Tag: Technical Studies Lecture Series

Technical Studies Lecture Series: Emma Hilton Grange, Helen Hough, and Nicola Moriarty from Bryden Wood “Design for Manufacture and Assembly – DfMA” | Thursday, October 27 at 18:00 (BST), M416 + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 27th of October, 6pm (BST)

Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online

Emma Hilton Grange is an Associate Architect at Bryden Wood who has worked at the practice since 2019.  Emma has been involved in several projects at the practice including developing a modular housing scheme for L&G Modular Homes, expanding her knowledge in DfMA and offsite construction working on projects such as kit of parts system for a bespoke housing company Kiss House, as well as number of healthcare projects.  

Emma is an alumna of the University of Westminster – During her Master’s degree, Emma developed a keen interest in research-based, and data led design, with her design projects being led by environmental data collected on site, and through desktop research, leading her to working at Bryden Wood. Bryden Wood is a global company of creative technologists, designers, architects, engineers and analysts. They are shaping the future of construction by bringing integrated expertise, innovation, deep experience, open minds and creativity to unravel the most complex problems and create exceptional, sustainable design solutions – all for a better built environment. Bryden Wood are leaders in the theory and practice of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), the Platform approach to Design for Manufacture and Assembly (P-DfMA), generative design, creative technologies, integrated design and automation in construction.  

Emma will be joined by her colleagues Helen Hough, Head of Sustainability, and Nicola Moriarty, Structural Director both who have lead their disciplines in many of the practices most prominent schemes, such as The Forge, the UKs first net zero carbon commercial development using PDfMA. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean  

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: Dr László Tálas, University of Bristol “The Science of Camouflage” | Thursday, October 20 at 18:00 (BST), M416 + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 20th of October, 6pm (BST)

Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online

Dr László Tálas is a Lecturer in Animal Sensing and Biometrics at the Bristol Veterinary School, whose research interests concern computational approaches to applied vision and questions lying at the intersection of sensory biology, psychology, history and art. László is particularly passionate about how visual scenes can be “understood” using computer vision and what comparisons can be drawn with biological visual systems. His current research focuses on early automatic disease detection in animals using thermal imaging and deep learning, while also running projects on investigating optimal colouration for concealment and visibility in animals and humans.  

László’s PhD work focused on how camouflage uniform patterns have evolved since the early 20th century, using methods from computer vision to establish similarity metrics between patterns and phylogenetics to model how patterns of allied / hostile countries have influenced each other’s designs. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean  

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: Steven Johnson, The Architecture Ensemble “Flimwell Park” | Thursday, October 13 at 18:00 (BST), M416 + Live Stream

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 13th of October, 6pm (BST)

Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online

Steven Johnson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended Kansas State University to study architecture and followed this with a short period of working in Kansas City. In 1986 he moved to London to take a Masters in Architecture at the Architectural Association, and he has lived and worked in London ever since.  

Having worked for several London firms, Steven practiced as a consultant with Edward Cullinan Architects, serving as the project architect on the award-winning Downland Gridshell at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum in West Sussex. The mix of new technology and timber processes in the Downland Gridshell required pushing timber construction and architecture in new and innovative directions.  

Upon completion of the Downland Gridshell, Steven established The Architecture Ensemble in 2002. Its main emphasis is to explore possibilities in timber architecture using both traditional methods and cutting-edge technological advances while remaining acutely sensitive to ecological issues. Steven was a co-founder of the Timberbuild Network based at Flimwell, East Sussex. The Network was established to help rebuild links between timber growers, saw millers, carpenters, builders, and designers in order to re-ignite the interest in and the use of local timber within the South East of England.  

The Flimwell Park development is a pioneering new sustainable woodland development designed by Steven Johnson to connect people with its woodland surroundings. Set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the Village of Flimwell on the East Sussex border with Kent, the aim is to enhance the wellbeing of the community that will live, work and visit. Environmental, social, and economic sustainability has been at the heart of Flimwell Park, with all timber sustainably sourced and weathering steel used for the window bay cladding. Onsite solar power is generated from 300 photo-voltaic cells located on building roofs, cladding, and canopies, with a grid of solar thermal units heating water directly from the sun. Flimwell Park is one of the first mixed-use, sustainable woodland developments in the UK. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean  

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: Deborah Saunt, DSDHA “Recent Projects” | Thursday, October 6 at 18:00 (BST), M416 + Live Stream

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 6th of October, 6pm (BST)

Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online

Deborah is one of the founding directors of DSDHA. Her recent and ongoing projects include the refurbishment of London’s iconic Economist Plaza in St James and a new building on Piccadilly for The Crown Estate. Large urban scale work includes the regeneration of a 600-home estate for London Borough of Southwark with a strong focus on engagement, the creation of Cundy Street Quarter, a new 2.4-acre mixed-tenure neighbourhood in Westminster, the redesign of the public realm around the Royal Albert Hall, the public realm framework for the West End including the reimagining of Tottenham Court Road, and a new park for the City of London above Liverpool Street Station. 

