Web2.0 and asked if Architects are ready to tweet. I couldn’t resist commenting:

Web2.0 isn’t just about a practice’s website or using Twitter. There are numerous tools out there that give us the opportunity to share information, collaborate with other consultants, involve communities who might not normally have a hands-on role with a project…….the ultimate result is better buildings. As a Practice Manager, the benefits that I see in terms of improving efficiency and communication by using online tools are the most important aspect because of their green credentials. Better Buildings and Sustainability; surely these are at the top of every Architect’s agenda?

Lorna Parsons
Practice Manager

Where Have All The Public Gone?

Walking round the newly opened Art gallery in the middle of West Bromwich on a cloudy September Sunday afternoon, I would have been forgiven for thinking we had managed to slip in to one of the pre launch tours with lots of staff busying around and maintenance guys fettling and tweaking lighting and services.  The building didn’t have nearly enough visitors to allow it to feel like a real public building, but why?  If you can put aside the preconceptions such as the look of the building, the cost, the location and the massive political issue that his building has endured, it is actually an interesting place to go and have a look at.

The absence of people was a bonus for our two small boys who treated it like a play warehouse and got as much access to the tech as they wanted, but it didn’t have enough going on to sustain a long visit.   The building needs some good publicity to change peoples perception, increase awareness, stimulate activity and ensure its future use in an area which could ultimately really benefit from it being there . Otherwise we might soon be calling it the Private.

Dean Shaw
Associate