Designing Buildings - User contributions [en]

Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital

2021-01-30T19:12:39Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Moscowmonumental.jpg|link=File:Moscowmonumental.jpg]]

Katherine Zubovich – ‘Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital'

Princeton University Press

-----
There is a particularly fascinating historical episode recounted in Katherine Zubovich’s book, about the labourers set to work excavating sites in preparation for the skyscrapers that would personify their ‘brave new world’. As they dug down, they soon uncovered archaeological evidence of human settlements dating back to before Moscow’s founding 800 years prior; an uncomfortable collision between the deep past and the bold future that the Soviet Union was supposed to be forging.

The spectre that haunts the pages of the book is the fate and fortune of the Palace of the Soviets, the monstrously grand and ostentatious flagship project that was elevated into something approaching the mythic in status. It was with characteristic destructive zeal that in the early-1930s the Bolsheviks hastily demolished the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, one of the largest and most impressive Orthodox churches in all of Russia, to make way for the new Palace. In its monumental scale and ambition, the Palace was to represent a turning point in Soviet architecture, a rejection of constructivism and futurism and an unusual embrace of neoclassicism.

Zubovich’s chapters on the early planning and design competitions are full of historical quirks and points of intrigue. Le Corbusier, who was one of 160 who entered designs to the open competition for the Palace, was angry enough at the rejection of his modernist design to send a direct telegram to Stalin. (The book contains several excellent photographs and illustrations throughout, although it is a minor drawback that it does not include an image of Le Corbusier’s rejected design.)

Equally amusing is the story of the young American architect Hector Hamilton who won the second of four open competition rounds with his more utilitarian design. This victory appears to have gone to the young man’s head, not helped perhaps by the fact that he was immediately touted by the American press as being the Chief Architect of the Palace, and he set sail on a hubristic trip to Moscow. As it was, the role of Chief Architect had already been assigned to Boris M. Iofen, who oversaw organising the design competitions. No surprise then that his own entry was crowned victorious in the fourth and final round in 1934.

Iofen’s Palace was to have been a 415 m tall neoclassical megastructure, crowned by a huge bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin which, by itself, would have measured 80 m tall. It would have far surpassed the then-tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building. Throughout Russia, and indeed the rest of the world, it became something of a curious fascination. As Zubovich notes, ‘its image circulated so widely as to create the impression that it had already been built’.

[[File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg|link=File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg]]

The book also recounts the somewhat surprising stories of the pre-Iron Curtain years when Soviet architects and engineers, led by Iofen, travelled to Europe and the US, making connections and drawing on international expertise. Indeed in 1935, an American delegation of engineers travelled to oversee the Palace construction site and advise on groundwork techniques, led by Carleton S. Proctor (expert behind the Lincoln Tunnel and Golden Gate Bridge).

Progress on the Palace was permanently disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, and most architects were forced to flee Moscow for the Urals to help with the colossal war effort. After the war was over ‘the tension between monumentalism and the mundane would be especially fraught’, and these competing priorities would dictate the future of Moscow’s urban design for the rest of the Stalin era. Despite Iofen moderating and reducing the scale of the Palace’s design, in the post-war period it became subordinated to the drive to build nine new ‘tall buildings’ (deliberately avoiding the term ‘skyscraper’ due to it being deemed an Americanism) as part of Stalin’s ambition to reinvent Moscow as a world-class capital city.

Harsh reality then invades Zubovich’s recounting of the story, as she documents the experiences of the tens of thousands of Muscovites who were shifted from their city centre homes to the increasingly sprawling periphery as the building projects began to change the urban landscape. She contrasts these with the experiences of the ‘vysotniki’ – the equally large numbers of construction workers brought to Moscow to build the skyscrapers and who were promoted as heroes of the age by drawing parallels between post-war building and wartime heroism. A piece of propaganda from the time reads ‘my father defended Stalingrad and I’m building it back up!’.

The great irony is that by the time these buildings (the 'Seven Sisters') were completed in the early-1950s, the symbolic power encapsulated by them had already been diminished. It had by then become apparent to the masses that the dream of living in one of the apartments was to be a reality only for a small group of Stalin’s elite. Almost immediately after Stalin’s death, the new leader Nikita Khrushchev launched his process of ‘de-stalinization’, and the buildings became targets of the excessive wastefulness and skewed priorities of his predecessor.

[[File:PKiN1.jpg|link=File:PKiN1.jpg]]

Irony aside, there has been something of a reappraisal of the buildings in recent years, with them coming to represent the finest examples of ‘Stalinist architecture’. They are inarguably striking and rather beautiful buildings, particularly in some cases those imitations that were ‘gifted’ to other countries in the Soviet orbit. Most notable among these is Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science, a fabulous multi-purpose building which, in contrast to Moscow’s originals, has served the population of the city well.

As it was, the Palace of the Soviets was destined only ever to exist on mass-produced candy wrappers and stationery, and in the 1990s a replica of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was reconstructed in its place.

Zubovich’s meticulously researched book is objectively quite a niche proposition, but nonetheless contains more than enough of interest to be worth the time of anyone with an interest in Soviet history or 20th century architecture and urban planning.

‘Moscow Monumental’ is published by Princeton University Press and is available [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691178905/moscow-monumental here].

= Find out more =

== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ==

* Buildings that were never realised.
* Imagine Moscow exhibition.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory
* Nowa Huta - Communist tour review.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism
* Owen Hatherley - Trans-Europe Express.
* Palace of Culture and Science.
* Socialist realism in a post-war Czechoslovak new town.
* [[St._Basil%27s_Cathedral|St. Basil’s Cathedral.]]
* The Kremlin.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:International]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital

2021-01-30T18:55:07Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Moscowmonumental.jpg|link=File:Moscowmonumental.jpg]]

Katherine Zubovich – ‘Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital'

Princeton University Press

-----
There is a particularly fascinating historical episode recounted in Katherine Zubovich’s book, in which the labourers set to work excavating the sites in preparation for the skyscrapers that would personify their ‘brave new world’. As they dug down, they soon uncovered archaeological evidence of human settlements dating back to before Moscow’s founding 800 years prior; an uncomfortable collision between the deep past and the bold future that the Soviet Union was supposed to be forging.

The spectre that haunts the pages throughout is the fate and fortune of the Palace of the Soviets, the ludicrously grand and ostentatious flagship project that was elevated into something approaching the mythic in status. It was with characteristic destructive zeal that in the early-1930s the Bolsheviks hastily demolished the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, one of the largest and most impressive Orthodox churches in all of Russia, to make way for the new Palace. In its monumental scale and ambition, the Palace was to represent a turning point in Soviet architecture, a rejection of constructivism and futurism and an embrace of neoclassicism.

Zubovich’s chapters on the early planning and design competitions are full of historical quirks and points of intrigue. Le Corbusier, who was one of 160 who entered designs to the open competition for the Palace, was angry enough at the rejection of his modernist design to send a direct telegram to Stalin. (The book contains several excellent photographs and illustrations throughout, although it is a minor drawback that it does not include an image of Le Corbusier’s rejected design.)

Equally amusing is the story of the young American architect Hector Hamilton who won the second of four open competition rounds with his more utilitarian design. This victory appears to have gone to the young man’s head, not helped perhaps by the fact that he was immediately touted by the American press as being the Chief Architect of the Palace, and he set sail for Moscow. As it was, the role of Chief Architect had already been decided as Boris M. Iofen, who oversaw organising the design competitions. No surprise then that his own entry was crowned victorious in the fourth and final round in 1934.

Iofen’s Palace was to have been a 415 m tall neoclassical monstrosity, crowned by a huge bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin which, by itself, would have measured 80 m tall. As Zubovich notes, ‘its image circulated so widely as to create the impression that it had already been built’.

[[File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg|link=File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg]]

The book also recounts the somewhat surprising stories of the pre-Iron Curtain years when Soviet architects and engineers, led by Iofen, travelled to Europe and the US, making connections and drawing on international expertise. Indeed in 1935, a US delegation of engineers travelled to oversee the Palace construction site, led by Carleton S. Proctor (expert behind the Lincoln Tunnel and Golden Gate Bridge).

Progress on the Palace was permanently disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, and most architects were forced to flee Moscow for the Urals to help with the colossal war effort. After the war was over ‘the tension between monumentalism and the mundane would be especially fraught’, and these competing priorities would dictate the future of Moscow’s urban design for the rest of the Stalin era. Despite Iofen moderating and reducing the scale of the Palace’s design, in the postwar period it became subordinated to the drive to build nine new ‘tall buildings’ (deliberately avoiding the term ‘skyscraper’ due to it being deemed an Americanism) as part of Stalin’s ambition to reinvest Moscow as a world-class capital city.

Harsh reality then invades Zubovich’s recounting of the story, as she documents the experiences of the tens of thousands of Muscovites who were shifted from their city centre homes to the increasingly sprawling periphery as the building projects began to change the urban landscape. She contrasts these with the experiences of the ‘vysotniki’ – the equally large numbers of construction workers brought to Moscow to build the skyscrapers and were promoted as heroes of the age by drawing parallels between post-war building and wartime heroism (a piece of propaganda from the time reads ‘my father defended Stalingrad and I’m building it back up!’).

The great irony is that by the time these buildings were completed – known as Moscow’s ‘Seven Sisters’ – in the early-1950s, the symbolic power encapsulated by them had already been diminished. It had by then become apparent to the masses that the dream of living in one of the apartments was to be a reality only for a small group of Stalin’s elite. Almost immediately after Stalin’s death, the new leader Nikita Khrushchev launched his process of ‘de-stalinization’, with the buildings becoming targets of the excessive wastefulness and skewing priorities of his predecessor, since a great many Russians needed improved housing conditions in the harsh post-war period.

[[File:PKiN1.jpg|link=File:PKiN1.jpg]]

Irony aside, there has been something of a reappraisal of the buildings in recent years, with them coming to represent the finest examples of ‘Stalinist architecture’. They are inarguably striking and rather beautiful buildings, particularly in some cases those imitations that were ‘gifted’ to other countries in the Soviet geopolitical orbit. Most notable among these is Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science, a fabulous multi-purpose building which, as opposed to Moscow’s originals, has served the population of the city well.

As it was, the Palace of the Soviets was destined only ever to exist on mass-produced candy wrappers and stationery, and in the 1990s a replica of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was constructed in its place.

Zubovich’s meticulously researched book is objectively quite a niche proposition, but nonetheless contains more than enough of interest to be worth the time of anyone with an interest in Soviet history or 20th century architecture and urban planning.

‘Moscow Monumental’ is published by Princeton University Press and is available [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691178905/moscow-monumental here].

= Find out more =

== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ==

* Buildings that were never realised.
* Imagine Moscow exhibition.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory
* Nowa Huta - Communist tour review.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism
* Owen Hatherley - Trans-Europe Express.
* Palace of Culture and Science.
* Socialist realism in a post-war Czechoslovak new town.
* [[St._Basil%27s_Cathedral|St. Basil’s Cathedral.]]
* The Kremlin.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:International]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital

2021-01-30T18:53:27Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Moscowmonumental.jpg|link=File:Moscowmonumental.jpg]]

Katherine Zubovich – ‘Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital'

Princeton University Press

-----
There is a particularly fascinating historical episode recounted in Katherine Zubovich’s book on Soviet skyscrapers and the urban development of Moscow principally during the Stalin era, in which the labourers set to work excavating the sites in preparation for the skyscrapers that would personify their ‘brave new world’. As they dug down, they soon uncovered archaeological evidence of human settlements dating back to before Moscow’s founding 800 years prior; an uncomfortable collision between the deep past and the bold future that the Soviet Union was supposed to be forging.

The spectre that haunts the pages throughout is the fate and fortune of the Palace of the Soviets, the ludicrously grand and ostentatious flagship project that was elevated into something approaching the mythic in status. It was with characteristic destructive zeal that in the early-1930s the Bolsheviks hastily demolished the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, one of the largest and most impressive Orthodox churches in all of Russia, to make way for the new Palace. In its monumental scale and ambition, the Palace was to represent a turning point in Soviet architecture, a rejection of constructivism and futurism and an embrace of neoclassicism.

Zubovich’s chapters on the early planning and design competitions are full of historical quirks and points of intrigue. Le Corbusier, who was one of 160 who entered designs to the open competition for the Palace, was angry enough at the rejection of his modernist design to send a direct telegram to Stalin. (The book contains several excellent photographs and illustrations throughout, although it is a minor drawback that it does not include an image of Le Corbusier’s rejected design.)

Equally amusing is the story of the young American architect Hector Hamilton who won the second of four open competition rounds with his more utilitarian design. This victory appears to have gone to the young man’s head, not helped perhaps by the fact that he was immediately touted by the American press as being the Chief Architect of the Palace, and he set sail for Moscow. As it was, the role of Chief Architect had already been decided as Boris M. Iofen, who oversaw organising the design competitions. No surprise then that his own entry was crowned victorious in the fourth and final round in 1934.

Iofen’s Palace was to have been a 415 m tall neoclassical monstrosity, crowned by a huge bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin which, by itself, would have measured 80 m tall. As Zubovich notes, ‘its image circulated so widely as to create the impression that it had already been built’.

[[File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg|link=File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg]]

The book also recounts the somewhat surprising stories of the pre-Iron Curtain years when Soviet architects and engineers, led by Iofen, travelled to Europe and the US, making connections and drawing on international expertise. Indeed in 1935, a US delegation of engineers travelled to oversee the Palace construction site, led by Carleton S. Proctor (expert behind the Lincoln Tunnel and Golden Gate Bridge).

Progress on the Palace was permanently disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, and most architects were forced to flee Moscow for the Urals to help with the colossal war effort. After the war was over ‘the tension between monumentalism and the mundane would be especially fraught’, and these competing priorities would dictate the future of Moscow’s urban design for the rest of the Stalin era. Despite Iofen moderating and reducing the scale of the Palace’s design, in the postwar period it became subordinated to the drive to build nine new ‘tall buildings’ (deliberately avoiding the term ‘skyscraper’ due to it being deemed an Americanism) as part of Stalin’s ambition to reinvest Moscow as a world-class capital city.

Harsh reality then invades Zubovich’s recounting of the story, as she documents the experiences of the tens of thousands of Muscovites who were shifted from their city centre homes to the increasingly sprawling periphery as the building projects began to change the urban landscape. She contrasts these with the experiences of the ‘vysotniki’ – the equally large numbers of construction workers brought to Moscow to build the skyscrapers and were promoted as heroes of the age by drawing parallels between post-war building and wartime heroism (a piece of propaganda from the time reads ‘my father defended Stalingrad and I’m building it back up!’).

The great irony is that by the time these buildings were completed – known as Moscow’s ‘Seven Sisters’ – in the early-1950s, the symbolic power encapsulated by them had already been diminished. It had by then become apparent to the masses that the dream of living in one of the apartments was to be a reality only for a small group of Stalin’s elite. Almost immediately after Stalin’s death, the new leader Nikita Khrushchev launched his process of ‘de-stalinization’, with the buildings becoming targets of the excessive wastefulness and skewing priorities of his predecessor, since a great many Russians needed improved housing conditions in the harsh post-war period.

[[File:PKiN1.jpg|link=File:PKiN1.jpg]]

Irony aside, there has been something of a reappraisal of the buildings in recent years, with them coming to represent the finest examples of ‘Stalinist architecture’. They are inarguably striking and rather beautiful buildings, particularly in some cases those imitations that were ‘gifted’ to other countries in the Soviet geopolitical orbit. Most notable among these is Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science, a fabulous multi-purpose building which, as opposed to Moscow’s originals, has served the population of the city well.

As it was, the Palace of the Soviets was destined only ever to exist on mass-produced candy wrappers and stationery, and in the 1990s a replica of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was constructed in its place.

Zubovich’s meticulously researched book is objectively quite a niche proposition, but nonetheless contains more than enough of interest to be worth the time of anyone with an interest in Soviet history or 20th century architecture and urban planning.

‘Moscow Monumental’ is published by Princeton University Press and is available [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691178905/moscow-monumental here].

= Find out more =

== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ==

* Buildings that were never realised.
* Imagine Moscow exhibition.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory
* Nowa Huta - Communist tour review.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism
* Owen Hatherley - Trans-Europe Express.
* Palace of Culture and Science.
* Socialist realism in a post-war Czechoslovak new town.
* [[St._Basil's_Cathedral|St. Basil’s Cathedral.]]
* The Kremlin.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:International]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital

2021-01-30T18:53:02Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Moscowmonumental.jpg|link=File:Moscowmonumental.jpg]]

Katherine Zubovich – ‘Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital'

Princeton University Press

-----
There is a particularly fascinating historical episode recounted in Katherine Zubovich’s book on Soviet skyscrapers and the urban development of Moscow principally during the Stalin era, in which the labourers set to work excavating the sites in preparation for the skyscrapers that would personify their ‘brave new world’. As they dug down, they soon uncovered archaeological evidence of human settlements dating back to before Moscow’s founding 800 years prior; an uncomfortable collision between the deep past and the bold future that the Soviet Union was supposed to be forging.

The spectre that haunts the pages throughout is the fate and fortune of the Palace of the Soviets, the ludicrously grand and ostentatious flagship project that was elevated into something approaching the mythic in status. It was with characteristic destructive zeal that in the early-1930s the Bolsheviks hastily demolished the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, one of the largest and most impressive Orthodox churches in all of Russia, to make way for the new Palace. In its monumental scale and ambition, the Palace was to represent a turning point in Soviet architecture, a rejection of constructivism and futurism and an embrace of neoclassicism.

Zubovich’s chapters on the early planning and design competitions are full of historical quirks and points of intrigue. Le Corbusier, who was one of 160 who entered designs to the open competition for the Palace, was angry enough at the rejection of his modernist design to send a direct telegram to Stalin. (The book contains several excellent photographs and illustrations throughout, although it is a minor drawback that it does not include an image of Le Corbusier’s rejected design.)

Equally amusing is the story of the young American architect Hector Hamilton who won the second of four open competition rounds with his more utilitarian design. This victory appears to have gone to the young man’s head, not helped perhaps by the fact that he was immediately touted by the American press as being the Chief Architect of the Palace, and he set sail for Moscow. As it was, the role of Chief Architect had already been decided as Boris M. Iofen, who oversaw organising the design competitions. No surprise then that his own entry was crowned victorious in the fourth and final round in 1934.

Iofen’s Palace was to have been a 415 m tall neoclassical monstrosity, crowned by a huge bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin which, by itself, would have measured 80 m tall. As Zubovich notes, ‘its image circulated so widely as to create the impression that it had already been built’.

[[File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg|link=File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg]]

The book also recounts the somewhat surprising stories of the pre-Iron Curtain years when Soviet architects and engineers, led by Iofen, travelled to Europe and the US, making connections and drawing on international expertise. Indeed in 1935, a US delegation of engineers travelled to oversee the Palace construction site, led by Carleton S. Proctor (expert behind the Lincoln Tunnel and Golden Gate Bridge).

Progress on the Palace was permanently disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, and most architects were forced to flee Moscow for the Urals to help with the colossal war effort. After the war was over ‘the tension between monumentalism and the mundane would be especially fraught’, and these competing priorities would dictate the future of Moscow’s urban design for the rest of the Stalin era. Despite Iofen moderating and reducing the scale of the Palace’s design, in the postwar period it became subordinated to the drive to build nine new ‘tall buildings’ (deliberately avoiding the term ‘skyscraper’ due to it being deemed an Americanism) as part of Stalin’s ambition to reinvest Moscow as a world-class capital city.

Harsh reality then invades Zubovich’s recounting of the story, as she documents the experiences of the tens of thousands of Muscovites who were shifted from their city centre homes to the increasingly sprawling periphery as the building projects began to change the urban landscape. She contrasts these with the experiences of the ‘vysotniki’ – the equally large numbers of construction workers brought to Moscow to build the skyscrapers and were promoted as heroes of the age by drawing parallels between post-war building and wartime heroism (a piece of propaganda from the time reads ‘my father defended Stalingrad and I’m building it back up!’).

The great irony is that by the time these buildings were completed – known as Moscow’s ‘Seven Sisters’ – in the early-1950s, the symbolic power encapsulated by them had already been diminished. It had by then become apparent to the masses that the dream of living in one of the apartments was to be a reality only for a small group of Stalin’s elite. Almost immediately after Stalin’s death, the new leader Nikita Khrushchev launched his process of ‘de-stalinization’, with the buildings becoming targets of the excessive wastefulness and skewing priorities of his predecessor, since a great many Russians needed improved housing conditions in the harsh post-war period.

[[File:PKiN1.jpg|link=File:PKiN1.jpg]]

Irony aside, there has been something of a reappraisal of the buildings in recent years, with them coming to represent the finest examples of ‘Stalinist architecture’. They are inarguably striking and rather beautiful buildings, particularly in some cases those imitations that were ‘gifted’ to other countries in the Soviet geopolitical orbit. Most notable among these is Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science, a fabulous multi-purpose building which, as opposed to Moscow’s originals, has served the population of the city well.

As it was, the Palace of the Soviets was destined only ever to exist on mass-produced candy wrappers and stationery, and in the 1990s a replica of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was constructed in its place.

Zubovich’s meticulously researched book is objectively quite a niche proposition, but nonetheless contains more than enough of interest to be worth the time of anyone with an interest in Soviet history or 20th century architecture and urban planning.

‘Moscow Monumental’ is published by Princeton University Press and is available [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691178905/moscow-monumental here].

