New build house using the PassivHaus Planning Package
We're designing a new build house for a village in Nottinghamshire, using the PassivHaus Planning Package as a design tool.
The site has an excellent orientation, allowing extensive use of passive and active solar collection to the rear of the property. The north, street-facing facade has been developed to respond sensitively to its Conservation Area setting.
The project is currently going through consultation with the village residents and Local Authority planning department prior to the submission of a planning application.
Sandbox manual
As part of our submission for the Structures on the Edge competition, we created a fun model sandbox to illustrate the participative construction process for our Stranded installation. We invited the public to interact with the model and to play on a miniature dune, equipped with our scale prototypes of the facetted concrete sculpture and some toy tools.
Of course, we couldn't resist creating a little manual for the sandbox!
More information about our Stranded art installation on the Lincolnshire coast.
Norwegian developments
Master-planning a south-facing hillside for a timber housing development in Norway: complex terrain modelling and beautiful views!
Remote model making
We've just had an exciting collaboration with artist Tristan Hessing on a public art installation for the Lincolnshire coast (more about this project very soon...). Tom and Tristan have been working together in Nottingham to develop the form of the structure, while I was handling the CAD modelling and 3D renders from Belgrade.
As part of the project, we also needed to produce physical models of the facetted shape that Tristan had come up with. With a 3D computer model in Belgrade and a physical model to be built in Nottingham, how to communicate to Tom all the information he needed to quickly fabricate a physical object perfectly matching the numerical one?
The first stage was to check the geometry of the folding pattern with a paper net, which could be printed onto card with our office A3 printer. The Flattery plugin for SketchUp came in handy to explode the facets of the object and generate the tabs to glue the different pieces together. The rather complex geometry required that the net was split into 8 foldable panels, each with a different form.
To simplify the assembly, I colour-coded and labeled the facets and tabs, with some 3D orientation views to explain how the different pieces were meant to be glued together. I emailed Tom a PDF version of this net.
A few hours later, Tom video-conferenced me with the assembled model. So far so good. This paper model would later be spray-painted black and used for one of our models.
We then needed a durable plastic version that could be handled by the public and we called on to the expertise at the workshops at Nottingham Trent University — we both teach there part-time and Tristan is a graduate from their Fine Art school. I generated an STL file from the 3D model and sent it to the workshop, to be fed to their computer controlled milling machine. The idea was to manufacture a strong mould onto which thin plastic versions could be formed by vacuum.
Four hours passed and Tom called me from the workshop with the mould ready, CNC-machined from a solid block of MDF. Nice!
Tom then laboured hard with the workshop team to produce two perfect vacuum-formed plastic shapes. I received the images by email straight from the workshop.
This beats having a 3D printer directly connected to my laptop! Many thanks to the team at the NTU workshops for their expertise and help!
Read more about this project in our portfolio...
Configurations
A study of various usage scenarios of the inflatable space we are currently designing for the Lille Métropole Museum of Modern Art.
Light boxes Pt.2: Quick plan views
This week at Mannings School it was all about preparing material for an exhibition. Rather than drawing plans, we decided to photograph the lightboxes the students made last week from above. The models were fine as lightboxes, but a bit scrappy for the plan view, so we added some sketchy detail and people.
Lightboxes
Continuing our work with Manning School, we brought the school pupils to Nottingham Trent University, where they worked with 2nd year NTU students from the Interior Architecture course. With help and guidance from the students, the school pupils built lightbox models, lit them carefully with coloured light and took these evocative photos.
School net
Working with pupils at Mannings School in Nottingham, we surveyed a classroom that will be converted into a creative learning space. A quick Sketchup model was then virtually 'unfolded' to create a printed paper net. In class the students then cut and glued to create sketch physical models, before starting to experiment with transforming the space. Next time we will use thicker card, and investigate laser cutting. Rapid prototyping might be the logical step, but then a whole stage of physical creation of the model, and understanding folding, geometry and nets would be missed, so maybe not.
Hub sketches
