A few more Pennies

Updates and some new stuff, poss 2 more to do 'Inside retail' and 'Accommodation/business/green way'

Scale needs changing

See you later

Dear All,

there you go! here is my design inspiration drawings and master plan... 

Jimmy

My pennies worth

more stuff about linking london

latest piece of shit

i am having real trouble uploading my files onto the mobileme, i sign in, choose a file, start the upload, and then for some reason it tells me there is an internal error at my end and it won't upload.

any ideas?

this is the latest piece of nonsense from me

the digital banana

i bring all files with me tomorrow

ben

hi

hi all

http://urbanmedic.blogspot.com/2010/07/vincent-callebaut-architectures.html

tk a look at this

i think this is it for the london links

any comments

ben

an unfinished london linkage piece

what do you think?

ben

finally i have done some meaningful work

here it is

nothing new, just better

let me know what you think

time to crack on with some more bollocks

ben

Wednesday Crit

Hi All

What are our plans for this wednesday presentation............??!!

Are we meeting up ........i am really geting worried about getting it all together.........

We have to put it together!!

Regards

Ambika

wed storyboard

hi all

back from cornwall and thinking about the presentation on wednesday

shez and lisa spoke at length to tom about what is expected of the group, and they posted a run down of how the conversation panned out

now it is just a case of putting it all together, to be honest i am still a little unsure and would appreciate another commication on what to do

whatever it will require a lot of work and this needs to divided up to lessen the load

i will find it nye on immpossible to get to greenwich before wed, but will be permanently logged in so will be contactable by cybersspace

ben

Dear All, 

i have changed the orientation and updated the drawings... FYI!  Thanks...

Jimmy

Hi

Here are a couple of sketches and a few images that I think are what we are aiming for?? Please tell me if not. This web site has an interesting article about the above sustainable transport (Transby) design

Lisa

Jimmys Photoshop Plan edit

Hi Jimmy

can you do the photoshop rendered plan correction to make sure the north orientation is not changed....because you have text and photos on it it would be good if you did it.........can you also remove the proposed changes snaps as I think it would be too early in the presentation to talk about proposals but its a gr8 drawing and we need to fix its orientation.

thanx

ambika

ps---never ever change the north orientation ..........its best facing up.........:)

GIS maps ready!

Hi All

GIS survey base maps of the study area are uploaded on mobile me...well still being uploaded........these are big files....any more suggestions ...let me know...........

regards

Ambika

hi there

it was a good session yesterday. thank you all

the crit has been put back by a week so it will be on 13th nov. i hope you have all read shez's email about the storyboard and what is expected of us, we need to work together on this or we will come up short again.

i recommend you read up on the silicon roundabout and london's tech city, i will send an interesting pdf i found on it to you

for the presentation i think it is only fair that those who didn't talk at the last crit give it a go this time, fairness is the key i'm afraid

as you may or may not be aware grant, danny and myself will not be here next week as we are in cornwall, we do NOT have internet access where we are staying so communication could get a little difficult, so i think some tasks should be allocated before we go on saturday, so what i suggest is we sit down together tomorrow and thrash it out

ben

London's Silicon Roundabout

FYI

Silicon Roundabout

See also: East London Tech City

The roundabout at the junction of City Road and Old Street is known as the Silicon Roundabout, owing to the high number of web businesses located in the immediate area, and as a reference to Silicon Valley, California. The term was coined by Dopplr.com CTO Matt Biddulph on Twitter.^[3][4][5]

Amongst the first technology companies located in the area were Dopplr, Last.fm, Consolidated Independent, Tinker.it, TweetDeck, Berg, Trampoline Systems, AMEE, Skimbit, Fotango, weartical.com, Songkick, Techlightenment, Poke London, Kizoom, BrightLemon, Redmonk, Moo and LShift. In 2010 there were 85 startup companies in the area.^[6]

In addition to web companies, several games development firms are located in the area, including Sports Interactive.

On 28 September 2011, it was announced that Google had acquired a 7 story building just off of Silicon Roundabout. There has been no confirmation as to what Google will be using this building for, nor details of any potential job openings in that area at present.^[7]

StoryBoarding with Tom

Hi everyone, Here’s the narrative we developed with Tom. He wants 50 slides from us.

We start with advantage of the site, then the weaknesses, then onto our proposals.