= Find out more =

== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ==

* Buildings that were never realised.
* Imagine Moscow exhibition.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory
* Nowa Huta - Communist tour review.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism
* Owen Hatherley - Trans-Europe Express.
* Palace of Culture and Science.
* Socialist realism in a post-war Czechoslovak new town.
* St. Basil’s Cathedral.
* The Kremlin.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:International]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital

2021-01-30T18:51:38Z

Michael Brooks: Created page with "File:Moscowmonumental.jpg Katherine Zubovich – ‘Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital' Princeton University Press ----- There is a p..."

[[File:Moscowmonumental.jpg]]

Katherine Zubovich – ‘Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital'

Princeton University Press

-----
There is a particularly fascinating historical episode recounted in Katherine Zubovich’s book on Soviet skyscrapers and the urban development of Moscow principally during the Stalin era, in which the labourers set to work excavating the sites in preparation for the skyscrapers that would personify their ‘brave new world’. As they dug down, they soon uncovered archaeological evidence of human settlements dating back to before Moscow’s founding 800 years prior; an uncomfortable collision between the deep past and the bold future that the Soviet Union was supposed to be forging.

The spectre that haunts the pages throughout is the fate and fortune of the Palace of the Soviets, the ludicrously grand and ostentatious flagship project that was elevated into something approaching the mythic in status. It was with characteristic destructive zeal that in the early-1930s the Bolsheviks hastily demolished the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, one of the largest and most impressive Orthodox churches in all of Russia, to make way for the new Palace. In its monumental scale and ambition, the Palace was to represent a turning point in Soviet architecture, a rejection of constructivism and futurism and an embrace of neoclassicism.

Zubovich’s chapters on the early planning and design competitions are full of historical quirks and points of intrigue. Le Corbusier, who was one of 160 who entered designs to the open competition for the Palace, was angry enough at the rejection of his modernist design to send a direct telegram to Stalin. (The book contains several excellent photographs and illustrations throughout, although it is a minor drawback that it does not include an image of Le Corbusier’s rejected design.)

Equally amusing is the story of the young American architect Hector Hamilton who won the second of four open competition rounds with his more utilitarian design. This victory appears to have gone to the young man’s head, not helped perhaps by the fact that he was immediately touted by the American press as being the Chief Architect of the Palace, and he set sail for Moscow. As it was, the role of Chief Architect had already been decided as Boris M. Iofen, who oversaw organising the design competitions. No surprise then that his own entry was crowned victorious in the fourth and final round in 1934.

Iofen’s Palace was to have been a 415 m tall neoclassical monstrosity, crowned by a huge bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin which, by itself, would have measured 80 m tall. As Zubovich notes, ‘its image circulated so widely as to create the impression that it had already been built’.

[[File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg]]

The book also recounts the somewhat surprising stories of the pre-Iron Curtain years when Soviet architects and engineers, led by Iofen, travelled to Europe and the US, making connections and drawing on international expertise. Indeed in 1935, a US delegation of engineers travelled to oversee the Palace construction site, led by Carleton S. Proctor (expert behind the Lincoln Tunnel and Golden Gate Bridge).

Progress on the Palace was permanently disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, and most architects were forced to flee Moscow for the Urals to help with the colossal war effort. After the war was over ‘the tension between monumentalism and the mundane would be especially fraught’, and these competing priorities would dictate the future of Moscow’s urban design for the rest of the Stalin era. Despite Iofen moderating and reducing the scale of the Palace’s design, in the postwar period it became subordinated to the drive to build nine new ‘tall buildings’ (deliberately avoiding the term ‘skyscraper’ due to it being deemed an Americanism) as part of Stalin’s ambition to reinvest Moscow as a world-class capital city.

Harsh reality then invades Zubovich’s recounting of the story, as she documents the experiences of the tens of thousands of Muscovites who were shifted from their city centre homes to the increasingly sprawling periphery as the building projects began to change the urban landscape. She contrasts these with the experiences of the ‘vysotniki’ – the equally large numbers of construction workers brought to Moscow to build the skyscrapers and were promoted as heroes of the age by drawing parallels between post-war building and wartime heroism (a piece of propaganda from the time reads ‘my father defended Stalingrad and I’m building it back up!’).

The great irony is that by the time these buildings were completed – known as Moscow’s ‘Seven Sisters’ – in the early-1950s, the symbolic power encapsulated by them had already been diminished. It had by then become apparent to the masses that the dream of living in one of the apartments was to be a reality only for a small group of Stalin’s elite. Almost immediately after Stalin’s death, the new leader Nikita Khrushchev launched his process of ‘de-stalinization’, with the buildings becoming targets of the excessive wastefulness and skewing priorities of his predecessor, since a great many Russians needed improved housing conditions in the harsh post-war period.

[[File:PKiN1.jpg]]

Irony aside, there has been something of a reappraisal of the buildings in recent years, with them coming to represent the finest examples of ‘Stalinist architecture’. They are inarguably striking and rather beautiful buildings, particularly in some cases those imitations that were ‘gifted’ to other countries in the Soviet geopolitical orbit. Most notable among these is Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science, a fabulous multi-purpose building which, as opposed to Moscow’s originals, has served the population of the city well.

As it was, the Palace of the Soviets was destined only ever to exist on mass-produced candy wrappers and stationery, and in the 1990s a replica of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was constructed in its place.

Zubovich’s meticulously researched book is objectively quite a niche proposition, but nonetheless contains more than enough of interest to be worth the time of anyone with an interest in Soviet history or 20th century architecture and urban planning.

‘Moscow Monumental’ is published by Princeton University Press and is available [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691178905/moscow-monumental here].

= Find out more =

== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ==

* Buildings that were never realised.
* Imagine Moscow exhibition.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory
* Nowa Huta - Communist tour review.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism
* Owen Hatherley - Trans-Europe Express.
* Palace of Culture and Science.
* Socialist realism in a post-war Czechoslovak new town.
* St. Basil’s Cathedral.
* The Kremlin.

[[Category:History]] [[Category:International]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

File:Moscowmonumental.jpg

2021-01-30T18:40:58Z

Michael Brooks:

User:Michael Brooks

2021-01-30T18:40:29Z

Michael Brooks:

Michael Brooks is the former Editor of Designing Buildings Wiki. He has a BSc (Hons) degree in Commercial Management and Quantity Surveying, and worked for Laing O'Rourke on the Manchester Metrolink project. Since 2012 he has worked in the publishing industry; as Publishing Officer for the Energy Institute and then as Product Manager specialising in construction industry publications for Forum Business Media.

Michael is also an enthusiastic writer, having published a number of freelance pieces and interviewed several notable figures including the esteemed academic Noam Chomsky and the writer Will Self.

What's so great about the Eiffel Tower? - review

2018-02-12T17:53:22Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Whatssogreat.jpg|link=File:Whatssogreat.jpg]]

Jonathan Glancey - 'What’s so great about the Eiffel Tower?: 70 questions that will change the way you think about architecture'

Published by Laurence King (2017)

-----
In this compact pocket-sized book, Jonathan Glancey tackles several of architecture’s most sacred cows, inviting readers to reassess their assumptions about some of history’s great masterpieces and their architects.

Taking its title from the oft-repeated anecdote about the writer Guy de Maupassant and the ‘Committee of Three Hundred’ who attacked the ‘useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower’, the book proves that history benefits from fresh interpretation and scrutiny.

Some of the contentious subjects that Glancey explores include; whether the Sagrada Familia is a work of genius or kitsch, whether [[St_Pauls_Cathedral|St. Paul’s Cathedral]] is a Baroque masterpiece or Renaissance sham, and whether the likes of Le Corbusier, Zaha Hadid and Adolf Loos are really all they’re cracked up to be.

While eschewing detail in favour of brevity, Glancey nevertheless provides enough to engage and enlighten even the most fervent architecture geek. For non-experts, there’s plenty of interesting content that will reward frequent flicking through, and for pub contrarians, there’s more than enough provocation to furnish an arsenal of ‘alternative opinions’.

Glancey, who has previously written books such as ‘New British Architecture’ and ‘Lost Buildings’, writes in an irreverent and light style that successfully balances context and terminology, making the book both very readable and suitable for dipping in and out.

To purchase the book, see [http://www.laurenceking.com/en/what-s-so-great-about-the-eiffel-tower-70-questions-that-will-change-the-way-you-think-about-architecture/ Laurence King].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Architecture.
* How Buildings Work - review.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory.
* Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* The Architecture of Neoliberalism.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Vital Little Plans - book launch

2018-02-12T17:52:36Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Vitallittleplans280.jpg|link=File:Vitallittleplans280.jpg]]

On 5 July 2017, Designing Buildings Wiki attended the launch event of a new anthology of the urbanist Jane Jacobs' short works 'Vital Little Plans', organised by the Architecture Foundation.

The event, at east London's Hoxton Hall, brought together in conversation two of the built environment's most forthright commentators - the Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist Will Self and the critic/author Owen Hatherley.

Self began by quoting the jazz writer Nat Hentoff - "symbolism and reality are often infused" - and reflected on how he had been thinking about this a lot in light of the Grenfell Tower fire. According to Self, London's architecture is at a "critical point", referring to architecture as "a different kind of art, necessarily social - we can think in terms of there being moral and immoral buildings".

He poured characteristic scorn on the 'pseudo-modernist' (to use Hatherley's neologism) architecture of the neoliberal period, with cheap and ugly cladding, 'barcode' facades and parametricism. The clusters of new tall buildings containing luxury apartments, far from adopting the principle of 'form follows function', were more like 'form follows future productivity' - "which is why they all look so flimsy, they are almost transparent".

"Perhaps Grenfell", Self said, "marks the end of space and place being so commodified that they depart from the very notion of being the built environment at all."

On the subject of Jane Jacobs, Self said she was someone "preoccupied with the city as a unified phenomenon; a sense that we in Britain lack. We have a weary reverence for London, but we admire its innate anarchism, the failure of planners to impose their singular vision on it."

Jacobs' most famous theories - the 'sidewalk ballet', 'eyes on the street', 'guardians and thinkers never meeting' - might now seem hoary, nonetheless said Self, "I can't think of any other urbanist thinker who comes so readily to mind when thinking about the phenomenology of the built environment."

[[File:Vitallittleplans2.jpg|link=File:Vitallittleplans2.jpg]]

Owen Hatherley - who [[Owen_Hatherley_interview|Designing Buildings Wiki interviewed]] in 2016 - began by saying we should err away from the tendency to treat Jacobs' work uncritically, and bring it down from its pedestal. With reference to the event's location, he pointed out that Hoxton Lane and Hoxton Street do something that Jacobs says is impossible - a housing project and organic city side-by-side with "awful hipster cafes selling expensive juice", shopping arcade, etc.

Hatherley went on to say that Jacobs' 1961 masterpiece 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities' was indeed an attack on the conventions of built environment and city planning; "It's a composite of Le Corbusier's Cite Radieuse, Ebenezer Howard's garden cities and verdant new towns as 'overspill' from the metropolis, the City Beautiful movement".

He characterised her transformation "from cranky freelancer to urban warrior" as the result of encountering the slum more and more as a reality rather than an abstract concept.

Self took Hatherley to task for trying to peg Jacobs as a Blairite figure, but Hatherley argued, "she was an advocate for neoliberal ideas like privatisation - the idea that the city was made up of guardians and traders who should never meet."

"But", he said, "her critique of Robert Moses and how his meat-axe sought to destroy everything that was good about New York was absolutely correct."

Ever the polemicist, Self countered by saying that "to be fair to Moses, he did at least try and build some new social housing in New York!"

In response to an audience question about the legacy and future of high-rise towers post-Grenfell, Hatherley was unequivocal:

"...anyone who thinks the response to Grenfell is an argument against towers is a moron - that's like arguing that after the King's Cross fire we should stop building railways underground, or that after the Hillsborough disaster we should stop watching football in stadiums."

Those seeking an introduction to Jacobs' theories and ideas, amassed during a career spanning over six decades and including forays into various other fields of interest, would do well to have a look through 'Vital Little Plans'. As well as her most famous 1958 essay 'Downtown is for People', it contains several other lesser-known pieces, all of which draw a fascinating picture of one of the built environment's most influential and inspired thinkers.

'Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs' is published by Short Books Ltd. You can purchase a copy [http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/546445/vital-little-plans-by-jane-jacobs/9780399589607/ here].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* British post-war mass housing.
* Garden cities.
* Gentrification.
* Jane Jacobs and garden villages.
* Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Owen Hatherley interview.
* Richard Rogers - A Place for all People.
* Social housing.
* The Architecture of Neoliberalism.
* Will Self interview.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Theory]] [[Category:Property_development]]

The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945

2018-02-12T17:51:59Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Japanese4.jpg|link=File:Japanese4.jpg]]

In April 2017, Designing Buildings Wiki attended a major first-of-its-kind UK exhibition at London’s Barbican Centre. ‘The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945’ focuses on Japanese domestic architecture since the country was left devastated by the Second World War.

The exhibition features more than 40 architects, from the celebrated Tadao Ando and Kenzo Tange, to those little-known outside their home country such as Kazuo Shinohara and Osamu Ishiyama. Together they are responsible for a glut of groundbreaking architectural projects that quite literally re-built Japan from the ruins and provided innovative and experimental solutions to urbanisation, traditional building and densification.

[[File:Japanese1.jpg|link=File:Japanese1.jpg]]

Through a range of media – video, aural, models and prints – the exhibition takes the visitor through the different phases and trends that developed out of the need for rapid solutions to critical problems (approximately 4.2 million homes were destroyed by the end of the war). Japanese architects, in particular the developing movement of [[Metabolism|Metabolists]], agreed that the solution lay in standardised, modular designs using prefabricated elements.

It is interesting to note that while Europe, at the same time, focused on large housing complexes, Japan concentrated on the single family home and how it could adapt to the realities of the 20th century. It is hard not to draw parallels with the UK’s contemporary housing shortage, and the need to re-imagine domestic architecture to meet the pressing realities of the 21st century.

[[File:Japanese3.jpg|link=File:Japanese3.jpg]]

The centre-piece of the exhibition is an ambitious 1:1 scale recreation of the Moriyama House by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Ryue Nishizawa. It is considered one of the most important designs of the 21st century, representing as it does a radical decomposition of the conventional house.

10 individual units are arranged around the sturdy structural frame of the Barbican as though intended as part of its original design.

[[File:Japanese2.jpg|link=File:Japanese2.jpg]]

There is also an ambitious new commission by architect/historian Terunobu Fujimori who has designed a hand-charred timber teahouse with a playful garden through which visitors can stroll. This arrangement provides an intriguing accompaniment to the minimalism of the Moriyama House, offering a glimpse of the range of traditional Japanese architecture.

This is a well-presented and thoroughly engaging exhibition that all those with an interest in architecture and design, or simply with a curiosity for Japan, would do well to experience.

The Japanese House runs until 25th June 2017.

Images courtesy Barbican Centre.

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Bridge Engineering exhibition.
* Densification.
* Engineering the World - VandA Museum.
* Imagine Moscow exhibition.
* Metabolism.
* Nakagin Capsule Tower.
* Social housing.
* Urban design.
* Vernacular architecture.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:Research_/_Innovation]] [[Category:DCN_Research,_Development_and_Innovation]] [[Category:Design]]

The Architecture of Neoliberalism

2018-02-12T17:51:25Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Neoliberalism.jpg|link=File:Neoliberalism.jpg]]

Douglas Spencer - ‘The Architecture of Neoliberalism: How contemporary architecture became an instrument of control and compliance’

Published by Bloomsbury Academic (2016)

-----
When Zaha Hadid died in 2016, she was celebrated as one of the 21st century’s most influential and visionary architects. Buildings such as the Guangzhou Opera House, the London Aquatics Centre, and the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre demonstrated a radical and futuristic aesthetic that was very much her own.

However, her critics also made mention of the human rights controversies which dogged her later career; in particular, the building of the Qatar World Cup Stadium, for which she claimed an abdication of responsibility.

More recently, Hadid’s successor, Patrick Schumacher, attracted considerable opprobrium when he advocated untrammelled gentrification and the privatisation of all social housing and public space, including Hyde Park.

According to Douglas Spencer, such pronouncements and controversies, far from being isolated events, are very much bound up in the architecture of neoliberalism that has developed over the last couple of decades, and which he critiques in his challenging and uncompromising book.

[[File:Heydar_Aliyev_Cultural_Center.jpg|link=File:Heydar_Aliyev_Cultural_Center.jpg]]

Neoliberalism is one of those buzzwords that is often used but seldom completely understood. In short it is a form of capitalism that promotes shrinking the state and public services in favour of privatisation, and any notion of the 'common good' is surrendered to the ‘logic of the market'. It was developed as an ideology by the likes of Hayek and Friedman, and introduced in the West by Thatcher and Reagan in the 1980s.

Spencer’s book is perhaps the first to analyse neoliberalism in conjunction with its architectural expressions. He joins the intellectual dots from 20th century countercultural thinkers such as Foucault and Lefevre, to some of the 21st century’s most celebrated architectural practices. In addition to Hadid and Schumacher, the book provides incisive analysis of the likes of Rem Koolhaas, Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Greg Lynn, and deconstructs buildings such as the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, Birmingham New Street station, and the BMW factory in Leipzig.

Overall, this is a complex and tough read, which will likely only appeal to those steeped in architectural theory and criticism. But that does not make the book any less important or timely. Indeed at this disorientating time of change, when the foundations of the neoliberal ideology appear to be buckling beneath the weight demonstrable failures, it is a powerful and instructive piece of work.

To find out more and purchase the book click [http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-architecture-of-neoliberalism-9781472581532 here].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.
* Interview with Tom Dyckhoff.
* Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture.
* Living in the hyperreal post-modern city.
* Neo-futurism.
* Public space intervention.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* The architectural profession.
* Zaha Hadid.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Theory]] [[Category:Policy]] [[Category:DCN_Policy]]

Richard Rogers - A Place for all People

2018-02-12T17:51:00Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Rogersbook.jpg|link=File:Rogersbook.jpg]]

Richard Rogers - 'A Place for all People'

Published by Canongate (2017)

-----
Born in 1933, Richard Rogers is one of Britain’s most renowned and celebrated architects, whose modernist and functionalist designs have shaped and influenced architectural styles throughout the world.

'A Place for all People' is part memoir, part manifesto, as Rogers charts his long career at the forefront of the architectural profession and examines how the built environment influences both social justice and community values. Indeed, his credo-of-sorts is introduced early on - 'good architecture civilises, bad architecture brutalises', and the book races along imbued with a sense of passion and enthusiasm that characterises Rogers' outlook on both work and life.

It is unsurprising perhaps that the project that elevated Rogers to the forefront of contemporary architecture - the Centre Pompidou - is given a full chapter. The sense of elation at winning the design competition against tremendous odds, and the radical streak that drove him and life-long friend Renzo Piano to put forward such an unconventional proposal, makes for engaging reading. So too do the subsequent frustrations and challenges they had to face, both in terms of compromising on the original design and dealing with an onslaught of hostility from the media.

What was that like? “I think there were only 6 positive articles, all from the New York Times, during the entire period… there was such intellectual weight behind the opposition to it. Looking back now it was very difficult to deal with.”

[[File:Centre-pompidou-paris-france.jpg|link=File:Centre-pompidou-paris-france.jpg]]

In 1977, Rogers created the Richard Rogers Partnership with Marco Goldschmied, Mike Davies and John Young. Their first project was the mechanistic Lloyd’s of London, constructed between 1978 and 1984, which built upon the futuristic style of the Pompidou Centre. Rogers jokes that one of the Lloyds clients accosted him in a bathroom, saying “why didn’t you tell me it was going to look like this?!”

On the influence of utopian megastructures and ‘mobile architecture’ proposed by the likes of Yona Friendman, Rogers says he had always been inspired by creating new kinds of shelter, escaping the traditional brick building with pitched roof. He suggested that despite the fact the utopian visions of Le Corbusier and Ebenezer Howard had left mixed legacies, it was important to maintain “hope of a better world… some change direction by looking backwards, others try to look forward, driven by the idea that things can be better.”

He is not shy of engaging in the wider political landscape, and his eyes still light up at the mention of his old feud with Prince Charles. Far from pulling his punches, Rogers says "'I didn't believe at the time, and I still don't, that the Prince of Wales understands architecture...He occupies a privileged position, and I always felt that he should not use that to damage the livelihoods of people he disagrees with.'

Despite taking on royalty, Rogers was knighted in 1991, and made a Labour peer in 1996. He was increasingly involved in political life during the ‘New Labour’ government, chairing the Urban Task Force, established in 1998 to help identify causes of urban decline and to establish a positive vision for Britain’s cities. The Task Force published ‘Towards an Urban Renaissance’ in 1999, which included 105 recommendations for city designers.

Asked whether his engagement with politics during this time had proven frustrating, Rogers replies: “It was yes, but I don’t know of any other way. I’ve always subscribed to the ancient Athenian statement that a ‘citizen must leave the city more beautiful than they enter it’ … if we live in a beautiful place we are uplifted, environment does affect us.”

From 2001 to 2008, Rogers was the chief advisor on architecture and urbanism to Mayor of London Ken Livingstone. He has also served as a mayoral advisor on urban strategies in Barcelona.

Talking about London, Rogers is emphatic that “compared to how it used to be seen – as the ‘sick man of Europe’ – London has improved immeasurably, principally in how pedestrianised it now is. Not long ago, Trafalgar Square was the biggest roundabout in Europe, so design aesthetics do have an impact. I’d be surprised if the car lasts 20 years, we’re on the brink of real change.”

Talking about Grenfell tower and what the tragedy says about social housing and the housing shortage, Rogers says: “It doesn’t happen to the rich, the rich towers don’t go up in flames. In a way, that tower was dressed to make it more beautiful."

