...AND NINE 9
In fact, a recurring theme in the BD forecast is how smart and social the smart city will become and that’s not just about clearing up the garbage. It seems that the car will diminish in favour of bikes and you have only to look at Chinese cities to see how ordered and efficient bikes, or rather the electric put- puts, are natural bed-fellows. Not only will nature come back to the cities but vertical farming will be common and every building surface, especially the roof, will be used. Technology will be integrated as a part of life, meaning homes will be operated like stationary cars, solar panels will be an integral part of the fabric and so on. Everyone is talking about biomass and the central power sources for groups of dwellings. Big contractors need to orient themselves towards the huge refit, energy driven issues and that means, we are advised, that big glass office buildings will be pariahs – as indeed will outside of town shopping centres in favour of a return to social interaction or ‘village’ life as it once was known. One commentator thinks that older buildings will be insulation rendered and sprayed white. Almost all will still be here because the replacement rate is 1% at most, 35% of the population will be over 65 and energy demand will have grown by 70-100%.
It’s interesting that there are virtually no references to building products, their future form, composition and purpose. For example, will the common brick still be with us or just something which vandals toy with on Saturday nights while they ride around on their bikes?
And finally.....
I guess Ecobuild shouldn’t pass without a mention since the plethora of people, energy and exhibits was outstanding. Next year, it moves to EXCeL while Earl’s Court is being messed with, which no doubt will encourage ExCeLlent to be added to the long list of complementary adjectives which this remarkable event enjoys.
So much to say, so much to see so here’s a reminder of the BREEAM 2010 awards announced during the exhibition and well worth time out by clicking on the BRE
website.The 16 winners range from Bletchley Leisure Centre and Salisbury Law Courts to EcoHomes in Croydon and the Environment Agency’s HQ in Bristol and from a Young Offenders’ Institute to education projects in Wales, Manchester and Leeds.
Excellent is also the key word for the Centrum Galerie in Dresden (image), the city’s biggest shopping mall and in one leap the first building in Germany and the first mall in continental Europe to receive BREEAM Excellent. In addition to being a highly sustainable building, it combines international retail stores and gastronomic concepts with a day-care centre, multi-storey parking for 1000 vehicles and highly attractive architecture.
Have we jumped 40 years – is that 45 year old lady embracing shopping the same 5 year old we saw earlier embracing nature?
Interesting, huh?
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