Much of her current work is concerned with democratising architecture, having set up the Jane Drew Prize in Architecture, and helping to redefine the role of architecture in the 21st century – addressing people’s emerging needs in the context of rapidly shifting environmental, technological and social conditions. Deborah is a Trustee of the London School of Architecture, of which she was a Founding Director, which focuses on broadening access to the profession and building new collaborative forms of research and practice. She regularly talks and writes on issues of diversity and innovation in the built environment.  

Deborah gained her PhD with the RMIT Practice Research Programme, and has held academic appointments at Yale School of Architecture, Universidad de Navarra, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne and the University of Cambridge. 

For details contact: Will McLean 

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Carbon Negative Materials” by Allison Dring, Elegant Embellishments | Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 18:00 (GMT), Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 9th of December at 6pm (GMT)

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Link to join livestream

[…] it turned out that TiO2 (titanium dioxide) is excellent for photocatalytically breaking down organic compounds.

Allison Dring 

Frustrated by a sustainable architectural palette of parsimony and the orthogonal construction grid, Elegant Embellishments (EE) designed a deliberately decorative pollution-cleaning screen, based on an aperiodic grid to ‘elicit an emotional response’. This new product was named prosolve370e in reference to the naming of cars after their engine size and how much pollution they produce. The ‘370e’ refers to how much surface enhancement the designers could achieve in order to counter that volume of pollution. Made from thermo-formed plastic to reduce weight, the modules are coated in photocatalytic titanium dioxide (TiO2). The designer and partner in EE Allison Dring explains that prosolve370e does three things: first it maximises surface area to increase the ‘efficacy of the technology’; second it creates turbulence to slow the air pollution and make it easier to catch on the surface; and third the forms of the modular screen are designed to enhance reception of light, including the reflected light of neighbouring modules. In 2012, the technology was installed at the Hospital Manuel Gea Gonzalez in Mexico City, described as ‘the incredible smog-eating building’ by CNN. 

The screen covers an area of 25,000 m2 and is thought to be the world’s largest engineered urban air-purifier. Based on the size of the screen, and its maximised surface area, EE claims to achieve around 5000 m2 of photocatalytic activity, which equates to mitigating the air pollution produced by 1,000 cars per day. Air pollution is composed of two key ingredients: oxides of nitrogen (known as NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are both produced by combustion engines. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean  w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Dynamic Building Skins” by Doris Sung from DOSU Studio / University of Southern California | Thursday, December 2, 2021 at 18:00 (GMT), Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 2nd of December at 6pm (GMT)

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Link to join livestream 

‘… if we are to develop truly sustainable architecture, we don’t necessarily need more materials. We need smarter ones.’ 

Doris Sung 

In her ‘Bloom’ project, architect and inventor Doris Sung created a large lightweight monocoque structure comprised of 414 hyperbolic paraboloid (hypar) shaped panels made from a bimetal lamination of two alloys of nickel, manganese and iron with different thermal expansion coefficients. Bloom is a wonderful exposition of the properties and potential of bimetals in the creation of new responsive building skins that can passively open and close to ventilate and shade the building. An animated film of the Bloom project shows how the surface is activated by sun and shade.  

Doris Sung has subsequently developed a whole series of innovative architectural applications using thermobimetal. Her initial research on self-shading, self-ventilating and self-assembling alongside contemporary fabrication technologies has expanded the physical potential of the material, for example in the twisting and folding of her Oculus prototype, and she has now patented systems that are being commercialised for wider application. Her InVert™ window-shading system incorporates small bimetal ‘petals’ within a double-glazed glass module, and as the temperature from the sun increases, the bimetal elements deform and block the sunlight and shade the building’s interior. As the sunlight moves and the temperature cools, the bimetal elements revert to their original shape and position. The resultant solar shading reduces heat gain, which in turn can reduce artificial cooling needs by 28–42%,36 depending on the geographical location. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean 

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Cities of the future and the circular economy: Het Platform” by Ton Venhoeven, VenhoevenCS architecture + urbanism | Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 18:00 (GMT), Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 18th of November at 6pm (GMT)

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Ton will be giving the talk in person and the talk will also be live-streamed via this link. 

As the construction industry works towards a more sustainable post-pandemic future, Ton presents a timely, expert viewpoint having worked with government on a 2050 City of the Future design study. This study explored how cities should react to major challenges such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, natural resource depletion and pollution. As the leading architectural firm on the team, VenhoevenCS have conducted substantial research around this topic.   