Unable to resist criticising the current Conservative government on the issue of the housing crisis, Rogers says that: “We’ve empowered the wrong people [developers] to have a say on how many houses are to be built. We haven’t built so few houses since 1922, which is astonishing for one of the richest countries in the world. There’s no excuse for not building more houses, we just need a government that doesn’t focus solely on profit.”

"Along with climate change, inequality is probably the biggest challenge facing us. The way the government has decided to do it is to say to the half-dozen big housebuilders – ‘you take of it, you plan it’. But housebuilders, and they will agree, are all about the bottom line, the maximum profit, demand is important to them, that’s why we have some of the most expensive housing, because there’s a tremendous demand for it. I don’t know of any architect that is only able to build for the poorer end of the scale.”

Asked whether, like creative artists in other fields, the original concept always remained elusive from the end product, Rogers says: “tools are available of course, and you imagine as best you can, but scale and physicality is always such a surprise, that it can’t help but alter the original perception that you had of a building. There is always information that you have at the end that you can only wish you’d had at the beginning.”

Admirers of Rogers' work or of contemporary architecture in general, will be delighted at the compilation of images, renderings, sketches and plans that are presented so well throughout the book. There are also plenty of interesting details to pick out, such as the pioneering communal spirit of his architectural practice, and the changes in attitudes to dyslexia since he was at school, that endear him to the reader and, as a book, make it well worth engaging with.

You can buy a copy of the book [https://canongate.co.uk/books/2302-a-place-for-all-people-life-architecture-and-the-fair-society/ here].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Centre Pompidou.
* High-tech architecture.
* Lloyd's of London.
* RSHP.
* The architectural profession.
* The compact sustainable city.
* Towards an Urban Renaissance.
* Urban Task Force.
* Vital Little Plans - book launch.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Theory]]

Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism

2018-02-12T17:50:20Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Landscapesofcommunism.jpg|link=File:Landscapesofcommunism.jpg]]

=== Owen Hatherley – ‘Landscapes of Communism: A History Through Buildings’ ===

Published by Allen Lane

[[Owen_Hatherley_interview|Read our interview with Owen Hatherley here.]]

-----
Ask what they envisage when confronted with the title ‘Landscapes of Communism’ and it’s safe to assume that unforgiving rows of harsh concrete blocks will be blockading the preconceptions of most people. It is a credit then to Owen Hatherley’s guide that these preconceptions are both justified and challenged, allowing for a genuinely interesting exploration of the architecture of Eastern Europe and the powers that inspired it.

Since publishing his polemical book of essays ‘Militant Modernism’ in 2009, Hatherley has become a strident and unflinching commentator on the built environment and urban planning, lauded by writers such as Will Self and Phillip Pullman.

His second book ‘A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain’ was a fearsome and damning indictment of the hallmarks of New Labour’s architectural legacy – all the ill-advised PFI schemes, soulless Enterprise Zones and regeneration projects that proliferated through the country from Manchester to Tyneside to Greenwich. He sought to make sense of the vacuum left by postmodernism in the new millennium, and in so doing spared nothing in his witty and acerbic critique of the endless high rise apartment buildings with their barcode-facades and ubiquitous cladding; buildings that were designed apparently only with their CAD logo or moniker (‘Cheesegrater’, ‘The Pinnacle’, etc.) in mind.

With ‘Landscapes of Communism’ there is a sense of Hatherley’s growing maturity as a writer and thinker about place and what both defines and informs it. This could perhaps be due to him stepping away from his comfort zone and onto, literally, foreign territory, but there’s also his apparent awareness that real history and real people’s experiences are suffused within his chosen subject matter.

Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ‘victory’ of Western capitalism as an ideological ‘design for life’, communism as a concept has become steadily more toxic and confused. In the space of a week, Prime Minister Cameron can deride front bench opposition politicians as ‘communists’ and also amiably sup a pint of ale while vying to do business with Xi Jinping, leader of the Chinese Communist Party.

Being an unapologetic Marxist, Hatherley spends a brief period of time upfront laying out his political baggage for the reader’s inspection so as to not be unduly distracted by any perceived historical bias further down the line. Such precaution is welcome but not entirely necessary, as he offers a very balanced guide to the communist states and societies, never veering towards the slightest reverence.

Hatherley is at his best when describing his tour of the Moscow Metro, the opulent ‘palaces for the workers’, or exploring the microrayon (housing estate) districts of Kiev, Warsaw, Budapest and Ljubljana. He explains the odd competition to construct TV towers ever taller, the Stalinist monumental structures aiming to symbolize the power of the state, and the sweeping Haussmann-esque boulevards. The biggest surprise of the book comes from learning the extent to which the communist states sought to reconstruct old historical centres that had been devastated by WW2, confounding the common belief that their impact was entirely modernist and transformative.

The only shortcomings of the book arise in what Hatherley chooses to leave out, which are understandable but nonetheless prohibit the book from being a fully comprehensive guide. There is no discussion of Cuban architecture, for instance, and China is only touched upon briefly towards the end, which at any rate could probably inform another 500-page book in and of itself.

One could also understand Hatherley’s desire to avoid ‘ruins’ in favour of aspects of the built environment that are still functional and part of people’s everyday experiences, but it’s an odd choice not to at least remark upon Chernobyl, the communist city frozen in time by radiation fallout, and which served as a devastating nail in the Soviet Union’s coffin. There is also rather too little engagement or interaction with local people who may have served to offer unique perspectives of what the architecture means to them in a post-Communist Europe, and how their day-to-day lived experience is shaped by a built environment that still echoes with the influence of those former powers.

This book is a fascinating examination of the communist impact on Europe’s architectural history and Hatherley serves as an intelligent and insightful narrator as we follow him through the city spaces he traverses. Indeed, long may he continue to deconstruct the follies of the built environment with his pen as an erudite wrecking ball.

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* [[Abandoned_movie_theatres_in_Russia|Abandoned movie theatres in Russia.]]
* [[Architectural_styles|Architectural styles.]]
* [[British_post-war_mass_housing|British post-war mass housing.]]
* [[Brutalism|Brutalism]].
* [[Brutalist_London_Map_-_review|Brutalist London Map - review.]]
* [[Charles_Waldheim_-_Landscape_as_Urbanism:_A_General_Theory|Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.]]
* [[Constructivist_architecture|Constructivist architecture]].
* [[%27England%27s_Post-War_Listed_Buildings%27|'England's Post-War Listed Buildings'.]]
* [[Habitat_67|Habitat 67.]]
* [[Imagine_Moscow_exhibition|Imagine Moscow exhibition.]]
* [[James_Crawford_-_Fallen_Glory|James Crawford - Fallen Glory.]]
* [[Landscapes_of_human_exploitation|Landscapes of human exploitation]].
* [[Last_Futures:_Nature,_Technology_and_the_End_of_Architecture|Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture.]]
* [[Ministry_of_Transportation_Building,_Georgia|Ministry of Transportation Building, Georgia.]]
* [[Nowa_Huta_-_Communist_tour_review|Nowa Huta - Communist tour review]].
* [[Palace_of_Culture_and_Science|Palace of Culture and Science.]]
* [[Sink_estate_regeneration_plans|Sink estate regeneration plans.]]
* [[Spomeniks|Spomeniks.]]
* [[The_Kremlin|The Kremlin.]]

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Conservation]] [[Category:History]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Theory]]

Nowa Huta - Communist tour review

2018-02-12T17:49:25Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Nowahuta1.jpg|link=File:Nowahuta1.jpg]]

In August 2017, Designing Buildings Wiki went on an organised tour to one of only two planned socialist realist housing projects in the world.

Nowa Huta, in eastern Krakow, Poland, is a unique project designed and built as a utopian city and has been described as ‘one of the most renowned examples of deliberate social engineering’ in the world. With some 200,000 residents, it remains one of Krakow’s most populous areas.

[[File:Nowahuta4.JPG|link=File:Nowahuta4.JPG]]

Crazy Guides describe themselves as an ‘alternative to typical tourism in Poland', and have grown in popularity over the last few years to become perhaps the most well-known tour company in Krakow. Their ‘unique selling point’ is their small fleet of renovated Trabants – the diminutive car that was manufactured in East Germany and is synonymous with Soviet bloc countries – which they use for their tours.

[[File:Nowahuta9.JPG|link=File:Nowahuta9.JPG]]

Our tour guide picked us up from the city centre, introducing herself as a proud resident of Nowa Huta. As we drove east, she explained some of the history to the project, how it was created in 1949 by Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union as a means of housing the workers of the new Vladimir Lenin Steelworks nearby, which in the years following its 1954 opening became the largest steel mill in Poland.

Controversially, to enable such a major centre of heavy industry on the outskirts of Krakow, the Communist government repossessed land from farming villages, creating a ‘tabula rasa’ for the architects to plan their utopian vision from scratch.

[[File:Nowahuta2.JPG|link=File:Nowahuta2.JPG]]

Arriving in the Central Square, our guide talked us through the planned layout and architectural design of the district. The doctrine of ‘socialist realism’ was enforced in Poland, as elsewhere, until the mid-1950s. Accordingly, architecture was considered a valuable weapon for the Soviets in their drive to instil a new social order, with buildings expressing a sense of power and ambition. Architects were viewed as ‘engineers of the human soul’, with a role to spark the consciousness of citizens and enhance their outlook on life.

[[File:Nowahuta3.JPG|link=File:Nowahuta3.JPG]]

The plan of Nowa Huta is based on classical Renaissance design, with streets running radially out of the Central Square and linked together to form a web. It is this axial composition that is the most characteristic feature of the project.

The Central Square and Avenue of Roses were inspired by Baron Hausmann’s wide Parisian boulevards as well as the classical architecture of cities like London and Vienna; but subtle deviations were incorporated to more closely reflect Soviet architecture, creating a unique blending of forms.

[[File:Nowahuta5.JPG|link=File:Nowahuta5.JPG]]

The street hierarchy was based on the concept of ‘neighbourhood units’, forming self-contained areas of 5,000-6,000 residents, each equipped with their own shops, schools, play areas, and so on. One thing that is remarkable about Nowa Huta, when considering the ‘concrete jungle’ housing estates that it inspired across Europe, is its abundance of green space, with the architects and planners providing parks and even a large lake on its eastern periphery.

Although the original architects’ plans for the ‘Stalinist showpiece’ were abandoned in the mid-1950s, the district continued to expand throughout the 1960s as the population grew, without any real overarching plan.

[[File:Nowahuta7.JPG|link=File:Nowahuta7.JPG]]

While there are still reminders of its Communist past – an old Soviet tank sits on the side of one street – the area has moved on in the years since Poland became independent in 1989, and, as our guide informed us, it is now considered a fine place to live.

A far cry from the 1970s-1980s, when the steel mill began making workers unemployed, and social tensions tarnished Nowa Huta’s reputation. During the 1980s, the area became a focal point for demonstrations and violent street protests by the Solidarity movement, with the statue of Lenin on the Avenue of Roses toppled in 1989.

[[File:Nowahuta8.JPG|link=File:Nowahuta8.JPG]]

The tour is a fascinating insight into a rare example of urban planning. The 2-3 hour tour includes a break with a complimentary drink, as well as a glimpse inside one of the apartments preserved as it would have been during the Communist era, where you can watch some propaganda film footage of beaming workers helping to build their utopian new city.

If you are planning a trip to Krakow then you really shouldn’t miss out on this unique experience.

To find out more, see [http://www.crazyguides.com/ Crazy Guides.]

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Abandoned movie theatres in Russia.
* Architecture of Christiania.
* Constructivist architecture.
* Danish Architecture Center.
* Imagine Moscow exhibition.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory.
* Karl Marx-Hof.
* Owen Hatherley interview.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Palace of Culture and Science.
* Sink estate regeneration plans.
* Spomeniks.
* The Kremlin.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:International]] [[Category:Projects_and_case_studies]] [[Category:DCN_Project_Knowledge]]

Manual of Section - review

2018-02-12T17:45:28Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Manualofsection.jpg|link=File:Manualofsection.jpg]]

Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and David J. Lewis – ‘Manual of Section’

Published by Princeton Architectural Press (Nov 2016)

-----
If there is a definitive framework out there for describing and evaluating sections, then ‘Manual of Section’ is probably it. Developed by the 3 principals of LTL Architects – Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and David J. Lewis – the book explores different types of section and what effect they have on form, space, material, and program.

The book opens with a statement that the work ‘has been motivated by the belief that the architectural section is key to architectural innovation’, before proceeding to examine its history and formal types.

They highlight the uniqueness of the section as a representational tool, allowing architects to gain a better understanding of a project’s structure, scale, proportion, materials and geometric logic.

They identify seven categories of section:

* Extrusion: The direct extrusion of a plan to a height sufficient for the intended use.
* Stack: The layering of floors directly on top of one another.
* Shape: The deformation of one or more of the primary horizontal surfaces of a building to sculpt space.
* Shear: The use of a rift or cut along either the horizontal or vertical axis of a building to generate sectional difference.
* Hole: The deployment of any number or scale of penetrations through a slab.
* Incline: The manipulation of the angle of an occupiable horizontal plane, which tilts the plan into section.
* Nest: The creation of sectional consequences through an interplay or overlap of legible volumes.

The 63 projects featured in the book are organised into one of these categories, with additional examples classed as hybrids, indeed, as they make a point of stating, ‘buildings rarely exhibit section types in isolation’.

The heart of the book is its double-page spreads, featuring some of the most famous buildings of the 20th and 21st century, through which the authors demonstrate different types section in application. They eschew the use of plans, elevations and renders in favour of exclusively vertical cuts, represented in one-point perspective. The sophisticated spatial hierarchies and interplays between interior and exterior are therefore imbued with an unusual and welcome lucidity and focus.

The projects are varied and well chosen. They include the likes of Louis I Kahn’s Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Le Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut and Villa Savoye, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Morphosis’ 41 Cooper Square, Herzog & de Meuron’s 1111 Lincoln Road, Buckminster Fuller’s US Pavilion at Expo ’67, and OMA’s Casa da Musica.

The real joy for architects in sifting through this book will be in scrutinising familiar buildings from a completely new perspective. In many ways it brings to mind Stephen Biesty’s wonderful illustrated cross-sections of castles, ships and such like.

As well as being a useful and engaging reference book for students and professionals, it would also make an excellent gift for any architect or interior designer.

You can find out more and purchase the book [http://www.papress.com/html/product.details.dna?isbn=9781616892555 here].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Architecture course essentials.
* Assembly drawing.
* BIM for Dummies - an interview.
* Biomimicry in Architecture - review.
* Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.
* Concept drawing.
* Elevations.
* General arrangement drawing.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Projections.
* Section drawing.
* Types of drawings for building design.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Design]]

London Design Museum

2018-02-12T17:44:50Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Designmuseum1.JPG|link=File:Designmuseum1.JPG]]

On 17 November 2016, Designing Buildings Wiki attended the unveiling of the new London Design Museum in Kensington, West London.

The museum has moved from its previous location in Shad Thames to the former Commonwealth Institute building bordering Holland Park.

The £83 million redevelopment was designed by John Pawson and architectural practice OMA. Working in collaboration with Allies and Morrison, and Arup engineers, they successfully restored the striking shell of the 1960s Grade II-listed building.

[[File:Designmuseum5.JPG|link=File:Designmuseum5.JPG]]

The most eye-catching feature of the building's exterior is its copper-covered, hyperbolic paraboloid roof, which is equally impressive on the inside, with concrete ribs creating interesting geometrical interplays with the vertical elements.

[[File:Designmuseum2.JPG|link=File:Designmuseum2.JPG]]

Structural work was completed on the building earlier in 2016, with two basement levels having been excavated below the original building footprint. This increased its floor area to 10,000 sq. m from its previous 6,000 sq. m. The floors throughout are covered in pale grey terrazzo.

The focus for the engineers was to install floor structures that were capable of supporting modern functions, while ensuring optimal views of the impressive roof’s exposed underside.

[[File:Designmuseum4.JPG|link=File:Designmuseum4.JPG]]

Chris Masson of Pawson's studio said: "All the floor structure of the building is new, so there was an extraordinary temporary structure holding up this roof while the old structure was knocked out to create the new building… It was quite a feat of engineering."

The newly reconfigured interior was designed by John Pawson, who has arranged the museum’s galleries around a minimal oak and marble-lined atrium. The galleries are easily navigable by following the oak staircase, which leads up from a central flight surrounded by tall balustrades and doubles as improvised benches.

[[File:Designmuseum6.JPG|link=File:Designmuseum6.JPG]]

To give the circulation space flexibility, the wood-lined walkways that surround the atrium are integrated with hanging rails.

The basement levels hold storage rooms and an auditorium, and there is a temporary exhibition space at ground level. The top floor holds the museum’s permanent collection, as well as a members’ room and restaurant offering views out over Holland Park.

[[File:Designmuseum3.JPG|link=File:Designmuseum3.JPG]]

(Photographs by Michael Brooks)

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Centre Pompidou.
* Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao.
* Hyperbolic paraboloid.
* Imagine Moscow exhibition.
* MAAT, Lisbon.
* Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum.
* Sage Gateshead.
* Switch House, Tate Modern.
* Titanic Belfast.
* Zeitz MOCAA.

=== External resources ===

* Design Museum - [http://designmuseum.org/ Official site]

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Education]] [[Category:DCN_Education_and_Training]] [[Category:Projects_and_case_studies]] [[Category:DCN_Project_Knowledge]] [[Category:News]] [[Category:DCN_News]] [[Category:Design]]

London by Design - review

2018-02-12T17:44:21Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Londonbydesign.png|link=File:Londonbydesign.png]]

'London by Design: The iconic transport designs that shaped our city'

By London Transport Museum

Published by Ebury Press (2016)

-----
Published to coincide with the London Transport Museum's new gallery 'Designology', this hardback book showcases the 100 best transport design icons.

The book has been curated and designed by the museum's team of experts and serves as a comprehensive anthology of London's transport designs. These range from the ubiquitous, such as the roundel logo in its various incarnations over the years, and of course, Henry Beck's original tube map from 1933; to the rather more obscure, such as the Archer statue on top of East Finchley station.

The book highlights some of the remarkable architecture that has defined the London transport system, such as the Stockwell Bus Garage with its wide concrete arched roof; the dramatic concrete curves of Newbury Park Bus Station; the dark red tile exterior of Covent Garden station; the orange glow of West Acton station, and the 1930s Art Deco-style Victoria Coach Station.

[[File:Stockwellbusgarage.jpg|link=File:Stockwellbusgarage.jpg]]

But the book isn't simply an exercise in nostalgia focusing on London's past glories, as more modern examples of spectacular architecture are also included, such as Michael Hopkins & Partners' high-tech Westminster Station; Foster + Partners' vast Canary Wharf Station with its semi-elliptical canopy; and the futuristic curving blue-glass wall at Southwark Station.

While the book is well-presented, with some delightful images and illustrations, there is perhaps insufficient substance to make it worthwhile for transport aficionados. That said, as a tourist souvenir, or for the London-enthralled youngster, it is perfectly good.

Where the book is more successful is in highlighting the smaller and more subtle design details that all-too-often go unobserved, such as the steel uplighters on the escalators at St John's Wood, Eduardo Paolozzi's psychedelic mosaics at Tottenham Court Road station, and the roundel step nosing on staircase treads. In fact, even the most hardened Londoner who endures the transport network day-in-day-out, would find it hard not to flick through and find something from to make them pay a little more attention to the details on their next journey.

You can purchase the book from the [http://www.ltmuseumshop.co.uk/gifts-and-souvenirs/books/product/london-by-design-book.html London Transport Museum site].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Brutalist London Map - review.
* Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.
* Crossrail 2.
* Danish Architecture Center.
* Drew Plunkett - Revolution: Interior Design from 1950.
* 'England's Post-War Listed Buildings'.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory.
* Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Stockwell bus garage.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture

2018-02-12T17:43:17Z

Michael Brooks:

Douglas Murphy – Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture

Published by Verso Books (Jan 2016)

-----
[[File:Lastfutures%28small%29.jpg|104px|link=http://www.versobooks.com/books/1963-last-futures]]

-----
In the post-WW2 world, nations sought new ways to design their societies in a spirit of optimism that gained pace throughout the mid-century. By the 1960's this optimism and faith in the high modernism seemed to have no bounds and was nowhere more ardent than in the architectural movements and concepts that were gaining ground across the urban environment, most notably in the grand Expo's that captured the inspirational spirit of the 1851 Great Exhibition.

However, with the 1970's came the oil crisis, Mutually Assured Destruction of the nuclear states, Watergate, the dying days of the Vietnam War, fears of overpopulation, and the awareness that the last two centuries of industrialisation might in fact have done irreversible harm to the environment. In response to the apocalyptic mood of the times, the grand projects of architects and city planners were slowly but surely dismantled, leaving only ruins of the ‘last futures’ that continue to have a vestigial hold on the utopian imagination.

In the introduction to Last Futures, Douglas Murphy sets out his task as tackling the myths of the near future that proliferated through society at this time, ‘…a belief that good design would improve its users and that ordinary human beings were material to be moulded in the service of a grand vision.’ His approach is not to douse the optimistic ideals of the time with the pessimism of hindsight, but instead to examine them critically, placing them in the context of what was happening in the wider socio-political sphere.

Murphy covers a lot of ground in this slim and succinct book. He explores the firm Archigram and their megastructural visions; the huge counterculture movement that adopted Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes for their Drop City; and the way scientific rationalism and cybernetics helped influence projects such as the Plug-In City with their theories about how humans would live and interact with their urban surroundings.

While the chapter on the failures of high-rise social housing might suffer from thematic familiarity, the book is much stronger when exploring the theories that captured the public mood, such as Paul Erlich’s ‘The Population Bomb’, the Club of Rome group’s ‘Limits to Growth’, the rise of environmentalism and how these began to shift attitudes towards the architectural visions of figures such as Fuller and Frei Otto.

