All articles by David Littlefield – Page 3

  • Daylight simulation and analysis of the atrium of a new school for Holland Park, by Aedas, using Radiance and Ecotect.
    Features

    Taking the heat out

    2005-08-26T00:00:00Z

    With the need to curb global warming becoming critical, computer simulation will increasingly be used to determine whether designs will meet new environmental regulations.

  • Left: The Halley site is 3,000km south of the Falklands, and 20km from the edge of the ice sheet. Hugh Broughton Architects’ aims to strictly limit energy use, but faces the challenge of a nine-month winter of gloom or permanent darkness.
    Technical

    Easy on the ice

    2005-08-05T00:00:00Z

    Despite its setting, the Halley VI Antarctic station will have to minimise water use.

  • Features

    Keep it simple and watch it flourish

    2005-06-17T00:00:00Z

    Sometimes computing can be dead easy.

  • Architects at Feilden Clegg Bradley look to knowledge management to assist the informal exchange of information, which used to be routine when the practice was smaller.
    Features

    Share and enjoy...

    2005-06-17T00:00:00Z

    Feilden Clegg Bradley and Aedas are among the practices developing knowledge management systems. We discover that they are proving an invaluable tool for sharing practice information

  • Features

    Platform

    2005-05-20T00:00:00Z

    There is a good joke that Microsoft boss Bill Gates once commented that, if General Motors had developed automotive technology at the same rate as the computer industry developed, we’d all be driving $25 cars that did 1,000 miles to the gallon.

  • BDP uses a dizzying range of programs for both design and administration.
    Features

    What makes BDP tick

    2005-05-20T00:00:00Z

    Architectural computing is about more than just design programs. BDP gave David Littlefield a behind-the-scenes look at how IT is being used to assist the administration of this massive practice

  • Features

    Platform

    2005-04-15T00:00:00Z

    This issue of eArchitect coalesces around a core theme: competition.

  • Features

    Autocad vs Microstation

    2005-04-15T00:00:00Z

    Autocad’s developer says it is more business-oriented and its format is industry standard, while MicroStation’s claims a better respect for users. David Littlefield reports on the battle for your desk top

  • Features

    Designing by numbers

    2005-03-18T00:00:00Z

    David Littlefield enters the world of algorithms, the heart of a maths revolution changing architecture

  • Features

    Under the bonnet

    2005-03-18T00:00:00Z

    In the multi-faceted arena of IT, there is a fine line between what can be expected of untrained computer users and those who have a detailed professional knowledge of the subject. Partly, this difference comes down to personality; some people like fiddling around “under the bonnet” of their PCs, while ...

  • An early drawing of the prefabricated wedge-shaped Built Environment Centre in Hull.
    Technical

    A lean-to to learn from

    2005-03-11T00:00:00Z

    A super-insulated roof caps off the carbon-neutral Humber Centre in Hull

  • Neri Oxman, Architectural Association. Conceptual study of helical surfaces populated with components that correspond to local stresses.
    Features

    Model behaviour

    2005-02-18T00:00:00Z

    Advanced 3D modelling is increasingly fast and flexible

  • Features

    Platform

    2005-01-21T00:00:00Z

    Welcome to BD’s new IT section, eArchitect. We aim to deliver more comprehensive computer-related material than ever before. Our aim is to keep you up to date with IT developments and provide accessible hands-on advice, while continuing to tackle the bigger, more thematic issues.

  • Image by Christian Derix, using neural networks to drape a canopy over a series of complex shapes using the minimum surface area.
    Features

    Taking out the guesswork

    2004-12-10T00:00:00Z

    Can computer programs bring scientific rationality to design solutions?

  • A late change to Foster & Partners' proposals for the Smithsonian Institute were easily handled by custom-written computer code.
    Features

    Self-help group

    2004-10-22T00:00:00Z

    Franks Gehry’s technological arm has called on UK architects to form a ‘digital ecosystem’ for mutual benefit

  • The unreconstructed Frauenkirche at Dresden before the stones were sorted and catalogued.
    Features

    Clues from the past

    2004-10-22T00:00:00Z

    Work on Dresden’s Frauenkirche and the Sagrada Família have been aided by software that suggest their architects’ intentions.

  • Model: education facility is in white render; main auditorium is clad in oxidised copper.
    Technical

    Dramatic impact

    2004-10-15T00:00:00Z

    Keith Williams makes the complex ‘structural gymnastics’ behind the Unicorn Theatre look easy, writes David Littlefield

  • A prototype house was built in just hours at the Pace Timber Systems manufacturing plant in Milton Keynes.
    Features

    DIY for architects

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    Fed up and frustrated with the lack of integrated building systems, Cartwright Pickard formed a brave new business venture with a manufacturer to simplify housebuilding.

  • BBUK partners Harriet Bourne and Jonathan Bell: "The edge we have over architects is that we're able to see beyond the edge of the site."
    Technical

    Green-fingered guardians

    2004-08-06T00:00:00Z

    Landscape architect BBUK’s partners explain how they are nurturing the broader area beyond the architects’ realm.

  • Features

    Off the shelf and on target

    2004-07-16T00:00:00Z

    When Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners needed a new knowledge management system, the business systems manager took the pragmatic view — customise an existing system.