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They were planned after the second world war to whisk people above car-choked streets in the financial district, but remained unpopular and half-built. Now, pedestrian walkways are being reimagined for a 21st-century city — The Guardian
The "pedway" made its structural debut as a solution to providing a walkable, streamlined path for pedestrians in London's car stricken streets. However, what was devised as a plan to create an efficient walkway system, turned into an under appreciated and underwhelming concept. Examples of... View full entry
The value of all this for engineering is currently hypothetical. But what if transport engineers were to improvise design solutions and get instant feedback about how they would work from their own embodied experience? What if they could model designs at full scale in the way choreographers experiment with groups of dancers? What if they designed for emotional as well as functional effects? — The Conversation
UCL Urban Design and Culture Researcher John Bingham-Hall writes about how choreography techniques can potentially be used by engineers in designing solutions for better city-planning and mobility. “We need new approaches in order to help engineers create the radical changes needed to make it... View full entry
Based in Madrid and operating globally, The Norman Foster Foundation is a non-profit promoting holistic education and interdisciplinary thinking and research. Followed from the Future is Now forum held in Madrid's Royal Theater on the 1st of June, Mayor of Madrid and Lord Foster brought... View full entry
This week, the focus is on the people we design for, in both a literal and figurative context; from a talk explicitly on the relationship between architect and the public, to the consideration of the concept of 'home'. Inhabitants and the public have certainly been a key focus for designers in... View full entry
After calling the Wates House their home since the 1970s, the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture celebrated the official opening of its newly refurbished headquarters today on 22 Gordon Street in Bloomsbury. Collaborating with the Bartlett and UCL Estates, architect Hawkins\Brown doubled the... View full entry
Gearing up for another eventful school year this fall? Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming lectures you... View full entry
Therefore, our general theme and approach in this set of projects is that plants should become part of our society as well as self-reliant, and be given the ability to autonomously interact and walk with us. [...]
The prototype is seen as a larger scale architectural improvement. With the reduction of gardens as years pass on, the design represents a depleted Earth as it is regenerating and given new life.
— interactivearchitecture.org
Watch the making of the "garden sphere", Hortum Machina, B below:First unveiled in April of this year, the Hortum Machina, B project is designed by architects William Victor Camilleri and Danilo Sampaio at the UCL's Bartlett. Covered in GCR, the "autonomy" is derived from the plants inside the... View full entry
Harnessing the collective intelligence of plant behaviour, the reEarth project explores new forms of bio-cooperative interaction between people and nature, within the built environment.
Echoing the architecture of Buckminster Fuller, the geodesic sphere, is both exoskeleton and ecological iconography. Its core of twelve garden modules, each carrying native British species on outwardly-extending linear actuators allow the structure to become mobile by shifting its centre-of-gravity.
— interactivearchitecture.org
Find relating articles here: Science Nonfiction: bringing emerging technologies into the UK's architecture educationInnovation with a heart: Guto Requena's technological and emotional designsThis augmented reality helmet could revolutionize the construction site View full entry
Researchers at University College London (UCL) claim that a “revolutionary” new type of window could cut cleaning costs in tall buildings and reduce heating bills by up to 40% thanks to a new combination of nano-scale engineering inspired by the eyes of moths, and thermochromic coating.
The prototype, revealed today, has conical nanostructures engraved on its surface that trap air and prevent all but a tiny amount of water coming into actual contact with the glass.
— globalconstructionreview.com
"The lead UCL researcher said this would be a big draw for high-rise building owners, since the cost of cleaning the windows surpasses the cost of installing them after the first five years."Related news stories on Archinect:MIT researchers have created a new material that stores and releases... View full entry