Anyone familiar with the documentaries of Adam Curtis will recognise several of the lines of 20th century examination being followed by Murphy, but this only makes for a more engaging read. The final chapter offers scant praise for the architectural visions of today, seeing the explosion of the digital landscape as part of the reason for the paucity of new ideas. Overall this is a very interesting book and thoroughly recommended.

Find out more here. [http://www.versobooks.com/books/1963-last-futures http://www.versobooks.com/books/1963-last-futures]

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Archigram.
* Architectural styles.
* Buckminster Fuller.
* Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.
* Drew Plunkett - Revolution: Interior Design from 1950.
* Frei Otto.
* Futuro House.
* Geodesic dome.
* Habitat 67.
* High-tech architecture.
* Interview with Tom Dyckhoff.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory.
* Megastructure.
* Metabolism.
* Nakagin Capsule Tower.
* Norfolk Terrace and Suffolk Terrace - 'the Ziggurats'.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Skyscraper.
* The Architecture of Neoliberalism.
* Vital Little Plans - book launch.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

James Crawford - Fallen Glory

2018-02-12T17:42:37Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Fallen_Glory270.jpg|link=File:Fallen_Glory270.jpg]]

James Crawford – ‘Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of Twenty Lost Buildings from the Tower of Babel to the Twin Towers’

Published by Old Street Publishing (Nov 2015)

-----
Most successful books are driven by characters around which a narrative can be woven and stories effectively told. The lead characters in James Crawford’s ‘Fallen Glory’ are buildings or structures that are no more.

As the author writes in the introduction: ‘Even the longest human life barely exceeds a century. How much more epic are the lives of buildings, which can endure for thousands of years? Unlike the people who made them, these structures experience not just one major historical event, but a great accumulation of them... Buildings have the potential to be the ultimate raconteurs.’

It is with this spirit of telling stories through buildings that Crawford embarks upon his work, a well-researched and compelling guide that seldom loses momentum in more than 500 pages. As well as examining each of his buildings from a conventional historical angle, he also revels in the socio-political milieu of the particular time, the ideals and aspirations of the people who erected them as well as those that tore them down.

While almost all of the structures included will be of some measure of familiarity to the reader – the Tower of Babel, the Roman Forum, the Old St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Bastille, the Berlin Wall, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre – each chapter offers engrossing new interpretations that will shine fresh light on their significance. While occasionally the author might overstretch himself with the ambition of some parallels drawn, such as trying to find the physical blueprint for the internet in the anarchic pell mell of Hong Kong’s Kowloon ‘Walled City’, for the most part the conclusions he offers up are engaging and thought-provoking.

Key to the book’s success is the way Crawford elucidates fine points of detail that lend real colour to the individual narratives. The 76-year-old Christopher Wren watching from below as his son is raised by crane to place the final stone on the lantern of the new St. Paul’s Cathedral that Wren had seen through to completion from the devastating Great Fire. Or, the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s frustrated efforts to get political approval for his Panopticon ‘grand plan’, the design of which could be said, and it is by Crawford, to have preempted the modern ‘surveillance state’. Or, the parallel lives of two talented yet disaffected architects, one of whom grew up to design the Twin Towers, whilst the other became one of the hijackers who brought them down on 9/11.

Crawford writes with a great amount of zeal and enthusiasm for his subject, and it is this style along with his attempt at drawing a line between what the buildings represented both then and in the present, that makes his book such enjoyable and highly recommended reading.

If any conclusions are to be drawn, it is that humans have long sought to pursue with hubristic design, the posterity and stature that an iconic building confers upon them and that, like the big ideas or societal systems that lay their foundations, they can be consigned to the dust of history almost in an instant.

[http://oldstreetpublishing.co.uk/18/fallen-glory-the-lives-and-deaths-of-twenty-lost-buildings-from-babel-to-the-twin-towers Find out more about ‘Fallen Glory’ here.]

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* [[BIM_for_Dummies_-_an_interview|BIM for Dummies - an interview.]]
* [[Brutalist_London_Map_-_review|Brutalist London Map - review.]]
* [[Charles_Waldheim_-_Landscape_as_Urbanism:_A_General_Theory|Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.]]
* [[%27England%27s_Post-War_Listed_Buildings%27|‘England’s Post-War Listed Buildings’.]]
* [[Landscapes_of_human_exploitation|Landscapes of human exploitation]].
* [[London_by_Design_-_review|London by Design - review.]]
* [[Owen_Hatherley_interview|Owen Hatherley interview.]]
* [[Owen_Hatherley_-_Landscapes_of_Communism|Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.]]
* [[What%27s_so_great_about_the_Eiffel_Tower%3F_-_review|What's so great about the Eiffel Tower? - review.]]

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Conservation]] [[Category:Do_not_autolink]] [[Category:History]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Imagine Moscow exhibition

2018-02-12T17:42:02Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Imaginemoscow1.jpg|link=File:Imaginemoscow1.jpg]]

In March 2017, Designing Buildings Wiki went to the London Design Museum to see the Imagine Moscow exhibition, marking the centenary of the Russian Revolution.

The exhibition presents six different ‘visions of Moscow’ imagined by architects and designers from 1917 until the early-1930s, a heady and exciting post-revolutionary era as the possibilities of the new ‘scientific society’ became clear. The vaulting ambition of this new generation is easily grasped in the rarely-seen material gathered for the displays.

[[File:Imaginemoscow2.jpg|link=File:Imaginemoscow2.jpg]]

Whether it’s the Supremacist artworks exploring new dimensions and patterns, or pro-literature propaganda posters as part of the new educatory push, there is the inescapable impression of a society’s utopian muscles being flexed, but that would atrophy in just a few years with the technocratic bureaucracy of Stalin.

The exhibition focuses on six key projects that exemplify the heights of ambition:

* Communal House: A scheme to introduce communal housing that would eliminate the nuclear family.
* Cloud Iron: A network of horizontal skyscrapers containing offices and apartments.
* Lenin Institute: An enormous library that would serve as the ‘accumulated knowledge’ of the human race.
* Health Factory: A Black Sea retreat that would provide respite and leisure for urban workers.
* Commissariat of Heavy Industry: A building that would celebrate the importance of industry to socialism.
* Palace of the Soviets: A grand monument to Lenin, and the tallest building in the world.

The exhibition succeeds in capturing the sense of exhilaration and dynamism inherent in these projects, with large-scale illustrations and, in the case of the Palace of the Soviets, a giant replica of the forefinger for the 100 m-high statue of Lenin that would stand tall over Moscow.

[[File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg|link=File:Unrealisedbuildings2.jpg]]

This, and the fascinating section on the design competition for Lenin’s Red Square mausoleum, reveal the idolatry and hero-worship as, despite the Soviet Union’s technological and modernist aspirations, just another form of religion.

The exhibition serves as a welcome reminder of a time when architects, designers and engineers genuinely believed they could remake society and, as a result, human beings themselves.

Even though the USSR and its methods have long since been discredited – the section on the rigid planning of daily routine amply demonstrates the totalitarian nightmare that was being created – it should still perhaps be considered that for architecture to have any kind of positive influence on society it needs something of the same towering ambition and imagination.

[[File:Imaginemoscow3.jpg|link=File:Imaginemoscow3.jpg]]

Imagine Moscow runs until the 4th June 2017.

For more information, see [https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/imagine-moscow Design Museum].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Bridge Engineering exhibition
* Buildings that were never realised.
* Constructivist architecture.
* Engineering the World - VandA Museum
* London Design Museum.
* Nowa Huta - Communist tour review.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Spomeniks.
* [[St._Basil%27s_Cathedral|St. Basil’s Cathedral.]]
* The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945.
* The Kremlin.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Education]] [[Category:History]] [[Category:Research_/_Innovation]]

How Buildings Work - review

2018-02-12T17:41:30Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:How-buildings-work.jpg|link=File:How-buildings-work.jpg]]

Huw M. A. Evans - 'How Buildings Work'

Published by RIBA Publishing (Dec 2016)

-----
This book from Huw Evans serves as an accessible and functional guide for architects and designers, both professional and student. Building physics and practical building design are brought together in a succinct and navigable format that enables easy understanding of concepts that are a constant challenge to those involved in the construction of new buildings.

Evans provides an overview of the main physical phenomena that affect the use and operation of buildings, including:

* Heat.
* Air.
* Moisture.
* Sound.
* Light.

A clear understand of these phenomena is essential for the design and construction of safe, functional and energy-efficient buildings. The book is careful not to fall into the all-too-easy trap of addressing these phenomena in isolation, but explores how they interrelate. It is precisely this kind of ‘joined-up thinking’ that is required of architects and engineers as buildings become more complicated and conflicting priorities become more likely.

The book provides an abundance of illustrations and diagrams which are very helpful in breaking down the complexities of the subject matter, particularly the end of section ‘bigger picture’ summary diagrams.

This is a concise, no-nonsense handbook that will serve as a useful point of reference for seasoned professionals, and an invaluable guide through the complex terrain of building physics for students.

For more information and to purchase the book, go to the [http://www.ribabookshops.com/item/how-buildings-work/82039/ RIBA Bookshop].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* An Introduction to Passive House - review.
* Bill Gething and Katie Puckett - Design for Climate Change.
* Biomimicry in Architecture - review.
* Building engineering physics.
* Building Revolutions - review.
* Building science.
* FutuREstorative - review.
* Passive building design.
* Performance gap.
* What's so great about the Eiffel Tower? - review.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Education]] [[Category:DCN_Education_and_Training]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

FutuREstorative - review

2018-02-12T17:40:44Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Futurestorative-working-towards-a-new-sustainability.jpg|link=File:Futurestorative-working-towards-a-new-sustainability.jpg]]

Martin Brown – ‘FutuREstorative: Working towards a new sustainability’

Published by RIBA Publishing (2016)

-----
FutuREstorative: Working towards a new sustainability, written by the consultant Martin Brown, is a worthy addition to the growing corpus of texts debating the problems and solutions facing the built environment and sustainability.

Where this book differs somewhat is in its inclusion of blog-style contributions from a collection of business leaders, advocates and practitioners, from construction and beyond.

Running through the book is the idea that respect and intolerance for causing damage to nature has been lost, as the built environment has gradually eroded our real connection to nature. Key to the book’s theme is the idea of shifting the sustainability debate from focusing simply on energy performance on to a more holistic view of social performance, wellness, health and healthy buildings.

The book posits the concept of ‘net-positive construction’, which asks the question ‘what if every construction site made the world a better place?’; that, instead of being wasteful and emissions-heavy, the construction sector could generate more energy, water and reusable resources than it consumes.

The concepts and benefits of biophilia and biomimicry are explored as methods of learning from and adapting natural processes. It makes the case that best practice and established sustainability standards have all-too-often fallen into the box-ticking ‘doing less bad’ trap, rather than aiming to do good. Innovations such as BIM, the internet of things and social media are seen as new tools in the ‘sustainability toolbox’, providing opportunities to advance the development of, and action on sustainability.

While some may come away frustrated with the solutions on offer, the book serves as a challenge to the limited orthodoxies of contemporary thinking rather than attempting to provide a prescriptive road-map to definite answers.

Students, practitioners and policy makers in the built environment would do well to engage with the challenges and ideas raised by this book, as it is this kind of creative and forward thinking response that will be essential in adapting the built environment to prevent and respond to the uncertainties of climate change.

For more information and to purchase the book, please see [http://www.ribabookshops.com/item/futurestorative-working-towards-a-new-sustainability/85971/ RIBA Bookshop].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* An Introduction to Passive House - review.
* Better Buildings: Learning from buildings in use - review.
* Bill Gething and Katie Puckett - Design for Climate Change.
* Biomimicry in Architecture - review.
* Building Revolutions - review.
* Climate change science.
* Ecological impact assessment.
* Environmental policy.
* Green building.
* How Buildings Work - review.
* Retrofit.
* Sustainability.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Theory]] [[Category:Sustainability]]

England's Post-War Listed Buildings

2018-02-12T17:40:05Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:England's_post-war_listed_buildings_cover.jpg|link=File:England's_post-war_listed_buildings_cover.jpg]]

=== ‘England’s Post-War Listed Buildings’ ===

Elain Harwood and James O. Davies

Published by Batsford (2015)

-----
With England’s more familiar architectural history often finding itself preserved in the amber of ‘heritage’ status, it comes as some surprise to realise the extraordinary range and calibre of the buildings that have been awarded listed status during the 7 decades since 1945.

‘England’s Post-War Listed Buildings’, commissioned by Historic England (HE), is a veritable breezeblock of a book, comprising some 600-plus pages that serve as easily the most comprehensive guide available to parts of the built environment that don’t always receive the public appreciation they deserve.

The number of listed buildings dating from post-1945 amount to a scant 0.01% (the total list in 2014 extended to over 376,000 entries), a fact that lends the book’s author, Elain Harwood and photographer James O. Davies something of the attentive curator role.

The buildings range from the familiar and high-profile, such as Trellick Tower, Lloyd’s of London and the Crucible Theatre, to the delightfully obscure, such as the lilypad canopies at an Esso filling station in Leicester, and a ‘particularly elegant’ concrete footbridge in Swanscombe.

The compilation is ordered by region and each building is given a concise descriptive overview together with photographs, which throughout are wonderfully executed, making the book a real joy to flick through, pausing to read further when something in particular catches the eye.

Whilst the brevity of the text may serve to satisfy the lay person rather more than the technically-minded, this is only be a minor drawback, and the book as a whole should inspire more people to seek out and reevaluate the modern architecture of England with renewed appreciation.

-----
Designing Buildings Wiki put some questions to one of the book’s authors Elain Harwood, whose previous work includes ‘Space, Hope, and Brutalism: English Architecture, 1945-75’.

DBW:

When compiling the book did you notice any political influence - overt or discreet - in the decisions for buildings that were given approval for listed status?

EH:

No. There was one oddity – the Pasmore Pavilion was turned down in 1998 by the then minister, Tony Banks, responding to local opposition to the Pavilion. But in 2001 a trust was formed by other local residents to preserve the pavilion, who were successful in restoring it – and then it was listed!

DBW:

What is notable is how the book is full of municipal buildings such as social housing complexes, universities, libraries, and so on, that were very much part of the post-war social democratic building programme. As such they reflect the times and the society in which they were built. If this book were to be updated in, say, 30 or 40 years time, what kind of buildings would you expect to see being listed?

EH:

A lot more High Tech, and some post-modernism – so more offices, and the number of private houses will continue to grow. Indeed HE embarked on a programme of listing offices from the 1970s in 2014-15 – too late for inclusion in the book. I wonder, too, how many of the Millennium Projects may eventually be listed.

DBW:

What do you think about the fact that a lot of these buildings are closed to the public? Should more be done to try and encourage more interaction and engage the level of public enthusiasm that becomes evident at an event such as 'Open House London'?

EH:

Quite a lot of these buildings have been open for Open House and the Heritage Open Days outside London, including flats at Trellick and Balfron towers, and office buildings like New Zealand House – but it depends on owners from year to year. Ventures like this and the National Trust open days at Balfron Tower have done a huge amount to stimulate interest and it would be great to see more of such initiatives.

DBW:

Which one building do you think deserves to be added to the list?

EH:

I don’t like to speculate when owners haven’t been consulted. But do note that a number of offices have been listed in 2015 and that 41 more post-war sculptures have just been listed, which is really exciting.

DBW:

Which one building do you think doesn't deserve to be on the list and that you'd remove if you could?

EH:

Again, I don’t want to get involved in sensitive cases where discussions are underway. I think finding new uses for the churches that have closed will be difficult, and I hope that the listing gives them a second chance.

-----
=== Book extracts ===

[[Engineering_Building,_Leicester_University|Engineering Building, Leicester University]]

[[File:Leicester_uni270.jpg|link=Engineering_Building,_Leicester_University]]

[[Norfolk_Terrace_and_Suffolk_Terrace_-_%27the_Ziggurats%27|Norfolk Terrace and Suffolk Terrace - ‘the Ziggurats’]]

[[File:Norfolk_terrace270.jpg|link=File:Norfolk_terrace270.jpg]]

[[Stockwell_bus_garage|Stockwell bus garage]]

[[File:Stockwell_bus_garage270.jpg|link=File:Stockwell_bus_garage270.jpg]]

[http://store.pavilionbooks.com/9781849941464-england-s-post-war.html You can buy ‘England’s Post-War Listed Buildings’ here.]

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on [http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Designing_Buildings_Wiki Designing Buildings Wiki] ===

* [[BIM_for_Dummies_-_an_interview|BIM for Dummies - an interview.]]
* [[British_post-war_mass_housing|British post-war mass housing.]]
* [[Brutalist_London_Map_-_review|Brutalist London Map - review.]]
* [[Charles_Waldheim_-_Landscape_as_Urbanism:_A_General_Theory|Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.]]
* [[Historic_England|Historic England.]]
* [[James_Crawford_-_Fallen_Glory|James Crawford - Fallen Glory.]]
* [[Landscapes_of_human_exploitation|Landscapes of human exploitation]].
* [[Last_Futures:_Nature,_Technology_and_the_End_of_Architecture|Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture.]]
* [[Listed_buildings|Listed buildings.]]
* [[London_by_Design_-_review|London by Design - review.]]
* [[Owen_Hatherley_interview|Owen Hatherley interview.]]
* [[Owen_Hatherley_-_Landscapes_of_Communism|Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.]]
* [[Scheduled_monuments|Scheduled monuments.]]

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Conservation]] [[Category:Do_not_autolink]] [[Category:Projects_and_case_studies]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Engineering the World - VandA Museum

2018-02-12T17:39:03Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Ovearup2.JPG|link=File:Ovearup2.JPG]]

On 27 July 2016, Designing Buildings Wiki went along to the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington, London, to have a look round the headline exhibition of their current Engineering Season, ‘Engineering the World: Ove Arup and the Philosophy of Total Design’.

The exhibition is dedicated to the work of the Ove Arup (1895-1988), one of the most influential engineers and designers of the 20th century.

Near the entrance to the exhibition, there is a framed coffee-stained doodle by Arup (see below) of a cartoon figure with labels such as ‘Delight’, ‘Purpose’, ‘Organisation’, and ‘Site Conditions’, that capture the essence of his pioneering ideas about what the modern engineer should encapsulate.

This became formulated as the concept of Total Design, which meant to ‘join all the professions right from the start’; redefining the way architects, designers and engineers collaborated on projects.

[[File:Ovearup1.JPG|link=File:Ovearup1.JPG]]

The exhibition includes Arup’s radical designs for improving inadequate air raid shelters during the Second World War, as well as his work on the Mulberry temporary harbours, built to facilitate the rapid offloading of soldiers and cargo, and deployed during the 1944 D-Day landings.

There are also detailed calculation sheets used for the construction of the iconic gravity-defying spiraling concrete ramps for the Penguin Pool at London Zoo; a project which established Arup as a leading consulting engineer.

As interesting as this early insight into Arup’s work is, it is overshadowed by the centrepiece of the exhibition - Arup’s most famous project, the Sydney Opera House.

[[File:Sydney_opera_house_2.jpg|link=File:Sydney_opera_house_2.jpg]]

The exhibition presents models and original sketches that document the journey from concept to structural design to built reality. Also of interest is the grainy 16 mm film footage of a scale model of the Opera House undergoing wind tunnel testing at Teddington’s National Physical Laboratory in 1961.

Of particular note, is the original Pegasus Mark 1 (see below), the first computer to be used for calculations on a building project. This emphasises the epoch-changing time of the mid-20th century of which Arup was a leading figure, the increasing computerisation of industries that appeared to offer a brave new world of technological innovation where anything was achievable.

In the case of the Sydney Opera House, it was the realisation of a structure that had previously been considered ‘impossible to build’.

[[File:Ovearup4.JPG|link=File:Ovearup4.JPG]]

The exhibition also examines how Arup’s Total Design concept inspired other landmarks buildings of the new high-tech form, most notably the Centre Pompidou by Richard Rogers, and the HSBC Hong Kong Building by Norman Foster (see 1:100 scale model below).

Interestingly, the entire exhibition space itself is contained within a 1:1 scale model of the Centre Pompidou’s garberette beam which made possible the building’s most distinctive design feature – external utilities and services.

[[File:Ovearup5.JPG|link=File:Ovearup5.JPG]]

Engineering students and professionals should take the opportunity to visit this unique and engaging exhibition, providing as it does a fascinating retrospective of one of the built environment’s most influential and philosophical figures.

‘Engineering the World’ runs at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London until 6 November 2016.

For more information, see [http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/engineering-the-world V&A].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* 7 Engineering Wonders of the world.
* Bridge Engineering exhibition.
* Burj al Arab, Dubai.
* Centre Pompidou.
* Concept architectural design.
* Dunelm House, Durham.
* Imagine Moscow exhibition.
* RSHP.
* Shell roof.
* Structural engineer.
* Sydney Opera House.
* The history of fabric structures.
* The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Education]] [[Category:DCN_Education_and_Training]] [[Category:History]] [[Category:Research_/_Innovation]] [[Category:DCN_Research,_Development_and_Innovation]]

Drew Plunkett - Revolution: Interior Design from 1950

2018-02-12T17:38:28Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Revolutioninteriordesign.jpg|link=File:Revolutioninteriordesign.jpg]]

Drew Plunkett – Revolution: Interior Design from 1950

Published by RIBA Publishing (Jan 2017)

-----
The emergence, evolution and consolidation of interior design into a distinct practice and profession is the subject of this engrossing and authoritative new book.