The practice’s key projects centre around building healthier and more liveable cities with nature-inclusive design. The MicroCity is an innovative concept for buildings and neighbourhoods which reduces travel needs and is a major contribution to cities becoming truly self-sufficient and sustainable. An example of this is Het Platform, VenhoevenCS’ recently completed a mixed-use community building for living, working and playing right next to Utrecht Central station.  

Ton is a former Chief Government Advisor on Infrastructure to the Dutch government from 2008-2012. During his time in government he advised on sustainability of infrastructural, urban and regional planning. Prior to this he was a Professor of Architectural History and Theory at Eindhoven University of Technology (2005-2009), where his design research focused on the pedestrian city of tomorrow. Alongside his work as an architect and urban designer, Ton is an international consultant for Smart MicroCity and Healthy City, integrated planning, multimodal mobility networks and transit-oriented development. Among his clients are national and international governmental organisations, NGO’s and foundations. Sustainability is in Ton’s DNA: ever since the publication of Limits to Growth in 1972, he has made it a point in both his professional and private life to contribute to a sustainable, equitable world in which all life can thrive. His latest focus is on biodiversity and nature inclusive design. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean – w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Recent Projects” by Andy Watts, Grimshaw Architects | Thursday, November 11, 2021 at 18:00 (GMT), Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 11th of November at 6pm (GMT)

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Andy Watts is Grimshaw’s Director of Design Technology and oversees the application and exploration of innovative technological approaches across all Grimshaw studios, covering areas such as computational design, BIM, virtual and augmented reality technology, data-driven intelligence and DfMA.  

Andy strives to bring the benefits of design technology to as many Grimshaw projects as possible. He has worked to introduce these approaches to a range of their projects at various scales, with a range of different agendas.  

Beyond Grimshaw, Andy actively engages with the digital technology industry as well as representing the work of Grimshaw at various industry and academic events. He teaches at the Architectural Association in London and has taught at the Universities of Westminster, Lincoln, and Dundee and has organised educational workshops in Dubai and with the Pratt Institute in New York. Andy is also on the organising committee for the London VR/AR User Group which offers a platform to share Grimshaw’s leading knowledge in the field of VR with other architectural firms.  

Grimshaw was founded by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw in 1980. The practice became a Partnership in 2007 and operates worldwide with offices in four continents employing over 650 staff. Nicholas Grimshaw received the RIBA Gold medal in 2019. Notable practice projects include The Eden Project, the International Terminal at Waterloo and the Fulton Project, New York. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “De-carbonising the Structure” by Thomas Hesslenberg, Elliott Wood | Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 18:00, Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 4th of November at 6pm

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Online: Live stream link 

Thomas Hesslenberg is a Senior Structural Engineer at Elliott Wood, a Structural & Civil Engineering practice based in London. Elliott Wood are committed to making “[…]engineering work harder for our clients, society and our planet” and they have created a phrase to capture their approach – Engineer a Better Society. Over the last couple of years, Thomas has been working around the issue of Embodied Carbon and how to reduce it in his companies’ projects, whilst also share his knowledge with the wider industry.  

Through the Institute of Structural Engineers (IStructE), Elliott Wood launched the Structural Carbon Tool last year, an open-source Excel-based software, which allows construction professionals to calculate their own projects Embodied Carbon. Thomas will be talking about the tool, what his company has learnt after using it on their projects, and what changes need to be made in order to help the construction industry get to Net Zero. 

Thomas is one of our visiting technical tutors/consultants for final year undergraduate and MArch Architecture. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Dakar Earth Bricks” Nzinga B. Mboup – Worofila | Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 18:00, Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 21st of October at 6pm

Where: Room M416 + Livestream, School of Architecture and Cities , University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Livestream Link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/fc7cfc71b9534b29830ec5e4ae564d16

Before air conditioning, people paid attention to materials and orientation for the natural regulation of heat.  

Nzinga Mboup 

Senegal’s traditional dwellings were made of earth, but that construction method has slowly been abandoned. Dakar’s sidewalks today are littered with piles of sand and stones that are mixed with cement to make cheap building blocks. 

Worofila and Mboup were inspired to use modern earth bricks made from soil and very small amounts of cement and water to create a mixture that is cut into blocks, compressed with a hand-operated machine and left to dry in the sun for 21 days. Unlike concrete, earth bricks require very little embodied energy to produce. Worofila have worked with Elementerre on the construction of private homes, offices and part of a train station. Elementerre, is an earth brick manufacturer founded by Doudou Deme in 2010.  

This reimagining and reengineering of earth construction remains niche and it currently costs more than concrete with many clients still unaware of this as a building material. Worofila has recently been longlisted for an Ashden Award, a British prize for climate solutions, which it hopes will raise visibility of this ‘age old’ but actually very new age natural material – locally sourced and with excellent thermal performance, which acts to moderate the internal temperature and humidity of the architecture.

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean  

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk