The profession should perhaps be flattered at the generic adoption of the title Architect. As a protected title it's use in modern day parlance extends, by others, to describe anyone who dares to design a building, a computer system and even their own destiny. The IT reference is certainly one of the newest, but should pose little threat to the RIBA.

From the outside looking in to the architect’s goldfish bowl, the profession seems to have become one now founded upon adoption of tradition, as opposed to traditional adoption; a school of architecture that still expounds the theory that architects are in a class of their own when it comes to opinion, knowledge and stature concerning issues of the built environment. There is, however, a much younger school that has adopted a more current attitude to what matters in the construction industry and indeed its associated environments. The older school is losing students on a gradual basis but will never close as long as it receives support from the dominant media publications that refuse to acknowledge that there is indeed another team on the pitch. But far from being a battle, both teams are actually playing towards the same goal.

There is no doubt, and therefore no argument that the sheer numbers of registered architects in the UK produces a loud and note worthy voice. But a distinct lack of reinvention of the brand, coupled with a continued reliance upon traditional standing, seems to have failed to have noticed the assembly of a new model army quietly taking on design issues on a science based technical front.

Some decades ago Architects and Technicians worked together as a team to design and detail our buildings. The system worked, but like all systems it was bound to evolve. Such evolution brought about a name change, degree qualification, a royal charter, and a quite distinct professional standing that identifies the Chartered Architectural Technologist as the Architect's professional equal.

Technological development has led to our current carbon heavy environment, and spawned the need for a better paved pathway to sustainable design. The Chartered Architectural Technologist's approach to building design, integrated with a detailed understanding of 'the science of building', places this profession in a position to specify appropriate materials, and use technology to promote ethical sustainability, providing true value within our industry and the environmental issues that surround it.

Design within the built environment has evolved. The teenage technician has matured into a responsible adult technologist, with a unique understanding of the technical issues that dominate sustainable design. The qualification provides a science based approach to art; in contrast to the architect's art based approach to a science. Neither is wrong, but it prompts the notion that the media headline should read "Both Architects and Architectural Technologists should jointly lead on Sustainable Design".

tags: sustainable design Architect Chartered Architectural Technologist

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Last month at Ecobuild the Landscape Institute unveiled its New London Landscape website. Perhaps some of you visited the stand to take a look at the 100 quirky, green and sometimes plausible design ideas for how London’s landscapes could be improved by green infrastructure.  The website was created from the many design ideas submitted to the ‘High Line for London’ ideas competition we ran in partnership with the Mayor of London and Garden Museum last October.

Five design ideas were singled out for high praise by our judges, including the winning idea by Fletcher Priest Architects to create an underground mushroom garden beneath Oxford Street, but what was striking was the quality of all the submitted designs.  We ended up with 100 green infrastructure designs that when taken together created a collective ‘green’ vision for London by some of the best and brightest designers, landscape architects, architects and green campaigners working today, and we wanted to share it.

Whilst many of the designs may never be built our aim is to change the way we look at and think about our cities.  Sometimes dreaming about what’s possible can help us focus on what is possible.  New London Landscape reveals a new ‘greener’ London with an exciting range of new spaces including micro orchards at bus shelters, pleasure gardens over the Thames, linear parks, elevated cycle paths and floating gardens. 

The Landscape Institute is keen to start a conversation about what the public would like to see in their cities so we incorporated an ‘add your comment’ section at the end of each individual project entry.  We want it to be an ideas bank for many years to come, inspiring people to think differently about disused space and new developments.  Eventually we want people to be able to upload their own ideas, and inspire other cities to get involved.   It would be great to see what Bristol, Manchester or any number of UK cities might look like.

The Landscape Institute defines green infrastructure as the network of natural and semi-natural features, green spaces, rivers and lakes that intersperse and connect villages, towns and cities. It is a natural, service-providing infrastructure that is often more cost-effective, more resilient and more capable of meeting social, environmental and economic objectives than ‘grey’ infrastructure.