Written by Drew Plunkett, an architect and interior designer, the book begins in the 1950s, weaving through the decades as styles, trends and social mores evolve and change, all the while reflected and expressed through the design of interiors.

‘It is a story…’ writes Plunkett, ‘of clients with entrepreneurial visions and business acumen who chose mostly unknown designers and gave them freedom. Together they created a benign monster and the interior profession had to grow and change to serve it. It could no longer be a cottage industry.’

The protagonists who helped create this ‘benign monster’ rose out of the post-war consensus, eager to express their creativity in an era of new sensibilities and teenage rebellion. The book explores how, as post-war austerity loosened, ‘the home became a place for self-expression and prompted expectations of something more radical in public places’.

Interior design, Plunkett explains, was less burdened by philosophical concerns of the kind that dominated the ethos and aesthetics of the New Brutalism movement. Interior designers embraced modernism with a sense of eclecticism and fun that evaded architecture. It would take the emergence of postmodernism for architecture to ‘lighten up’, by which time, interior design had already stolen a march.

The book traverses expertly through the decades, setting the socio-political and cultural scene well for those less familiar with the times. Plunkett takes the reader from the Soho coffee shops of the 1950s, to the futuristic décor of the Chelsea Drugstore in the 1960s, to Manchester’s Hacienda and the acid house aesthetics of the 1980s, to the high street behemoths of the early-20th century and beyond.

Plunkett is a scholarly writer, who is clearly keen to provide detailed analysis, but still inflects his prose with humorous anecdotes and flashes of perception that illuminate the subject as only someone who has been immersed in it for so long can do.

The book is well-presented with more than 200 photos and images, some that have rarely been published. It will prove a valued and worthwhile read for current and past practitioners as well as the interior designers of the future.

You can find out more about the book and purchase it [http://www.ribabookshops.com/item/revolution-interior-design-from-1950/84195/ here].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.
* Furniture, fixtures and equipment.
* Interior designer.
* Interview with Kevin McCloud.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory.
* Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture.
* London by Design - review.
* Recent history of interior design.
* Top five kitchen design trends for the housebuilding industry.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Design]]

Danish Architecture Center

2018-02-12T17:36:30Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Copenhagen1.jpg|link=File:Copenhagen1.jpg]]

Located in an old warehouse by Copenhagen’s waterfront, the Danish Architecture Center (DAC) is an excellent place to begin an exploration of the Danish capital, giving an understanding of the way it has been designed and built over the years; as well as how people live in it, apparently happier than most other cities in the world.

The DAC building is located in the Christianshavn neighbourhood which is easily accessible from the city centre. It hosts exhibitions and events, and contains a well-stocked book shop and café with excellent city views. Guided tours around the city can be organised on request.

[[File:Copenhagen4.jpg|link=File:Copenhagen4.jpg]]

Designing Buildings Wiki had a private tour of the modern harbour and the old city, with a young architect named Julie who volunteers as a guide for the DAC.

She began by pointing down-river to an ongoing construction project, and explaining that this was a new building called BLOX designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, which will serve as the DAC’s new home from 2018.

The tour proper began with an introduction to the harbour’s ongoing transformation from an industrial and transportation junction into a thriving commercial and residential hub. Adjacent to the much-lauded restaurant Noma, the apartment blocks of Krøyers Plads are a prime example of the area’s resurgence. Designed by COBE and Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, the brick surfaces and faceted rooflines are inspired by the old warehouses that were once dominant.

[[File:Copenhagen3.jpg|link=File:Copenhagen3.jpg]]

Further along is the 29,000 sq. m landmass known as Paper Island, currently a tourist-friendly street food centre, but from 2018, to be redeveloped into halls containing event spaces, galleries and a swimming pool.

Our guide explained her day-job working in the cycling infrastructure development team, and certainly Copenhagen lives up to its reputation as being one of the premier cycling cities in the world. An elevated ‘super bike lane’ known as Cycle Snake wriggles its way over and along the harbour; seamlessly connecting the highway and the harbour bridge.

[[File:Copenhagen5.jpg|link=File:Copenhagen5.jpg]]We crossed over Inderhavnsbroen, a 180 m (590 ft) pedestrian-and-cyclist bridge connecting Christianshavn with the Nyhavn district. The bridge finally opened in July 2016 after a series of delays and setbacks, including a severe calculation error that meant the two sides of bridge wouldn’t connect properly; Julie explained that the bridge already far exceeds its anticipated daily capacity of commuters and tourists.

[[File:Copenhagen6.jpg|link=File:Copenhagen6.jpg]]

Striking examples of Copenhagen’s modernist architecture can be seen on both sides of the river.

On the Nyhavn side is Lundgaard & Tranberg’s elegant Royal Danish Playhouse, clad in a delicate balance of dark brickwork, copper and glass. Julie declared this to be her favourite building in the city, pointing out how it is partly suspended over the water, allowing Copenhagen’s many kayakers to go under the glazed floor of the café, before listing its sustainability features, such as using seawater and surplus heating from the auditoriums to reduce energy consumption.

[[File:Copenhagen7.jpg|link=File:Copenhagen7.jpg]]

On the Christianshavn side is perhaps the city’s most controversial building, the Copenhagen Opera House. Designed in the neo-futurist style by Henning Larsen, the building dominates the waterfront with its flat cantilevered awning and glazed façade that some have likened to the grill of a classic American car. With construction delays and lavish details (the main auditorium’s ceiling is adorned with 105,000 sheets of 24-carat gold leaf), it is one of the most expensive opera houses ever built, costing well over $500 million.

[[File:Copenhagen8.jpg|link=File:Copenhagen8.jpg]]

Over the other side of the bridge, is the picturesque Nyhavn, with its quintessentially Danish 17th-century terraced townhouses, built with timber, bricks and plaster, and painted in alternating bright colours.

The tour progressed north through the city, along Sankt Annae Plads, a long rectangular public square which has recently completed a major renovation to make it more pedestrian and cycle-friendly, as well as enabling it to drain rainwater and reducing the risk of flooding.

[[File:Copenhagen9.jpg|link=File:Copenhagen9.jpg]]

In the heart of the city, Nørreport Station is Denmark’s busiest transport hub, used by about 350,000 people each day. This is another major redevelopment completed recently, designed by Gottlieb Paludan Architects and COBE.

Previously a chaotic, noisy and unsafe area, it has been transformed into an open and accessible urban space, with forecourt structures that are mainly glass and rounded white concrete, encouraging the natural flow of people. Vehicular traffic was redirected, pedestrianising the bulk of the area, with recessed ‘bicycle beds’ providing storage for 2,100 bicycles. The lighting is incorporated into the surfaces and the towers ventilating the underground platforms, creating an effective and safe urban space.

[[File:Copenhagen2.jpg|link=File:Copenhagen2.jpg]]

Copenhagen is a city bursting with traditional and modernist architecture, that showcases sustainable design solutions and urban planning and offers a strong model for other cities to follow.

Find out more about the DAC [http://www.dac.dk here].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Architecture maps - review.
* Architecture of Christiania.
* Brutalist London Map - review.
* Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise - review.
* Engineering the World - VandA Museum.
* England's Post-War Listed Buildings.
* London by Design - review.
* Nowa Huta - Communist tour review.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Panda House, Copenhagen Zoo.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Education]] [[Category:DCN_Education_and_Training]] [[Category:International]] [[Category:Organisations]] [[Category:DCN_Organisation]]

Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise - review

2018-02-12T17:35:55Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Tickets.JPG|link=File:Tickets.JPG]]

Despite being established as recently as 1837, making it an 'early-teenager' in terms of city lifespans, Chicago is something of an open-air museum when it comes to modern architecture. By far the best way to experience this museum of architectural styles and forms is to board the River Cruise run by the non-profit Chicago Architecture Foundation.

The tour is ranked one of the top 10 in the US by TripAdvisor, and operates several times a day from April through to late-November. It is held on an understated First Lady cruise-boat, and conducted by a team of volunteers who brim with insightful anecdotes, expert knowledge and a real enthusiasm for their city and its history.

[[File:Skyline.JPG|link=File:Skyline.JPG]]

The tour begins with some striking facts, not about the buildings, but about the river itself.

In 1900, it was dramatically reversed by engineers for public sanitation and to keep clean the mighty Lake Michigan into which the river originally flowed. Chicago's pioneering propensity was already assured by this time, with the first skyscrapers sprouting up from the scorched ground following the devastating fire of 1871.

The tour begins at the Riverwalk on the north side of the downtown 'Loop', surrounded by vertiginous skyscrapers, each with their own unique aesthetic.

[[File:Wrigley.JPG|link=File:Wrigley.JPG]]

Immediately opposite the dock is the Renaissance Revival-style Wrigley Building (image above), built in 1924 for the chewing gum company with gleaming white terracotta tiles, and a clocktower modelled on the Giralda bell tower in Seville.

Alongside this, Tribune Tower (image below), is a neo-Gothic building completed in 1925, characterised by the ornate buttresses surrounding the peak, influenced by Rouen Cathedral in France.

[[File:Tribune.JPG|link=File:Tribune.JPG]]

Built in the same year on the other side of the river, is one of the city's most recognisable buildings - 35 East Wacker, also known as the Jewelers Building (left in the image below). The building merges the Art Deco style of the time with dome, spires and cupolas influenced by Roman, Greek, and Gothic architecture.

[[File:Chicagocruise.JPG|link=File:Chicagocruise.JPG]]

Directly opposite is the Trump International Hotel and Tower (image below), completed in 2009 by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. At a height of 423 m (1,389 ft), it is currently the 15th tallest building in the world (as of 2016). The three setback features provide tasteful continuity with the surrounding skyline, although the garish steel lettering across the facade is every bit as egotistical as one would expect.

[[File:Trump_tower.JPG|link=File:Trump_tower.JPG]]

Equally striking are the twin towers known as Marina City (image below), designed by Bertrand Goldberg and completed in 1967. Nicknamed the 'corn cobs' because of their semi-circular balconies, the structures have been widely praised for their innovation.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe moved to Chicago in the late-1930s and drew upon the International Style for some of his most celebrated modernist works. The AMA Plaza (formerly the IBM Plaza), was his last building and exemplifies his trademark minimalist aesthetic.

[[File:Marinacity.JPG|link=File:Marinacity.JPG]]

Further along the river, the LaSalle-Wacker Building is a classic Art Deco structure dating back to 1930; clad in limestone and granite and with the centre set-back from the external facade.

More contemporary is 333 West Wacker Drive, on the south side as the river forks. This provides a good example of contextualism, as the building curves with a shimmering, green-tinted facade in harmony with the bend of the river.

[[File:150northriverside.JPG|link=File:150northriverside.JPG]]

Proving that Chicago's architecture still has a pioneering spirit, 150 North Riverside (image above) is remarkable for the way in which its 54-storeys are built upon a base that is only 17 m wide, with the floors cantilevering out from the central core. It is the first time that Grade 70 steel has been used in the USA.

As the boat heads down the south branch of the river, the views of the colossal Willis Tower (image below) become even more impressive. Better known by its original name - Sears Tower - the innovative skyscraper paved the way for future supertall and megatall structures, and was itself the world's tallest building from 1973 until 1998.

[[File:Willis.JPG|link=File:Willis.JPG]]

Taken by roof height, it still remains the tallest building in the western hemisphere (because of its spire, the official title belongs to One World Trade Center). For more information, see Willis Tower.

Heading up the north branch provides interesting views of the exciting developments that are helping change the face of the river, with new residential towers and parkland; as well as some of the original warehouse buildings dating back to the early-20th century. Most notable of these is 600 West (image below), with its horizontal emphasis and geometric ornamentation reflecting the Prairie style often associated with Frank Lloyd Wright. Built in 1908, it was Chicago's first reinforced concrete building.

[[File:Warehouses.JPG|link=File:Warehouses.JPG]]

Returning down the river presents an impressive view of the Merchandise Mart (image below), built in 1930 and owned by the Kennedy family for nearly 50 years. It is architecturally fascinating, with Art Deco styling, pyramidal towers, set-backs and bands of chevrons. At the time of its completion it was the largest in the world in terms of floor-space (372,000 sq. m), but was surpassed by the Pentagon in 1943.

[[File:Merchmart.JPG|link=File:Merchmart.JPG]]

As the boat turns around at the mouth of the Chicago River, there is a spectacular view of the city skyline, including other landmarks such as the Aon Building and the John Hancock Building (the third and fourth tallest buildings in Chicago respectively).

There is also a view of the contemporary design of Aqua (image below), completed in 2009, composed of irregularly-shaped concrete floor slabs which lend the facade an undulating, sculptural quality.

[[File:Aqua.jpeg|link=File:Aqua.jpeg]]

Despite being a typically 'tourist' pursuit, river tours seldom fail to offer a new and enlightening perspective. This is certainly the case for Chicago, where many of the high-rise structures reveal themselves visually from the river in a more satisfying and impressive way than from street level.

While a ticket price of $41 may seem quite steep, with a duration of 90 minutes and unparalleled perspectives of such an impressive range of buildings, together with informative commentary, it's hard not to conclude that it is well worth the expense. Indeed, the tour is recommended for everyone, architecture-buff or novice. Just be prepared to spend the rest of the day with a stiff neck...

For more information about the tour and to book tickets, see [https://www.architecture.org/experience-caf/tours/detail/chicago-architecture-foundation-river-cruise-aboard-chicagos-first-lady-cruises/ Architecture.org].

(Photography by Michael Brooks.)

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* 150 North Riverside.
* Architectural styles.
* Art Deco.
* Bridge Engineering exhibition.
* Chicago school of architecture.
* Classical Revival style.
* Danish Architecture Center.
* Engineering the World - VandA Museum.
* Skyscraper.
* Tallest buildings in the world.
* Willis Tower.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Education]] [[Category:DCN_Education_and_Training]] [[Category:International]] [[Category:Projects_and_case_studies]] [[Category:DCN_Project_Knowledge]]

Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory

2018-02-12T17:35:15Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Landscape.jpg|link=File:Landscape.jpg]]

Charles Waldheim – ‘Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory’

Published by Princeton University Press (2016)

-----
In ‘Landscape as Urbanism’, author Charles Waldheim claims to have presented the first monographic account of a subject that has grown in prominence from a position of relative academic obscurity over the last decade-or-so. Waldheim , who is Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University attempts to place landscape urbanism within the context of a broader set of historical, theoretical, and cultural conditions and proposes ‘a general theory for thinking the city through the medium of landscape.’

As an approximate definition, he suggests landscape urbanism is the theory of urban planning through the medium of landscape. It promotes the general idea that cities are best planned and organised, not through building and infrastructure design, but through the design of landscape.

In ‘Landscape as Urbanism’, Waldheim seeks nothing less than to establish the landscape architect as the urbanist of the age. Indeed, he presents a case early on, that ‘...the fundamental assumption that planning is the medium through which public policy and community participation are brokered may also be open for debate.’

Over the course of several chapters in this comprehensive book, Waldheim traces the history of landscape as a form of urbanism, from the Renaissance, through the dense industrial cities of the 19th century, to the early-20th century Fordist industrial economy, where landscape was reconceived as a medium of ecological planning. He states that in the contemporary post-Fordist industrial economy, ‘…landscape urbanism promises to clean the sites of the formerly industrial economy while integrating ecological function into the spatial and social order of the contemporary city.’

In so doing, Waldheim certainly makes a strong case for landscape urbanism, and, arguably, its inevitability. Perhaps such theories will become more prevalent and mainstream as people continue to densify in urban megacities over the next few decades.

The heavy text is scattered with generous illustrations that offer some interpretive clarity to what can become a vague and confusingly abstract subject. Mindful of this common criticism of the theory, with scant few real-life physical examples to draw from, the book includes works from around the world by designers such as Andrea Branzi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Michael Van Valkenburgh, and Ludwig Hilberseimer.

The thoroughness and depth of thought that Waldheim brings to this book and its ideas can feel rather like grappling with a piece of deconstructivist theory from the likes of Jacques Derrida or Jean Baudrillard. While this isn’t unnecessarily a bad thing, it can be more onerous and weighted down by academic verbiage than it needs to be, or ought to be for something purporting to be a ‘general theory’.

While those familiar with landscape urbanism will find a lot to appreciate in this intelligent and well-presented book, it may not succeed in enlightening a wider audience about this important but nuanced subject matter.

You can find out more and order the book [http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10694.html here].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki: ===

* An Introduction to Passive House - review.
* BIM for Dummies - an interview.
* Biomimicry in Architecture - review.
* Brutalist London Map - review.
* [[%27England%27s_Post-War_Listed_Buildings%27|‘England’s Post-War Listed Buildings’]].
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory.
* Landscape architect.
* Landscape urbanism.
* Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture.
* Living in the hyperreal post-modern city.
* London by Design - review.
* Manual of Section - review.
* Owen Hatherley interview.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Urban design.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Theory]]

Building Revolutions - review

2018-02-12T17:34:43Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Building-revolutions-applying-the-circular-economy-to-the-built-environment.jpg|link=File:Building-revolutions-applying-the-circular-economy-to-the-built-environment.jpg]]

‘Building Revolutions: Applying the circular economy to the built environment’

David Cheshire

Published by RIBA Publishing (2016)

-----
It is predicted that by 2030, 3 billion people who are currently living in poverty will have a middle class level of consumption. This will create a surge in the demand for natural resources by at least a third.

With these forecasts in mind, and with the construction industry playing such an important part in global resource demand, experts are increasingly looking at strategies for moving the built environment away from the linear economy of ‘make, use and dispose’, sometimes more disparagingly described as 'make, break and discard'.

The more effective model, according to the book by David Cheshire, a Regional Director at infrastructure services firm AECOM, is that of the ‘circular economy’. This follows the basic principle that where resources are kept in use, their value is retained.

In the circular economy, everything is engineered to be constantly reused or recycled. It requires rethinking of design, manufacturing, selling, re-using, recycling and consumer ownership to keep resources in use for as long as possible.

Cheshire asserts that embracing principles of the circular economy could yield a number of benefits to the construction industry, in terms of cost, efficiency and environment. Although he acknowledges that as buildings are not ‘manufactured’ in the same way as consumer products, it is more of a challenge to apply the circular economy model.

With this in mind, the overarching philosophy of the book is to put thought into the future destiny of the building and the legacy that it leaves for following generations. It should not inhibit design, but be used as a catalyst and inspiration.

The book argues that redefining waste as a resource means that costs can be reduced, and companies can be protected against volatile prices associated with raw materials; perhaps mindful of the recent ‘steel dumping’ on the part of China that has had such a negative impact on British steel manufacturers.

The book makes the point that buildings could be adapted, reconstructed and deconstructed, and made from materials that can be reused or recycled, helping create a regenerative built environment. Indeed, designing for deconstruction is ‘an essential piece of the circular economy puzzle’.

The idea of designing in layers helps to unlock the tricky problem of applying the circular economy to buildings, by allowing designers to approach each building element according to its own circumstances.

Building for adaptability is another key principle of the circular economy and a growing trend, according to the book. This approach gives building owners a flexible portfolio, helping them react to changing market needs. A building with a flexible interior within its existing envelope, for example, could be easily adapted from office to hotel space if required.

Cheshire’s book is concise, well-illustrated and easy-to-understand, and serves as an informative introduction to a subject that should be gaining far more attention and inspiring much more focus within the industry.

You can purchase the book at [http://www.ribabookshops.com/item/building-revolutions-applying-the-circular-economy-to-the-built-environment/86743/ RIBA Bookshop].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Better Buildings: Learning from buildings in use - review.
* Bill Gething and Katie Puckett - Design for Climate Change.
* Biomimicry in Architecture - review.
* Circular economy.
* Cradle to cradle product registry system.
* Design for deconstruction.
* FutuREstorative - review.
* How Buildings Work - review.
* Recyclable construction materials.
* Site waste management plan.
* Sustainable materials.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Sustainability]]

Brutalist London Map - review

2018-02-12T17:33:44Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Brutalistlondonmap%28small%29.png|link=File:Brutalistlondonmap(small).png]]

=== 'Brutalist London Map' ===

Published by [http://bluecrowmedia.com/ Blue Crow Media], November 2015

-----
Brutalism as an architectural style has undergone something of a reappraisal over recent years. Trellick Tower, the Barbican and the Park Hill Estate in Sheffield have all been celebrated as leading examples of a post-war aesthetic that sought functionality over form, bold geometries that reflected the Le Corbusier-inspired futurism of new urban design.

Castigated and demonised over the decades by the press, such estates became synonymous with social deprivation and criminality, not to mention being used as the backdrop for any cinematic dystopia from ‘A Clockwork Orange’ to ‘Harry Brown’, brutalism has struggled to shrug off its negative connotations.

While many of the sites included on Blue Crow Media’s new London map have been given listed status, recent years have seen the demolition of iconic sites such as the Heygate Estate and Gateshead’s ‘Get Carter car park’, often in the face of strong public opposition, indicating that the verdict is still out on whether brutalism can be openly appreciated, if only from a sense of nostalgia.

The first of a new series of architectural guides by the independent publisher of maps and digital apps Blue Crow Media, ‘Brutalist London Map’ is well designed and presented, and has space to include a concise introduction from Henrietta Billings of the Twentieth Century Society.

Leaving aside the usual suspects such as the National Theatre and Balfron Tower, the map serves as a welcome reminder of striking buildings that have perhaps been forgotten, from the [[Welbeck_Street_car_park|Welbeck Street Multi-Storey Car Park]] to Brixton Recreation Centre, as well as those that, were they not so prominent, might well deserve to be forgotten, such as the Hyde Park Barracks building.

The re-evaluation of, and renewed interest in, brutalism as a feature of Britain’s modern architectural history is surely welcome, and ‘Brutalist London Map’ is a must-have for anyone with even a passing interest in the variety of style and ideas in the built environment.

