Daylighting, Howells and the Custard Factory, (CAT blog Feburary)

Wind, acoustics, air quality, refurbishment, green roofs and schools, this month’s lectures covered so many ideas tied with a central theme of user perception. It was also the launch of our second design project, the urban regeneration of a site next to the Custard Factory in Birmingham. 

During the week at CAT we went through the brief and discussed who will focus on which area of site research. I took the daylighting practical where we learnt the traditional BRE manual method of predicting skylight, sunlight and solar gain. We used this to explore light qualities on the new site taking potential window positions and assessing their suitability for various activities to be housed; for example, discovering the necessary distances from adjacent building to allow adequate daylighting. We also used the artificial sky and the heliodon with models which we will definitely be using again once more advanced models for the next designs have progressed.

At the end of the module we all made our way to the central backpacker hostel on Coventry Street in Birmingham for site analysis and client meeting, definitely the highlight of the week. HQ for the stay was a studio room in Glenn Howells Office,  which is also where we will be presenting the final proposed schemes. Glenn gave a lecture on the history and urban evolution of Birmingham and the selected site. It is at the geographical birthplace of the city, although now consists of a 6-lane road, crossing the river hidden far below and bounded mostly by either derelict brick industrial buildings or boarded up brown-field sites.

The Site next to th Custard Factory, Digbeth Highstreet, Taken by George Bevan

The client is Lucan Grey, owner of the land and modern philanthropist/developer who initiated the custard factory. He gave a talk in the exquisite Fazeley Studios, an old church that from the outside, appears to be just part of the half-derelict, graffiti-covered Digbeth area, but opens up to an opulent interior with a luxurious-business atmosphere. Grey describes it as a ‘secret place, inward-looking’. The whole area, that will one day become the ‘Custard Factory Quarter’ is full of surreal surprises, including the hidden river Rea, the domes and canopies over the Custard Factory courtyards and the Indian restaurant whose day-time coffee shop aims to be a place for ‘the meeting of the minds’ and a tribute to Rabindranath Tagore, a great Indian Polymath.

After visiting the inspiring Edible Eastside community gardening project by the canal, we went on site at the new Birmingham Library, designed by Mecanoo architects. The building is huge and the scale of every part of the design miniaturised our small group as we toured around. Going up in the hoist to the roof was brilliant, cantilevered in a metal mesh box from a steel post tied in at points to the structure. From the top we could look down over the once fully red-bricked city, now carved up by wide roads and huge glass fronted, mass buildings.

The group vibe is excitement for this new project on an interesting and complex site. For the final mark, along with presentations of schemes, we will be producing detailed technical reports which will test the knowledge gained in modules so far, with a construction cost budget of only £120 per square foot. Design of The Custard-Quarter Gateway, here we come.

SPIN, patchwork farming, transitions...

Came accross this post today on Transition Culture site: (See post here.)

Transition Cultures, whose phrase is: 'an evolving exploration into the head, heart and hands of energy descent' is about how we can action our society to transition into sustainable communities. It is a global organisation with local groups that meet, discuss, organise and action things within their community. I havnt been involved with them in the UK yet but in Alpine, Texas there is a thriving group who helped us on some of the projects at La Loma Del Chivo, (link here for post.)

Their post today is about SPIN farming group, who take a re-look at the way people think about bringing local small-scale produce into the urban place. SPIN's website 'Thinking of Farming, Think again' is an exciting wealth of knowledge and advise for creating local produce and creating an income from it; 'patchwok farming.' As is described in transition's post post today:

'SPIN farming strips out any talk of politics or ideology that underpins approaches such as organics or permaculture, stating “think in terms of a production system, not a belief system”, although it doesn employ organic techniques.  It can start on parcels of land as small as 1,000 square feet, and can be spread across a number of pieces of land.'

This method of farming could alter the ways that planners and architects are currently trying to implement spaces for small-scale farming and urban food production into the scene to one that can operate in a de-centralised and less-space-organsied way, a move from the allotment designated region and a move towards the use of SLOAP, front gardens, un-used lawns for not only the hobby-orientated veg-garden and unemployment to the local food network and self-employed work community.

