About Ruth Kelly Waskett
I'm a final year PhD student studying dynamic tint glazing. Prior to this I was a building services designer and lighting designer.
ResearcherMy idea is an art installation that is also an energy use feedback device. It could be either wall mounted or suspended from a ceiling (say, in an atrium or double-height space), and would be light-based. A series of LEDs would change colour in response to the energy usage of the building. Data from the building management system would be sent to a control unit and the quantitative information translated into commands to change the output of different coloured LEDs, e.g. turning lights green when energy consumption is below a certain threshold and turning orange and then red if energy consumption increases. A wall mounted piece could look like a piece of illuminated abstract art, and a suspended piece could look like a chandelier or light sculpture, with glass or plastic tubes illuminated by coloured LEDs.
More about me
My main interests is daylight in buildings, but I'm really interested in how we can be truly sustainable by creating buildings that are not only energy efficient, but that people will enjoy and want to take care of far into the future. I studied Building Services Engineering at DIT, Dublin, before moving to the UK in 1999 to work for what is now Morgan Sindall (then AMEC) in Stratford-upon-Avon. I then went to work for Max Fordham LLP in London, where I developed my interest in daylighting. I did an MSc in Light & Lighting at UCL and worked for Atkins as a building services engineer with a lighting specialism. I started my part-time PhD at De Montfort University in 2011 and will finish this year.
Featured articles and news
70+ experts appointed to public sector fire safety framework
The Fire Safety (FS2) Framework from LHC Procurement.
Project and programme management codes of practice
CIOB publications for built environment professionals.
Sustainable development concepts decade by decade.
The regenerative structural engineer
A call for design that will repair the natural world.
Buildings that mimic the restorative aspects found in nature.
CIAT publishes Principal Designer Competency Framework
For those considering applying for registration as a PD.
BSRIA Building Reg's guidance: The second staircase
An overview focusing on aspects which most affect the building services industry.
Design codes and pattern books
Harmonious proportions and golden sections.
Introducing or next Guest Editor Arun Baybars
Practising architect and design panel review member.
Quick summary by size, shape, test, material, use or bonding.
Types of rapidly renewable content
From forestry to agricultural crops and their by-products.
Terraced houses and the public realm
The discernible difference between the public realm of detached housing and of terraced housing.
Looking back at the influence of climate events
From a designer and writer: 'There are limits to growth but no limits to development'.
Terms, histories, theories and practice.
Biophilic design and natural light
Letting in the light and natural elements into spaces.