1. Urban development, like property...

The advantages of our development are about:

Location: It’s between Canary wharf & Olympic villiage (SLIDE showing MAP)

Location: it’s got the River Lee (SLIDE – photo)

Location: The transport links are terrific (SLIDE – transport diagram)

2. But it’s not all wonderful

· Lots of dereliction (SLIDE – photo)

· Only permeable to vehicles “

· Type of industry is no longer appropriate to London “

3. To deal with these strengths and weaknesses, we propose a

a Silicon River (SLIDE- Concept Diagram)

The 3 main advantages are:

· They are knowledge intensive creative industries

· They need good transport

· They need a high quality environment, which can be made along the river

SLIDES SLIDES SLIDES BEAUTIFUL SLIDES OF OUR PROPOSAL

4. In 3 years

5. In 30 years

6. In 300 years

Cheers,

Scheherezade

Glass Covered Walkway Ideas

Hi everyone,

I've scanned the Majorca Development Project (ParcBit) case study from Sustainable Architecture that Benz recommended that we have a look at. Some pages are more useful than others for this project but overall I thought it would be good to have the whole chapter as a resource for other future planning projects that we may find ourselves in.

The whole PDF is on MoblieMe.

See y'all tomorrow
Scheherezade

Of GIS and Toothache!!

Hi all...

long absence .....tho i kept loggin in regularly .....but little progress on my side.....will tk care of GIS tomorrow......at UDP .....the tooth has been taken care of by my really good dentist.......next week it should be final consultation n then maybe a painful extraction!!!!!!

willl c u all in class tomorrow!

tc

ps---yes I needed a much needed break as well....had presentations n seminars the whole of last week so was good time off!! Only to find out today that for some strange reason my 3D autocad file has just disappeared!

hi all

have been messing around with some of danny's shapes.

are these alright?

will upload the file as is onto mobile me, Called '31-10 ben greenway masterplan'

will continue pissing around,

Grant there should be enough views on the file to start to do a bit of rendering

ben

Hey everyone,

I've uploaded the sketch model design from last week as well as the hi-res photoshop file that I did for the site. If you'd like to edit this, just turn on or off the layers as needed. The files are on my mobile me under:

Site Sketch Model 2

Grants Edit

Maps with Features 2

back from land. arch. walkabout

hi all

sorry if anyone has been trying to get in touch with me but i desperately needed a break from all this, so i've been on cyber walkabout

hopefully my batteries are recharged enough to plough headlong into the ever mounting workload

but i'm back and will start to put together the masterplan today, danny have you got anything that i might need to see before i charge into this

ben

p.s 'silicon river' is fine by me, the tag line could be a little more catchy, but will do for now, will post any thoughts

what is our working name?

are we all happy with

'''silicone river ' as a working title, my brain has gone to pot and i can't remember if that is what we agreed on.

i know there was a tag line, but that has gone as well

help

ben

Hi All,

check this great reference regarding our greenway"pet" project... drop a line if it inspires you!  

PS. Can everybody add a DATE at the start of each file before uploading to MOBILE ME?

Cheers!

Jimmy

Futuristic “eco-Silicon Valley» Mentougou eco valley

No, no, it’s not the landing of an extraterrestrial landing plane had arrived on Earth with a friendly visit. Mentougou eco valley – a draft environmental green valley in Mentugu (Beijing, China), developed by the Finnish architectural studio Eriksson architects. Future “Eco-Silicon Valley” is built up of multi-functional structures with futuristic architecture and integrated pilot technologies.

The project has been prepared to implement and is awaiting approval by the Chinese Government. As already mentioned, all objects “embedded” in the green valley, represent an experiment with a form of eco-technologies, materials and building typologies. On the territory of Mentougou eco valley will be implemented the most advanced developing energy efficient and environmentally sustainable buildings.

Mentugu valley is situated in 60 kilometers west of Beijing and is a picturesque relief terrain. According to the project will be built research complex, composed of institutions and development companies, the central city and a few compact residential villages. Overall, the project is designed to stay around 50 000 inhabitants.

Echo Valley is in a unique “buffer” zone, protected by mountains from the noise and pollution of the environment. Futuristic architecture of large-scale project focused exclusively on the harmonious adaptation to the surrounding landscape.

In this case, the main challenge for the authors of the project was the most efficient use of land resources with an emphasis on comfortable, modern accommodation and comprehensive services.

a better image than the last one

this is a more polished version of what i have been working on

see you all this afternoon

ben

Closer base plan for Dan

Says what it is on the tin


Uploaded 'Closer plan view.psd' on Dans mobile me, with background and plan google view of the scale so you can get a hook on the building sizes. colours etc i can adjust later, just something for you to bounce off.


