Flood Risk

In England the Environment Agency. In Scotland the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). They both have flood risk maps. Sepa is here

Richard Wood

Richard Woods makes art that is a cross between graphics and architecture.

read more here and here

Japartment

A Japanese apartment block by New York based designers Arakawa and Gin. A different Kind of texture! from here

scrap wood and the patina of age

I would like to build a house that doesn't look brand new when its finished but I don't think the British planning system will allow me to do that.

Above is an image of 'scrap wood furniture' by designer Piet Hein Eek, website here

Using rocks as a heat sink

A scientific paper concludes:

Abstract

A study was conducted to store solar energy in an underground rock-bed for greenhouse heating. Experiments were carried out in two identical polyethylene tunnel type greenhouses, each with 15 m[2] ground area. Rocks were filled in two canals excavated and insulated in the soil of one of the greenhouses. Greenhouse air was pushed through the rock-bed by a centrifugal fan with 1100 m[3]/h air flow rate and controlled by two thermostats when the energy storage or release was required. No crops were grown in the greenhouses and the vents were kept closed unless excessive condensation occurrence inside the greenhouses. The results of this study showed that the rock-bed system created an air temperature difference of about 10 °C at night, between the two greenhouses, the control one having the lower temperature. Furthermore, the rock-bed system kept the inside air temperature higher than that of outside air at night, even in an overcast day following a clear day. Whilst solar energy collection efficiency of the system was 34%, its energy recovery or release efficiency was higher than 80%. A numerical mathematical model considered here represented actual data well. An economic analysis indicated that the rock-bed system is more economical than the LPG or petroleum-based fuel burning heating systems widely used in Turkish greenhouses.

from here

Schindlers letter

Excerpts of a very incisive letter published in 1944 by Rudolph Schindler, available in full here

"...The architect has always over-emphasized his value as a supervisor and policeman of construction work, with the result that his real social contribution is generally unknown. It can be understood why the owner hesitates to employ an architect for the portion of the job which any technician can apparently do as well at lower cost, especially since the law protects the owner against gross structural inadequacies and flagrant dishonesty. In most communities, plans and structures are inspected by structural, plumbing, electrical, and health inspectors, and in addition, the finance agencies (banks, FHA) check the construction at repeated intervals.

Unless the public will come to realize the importance of the architect's spiritual contribution, his standing in the building industry will deteriorate further....

The "preliminary plans" are the very crux of the architect's contribution. They embody the over-all conception of the building and represent a complete synthesis of the architect's gifts, schooling, and experience. They should be the result of minute and lengthy studies of functional, structural, financial, and cultural problems entailed by the human needs and physical and financial limitations involved in the building.

It is for this main creative effort that the architect earns the smallest portion of his fee...

The architect must realize the importance of his contribution and demand sufficient payment to permit proper performance. However, building is already overburdened with the charges listed above, and must be relieved. It is senseless for a family to spend years saving for the "down payment" and then occupy "their" shelter burdened with twenty years of debt bondage.

The only solution, both for the owner's over-indebtedness and for the architect's under-compensation, is for the architect to take charge of all building processes himself. His designs should include interiors and landscapes, to be executed by experts and subcontractors working under the architect's guidance ( In the planning of "contemporary" buildings, this procedure is a necessity.)

Complete management of building operations will not add much to the architect's tasks if he is in the habit of supervising properly, and need increase the percentage rate of his fee only slightly. It will bring him into closer contact with craftsmen and give him greater knowledge and control of costs...

Should the architect fail to regain leading position as a builder, his outlook is dismal: the public will pay any amount for services of a commercial nature, but is unwilling to recognizing cultural contributions...."

U values - 2003 Scottish regs

The Scottish regs on U values:

Note to self: 1

John Pawson talking about working with Calvin Klein

SIPS

This image from Kingspan Tek Haus.

I'm thinking about SIPS, Structural Insulated Panel System. Its probably the future of timber building so I should get on board huh? The disadvantages I can see so far are cost, travel distance from Germany (a major negative form a green point of view) and how it integrates with services - not easy.

Otherwise it offers big spans, thin walls, good fire protection, quick erection and very good thermal performance. It also uses waste materials from the timber industry - OSB. The insulation is one of the most efficeint available.

sketchup

By the way I recommend this 3D drawing program. Easy to use, powerful and fast.
http://www.sketchup.com/

revised again

There is yet another revised design.

The problem was with the entrance location (along with various other weaknesses of the previous design). So here we are back at a design I looked at in week two of this design process. I ruled it out because it took the best corner of the house - south, but the fact is this is the place the entrance has to be.

There are also some advantages as well as the obvious negative, mainly that the glazed lobby can act as greenhouse (overheating buffer) for the whole house.

Other design elements include a flat roofed deck which helps modulate the relationship between garden wall and gable wall. And a large glazed area to the south corner...

Green materials

Some interesting research out there on suitable materials for house building. The table is from a pdf on external insulation systems (published by the Energy Saving Trust) and highlights the environmental vlaue of various materials and systems (A being good C being poor). The most interesting thing about it is the number of categories considered: 17, ranging from recylable to amount of embodied energy and life span.
This system was developed by BRE.

Here is a very good article on the value of blown insulation (in this case highly efficient polyurethane) over fixed panels or batts. I was directed to this based on an aretcile on R-values on Wikipedia, otherwise I can't verify its accuracy.

Heat sink

I've been considering the issue of dense versus lightweight construction (a contenious issue) and am coming down on the side of dense heavy materials to regulate the internal temperature of the house. One idea is to re-use concrete railway sleepers for the internal house walls.
Could make an interesting wall.
Just an idea so far...

some other links
http://www.ihbc.org.uk/context_archive/63/schoolhouse/cottown.html
http://earthbuilding.blogspot.com/

Two houses

After battling and squeezing and shoehorning everything in at the size we felt was right and ending up with a complex and difficult to build plan, we finally decided that we should simplify the brief and hence the design. Like this: a house has two functions, sleeping and living. Cut the house in two sleep in one and live in the other. The middle can be used as circulation and to get light and heat into the house.
What I particularly like is that the middle strip can be fully glazed and lined with dense materials to soak up the sun's heat, this means the floors are freed up to be of lighter construction.
Anyway only developed this yesterday so this is early days still.

South

This is an option I still haven't excluded which orientates the whole house to south. The garden would work well for summer I think and its green credentials would be good - well sheltered, lots of passive solar gain and a sedum covered roof at low level...
Still thinking.

This is at least the 100th design option we've been through but already its out of date - we're changing it again but I need to post something of the design on here.
This is also my first 3D model using Autocad.

cut granite stone wall

This is an image from a kayakers report in Maine, USA.

timber cuts

I always forget the difference between timber cuts but found this very good sketch so I'm posting to here so I don't forget or at least can look it up quickly when I do. [from www.inthewoodshop.org]

The site

This is the site.

The beach

I asked my friend Francis to take some pictures of the site (as I am in Japan and can't get there) . He did and also took these images of the beach and promenade. Looks lovely huh?