[[Architecture_maps_-_review|See the review of other Blue Crow Media architecture maps here.]]

[http://bluecrowmedia.com/product/brutalist-london-map You can buy a copy of the map here].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on [http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Designing_Buildings_Wiki Designing Buildings Wiki] ===

* Architectural styles.
* British post-war mass housing.
* Brutalism.
* Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.
* Danish Architecture Center.
* [[%27England%27s_Post-War_Listed_Buildings%27|'England's Post-War Listed Buildings'.]]
* Erno Goldfinger.
* Habitat 67.
* James Crawford - Fallen Glory.
* Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture.
* London by Design - review.
* Owen Hatherley interview.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Sink estate regeneration plans.
* Space, Hope and Brutalism.
* Trellick Tower.
* Welbeck Street car park.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Biomimicry in Architecture - review

2018-02-12T17:32:42Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Biomimicry.jpg|link=File:Biomimicry.jpg]]

Michael Pawlyn – ‘Biomimicry in Architecture’

Published by RIBA Publishing (2016)

-----
‘Biomimicry in Architecture’, released in its second edition in October 2016, is a thoroughly absorbing and illuminating examination of how biomimicry might transform the built environment.

As an architect who was central to the team that re-invented horticultural architecture for the Eden Project, Michael Pawlyn is perfectly placed to compile a book on biomimicry, being widely regarded as something of a pioneer in the field.

He begins by defining biomimicry as ‘design inspired by the way functional challenges have been solved in biology’. He paints a picture of biological organisms embodying technologies that have benefitted from a 3.8 billion-year research and development period; in comparison with which, humankind can only feel a degree of humility. He explains that we should see biomimicry as being one of the ‘best sources of solutions that will allow us to create a positive future’ and shift from the industrial to the ecological age.

The book benefits from Pawlyn’s clear and engaging writing style, which is translates complex systems into jargon-free explanations. Where jargon is unavoidable, he helpfully unravels it, such as with the definitions and distinctions between biomimicry and, say, biomorphism - more of a ‘formal and aesthetic expression’ rather than the former which is ‘a functional discipline’.

However, the lack of a more detailed theorising of how biomimicry might connect with modernist and post-modernist architecture may disappoint those looking for a way of placing it in the context of these more conventional movements as a viable solution for the future.

Through several ‘how’ rather than ‘why’-based chapters, Pawlyn explores elements such as hollow tubes, skeletons, exoskeletons, webs/tension structures, pneumatic structures, deployable structures, and how they can be replicated in the built environment. The book explores such problems as how buildings can be powered, how to create zero-waste systems, and, most interestingly, how we can manage water by drawing inspiration from creatures such as the Namibian fog-basking beetle.

The real joy of the book though is the bountiful images which, with nature and architecture placed so well next to one another, make the future of biomimicry seem full of wonder and potential. Pawlyn concedes that biomimicry has yet to capture the imagination of the profession as it has in industrial design for instance, but no doubt any architect or designer who picks up this book will come away wondering why and for how much longer?

To order the book, go to [http://www.ribabookshops.com/item/biomimicry-in-architecture-2nd-edition/85945/ RIBA Bookshops].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* An Introduction to Passive House - review.
* Bill Gething and Katie Puckett - Design for Climate Change.
* Biomimicry.
* Building Revolutions - review.
* Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.
* FutuREstorative - review.
* How Buildings Work - review.
* Manual of Section - review.
* Mimetic architecture.
* Skeuomorphism.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Theory]] [[Category:Sustainability]] [[Category:Design]]

Bill Gething and Katie Puckett - Design for Climate Change

2018-02-12T17:32:07Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Design-for-climate-change.jpg|link=File:Design-for-climate-change.jpg]]

Bill Gething & Katie Puckett – ‘Design for Climate Change’

Published by RIBA Publishing (2013)

-----
As climate continues to change at an unprecedented rate, and the built environment and construction contribute significantly to carbon emissions and energy use, adaptation will be critically important to ensure continued performance and thermal comfort for occupants.

‘Design for Climate Change’, written by leading climate change architect Bill Gething and journalist Katie Puckett, provides a useful and informative framework for addressing the challenges, both technical and professional, of adapting to the changing climate.

Aimed at students, architects and other building designers, with the intention of demystifying a complex field, the book was funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB). It draws on lessons from 26 real-world projects that sought to investigate different approaches to sustainable adaptation.

The book addresses: how the current building stock will perform in hotter summers and with more extreme weather conditions; how designs can be future-proofed; how challenges and potential solutions can be communicated by developers to clients; and what adaptation might mean for project costs.

The book examines thermal comfort and defines overheating, as well as steps taken to control both internal and external heat gains. It considers the various cooling strategies that can be adopted, from ventilation to the use of planting and landscape, and green walls.

There is also a useful chapter on designing for construction, with a particularly good double-page spread on different types of façade systems and their respective temperature effects depending on weather conditions.

Throughout, the book is written in an accessible style with many well-presented graphs, images and illustrations. Many of these are used to explain a variety of design and modelling tools, which are helpfully reviewed in terms of their application on the case studies cited. In the future, the book may benefit from an update to address the potential that BIM could have for modelling sustainable design solutions.

Design for Climate Change is an accessible and important book, and one that should be a common source of reference for those seeking to join and currently working in the industry.

You can purchase the book from [http://www.ribabookshops.com/item/design-for-climate-change/77532/ RIBA Bookshops].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* An Introduction to Passive House - review.
* Better Buildings: Learning from buildings in use - review.
* Biomimicry in Architecture - review.
* Building Revolutions - review.
* Carbon plan.
* Climate change science.
* Energy targets.
* Environmental policy.
* FutuREstorative - review.
* Green building.
* Greenhouse gases.
* Happold lecture on climate change.
* How Buildings Work - review.
* Retrofit.
* Sustainability.
* Target emission rate TER.
* Technology strategy board TSB.
* U-values.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Sustainability]] [[Category:Design]]

Avoiding and resolving disputes - review

2018-02-12T17:31:36Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Avoiding-and-resolving-disputes-a-short-guide-for-architects.jpg|link=File:Avoiding-and-resolving-disputes-a-short-guide-for-architects.jpg]]

‘Avoiding and resolving disputes: A short guide for architects’

Bart Kavanagh

Published by RIBA Publishing (May 2017)

-----
In 2013, an NBS survey, the National Construction Contracts and Law Survey, found that 30% of firms had been involved in at least one dispute in the previous 12 months. As a consequence, there is enormous interest in construction disputes but this tends to focus on dispute resolution techniques rather than how to avoid them.

Bart Kavanagh, a chartered architect and non-practising barrister with more than 35 years in the industry, has written an excellent new pocketbook that will serve as a worthwhile primer for architecture students as well as a refresher for professionals.

The book provides a straightforward and easy-to-read guide to the essentials of construction disputes, which can often be ‘foreign territory’ for architects. It tackles the risks that practitioners may face, steps that can be taken to minimise them, and what to do when such risks develop into a dispute.

The book covers the typical reasons for disputes that tend to arise between parties on a project, and highlights some tips for avoiding them in the first place. Issues can often be informally negotiated as they arise, as the book explains, but sometimes this will be insufficient and full-blown disputes need to be handled more formally.

Throughout, the author arranges the topics in an accessible way with helpful checklists and important cases to remember. The most common alternative dispute resolution (ADR) options are described, from mediation to adjudication to litigation.

This succinct, no-nonsense guide will come in handy for architects of all levels of experience, as well as other professionals such as contractors or quantity surveyors who feel like familiarising themselves with the core concepts and processes.

To purchase the book, see [http://www.ribabookshops.com/item/avoiding-and-resolving-disputes-a-short-guide-for-architects/87086/ RIBA Bookshops.]

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Alternative dispute resolution for construction ADR.
* Causes of construction disputes.
* How Buildings Work - review.
* Litigation.
* Mediation.
* Negotiation techniques.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Education]] [[Category:DCN_Education_and_Training]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Case_law]] [[Category:DCN_Case_Law]]

Architecture of Christiania

2018-02-12T17:28:27Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Christania1.jpg|link=File:Christania1.jpg]]

= Background =

Christiania is an anarchist settlement and eco-village that operates as a self-governing community in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Christiania was formed in 1971 when a group of hippie squatters took over a military barracks spread over 80 acres along the banks of a lake that had fallen into disuse and been left abandoned.

Soon after its settlement, Christiania was declared a ‘Freetown’, with the goal being to ‘build up a society from scratch’. The impetus for the settlement of around 900 individuals is reported to have been a direct response to the lack of affordable housing and social facilities available in Copenhagen at the time.

The community adopted a policy of collective land ownership and responsibility, becoming well-known for their liberal approach to drug use and homosexuality, both still taboos at the time.

[[File:Christania8.jpg|link=File:Christania8.jpg]]

The settlers refused to pay taxes to the government, predictably bringing them into conflict over the years. In 1972, Christiania was granted semi-legal status, with the settlers agreeing to pay a collective tax in return for water and electricity.

The heating supply in Christiania is decentralised, with the houses heated, not by electricity, but in part by second-hand wood and ovens made within the community. Water is heated by the sun, and waste water installations are often experimental.

[[File:Christania9.jpg|link=File:Christania9.jpg]]

The government’s attempts to ‘normalise’ the settlement have been a continuing source of contention, with many property developers noting the prime location that the site occupies.

In recent years, Christiania has attracted negative attention due to police drug raids and riots. However, despite its future remaining far from certain, it has become one of the major tourist attractions in Copenhagen, welcoming more than a million people a year.

[[File:Christania4.jpg|link=File:Christania4.jpg]]

= Architecture without architects =

Christiania became a place of fascination and intrigue for architects across Europe, many of whom visited to experiment with new techniques and styles. Nonetheless, the buildings of Christiania were developed mainly under the ethos of ‘architecture without architects’.

As the Danish government did not initially recognise the community as legitimate, ordinary zoning restrictions did not apply, and so a wide variety of vernacular architecture was created, some futuristic, some ecologically-sustainable, others following the style of more traditional Scandinavian houses.

[[File:Christania6.jpg|link=File:Christania6.jpg]]

The buildings are experimental in style, many with decorative murals, and others integrated into their surroundings, and all serving as functional homes. Many of the homes are constructed from re-used and salvaged materials, and range from makeshift huts to elaborate constructions with green roofs.

The glass house pictured below is built from salvaged timber windows.

[[File:Christiania2.jpg|link=File:Christiania2.jpg]]

Other, more improvised buildings are freeform, colourful and in their own way, charming.

[[File:Christania10.jpg|link=File:Christania10.jpg]]

This more futuristic polygon glass house is shaped like a spaceship.

[[File:Christania5.jpg|link=File:Christania5.jpg]]

This banana-shaped house was constructed by a group of German volunteers who came to help build bridges and were subsequently allowed to develop their own structure.

[[File:Christania3.jpg|link=File:Christania3.jpg]]

With the government increasingly trying to assert its control, one of the newer laws stipulates that nothing new can be built in Christiania except for roofing. This restriction has led to some creative architectural styles in itself…

[[File:Christania7.jpg|link=File:Christania7.jpg]]

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Cohousing.
* Community energy network.
* Contextualism.
* Danish Architecture Center.
* Earth building.
* Gentrification.
* Green building.
* Favela.
* Nowa Huta - Communist tour review.
* Republic of Kugelmugel.
* Squatting.
* Sustainable materials.
* The history of fabric structures.
* Vernacular architecture.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:International]] [[Category:Projects_and_case_studies]] [[Category:Design]]

Architecture maps - review

2018-02-12T17:27:47Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Maps.JPG|link=File:Maps.JPG]]

Published by [http://bluecrowmedia.com/ Blue Crow Media] (2016)

= Introduction =

Following on from their ‘Brutalist London map’ (reviewed [[Brutalist_London_Map_-_review|here]]), the independent publisher Blue Crow Media have expanded their portfolio, with four new architecture maps. Each double-sided map is beautifully designed and presented, and was clearly researched and compiled by enthusiasts.

Regardless of whether you take them out on a walking tour, or simply use them to decorate a coffee table, these are well worth getting hold of.

= Art Deco London map =

[[File:Art-deco-london.jpg|link=File:Art-deco-london.jpg]]

This gorgeous black-and-silver map details some of the best examples of London’s Art Deco, which flourished in the 1920s and 30s. Art Deco buildings were designed by some of the renowned artists of the time, such as Eric Gill and Serge Chermayeff.

The versatility and adaptability of the style is evidenced by the range of structures included on the map, from tube stations and cinemas, to factories, government buildings and swimming pools.

= Constructivist Moscow map =

[[File:Constructivist-moscow-map.jpg|link=File:Constructivist-moscow-map.jpg]]

Moscow is perhaps less familiar or documented in terms of its architectural history, and this map highlights many fascinating and intriguing examples of the creative and avant garde Constructivist form.

Typical of the early Soviet era, Constructivism was a rejection of traditional ornamentation and instead embraced geometrical forms, straight lines and angles in a way that inspired the more familiar style of Brutalism.

Despite the nostalgia afforded these buildings, it is perhaps inevitable that many of them will be demolished in the near future, lending the map a slight hint of sadness.

= Brutalist Washington map =

[[File:Brutalist-washington-map.png|link=File:Brutalist-washington-map.png]]

This map highlights one of the finest concentrations of Brutalist architecture in the world, in Washington D.C.

The reason for this abundance of Brutalism in the post-war era was a substantial renewal strategy for large urban areas as well as a federal government plan to construct new buildings to house its agencies which were not to be identifiable from their architecture. Brutalism, being materially economical and with its raw ambiguity and stark, sometimes imposing, form was seen as the ideal choice.

Particular highlights are the API Building and the J. Edgar Hoover Building, both of which are under threat of demolition along with many others across the city.

= Modern Berlin map =

[[File:Modernberlin.jpg|link=File:Modernberlin.jpg]]

One of the most striking aspects of the German capital, however unsurprising given the wartime devastation, is the modernity of its architecture.

After Albert Speer’s plans for a Third Reich ‘Germania’ were reduced to rubble by Allied bombing, the city was split in two, resulting in some disparate architectural developments – from the pre-fabricated ‘plattenbau’ social housing to the futuristic Fernsehturm TV tower, and ‘sci-fi Brutalism’ such as the Bierpinsel (see below).

While the post-reunification modernism has its detractors, especially regarding the rebuilt Potsdamer Platz, the map picks out genuinely impressive works from the likes of Peter Eisenman and Norman Foster, which combine to give the impression of an eclectic and engaging architectural city.

[[File:Berlinmap.jpg|link=File:Berlinmap.jpg]]

For more information and to purchase the maps, please see [http://bluecrowmedia.com/ Blue Crow Media].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Architectural styles.
* Art Deco.
* Brutalism.
* Brutalist London Map - review.
* Constructivist architecture.
* Danish Architecture Center.
* [[%27England%27s_Post-War_Listed_Buildings%27|‘England’s Post-War Listed Buildings’.]]
* London by Design - review.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Spomeniks.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Education]] [[Category:DCN_Education_and_Training]] [[Category:History]] [[Category:International]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Architecture maps - more reviews

2018-02-12T17:27:08Z

Michael Brooks:

The independent publisher [https://bluecrowmedia.com/ Blue Crow Media] continues to amass a delightful portfolio of architecture city maps. Designing Buildings Wiki has previously published reviews of them here:

* Brutalist London Map - review.
* Architecture maps - review.

In 2017, they published three more to add to the collection. Eager architecture tourists should get copies of these, given that they are perhaps the most well-presented and researched maps of their kind currently available.

= Modernist Belgrade =

[[File:Modernistbelgrade.jpg|link=File:Modernistbelgrade.jpg]]

This map illustrates the reconstruction and development of the war-torn Belgrade during the second part of the 20th century as the capital of Yugoslavia. Despite not being the first city that springs to mind when considering interesting architecture, the map demonstrates quite clearly the range and extent of modernist buildings created by the generation of Yugoslav architects that came to prominence during the 1960s.

Perhaps the most famous of Belgrade's modernist buildings is the Western City Gate, although there are numerous others worthy of equal merit. Many of these are arranged across the city in relatively close proximity to each other, making this map the perfect basis for a walking tour.

= Brutalist Sydney =

[[File:Brutalistsydney.jpg|link=File:Brutalistsydney.jpg]]

Most people would probably be hard-pressed to identify a building in Sydney aside from the Sydney Opera House, but that's not to say that it doesn't have an eclectic array of Brutalist buildings that are emblematic of a unique period of socio-political thinking.

Sydney's exploration of Brutalism began and ended later than Europe. It was well-adopted by the mid-1970s and became a monumental and distinctly civic style by the 1980s.

The high-quality concrete craftsmanship and structural details conveying 'memorable form' are evident on many different buildings, with the map pointing out that the often sun-drenched city is 'the perfect setting to highlight the textured surfaces of this European-derived ethos.'

= Brutalist Paris =

[[File:Brutalistparis.jpg|link=File:Brutalistparis.jpg]]

The Parisian suburbs are known for their grands ensembles; massive suburban apartment complexes built in the 1950s and 1960s. A very different Paris from the one most are familiar with can be experienced through the city's abundant Brutalist architecture.

Unlike other European capitals, Brutalism did not produce many cultural buildings in the city centre, but was instead largely restricted to housing, administrative, office and university campus buildings. Most of these are to be found beyond the Peripherique in the zones of urban expansion developed in the second half of the 20th century (and somewhat frustratingly, located beyond the limits of map).

Two of the most striking examples of monolithic residential buildings singled out are Les Damiers Logements and Les Orgues de Flandre Logements.

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Architectural styles.
* Architecture maps - review.
* Brutalism.
* Brutalist London Map - review.
* London by Design - review.
* Modernist architecture.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Education]] [[Category:DCN_Education_and_Training]] [[Category:History]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]]

Aquatecture - review

2018-02-12T17:26:40Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Aquatecture-book-cover.jpg|link=File:Aquatecture-book-cover.jpg]]

Robert Barker and Richard Coutts – 'Aquatecture: Buildings and cities designed to live and work with water'

Published by RIBA Publishing (2016)

-----
This hefty and well-presented new book from the RIBA examines the vital role played by water in shaping the built environment. Since we depend on, use, and live with water, it is important that 'designing for water' is considered.

When one thinks of 'aquatecture', the first place that may spring to mind is Venice, a western city that is unique for being built on and around a lagoon. But modern architects too have sought to push the boundaries of the relationship between water and buildings; from Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic Falling Water, and Louis Kahn's Salk Institute, to Diller Scofidio & Renfro's Blur Building.

The book defines aquatecture as, 'A water-centric approach to design in which flood-risk management, development pressure and adaptation to climate change are simultaneously reconciled to allow buildings and cities to live and work with water.'

It examines the possible combinations of water and architecture, beginning with an historical overview. The relationship between water and architecture is examined; how water has shaped civilisations, how pressures from urbanisation increase the need to make space for water, and how best to cope with flooding through integrated design approaches.

It progresses on to what the possible future could look like in a world where climate change and flooding are increasing risks. It explores international approaches to designing with water across key disciplines of planning, landscape design, infrastructure and architecture. New innovative techniques are explored that the authors claim could 'revolutionise the way we think about water, design and urban planning'. Each is discussed and their respective effectiveness assessed.

Such innovations include:

* Amphibious (floating) buildings.
* Elevated buildings.
* Wet- and dry-proof buildings.
* Rain gardens.
* Flood storage.
* New methods of waterfront design.

Four case studies are provided:

* Building perspective: Amphibious house.
* Neighbourhood perspective: Seine Gare Vitry, Paris.
* City perspective: Shanghai, Future City.
* Regional perspective: Nijmegen and Lent, Netherlands.

Intended as a reference tool for architects, urban designers, planners and sustainability experts, 'Aquatecture' strikes a successful balance between providing technical information and exploring ambitious theories for future development. The illustrations and images throughout the book are excellent and serve to make it well-structured and a pleasure to dive in and out of and to examine in more depth.

For more information and to purchase 'Aquatecture', please see [http://www.ribabookshops.com/item/aquatecture-buildings-and-cities-designed-to-live-and-work-with-water/81927/ RIBA Bookshop.]

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Bill Gething and Katie Puckett - Design for Climate Change.
* Blur Building.
* Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.
* Coastal defences.
* Flood risk.
* Groundwater control in urban areas.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Prenuptial Housing.
* River engineering.
* Sustainable water.
* Thames barrier.
* Types of water.
* Urban Rigger.
* Water conservation.
* Water engineering.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Sustainability]] [[Category:Design]]

An Introduction to Passive House - review

2018-02-12T17:25:15Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:An-introduction-to-passive-house.jpg|link=File:An-introduction-to-passive-house.jpg]]

Justin Bere - ‘An Introduction to Passive House’

Published by RIBA Publishing (2013)

-----
Written by the architect Justin Bere, this introductory guide to the Passive House standard is an accessible and valuable addition to the growing content relating to construction fit for a sustainable 21st century.

The slim and well-presented volume begins with a section called ‘What is Passive House?’ which concisely explores the history and growing prevalence of the Passivhaus Standard. Bere explains that Passive House is a standard for, and advanced method of, designing buildings using building physics to ensure precision, comfort and reduced energy costs, as well as removing guesswork from the design process.

He also presents the opinion that:‘A great 21st century building is one that is beautiful to look at but that also feels good in reality when the power supplies are turned down to almost nothing … I fear that some architects give more priority to how their buildings will look in architectural magazines than to making sure that their buildings perform efficiently and comfortably for the benefit of their occupants.’

