Vision London - 7-8th June
Four areas of innovation that could change construction
All around the world people are taking to city living. United Nations data show that 54% of the world’s population lived in towns and cities in 2014, and the figure continues to rise. As our cities accommodate more people, there is pressure to build higher, further out and sometimes even deeper into the ground.
Technology and engineering are evolving at a faster rate than at any other time in history to help the construction industry meet these challenges, presenting new ways of creating homes and other types of buildings quickly, efficiently and cost effectively. Robot construction workers, nanomaterials, and technologies influenced by nature: these are just some of the innovations that are starting to demonstrate their potential in construction, and all of them and more will feature at Vision London, taking place at London’s Olympia on 7/8 June.
Here are four of the areas of innovation that will be featuring in the Future Materials and Systems educational stream at Vision. 1 - NANOPARTICLES
Scientists are looking at the benefits to be derived from adding nanoparticles to many everyday products and compounds, ranging from sports equipment to sunscreen. Nanoparticles added to construction materials, such as cement, concrete and steel are promising to deliver significant improvements, including greater strength, and are bringing new properties like self-healing and self- cleaning.
In his presentation on 7 June Dr Bojan Boskovic, Managing Director and Principal Consultant at Cambridge Nanomaterials Technology will consider how the use of carbon nanomaterials can open up new possibilities for sustainable design strategies, improve the nature of building structures and provide a new array of functions that can improve interaction between buildings and their occupants.
2 - INNOVATING FROM NATURE
Sustainable design approaches have brought us organic forms in architecture and innovation in the use of natural materials, like timber. Some are developing bolder visions, with reasearch exploring how nature could more radically shape our city, and help the built environment to withstand potential environmental challenges in the future. Leading visionaries and future-gazers, Melissa Sterry and Rachel Armstrong, will both be sharing their ideas in presentations at Vision London on 7 June.
Melissa Sterry is the creator and director of Bionic City, which explodes the potential of biomimetics, biotechnology and biology in the built environment. Rachel Armstrong is professor of experimental architecture at the department of architecture, planning and landscape at Newcastle University, and carries out research into the use of technologies such as synthetic biology - the rational engineering of living systems - and smart chemistry to ‘grow’ buildings.
VISION LONDON 3 - CIRCULAR ECONOMY
There is a growing focus within industry generally on the circular economy - the principle of using resources wisely by ensuring products and materials are designed at the outset for durability and recycling. The circular economy poses a key challenge for construction, where significant amounts of energy go into creating a building’s many components, and the end result may be expensively refitted, refurbished or perhaps even demolished within decades.
On the first day of Vision London a team from the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products’ (ASBP) Reusable Buildings Network will give an update on two innovative projects on steel reuse within construction.
4 - ROBOTICS
Manpower has been replaced by machine in many areas of construction, and the advance of technology looks set to continue. Robotic fabrication WILL change the way we build, is the title of a technology talk at Vision London on 8 June by Sebastian Andraos, Architect and Vice President of human-machine interactions at London-based robot control specialist, HAL Robotics, and Federico Rossi, Academic Leader for digital architecture robotics and Senior Lecturer at London South Bank University.
With the robot bricklayer Hadrian being trialled by Fastbrick Robotics in Australia and the UK’s q-bot demonstrating the value of robotics to minimise the disruption and hassle of jobs like insulating the floors of draughty homes, there is a wealth of innovation now emerging.
Vision London takes place on 7/8 June 2016 at Olympia London. Over the course of two days, the event showcases today’s most exciting materials, technologies, products, projects and thinking. All seminars, exhibition and networking events are free to attend when you register in advance at the Vision website.
TEL: 0203 633 2237 61
WWW.VISIONLONDON.COM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64