We were keen to find out which designs visitors to Ecobuild preferred and asked all those visiting our stand to indicate their favourite design.  Here’s the Ecobuild top ten from our straw poll:

• High, Low, Fast & Fluid Lines
• Bus Roots
• London Tap
• Bridge-IT
• Growbox
• The Lido Line
• Street Forage
• Pop Down
• Higher / Faster / Greener
• Barge Walk

To see all 100 ideas visit www.newlondonlandscape.org, and don’t forget to tell us what you think…

tags: ecobuild london landscape

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At the end of day one at Ecobuild it was clear that the BIM message was running strong throughout the whole of the exhibition. I started my day at the Better with BIM seminar series and there was definitely a buzz around the room. To kick the seminar series off (which lasts for the full three days) I chaired a session looking at how BIM can reduce waste in the construction industry. There were expert speakers from Ryder Architecture and Hilson Moran from the design community, Balfour Beatty from construction, Kingspan Insulation and NBS in terms of information provision.

A full house for the Better with BIM seminars

Moving away from Seminar Room 2 there is definitely a BIM hot-spot, firstly with the UBM BIM Show Live “chill-out” area and next to this the open BIM software vendors. The pictures below show the BIM Show Live storm trooper and also one of the live presentations from the Vectorworks open BIM stand.

These are not the droids we are looking for.

Open BIM live presentations.

In addition to clever software, BIM is also about well-structured technical information. At the RIBA Village the NBS team were also presenting the benefits of this through their National BIM Library and NBS Create offerings.

tags: ecobuild BIM

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On the eve of Ecobuild, with travel arrangements made and meetings in the diary, I should like to throw down the gauntlet to all attendees (myself included), to raise the bar in terms of intellectual, professional and technical rigour, to prove a discriminating, sustainability-literate audience and intelligent consumers. In short, this is a call for ‘smart shoppers’.

Picture, if you will, Ecobuild as as a giant Deli Counter for Architecture and Construction in the UK, jammed full with goods and staffed by knowledgeable and helpful producers and retailers, thronging with hungry visitors. Just as with organic, unpasteurised cheeses, hand-reared, home-cured meats and fine, biodynamic wines, the sector boast materials and products with ‘provenance’ and ‘terroir’, fairly traded and transparently traceable from ‘field to fork’ – whether shopping for FSC-certified timber, responsibly sourced concrete, or native wildflower green-roof seed mixes.

There is an abundance of choice. Thanks to years of incremental mainstreaming, sustainable building is no longer the rarified preserve of artisan greens, or ethical angels; both quality and quantity are on display at this international ‘Builders’ Market’. In effect, the exhibition is really one enormous, polylateral act of communication, involving thousands of organisations, companies and individuals showing their wares, and telling their stories, literally, over the course of three days.

Accordingly, a myriad of marketing messages has been created and crafted for just such an occasion and it is here where the concept of the smart shopper comes into play, on a mission to challenge both the Content and the Context of the delivery.

As regards Content, it is a case of taking care to notice whether the language used in the PR, marketing and advertising appears free from greenwash and any images employed are also accurate and appropriate. For example:

• It is not acceptable to use vague claims such as ‘eco-friendly’, or ‘energy-efficient’ without qualifying statements; nor is it OK to throw about words like ‘natural’, or ‘healthy’ without explanation or justification;

• It is not appropriate to employ a suggestive picture of a summer meadow to promote a car-park-encased high-rise urban roadside development called ‘Greenfields Tower’.

In terms of Context, the key is to confirm that the claims and statements are reasonable in relative terms and presented in fair proportion. For example:  

• It is not reasonable to claim a product sold in the UK is ‘recyclable’ when, whilst technically possible, the only recycling facility for the material content is in the US and it would be neither economically viable nor environmentally desirable to transport the waste across the Atlantic;

• It is not appropriate for a manufacturer to boast that a new product is their ‘greenest ever’, when the only previous model was designed 50 years ago and comprised of many material components now considered toxic to human health and banned by law.

Of course, key credibility questions can often be answered by reference to third-party validation and accreditation, or endorsements and testimonials, providing assurances that promised ethical or environmental attributes are genuine and any claims tried and tested. However, especially with emergent and innovative technologies and materials, there may not yet be the market mechanisms and support systems in place and the onus then falls on the prospective customers and clients themselves to look behind the label.

If you share the belief that Sustainability can help provide a lot of the answers that construction is seeking for future society, then now is the time to start asking (difficult) questions. The call is for connectivity and active citizenry. Happy shopping!

tags: planning ecobuild sustainability

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