The book explores the six methods that form the essential basics of Passive House design:

* Insulation.
* Draught-free construction.
* High-performance windows and doors.
* Heat recovery ventilation.
* Good building commissioning.
* Solutions for both hot and cold climates.

While the book does not provide a great deal of detail, Bere does set out the context and easy-to-understand basics for those who may not be familiar with the subject.

The second section asks ‘Why Passive House?’, and provides more technical information and discussion covering the renewable energy revolution, integrated design, and capital and whole life costs. Two shorter chapters provide robust primers on air quality and health, and the importance of skills.

The bulk of the book though is taken up with 15 case studies from around the world. These include a variety of different buildings other than houses, including an office, community centre and school, and emphasise the potential that following the Passive House Standard can have in delivering buildings of great architectural merit.

There are eye-catching photographs, details and diagrams throughout that make it a great book to flick through, while providing enough technical information to serve as a worthwhile and engaging introduction, and perhaps as inspiration, to both students and seasoned professionals.

For more information and to purchase the book, please see [http://www.ribabookshops.com/item/an-introduction-to-passive-house/79862/ RIBA Bookshop].

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Better Buildings: Learning from buildings in use - review.
* Bill Gething and Katie Puckett - Design for Climate Change.
* BIM for Dummies - an interview.
* Biomimicry in Architecture - review.
* Charles Waldheim - Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory.
* Fabric first.
* FutuREstorative - review.
* Green deal.
* Home Quality Mark.
* How Buildings Work - review.
* Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
* Passivhaus.
* Sustainability.
* Zero carbon homes.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Sustainability]]

Adam Curtis - The Great British Housing Disaster

2018-02-12T17:24:17Z

Michael Brooks:

'Inquiry: The Great British Housing Disaster' - Adam Curtis

[[File:Sink_estate.jpg|link=File:Sink_estate.jpg]]

This 1984 'Inquiry' film was one of the first to be produced by the lauded BBC documentary film-maker Adam Curtis, popular for award-winning films such as 'The Century of the Self', 'The Power of Nightmares' and 'Bitter Lake'.

The documentary set out to investigate, not the well-chronicled social problems of 1960s council housing, but the origins of how they came to be built so poorly that thousands later needed to be demolished.

The film begins in 1963, with the Conservative Minster for Housing Keith Joseph setting an annual target of 400,000 new homes. It was this that kickstarted the 'numbers game', which prompted Labour to pledge, in their 1964 election-winning manifesto, that they would build 500,000 homes, and which continues to dominate political discourse about housebuilding today.

Labour's Housing Minister Richard Crossman introduced subsidies for contractors to adopt offsite manufacturing methods that were intended to allow local authorities to deliver housing from a factory production line.

Contractors such as Wimpey, Laing's, McAlpine's, and Costain, began to court council leaders like T. Dan Smith for public contracts, offering 'package deals' that would encompass all aspects of the project, taking advantage of the perceived complexity of the new building systems. The new approach was summed up by one council leader as, "build it quickly, think later."

The contractors began to build across the country with the mindset of building as cheaply and quickly as possible. The contractors' workforce was often unskilled labour on wages that were determined by how quickly work was completed, thereby tacitly encouraging the corner-cutting and time-saving that became endemic.

As this bad working practice began to lead to tenants' complaining about water penetration and poor insulation, the government set up a 'watchdog', the National Building Agency. This was tasked with inspecting building works, however, in reality its function was "hollow" according to the managing director Cleeve Barr who is interviewed in the film.

When structural engineers began investigating the problems, a picture emerged of wide-spread malpractice, inadequate 'knitting' of reinforcement, a high percentage of bolts and fixings missing, and so on. Often, block panels would arrive on site having been poorly manufactured in factories. The tower blocks were built like a house of cards, with no central frame which meant the whole strength rested on the bolts and fixings between individual blocks. In many cases, the buildings were on the verge of collapse.

Over the 10-year boom, a quarter-of-a-million flats were erected, housing up to 6 million council tenants who, in effect, were used as guinea pigs for testing new building systems that resulted in flats that were unfit for habitation.

Councils were faced with the dilemma of privately acknowledging many flats were unsafe, but, in the face of inadequate central government funding, having to justify in public their decision to keep council tenants in the buildings.

The documentary is a pointed and hard-hitting examination of a period in British construction that should serve as a stark warning when considering the contemporary issues of chronic housing and skills shortages.

Having something of a cult following, aficionados of Adam Curtis will enjoy this early glimpse of the trademark style seen in his later films, minus soundtrack collages and, most notably, his authoritative narration, which in this film is provided by David Jones.

You can watch the film on Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5VorymiL4 here]:

[[File:Adamcurtis1.jpg|link=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5VorymiL4]]

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* British post-war mass housing.
* Local authority.
* Modular buildings.
* Prefabrication.
* Ronan Point.
* Sink estate regeneration plans.
* Social housing.
* Urban decay.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:Publications_/_reports]] [[Category:Policy]]

Best gym architecture in the world

2018-02-12T17:23:26Z

Michael Brooks:

Designing Buildings Wiki have highlighted some of the best examples of gym and fitness centre architecture in the world.

Have we missed a great example? Let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

= Sport City Oaxaca, Mexico =

[[File:Oaxacagym1.jpg|link=File:Oaxacagym1.jpg]]

[Image © Angel Ivan Valdivia Salazar]

[[File:Oaxacagym2.jpg|link=File:Oaxacagym2.jpg]]

[Image © Fidel Ugerte]

This gym combines vernacular building techniques from Oaxaca with modern technological resources. Adobe, stone, timber, bamboo, tiles, bricks, lime, concrete and steel are all harmoniously combined. The main walls are constructed using 33,000 brown adobe bricks made by artisan groups from nearby villages.

A towering bamboo roof was built between two buildings, covering a central courtyard. The roof was erected on concrete pillars fixed to the bamboo by metal connectors covered with plywood, cardboard asphalt and handmade yellow tiles.

The building uses passive design strategies such as natural ventilation through a horizontal opening that stretches along the top of the adobe walls, and is equipped with systems for capturing rainwater and energy.

= Green Fitness Studio, New York =

[[File:Green-Fitness-Studio.jpg|link=File:Green-Fitness-Studio.jpg]]

[[File:Green-Fitness-Studio2.jpg|link=File:Green-Fitness-Studio2.jpg]]

Promoted as the first eco-friendly fitness centre, the gym is fitted with bamboo floors, while the workout area has flooring made from recycled rubber.

The outdoor rooftop area is a 2,000 sq. ft space covered with turf, making it a 'living roof'. This helps cool the gym and encourages pollution to settle. It also reduces storm water run-off.

The interior uses compact fluorescent lights, which are more energy efficient than traditional fluorescent lights, and mirrored glass that retains hot and cool air, reducing the energy required to maintain thermal comfort.

= Atomic Spa Suisse, Milan =

[[File:Atomic-spa-suisse-milan.jpg|link=File:Atomic-spa-suisse-milan.jpg]]

[[File:Atomicspa2.jpg|link=File:Atomicspa2.jpg]]

Designed by the Italian architect Simone Micheli, this futuristic wellness centre at the Exedra Milan Hotel allows users to enter a unique 3D multi-sensory environment combining ergonomics and aesthetics.

Tree-like structures made of expanded polypropylene appear to support the cave-like ceiling above the pool. Surfaces are studded with hundreds of 'mirror bubbles' coated with macroscopic plastic chromium, that reflects the blue tones of the pool.

Designed to create a sense of harmony, a 15m screen covers one entire wall and provides a relaxing mix of images and sounds.

= Illoiha Omotesando, Tokyo =

[[File:Illohaomotesando2.jpg|link=File:Illohaomotesando2.jpg]]

[[File:Illoiha-Omotesando1.jpg|link=File:Illoiha-Omotesando1.jpg]]

Nendo, the designers of this rock climbing wall in Tokyo's fashion district, decided to break with convention and use interior decorating items like mirrors, bird cages, picture frames, flower vases, and animal heads, as footholds and handholds.

The idea was to combine a rugged outdoor activity with the sophistication and elegance of the fashion district, to inspire newcomers to give the sport a try.

= 1Rebel, London =

[[File:1Rebel-Studio1.jpg|link=File:1Rebel-Studio1.jpg]]

[[File:1Rebel-Studio2.jpg|link=File:1Rebel-Studio2.jpg]]

[Images © Gareth Gardner]

Part of the extensive redevelopment of London's Broadgate, the design firm Studio C102 oversaw the transformation of the existing plant room and storage space into a contemporary gym with a unique industrial aesthetic.

The interiors of the 750 sq.m gym are 'artfully disheveled', with unevenly textured floors achieved by pouring concrete on different days. The ethos behind the design was to use modest materials in novel ways. The sleek and stylised design includes decoratively arranged pipework, open ceilings, and lockers arranged like Tetris blocks. The lockers are faced in unsealed copper sheets that will naturally age and gain a unique patina

= Wellness Sky, Serbia =

[[File:Wellnesssky1.jpg|link=File:Wellnesssky1.jpg]]

[[File:Wellnesssky2.jpg|link=File:Wellnesssky2.jpg]]

Nicknamed the 'Danube flower', this building was built in 1973 under the approval of the then-President Tito. It was a favourite haunt of celebrities until it fell into decline in the 1990s. Only recently has it been redeveloped and relaunched as a high-performance fitness centre.

The redesign is based on a sequence of sub-division and geometric transformations applied to the original grid. The main volume of the building, which is triangular in plan, is supported only in the centre. The overhangs, approximately 12 m in length, give the building a sense of hovering above the ground.

390 triangular backlit panels are suspended from the original roof, while a continuous glass facade separates the concrete floor from the ceiling.

= Equinox, London =

[[File:Equinox1.jpg|link=File:Equinox1.jpg]]

[[File:Equinox2.jpg|link=File:Equinox2.jpg]]

Equinox's flagship London gym is housed in the historic Art Deco Derry & Toms building at the foot of the Royal Parks, and has been a cultural fixture and luxury haven for residents of West London since opening in 2012. It was converted from the Rainbow Room restaurant, the famous 1970's hangout of Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Marianne Faithfull.

The central architectural feature of this visually-stunning space is an illuminated elliptical dome with glazed panels in the central section.

= Dashte Noor's Gym Building, Iran =

[[File:Dashte1.jpg|link=File:Dashte1.jpg]]

[[File:Dashte2.jpg|link=File:Dashte2.jpg]]

The concept behind this design was to create a dynamic mass that is an integral part of the surrounding landscape.

The structural mass rises from the ground and points upward towards the sky. Above the arched entrance, a 9m cantilever extends out and away from the building's curving mass. The building uses timber for the facade, and makes use of natural light with a full-length window that frames the sky.

= Wanangkura Stadium, Australia =

[[File:WanangkuraStadium1.jpg|link=File:WanangkuraStadium1.jpg]]

[[File:WanangkuraStadium2.jpg|link=File:WanangkuraStadium2.jpg]]

The design for this fitness centre was described by its architect Sophie Cleland as a 'cyclonic pattern ... creating a shimmering, rippling effect on an otherwise flat landscape.'

Using a 'half-tone' pixelated technique, the building represents a mirage. The entrance creates a clear visual image from a distances but appears highly-agitated on closer inspection.

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Best cinema architecture in the UK.
* Biophilic gym.
* CIBSE Case Study London Olympic Aquatics Centre.
* Liepaja Thermal Bath.
* Scunthorpe Sports Academy.
* Swimming pool construction.
* Twentytwo, Bishopsgate.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Projects_and_case_studies]] [[Category:Design]]

Micro flats

2018-02-12T17:21:59Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Flats.png|link=File:Flats.png]]

In 1962, the visionary British writer J.G. Ballard published a short story ‘Billennium’. Set in a dystopian overpopulated city of the future, people have become accustomed to live in small cellular rooms, the legal maximum size of which has decreased to 3.5 sq. m (38 sq. ft) per person.

Ballard describes the city as having replaced its historical buildings with battery homes divided into hundreds of cubicles, as well as the endemic overcrowding that afflicts the inhabitants to such an extent that the concept of living in larger spaces has become alien and disorientating.

Fifty-five years on and it is clear just how prophetic Ballard’s story was, as property developers in the UK and elsewhere are increasingly asking the question – just how much space do the inhabitants of dense urban centres really want or need, and might the solution to today’s overcrowding and high rents be the development of microhousing?

[[File:Microhousing1.jpg|link=File:Microhousing1.jpg]]

One of the more innovative property development companies currently investigating the potential of microhousing in London is U+I.

As an affordable-rent solution for central London, U+I have developed two micro-flat prototypes that they believe could be scaled up to professionally-managed, well-designed apartment buildings aimed at the swathes of young professionals that are drawn to the city for work in ever greater numbers.

They have correctly identified that most people who earn less than £50,000 a year cannot afford to rent a reasonably-sized space in central London, and instead have to choose between a very small space (i.e. a bedsit or room in a shared flat/house), or more space on the outer fringes and a long, tired and costly commute.

The minimum size recommended for a studio flat, according to London’s planning guidance, is 37 sq. m. However, U+I say that this is largely an historic reaction to the small spaces typical of suburban build-to-buy developments, and is only guidance rather than legislation. They also point out that over 27,000 students in London live in purpose-built accommodation – typically 13 sq. m bedsits with an en-suite shower room but no cooking facilities and little storage.

Somewhat more spacious than Ballard’s vision, U+I define their micro flats as having floor space measuring 19-24 sq. m. They point to these already being a proven solution in cities that are less densely populated than London, such as Tokyo, New York, Madrid and Paris. London has 25% more people per square mile than New York and Paris, and 300% more than the UK national average.

[[File:Microhousing2.jpg|link=File:Microhousing2.jpg]]

Zone 1:

{|
| TYPE OF FLAT
| TYPICAL MONTHLY RENT
| AFFORDABLE AT WHAT SALARY?
|-
| Studio flat (37 sq. m)
| £1,961
| £78,000
|-
| Micro flat (24 sq. m)
| £1,272
| £51,000
|}

Zone 2:

{|
| TYPE OF FLAT
| TYPICAL MONTHLY RENT
| AFFORDABLE AT WHAT SALARY?
|-
| Studio flat (37 sq. m)
| £1,569
| £63,000
|-
| Micro flat (24 sq. m)
| £848
| £34,000
|}

Zone 3 and 4:

{|
| TYPE OF FLAT
| TYPICAL MONTHLY RENT
| AFFORDABLE AT WHAT SALARY?
|-
| Studio flat (37 sq. m)
| £925
| £37,000
|-
| Micro flat (24 sq. m)
| £700
| £28,000
|}

-----
U+I’s vision is a series of micro-flat communities; perfectly formed spaces in interesting buildings in lively areas. They will be safe, secure and well-managed, with generous indoor and outdoor communal spaces.

The flats would only be made available to those with salaries that fall below a threshold agreed by local authorities, with capped rent rises. Therefore, local authorities will be able to deliver affordable rental-housing without subsidies from their own or central government budgets.

Designed by Ab Rogers Design and The Manser Practice, and dressed in partnership with John Lewis, U+I’s two prototype micro flats are a thoroughly practical and creative use of space, that very much feel homely rather than claustrophobic. They have the smart and sophisticated aesthetic of a hotel room, and on viewing them it is not hard to see how appealing they would be to young professionals of ‘Generation Rent’ who are looking for an affordable central London place to base themselves.

U+I’s Deputy Chief Executive, Richard Upton said:

“At U+I, we are looking at how publicly-owned land in Zones 1 and 2 can be used to develop micro-living sites, offering places to rent for this section of the population, helping to reinvigorate parts of London. It could also help generate revenue for public sector bodies like local councils, while enabling them to hang on to their land. Our expertise is in working with public sector organisations.

“We have ideas on how we can deliver this solution from both a design and construction perspective. Ideas which we believe won’t compromise on quality. We’re not proposing a change in space standards or calling for a law change. We’re not asking for local authority funding – the plans would come at zero cost to the public purse. Instead we’d propose high-quality, rental-only, centrally-located, capped rent communities on under-used brownfield sites in London.”

{|
|width="100%"| [[File:Townflats.jpg|link=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLicc6OXFGY]]
|-
|
Here is the preview of U+I's ambitions to help house middle income earners in central London. Targeting the Mayor's ‘’London Living rents’’, U+I would like to develop their first building in the heart of London and in locations many of us can only dream of living. The self contained units are 19m2 and 24m2 but offer more storage space than most 2 bed flats in the open market. The flats will be for rent as U+I want to protect the affordability and control the generous amenity space where they will be encouraging renters to dwell and a communities to develop.
Duncan Trench said ‘’We have spent a year developing the product and over 9 months discussing our ambitions with policy and decision makers in Local and Central Government. We are now actively looking for appropriate sites and seeking land owners who wish to work with us in partnership. This is ambitious but potentially a great story demonstrating how the private sector can help resolve the affordability issues in central London without subsidy or devaluing their land assets.’’
|}

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* [[Articles_by_U_and_I|Articles by U+I.]]
* Compact living.
* Could microhousing tackle London's housing crisis?
* Densification.
* Floor area ratio.
* Overcrowding.
* Redefining density, making the best use of London’s land to build more and better homes.
* SHED concept.
* Smallest house in Britain.
* Student accommodation.
* Studio flat.
* The compact sustainable city.
* UandI response to Housing white paper.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:Research_/_Innovation]] [[Category:Policy]] [[Category:Design]] [[Category:Property_development]]

Data manager for BIM

2018-02-09T12:39:17Z

Michael Brooks:

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a very broad term that describes the process of creating and managing digital information about a built asset.

PAS 1192-3 Specification for information management for the operational phase of construction projects using building information modelling, defines the data manager as the:

'organisational representative responsible for establishing governance and assuring data and information flow to and from the AIM (asset information model).'

An asset information model (AIM) is a model that compiles the data and information necessary to support asset management, that is, it provides all the data and information related to, or required for the operation of an asset.

The common data environment (CDE) is the single source of information for the asset. Information within the CDE can have a wide variety of status levels, however there will generally be four main areas of information, with a sign-off process allowing information to pass from one area to the next:

* Work in progress. This area is used to hold unapproved information.
* Shared (or client shared) area. This information has been checked, reviewed and approved for sharing with the project team, and perhaps the client.
* Published: This information has been 'signed off' by the client.
* Archive. This area is used to provide a record of activities.

The data manager has, '…responsibility for accepting information into the shared area of the CDE (common data environment) and for authorising it for the published area.

PAS 1192-3 suggests that the roles of data manager and asset information manager may be carried out by the same person and may include information management as defined in PAS 1192-2 Specification for information management for the capital/delivery phase of construction projects using building information modelling.

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Asset information model.
* BIM co-ordinator.
* BIM manager.
* Building Information Modelling.
* Common data environment.
* Data Protection Act.
* Information manager.
* PAS 1192-2.
* PAS 1192-3.

[[Category:Roles_/_services]] [[Category:BIM]]

Cyber security and engineering

2018-02-09T12:38:46Z

Michael Brooks:

[[File:Cyber280.jpg|link=File:Cyber280.jpg]]

= Introduction =

Reading ICE’s [[State_of_the_nation:_Digital_transformation|State Of The Nation: Digital]] report, it struck me that civil engineering, like many kinds of engineering, is driven by the fundamental vision to make people’s lives better.

New digital technologies can help achieve this by advancing functionality and enabling better ways of working. But they also introduce new vulnerabilities and it’s important that we reduce the harm that might arise if these vulnerabilities are exploited.

It doesn’t matter if harm arises from a safety flaw in a construction, a legal loophole in a process, a cyber security issue or a combination of factors, we’re all trying to achieve the same thing – to build a resilient system. Tackling this problem independently can't ever be as effective as taking a holistic approach.

= Cyber security and engineering collaboration crucial =

Communication across different disciplines like IT and civil engineering isn't always easy. Our perspectives and language differ, as you'd expect, because they've evolved independently around our respective 'technologies'.

Take your 'caissons' and 'BIM', and our 'TCP/IP stacks' and 'APTs'. But as our two worlds become more connected we've both realised that concentrating solely on technical aspects is no longer enough.

We need to work out how to collaborate more effectively and concentrate less on outputs for us and more on outcomes for people.

For this reason cyber security shouldn't exist as a separate 'IT thing’, or 'somebody else's problem'. It must be integrated into the engineering process not bolted-on later as an afterthought.

Consider the relative longevity of construction/infrastructure systems and their building design information (i.e. the BIM data). Once we take into account planning, construction, commissioning, handover stages and then the post-completion warranty period. The common data environment (CDE) may need to remain in service for up to 20 years and some of that data will need to be accessible for the lifetime of the built asset (say, 60-plus years).

How people will use and interact with the building? Therefore, how this data is stored, protected and accessed by all the different parts of the supply chain will evolve significantly during this time, so a robust, security-minded approach is needed.

An excellent starting guide is the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI)’s [https://www.cpni.gov.uk/digital-built-assets-and-environments Digital Built Assets and Environments]. It includes more information and links about the specification for security-minded building information modelling, digital built environments and smart asset management: PAS 1192-5.

Considering how this approach is supported by the engineering process to achieve the right level of resilience now and in the future will require a more collaborative effort than we have ever seen before. Cyber security needs to be part of the conversations from the start.

At the NCSC we understand that cyber security is a complex topic, and that these conversations will probably involve more questions than answers to begin with. As part of realising our vision of making the UK the safest place to live and do business online we need to break through some of the fear, uncertainty and doubt that commonly dominates the narrative.

= Cyber security research in practice =

The NCSC carries out a lot of research, because we want our outputs to be evidence based, not best guesses. We want the things we do and say to really make a difference to people, so we know we need to understand the social and behavioural aspects of our customers as well as their technical concerns.