Pies! The fruits of Don's Garden...

Blackberrys  (from St Albans hedges,) apples (from my mums garden,) plums and redcurrents (from my Grandpas friend Don's garden) turned into pies, although we have only used about a sixth of the fruit so far...

New Compost bins and leaf moulder...The Garden see's no waste...

3 little composts's standing in a row...The product of cutting back the paths and clearing out the pond for maintenance in the St Albans Garden...Hopefully, with the help of the kitchen remains...next springs allotment will have first class soil and mulch.

The Trailer Plot Project

This is one of my projects at La Loma. It explores a few ideas including a mobile life, minimum space living and permaculture. The trailer itself is an old corrugated metal shell from (we think) the 1950's. The main concept is a question about a balance between a partially nomadic life and maintaining a small 'home-base'. Below are listed the key elements of the ongoing experiment.

a)  The inside space will be the trailer itself, a house on wheels, it will be able to sleep 4 (or a small family,) in fold away beds so that in the day time, the space can be a living room with benches, sofa's and desk's.

b)  When the trailer is at the home-base it has a secondary covering, to aid in the weatherproofing of the vehicle and shade it from hot summer sun. This roof is made from recycled posts, Plywood sheets and corrugated metal sheets - all from the 'resource pile' at La Loma. The roof space allows for the installation of rain water collection year-round - even when the trailer is not present - this can be connected to an irrigation system so the plants can be watered when the occupants are not their. This extra roof space also gives a platform for future installments that could include solar-heated shower and PV power cells.

c)  The decking provides an outdoor living space for good weather, a spill-over area from the small interior living space. It also gives a space to act as a workshop, entertainment space or plant nursery. A flat-topped shade above the decking, allows for extended use of the outdoor area in the heat of the day and doubles floor space by creating a balcony with excellent views to the sunset over the mountains. This balcony could be used to sleep on as well as roof-top storage and would be a perfect position for a food-dehydrator.

d)  The 600 feet squared that is the 'Trailer Plot' gives plenty of room for design with food. The boundaries of the home-base are created by raised planting beds at various heights, snaking around from the rain water collection tank (highest point) to ground level beds, using gravities flow of water. The planting uses a permaculture method of organizing plants together in groups, to build soil, and to work with the insects for a self-sustaining organic garden. Within two years of development using a permaculture method, the land space should be able to generate all the food for the family and their neighbors (excepting starches.) 

e) Future developments of the experiment include an outdoor kitchen area, using a fire-pit stove, an adobe oven, a partly submerged, cool storage space for food and a shade from the sun. The creation of a 'food forest' on the border of the plot and the possibility of a solar composting toilet.

Sustainability and Organic as Art - The Questions

Gillian and I had a table in the Marfa Bookstore at the Chinati Open house last weekend, as a part of the Marathon Sustainability event we asked a number of questions about organic produce growing, shelter and art. The following we used as a thought-provoker for people to take away:

'Growing as intsallation art

Organic gardening as spatial art

Growing as kinetic art

Nature time scale, kinetic art

Alternative building types as installation art

One way to portray

One perspective on life and living

Living a sustainable life is performance art

Performance art is kinetic

Performance art is spatially reflective

Lifestyle choice is performance art

Permaculture is a lifestyle choice

Understand the workings of nature

Work within nature

Witness natural cycles

As they grow around you

Watch the kinetic spaces form

These spaces could be shelter

Shelter is sculpture

Sculpt out your home

Your home is your portrayal

Of your perception of your world

Your portrail of your perception of your world is art

Non-permanance, Kinetic art

Kinetic is performance art

Watch the light change

Where do you sleep?

Where do you eat?

Cycles of energy

Grow the energy that will in turn grow you

Cyclic dances to tend to the food

Sculpture of food

Art is alive

Exhibit your perception of the world

Exhibit your lifestyle through your shelter

Exhibit your lifestyle through your food

The food you grow

Haptic experience

Spatial art of kinetic, Growing food

Surround your shelter, Create the haptic

Tend to the haptic

Smell your art

See it grow

Expression of the dwellers perception

A mirror of cultural choice

A mirror of individual choice.'