Grant

i like it

thank you all for posting work everything appears to be coming together, and there is a vital and urgent communication taking place in cyber space now

unfortunately yesterday i was offline for most of the day, but i have been battling with illustrator to put together a nodal plan, i think the pink centres should be viewed as communication nodes, where communities come together around a transport hub.

the river is such an intrinsic part of this area that i believe it should be THE LINK, therefore the site would benefit from a system of water taxis/trams rather fthan a land based transport system

this should be able to tie in nicely with danny's plan

keep up the good work

ben

master plan with DNA strand

Hi all,

I have combined the DNA strand with River Lae. Thought we can adjust the river channel flowing direction, using DNA core strand(purple color) as inspiration and reallocate rest of the green space and building layout.

Let's discuss..

Jimmy

lower right zoom in

Base plan for buildings


Either in Sketch up or P/S

much better colours

Grant

Grants Update of Dans masterplan

Just bringing in the concepts of DNA.


Connecting the tree routes that would have woodland paths (soil bound resin, more later) that connect with a 'wilderness' sense of place. great for riding/running to work, general enjoyment and lowering the blood pressure.


Mixed use the land, with mixed housing, (no gated communities), mixed in with green/silicone  tech industry. Shops within walking distance (400m), work within a 10min bike ride if so desired.


Swales and rain planters, overflowing into reed bedded pond/lakes.


Its something to build upon.

Lisa's slides and documents

Slides

Some fantastic images (click to enlarge)

Documents of proposals

The Lea Valley Area /Concept 

Problems 

• Poverty
• Unemployment
• Shortage of housing /Poor housing
• A derelict post-industrial wasteland covers much of the area 
• The area is divided by underused waterways,  heavily trafficked roads, the London Underground and heavy rail lines
• It is blighted with many unattractive pylons.

Opportunities

• A common strand which connects the main areas of the site is the waterways.
• The canals and rivers within the Lower Lea Valley are potentially a rich leisure, tourism, heritage and ecological resource
• The London 2012 Olympic Games will put this area in the spotlight
• The close proximity to Stratford International and London Airport
• Space for more mooring
• Waterfront tow paths and cycle routes
• Vacant open spaces exist that can make green connections with the Lee Valley Regional Park 

The Vision 

• To create a better place to live
• To create jobs and increase skills in the area
• To transform the large number of underused canals and waterways
• To create a system that links the green spaces together connecting wildlife corridors 
• Build pocket parks – increasing green spaces for people to relax (however small).

Proposals and Possibilities

• Promote a green economy
• Facilitate commuting and transporting by river
• Promote the creation of new river businesses with supporting services (freight, river taxis/bus, ferries, barges and moorings).
• Improve access to river edge/ high quality and greener waterfront
• Attract river/waterside users – such facilities include types of boating pursuits, cafés, events and exhibition spaces
• Build green pedestrian and cycle bridges 
• Build architectural ‘Energy Banks’ with technologies that use wind, solar and ground source heat (make wind turbines more interesting to look at)
• Incorporate green technologies in all new builds. Visually ‘green up the urban area’
• Facilitate water conservation and SUDS, water harvesting and reuse (redirecting money spent on water wastage)

'Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works' - Steve Jobs 

History

History

Early London history

• The Lee runs from Luton through marshland to the Thames and its link to London gave it enormous importance for transport and trade. 

• It has been altered to meet the needs of defence, transport and industry.

• The Romans built a road parallel to the waterway – Ermine Street which ran from London to Lincoln

Danes invade London

• During the 9th century the Lea formed a natural boundary between Alfred the Great’s Saxon England to the west in Middlesex and the invading Vikings to the east, in Essex who had worked their way from the east coast.

• It is said that the Danes sailed up the Lee in 895AD, only to be stranded by Alfred building a weir and embankment by the Thames and draining the river, stranding the invaders.

Mills

• By medieval times, the Lee was important for its mills. 

• In fact there were more tidal mills collected on the Lea than on any other river anywhere in the world, plus many windmills.

• In 1424, an act of parliament had instructed work to improve the Lee’s navigation. Gunpowder, flour, coal and malt could now be moved in quantity to London. 

• The 18th century saw new canalisation technology used together with new cuts and locks allowed larger barges to move goods upriver from the Thames, and through into Hertfordshire.

• Many of London’s ‘stink industries’ were now on the banks of the Lee. Here was produced the first commercially successful industrial bone china, known as Bow China.

• Later on, gasworks and power stations were to make the Lee one of the most productive, parts of London.

Toys for the boys

• By the 20th century, the Lee became home to factories like: The world’s first radio valves, Vacuum flasks, The Royal Small Arms, and the Lesney company, makers of Matchbox cars.

End of an era

• The arrival of the railways killed the canals of course. By the end of the 19th century bulk cargoes were being moved by train and then by road. And with the decline in Britain’s industries in the latter half of the 20th century, much of the Lee’s banks became shabby and derelict.