Insight
Period Property Restoration and Conservation
‘Uncomfortable heritage’: how cities are repurposing former slaughterhouses
Mar 16 2023 Be the first to comment!
In the second half of 2022, the Museum of London threw a five-month-long leaving do in anticipation of departing from its home of nearly 50 years. The museum has been housed in London Wall, on the Barbican estate in central London, since 1976. It is now preparing to relocate to the Victorian buildings that, until recently, hosted Smithfield market, the city’s largest wholesale meat market.
The psychology of a loss of place: when we demolish socially significant places, we demolish part of who we are
Jan 31 2023 Be the first to comment!
The John Curtin Hotel in Carlton, another of Melbourne’s cultural landmarks, is set to close. Nearly 150 years old, the pub has long been a haunt of the union movement, Labor leaders, detectives, journalists and the live music scene.
Drones are already shaping the face of our cities – used for building planning, heritage, construction and safety enhancement. But, as studies by the UK’s Department of Transport have found, swathes of the public have a limited understanding of how drones might be practically applied.
Embodied carbon: why truly net zero buildings could still be decades away
Jan 11 2023 Be the first to comment!
Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions come from two sources: using things (known as operational emissions) and making things (embodied emissions). For a familiar example of the first kind, your home probably burns natural gas for heating and uses electricity that fossil fuels may have generated. Governments plan to eliminate these emissions by making buildings better insulated and airtight so that they need less energy and ensuring renewable sources, such as wind and solar, generate enough power.
Remaking our suburbs’ 1960s apartment blocks: a subtle and greener way to increase housing density
Jan 08 2023 Be the first to comment!
As cities grow, new buildings gradually replace the older ones. Ideally, the new buildings are higher quality, more sustainable and better suited to today’s needs. But there’s a risk current approaches to urban renewal will produce poorer amenities and buildings that are less flexible and more environmentally damaging than those they replace.
How ‘living architecture’ could help the world avoid a soul-deadening digital future
Jan 04 2023 Be the first to comment!
My first Apple laptop felt like a piece of magic made just for me – almost a part of myself. The rounded corners, the lively shading, the delightful animations. I had been using Windows my whole life, starting on my family’s IBM 386, and I never thought using a computer could be so fun.
The great hall is one of the most enduring images from the middle ages – and with good reason. Surviving written sources as well as archaeological and architectural analysis all attest to the importance of the hall within manor houses, castles and palaces during festive periods.
Hearts, cells and mud: how biology helps humans re-imagine our cities in vexed times
Feb 10 2022 Be the first to comment!
Biological metaphors for the city abound in daily use. You may live close to an “arterial” road or in the “heart” of a metropolis. You may work in one of the city’s “nerve centres” or exercise in a park described as the city’s “lungs”.
Many urban rivers are hidden underground – ‘daylighting’ them would bring nature back to cities
Feb 10 2022 Be the first to comment!
Ever noticed how few rivers you can see in most city centres? It’s easy enough to spot the big, usually tamed, main river such as the Thames in London, the Seine in Paris, the Aire in Leeds or the Don in Sheffield. But you will be hard pressed to find any of their tributaries.
You need only look to the UK’s high streets to see myriad buildings in decline. Walk through any city or town and witness the empty shops, vacant office blocks and derelict housing. A recent report from the Royal Society for Public Health revealed that one in 10 high street shops in the UK is empty.