Monthly Archives: February 2021

Research on Retrofitting pre-1919 Traditional Dwellings

The topic of this research is the conflict that exists surrounding traditional dwellings and the responsibility of sustainability regarding the global climate crisis and, the responsibility of conservation and preserving the nation’s heritage. Through primary and secondary data collection, this research aims to answer the question of, do Building Regulations covering fuel and power and statutory protection of pre-1919 traditionally constructed buildings need to be re-assessed? In order to answer this question, a survey has been produced for the participation of construction and conservation professionals in the industry to uncover the causes of this conflict, current solutions and reasons the current solutions often fail.

The closing date for answering the questionnaire is 10 April 2021

The questionnaire can be found here.

AMPS Conference Call for Papers – Cities in a Changing World: Questions of Culture, Climate, and Design

Abstract Deadline: 30 March 2021

https://architecturemps.com/new-york 2021/

The premise of this conference is that the city is a site of interconnected problems. No single issue dominates its needs. No single discipline has the answers to its questions. As a result, the range of issues we deal with is vast. Urban designers are developing new models of settlement planning to address housing needs. Architects are renovating ever more existing buildings. Infrastructure designers are developing faster modes of transportation. Planners are demanding lower C02 emissions from industry. In a COVID-19 context healthy cities are on the agenda like never before. Policy makers are addressing grass-roots demands for regional governance.

While all such issues respond to unique and independent demands, they are all interrelated. Climate change is a perfect example. Scientists, policy makers, activists and designers the world over are engaged in the issue. Some focus on rehousing displaced peoples, others challenge throwaway culture and stress reuse. Health professionals examine disaster relief while planners look at shared transport models. Environmentalists seek to reduce energy consumption, while communities plan for resilience. At the same time, economists look to finance cleaner industries. In tackling a particular issue then, multiple disciplines are overlapping and drawing on the work of others. In short, their work is reaching beyond the boundaries of individual fields.

In looking at the city as a site of such inherent interdisciplinarity, the conference venue offers insights. New York is a city of over 8 million people. It has an affordable housing problem and, located on the coast, is threatened by rising sea levels. The site for the United States’ most iconic historic buildings, it demands 21st Century uses of them. The home of the US public health movement in the 19th Century, it was at the forefront of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Historically a landing port for immigrants it knows the pressures of displacement and migration. A city for the wealthiest elites in the world, it exhibits poverty, social exclusion and periodic cultural tensions.

In this place, as in cites the world over, none of the issues that vex the metropolis are isolated, and none of their factors, consequences or responses are limited to single disciplines.

Research on Reducing Carbon in Ecclesiastical Buildings

A questionnaire as part of the dissertation – ‘Applications of Carbon Reducing Solutions for Ecclesiastical and Historical Buildings’. The purpose of this questionnaire is to identify what people feel are the most effective forms of carbon reducing technology, as well as the major challenges and limitations faced when implementing this technology into buildings of this nature.

If you would like to participate in completing the survey, please email livgill@hotmail.co.uk for more details.