To do this the NCSC formed a new Sociotechnical Security Group (StSG) in January last year. The group's research topics are spread across three main themes: people, risk and engineering processes.

At the moment, having confidence that engineering processes adequately consider cyber security beyond compliance is very difficult. Our research needs to support engineers from all disciplines to navigate through a whole-life model of security and assurance: embracing both a risk-based and people-centred approach rather than simply a tick-box exercise.

We need to enable you to identify and cost-effectively address the foundational building blocks of your engineering process to gain confidence that what you're building is secure enough for the business’ needs.

But we also want to ensure we produce something that talks in a language that everyone can relate to, not just cyber security experts.

-----
This article was originally published [https://www.ice.org.uk/news-and-insight/the-civil-engineer/september-2017/cyber-security-meet-engineering here] on 19 Sept 2017 by ICE. It was written by the National Cyber Security Centre.

--[[User:The_Institution_of_Civil_Engineers|The Institution of Civil Engineers]]

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* [[User:The_Institution_of_Civil_Engineers|Articles by ICE on Designing Buildings Wiki.]]
* Building energy management systems BEMS.
* Cyber threats to building automation and control systems.
* Data Protection Act.
* Infrastructure and cyber attacks.
* Measuring the success of smart cities.
* Security consultant.
* Smart technology.
* State of the nation: Digital transformation.

[[Category:Research_/_Innovation]] [[Category:Health_and_safety_/_CDM]] [[Category:Roles_/_services]]

Data Protection Act

2018-02-09T12:38:09Z

Michael Brooks: Created page with "The Data Protection Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament that relates to the storing of personal data, either on computers or in a paper filing system. The purpose of the act is to s..."

The Data Protection Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament that relates to the storing of personal data, either on computers or in a paper filing system. The purpose of the act is to secure the legal rights of individuals to control information about themselves.

The Act must be complied with by any party that holds personal data. ‘Personal data’ is defined by the Act as being any data that could identify a living individual, i.e. name, address, telephone number, email address, and so on.

There are eight principles defined in the Act:

* Fair and lawful processing of personal data.
* Data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes.
* The data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive.
* The data shall be accurate and, if necessary, kept up-to-date.
* Processed data shall not be stored for longer than necessary for the purpose/s.
* The rights of individuals should determine the processing of data.
* Unauthorised or unlawful data processing shall be met with appropriate measures.
* Personal data shall not be transferred outside the European Economic Area unless adequate levels of protection are ensured.

From 25 May 2018, the Act will be superseded by the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), a legislative document by the EU to bring data protection legislation into line with the numerous ways that data is now used. This will result in higher penalties for breaches and non-compliance.

For more information, see GDPR.

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===

* Common data environment.
* Cyber security and engineering.
* Cyber threats to building automation and control systems.
* Data manager.
* General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
* Global Unique IDs (GUIDs).
* Information and communications technology.
* Information manager.
* Knowledge management.
* LEXiCON.
* Open data.

[[Category:Regulations]] [[Category:Cost_/_business_planning]]

List of interviews

2018-02-09T11:53:58Z

Michael Brooks:

This is a list of interviews conducted by Designing Buildings Wiki:

* Anthony Weller - Architectural photographer.
* BIM for Dummies - an interview.
* David Trench - A career in projects.
* Grant Smith - Architectural photographer.
* [[Interview_with_FMB|Interview with Brian Berry, FMB.]]
* Interview with Carol Lynch, CYT.
* Interview with David Orr, NHF.
* Interview with Gary Mees, CIAT.
* Interview with Harriet Latimer - Graduate Design Engineer.
* Interview with Julia Evans, BSRIA.
* Interview with Julie Hirigoyen, UK-GBC.
* Interview with Kevin McCloud.
* Interview with Labour's Shadow Housing Minister.
* Interview with Liam Huntley - Commercial Manager.
* Interview with Mark Farmer.
* [[Interview_with_Melanie_Leech|Interview with Melanie Leech, BPF.]]
* Interview with Paul Grundy - Architectural Photographer.
* Interview with Re:Design Group.
* [[Interview_with_CITB|Interview with Sarah Beale, CITB.]]
* Interview with Stephen Trench - Project Manager.
* [[Interview_with_Structural_Timber_Association|Interview with Andrew Carpenter, STA]]
* Interview with Tom Dyckhoff.
* [[Walters_Way_and_Segal_Close|Interview with Alison Grahame, author of Walters Way and Segal Close]]
* Lost Utopias - Interview with Jade Doskow
* Owen Hatherley interview.
* Peter Barber - interview.
* [[Richard_Rogers_in_conversation_at_Somerset_House|Richard Rogers in conversation.]]
* Simon Kennedy - Architectural photographer.
* Will Self interview.

--[[User:Michael_Brooks|Michael Brooks]]

[[Category:History]] [[Category:Organisations]] [[Category:Theory]] [[Category:Roles_/_services]]

User:Michael Brooks

2018-02-09T11:53:31Z

Michael Brooks:

Michael Brooks is the Editor of Designing Buildings Wiki. He has a BSc (Hons) degree in Commercial Management and Quantity Surveying, and worked for Laing O'Rourke on the Manchester Metrolink project. Since 2012 he has worked in the publishing industry; as Publishing Officer for the Energy Institute and then as Product Manager specialising in construction industry publications for Forum Business Media.

Michael is also an enthusiastic writer, having published a number of freelance pieces and interviewed several notable figures including the esteemed academic Noam Chomsky and the writer Will Self.

Wall types

2015-11-04T16:16:32Z

Michael Brooks:

== Wall definition ==

Approved document B, Fire Safety, Volume 1 Dwelling houses, suggests that for the purpose of the performance of wall linings, a wall includes:
*The surface of glazing (except glazing in doors).
*Any part of a ceiling which slopes at an angle of more than 70º to the horizontal.

But a wall does not include:
*Doors and door frames.
*Window frames and frames in which glazing is fitted.
*Architraves, cover moulds, picture rails, skirtings and similar narrow members.
*Fireplace surrounds, mantle shelves and fitted furniture. 

However, Approved document C, Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture, suggests that a wall is:

Any opaque part of the external envelope of a building that is at an angle of 70° or more to the horizontal.

== Buttressing wall ==

A wall designed and constructed to afford lateral support to another wall perpendicular to it, support being provided from the base to the top of the wall.

== Cavity wall ==

A wall constructed from two skins of masonry, the outer skin of which can be brickwork or blockwork and the inner skin of which is generally of blockwork, separated by a cavity to prevent the penetration of moisture and to allow for the installation of thermal insulation.

== Compartment wall ==

A wall constructed to create a compartment, forming a barrier to the spread of smoke, heat and toxic gases.

== Curtain wall ==

A non-structural cladding system for the external walls of buildings.

See Curtain wall for more information.

== External wall ==

A wall forming the external enclosure of a building.

== Internal load-bearing wall ==

A wall providing separation between the internal spaces of a building where the wall is also required to transfer loads from other parts of the structure to the foundations.

== Partition wall. ==

A non-load bearing wall that separates the internal spaces of a building.

See Partition wall for more information.

== Party wall ==

A wall that stands on the lands of 2 or more owners or a wall that is on one owner’s land but is used by 2 or more owners to separate their buildings.

See Party wall for more information.

== Separating wall ==

A wall or part of a wall which is common to adjoining buildings.

== Solid wall ==

A wall constructed of one skin of masonry which can consist of brick or blockwork and does not include a cavity between the interior and exterior.

== Supported wall ==

A wall to which lateral support is afforded by a combination of buttressing walls, piers or chimneys acting in conjunction with floor(s) or roof.

== Trombe wall ==

A construction that uses a combination of thermal mass and glazing to collect and store solar radiation so that it can be used to heat buildings.

See Trombe wall for more information.

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===
*Partition wall.
*Party wall.
*Raised floor.
*Suspended ceiling.
*Curtain wall.
*Trombe wall.
*Floor definition.
*Weep hole.

[[Category:Products_/_components]]

Wall tie failure

2015-11-04T16:16:05Z

Michael Brooks:

Main article: [[Defects%20in%20Brickwork|Defects in Brickwork]]

Failure of wall ties has become a significant problem in recent years. The main cause of failures is rusting of metal ties, although there can be other causes, such as failure to properly bed the tie in the mortar joint, poor quality mortar reducing the bond between tie and mortar, or not installing the requisite number of ties.

The obvious danger with rusting wall ties is the possible collapse of the outer leaf of the cavity wall. Other consequences include:
*The rust will have a significantly greater volume than the original metal. This expansion of the tie may cause cracking and distortion of the structure, particularly where strip ties have been used. The rust-induced expansion in strip ties can lead to secondary damage, such as a redistribution of loads, buckling and bulging of wall, and damage to the roof as the external leaf increases in height.
*The less bulky wall ties will not generally produce enough expansion to induce cracking unless the joint is abnormally thin or the mortar is very dense. Unfortunately, wire ties produced in the UK before 1981 had less rust protection than strip ties and therefore are likely to have a shorter life expectancy; a particular problem because failure can occur without the outwardly visible warning signs produced by cracking.
*Cracking will also reduce the weather resistance of the wall, which in turn accelerates the rusting process. 

[[File:Rusted-wall-tie.jpg|RTENOTITLE]] 

''A wall tie from a house built in the 1920's - When placed, both sides of the wall tie would have been symmetrical in size and shape to each other. The right hand side of the tie was in the outer leaf, and has been heavily corroded since then.''

= Corrosion and Rusting =

Corrosion refers to a partial or complete wearing away or a dissolving or softening of a substance by a chemical or electrochemical interaction between the metal and its environment. Rusting is a type of corrosion and it is caused by the interaction of water and iron or steel in the presence of oxygen. Rust is a hydrated iron oxide, which although solid in form, is weak and brittle.

Galvanising is a means of protecting iron or steel by coating it with zinc. The zinc protects the steel electrochemically. Of the two metals zinc is the more chemically inactive and it will slowly corrode in the preference to the steel. The thicker the original coating of zinc, the longer it will last. The zinc protection reduces in thickness but it does not undergo a chemical change. Eventually the zinc coating will disappear.

The process of rusting can accelerate due to:
*Aggressive chemicals: black ash is a product of coal mining which was sometimes added to mortar to give it a black colouring. The high sulphur content of black ash produces a weak sulphuric acid when wet for long periods. This sulphuric acid can attack a galvanised coating.
*Chloride salts, which may come from marine sands or may have been added to mortar as accelerators, can, even in small amounts, speed up corrosion.
*Carbonation: where ties are well bedded in mortar, protection against rust is provided by calcium hydroxide, which is formed as the cement hydrates. Unfortunately, as the mortar slowly carbonates this protective alkaline layer is destroyed. Carbonation will occur more quickly in permeable mortars.
*The building, or particular sections/elevations, experiencing high levels of moisture ingress because of their exposure.

The portion of the tie in the outer leaf will usually be the most severely affected because of exposure to rain penetration. However, condensation may also produce enough moisture to allow rust failure to occur.

= British Standards and Premature Failure =

In the UK during 1945, a British Standard (BS) was introduced which set out, amongst other things, a minimum thickness for the galvanising layer. The standard identified the two basic shapes of tie – vertical twist and butterfly. The standard specified that the galvanising should be twice as thick on the vertical twist as it was on the butterfly ties. Unfortunately this minimum thickness was reduced in 1968, because it was thought that the standard was excessive.

In 1981 the standard was increased and specified the same thickness for both types. The reason for this was the increasing evidence regarding performance in use and the realisation of the scale of the problem. The problem of rusting was thought at one time to be localised as it was believed that it occurred mainly in areas where a catalyst, for example black ash mortar, increased the likelihood of breakdown. It was later appreciated that the problem was more widespread and the causes more complex.

The Building Research Establishment has suggested that all steel or iron wall ties inserted prior to 1981 are at risk of (premature) failure (premature relates to the notional 60 years life of a building.) Because cavity walls tended to be first introduced in areas with high rain penetration, including salts, there can be a potent combination of age and aggressive environments.

= Stainless Steel Ties =

Stainless steel walls ties are available. Stainless steel is a ferrous alloy which contains at least 10% chromium. Since chromium is more reactive than iron, a ‘self healing’ impermeable layer of chromium oxide forms naturally on the surface of the steel. Chromium oxide is durable in a wide range of exposures and prevents the formation of rust. Where there is exposure to chlorides, for example in marine conditions, care must be taken in selecting the appropriate grade.

= Detection and Investigation =

Wall tie failure can often be identified by the horizontal cracking that results from the expansion caused by the rusting process. Unlike sulfate attack the cracks will coincide with the position of the ties (and will obviously only occur in cavity walls). However, because butterfly ties will usually not cause cracking it may be necessary to carry out investigations where the problem is suspected or anticipated.

Ideally, strip ties should be identified before the cracking occurs. This might involve a visual inspection of the suspect ties, either by using an optical probe or by removing bricks. It should be kept in mind however, that a tie can be in good condition in the cavity but poor in the outer leaf and therefore exposure of the end embedded in the outer leaf is a sensible step.

Ties can be assessed visually for rusting. The presence of red rust, the product of the oxidation of iron, indicates severe rusting, while the presence of white deposits or a blackening of the galvanising indicates that the zinc is corroding. Measurements of zinc thickness will enable the projection of the remaining life (The Building Research Establishment give some useful guidance on this.) Metal detectors can determine the exact pattern of tie placements and can help in establishing if a defect is caused by wall tie failure.

[[File:Wall-tie-repairs.jpg|RTENOTITLE]] 

''Disguising wall tie replacement is difficult, particularly where houses are rendered. Painting will help, but it is very difficult to often match the texture of the original render. In plain brickwork, extensive repointing is usually necessary.''

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===
*Brick. 
*Cavity wall.
*Damp
*Defects in brickwork.
*Defects in stonework.
*Interstitial condensation.
*Penetrating damp.
*Rising damp.
*Weep hole.

[[Category:Regulations]]
[[Category:Construction_techniques]]
[[Category:Design]]

Masonry

2015-11-04T16:15:46Z

Michael Brooks:

A mason is a person who builds with, or dresses, hard units such as brick, stone or block. The term ‘masonry’ can be used to describe the trade of masons, work done by them, or the actual, stonework, brickwork or blockwork that they construct. Masonry is generally used to form the walls and other solid elements of buildings and structures such as bridges, tunnels and so on. It may be load bearing, forming an integral part of the structure, or non-load bearing, such as a partition wall or cladding.

Generally the size of the units is suitable for being laid by one person, although, increasingly, masonry is delivered to site in prefabricated panels that are craned into position. Masonry is often formed by laying a number of interlocking units, bound together by mortar, however, dry set masonry relies on the friction between the units to prevent movement, and does not require mortar.

Masonry is very strong in compression, but less effective at resisting lateral loading or tension forces. Additional strength can be achieved by increasing the thickness of the masonry, by the addition of piers or buttresses, or by the incorporation of reinforcement.

Masonry walls may have complex constructions to optimise performance, that may include hollow sections in the masonry itself, a cavity between internal and external leaves of the wall, insulation, a vapour barrier and internal and external finishes and decoration.

However, generally masonry does not require finishing and decorating and is very durable, so is relatively inexpensive to maintain and repair. It tends to offer good thermal mass, high acoustic insulation and good resistance to fire.

Masonry tends to be heavy, and so requires strong foundations. It can be prone to frost damage, staining and disintegration of joints.

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===
*Brick.
*Concrete.
*Defects in brickwork.
*Defects in stonework.
*Dry lining.
*Mortar.
*Solid wall insulation.
*Wall tie failure.
*Weep hole.

=== External references ===
*[http://www.masonry.org.uk/ International Masonry Society].
*[http://www.masonrysociety.org/ The Masonry Society].

[[Category:Products_/_components]]

Damp-proof course DPC

2015-11-04T16:15:29Z

Michael Brooks:

Damp in buildings can cause a number of serious problems, such as:
*Damp patches.
*Mould growth, which is a cause of respiratory allergies.
*Mildew, salts, staining and ‘tide marks’.
*Damage to surface finishes.
*Corrosion and decay of the building fabric.
*Slip hazards.
*Frost damage.
*Poor performance of insulation.
*Damage to equipment, or electrical failure.

The most common causes of persistent damp in buildings are:
*Condensation (surface or interstitial).
*Penetrating damp.
*Rising damp.

Rising damp is caused by capillary action drawing moisture up through the porous elements of a building’s fabric. Rising damp, and some penetrating damp, can be caused by faults to, or the absence of a damp-proof course (DPC) or damp-proof membrane (DPM).

A damp-proof course is now required in the construction of new buildings to prevent rising damp and in some situations to prevent penetrating damp. Approved document C of the Building Regulations, Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture, suggests that a damp-proof course may be a, ‘…bituminous material, polyethylene, engineering bricks or slates in cement mortar or any other material that will prevent the passage of moisture.’

Approved document C requires that, to prevent rising damp, a damp-proof course should be:
*Continuous with any damp-proof membrane in the floor.
*At least 150mm above the level of the adjoining ground if it is in an external wall.
*If it is in an external cavity wall, the cavity should extend at least 225mm below the damp-proof course, or a cavity tray should be provided with weep holes every 900mm so that water running down the cavity cannot pass to the inner leaf.

[[File:Damp proof course.jpg|RTENOTITLE]][image source Approved document C, Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture] 

A damp-proof course may also be required:
*In masonry walls below a coping, where the coping is constructed from a material that is not impervious to water.
*In the joints between walls and door and window frames.
*In suspended timber ground floors between the timber and materials that can carry moisture from the ground.

Standards for damp-proof courses are provided in BS 8215:1991 Code of practice for design and installation of damp-proof courses in masonry construction.

The absence of a damp-proof course in older buildings can be rectified by creating a moisture-impermeable layer, either by the insertion of a damp-proof course, or by the injection of water-repellent chemicals. Treatment generally also involves remedial work to any corroded or decayed elements of the building fabric, as well as hacking off and replacing existing plaster to a height of 1m.

However, damp in older buildings is actually often caused by a leak or a defect in the wall construction, such as a cracking, rather than by rising damp, and this may not be rectified by the insertion of a damp-proof course. It is important therefore that any defects are identified and corrected first before accepting the cost and disruption of inserting a damp-proof course.

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===
*Breather membrane.
*Cavity tray.
*Cavity wall.
*Cold bridge
*Condensation.
*Damp.
*Damp proof membrane.
*Defects in brickwork
*Defects in stonework.
*Dew point.
*Humidity.
*Insulation.
*Interstitial condensation.
*Penetrating damp.
*Rising damp.
*Vapour barrier.
*Wall tie failure.
*Weep hole.

[[Category:Products_/_components]]

Cavity tray

2015-11-04T16:15:10Z

Michael Brooks:

The external masonry walls of modern buildings are generally cavity walls, that is they are formed by an inner leaf and an outer leaf of masonry, tied together, but separated by an air gap or ‘cavity’. The cavity prevents moisture transmitting from the outer leaf to the inner leaf. It can also provide a ventilation space, allowing moisture within the wall construction to vent to the outside, and can provide a space for the installation of cavity wall insulation.

It is only since the 1920’s that external masonry walls in the UK have widely adopted a cavity construction. Before this, they were generally a solid construction.

Cavity trays are included in cavity wall constructions where there are penetrations across the cavity, such as:
*At an abutment with a roof.
*Above openings such as doors and windows.
*Where extensions are constructed against existing walls.
*Above concrete slabs or beams.
*Above airbricks, ducts and pipes.
*At the bottom of a wall, if the cavity does not extend 225mm below the damp-proof course.

Cavity trays prevent moisture being carried to the inner leaf. Very broadly, cavity trays tend to prevent moisture that is travelling downwards from being carried to the inner leaf, whereas damp-proof courses tend to be used to prevent rising damp.

Approved document C of the Building Regulations, Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture, suggests that a cavity tray (or damp-proof course or closer) should be provided to ensure water drains outwards:
*Where the downward flow will be interrupted by an obstruction such as a lintel.
*Under openings, unless there is a sill and the sill and its joints will form a complete barrier.
*At abutments between walls and roofs.

[[File:Cavity tray.jpg|RTENOTITLE]][Image source: Approved document C, Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture] 

Cavity trays can be formed using a pliable material such as lead, but more commonly they are pre-formed, with a wide range of shapes allowing for different cavity widths, corners, stop ends, steps, lintel shapes, arch shapes and sometimes incorporating external flashing.

Cavity trays must always be bedded onto fresh mortar.

Weep holes must be provided in the external leaf of the wall to allow moisture to drain to the outside. Weep holes are generally created by omitting mortar from the vertical joint between bricks, typically at 450mm to 900mm centres. They may include plastic weep vents which incorporate a baffle structure to prevent rain from penetrating through the hole and preventing insects from entering the cavity and provide a drip at the front lip to aid drainage.

Care must be taken where there is insulation in the cavity to ensure that both the insulation and the cavity tray continue to function correctly. This can be particularly problematic where blown insulation is retrofitted in to existing cavities.

Where it is necessary to insert cavity trays into existing walls, for example if an extension is being built against an existing wall, this can be done by removing brickwork a section at a time, or by inserting self-supporting cavity trays through slots cut in the wall.

Standards for cavity trays are described in BS 5628 Code of practice for the use of masonry and BS 8215 Code of practice for design and installation of damp-proof courses in masonry construction.

= Find out more =

=== Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki ===
*Cavity wall.
*Cavity wall insulation.
*Cold bridge
*Condensation.
*Damp.
*Damp-proof course.
*Defects in brickwork
*Defects in stonework.
*Insulation.
*Interstitial condensation.
*Penetrating damp.
*Rising damp.
*Vapour barrier.
*Wall tie failure.
*Weep hole.

[[Category:Products_/_components]]