All Technical articles – Page 59
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Technical
Fire watch
The design of buildings, the materials used, the construction and eventual use have always been of prime importance to the fire service. The role of the fire service through statutory consultation and enforcement of primary fire-safety legislation is well documented.
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TechnicalIn detail 18: 2 Plantation Place, London
An 11-storey office building for British Land is the first in the City of London to be approved by building-control officers and insurers using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to determine the extent of fire protection.
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Technical
Technicalities: Poison privet
The obsession with risk avoidance has now spread to the subject of plant selection. No longer are we safe to specify a plant that is perceived to be a potential health risk, even if the plant is so common to be found in virtually every public garden. On ...
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TechnicalStairway to heaven
Sweeping new steps give Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral its long-awaited public space and the entrance architect Frederick Gibberd always intended.
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TechnicalGreen-fingered guardians
Landscape architect BBUK’s partners explain how they are nurturing the broader area beyond the architects’ realm.
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TechnicalIn detail 17: Metropolitan Cathedral campus, Liverpool
A flight of ceremonial steps has been created on the south side of the Metropolitan Cathedral, addressing the Anglican Cathedral at the other end of Hope Street. The public space will be flanked on one side by new offices for hi-tech businesses and by a visitor centre for the cathedral ...
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TechnicalTwisting by the pool
Paddington Basin’s new footbridge is a sculptural beauty, says Amanda Birch. Let’s just hope it works
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TechnicalIn detail 16: A13 Artscape Project Pump Control House
The A13 Artscape project aims to improve conditions for residents, workers, pedestrians and drivers along a 6km stretch of the A13 trunk road in east London. Various artworks have been incorporated into road improvements which include two pedestrian subways, two roundabouts and an underpass. The pump control house contains electrical ...
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TechnicalTechbrief
Glassy metal Architects may soon be specifying a new type of steel that borrows the atomic structure of glass to make it stronger, twice as hard and more corrosion-resistant than conventional steel. In a landmark breakthrough, material scientist Zhaoping Lu and his team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee ...
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Technical
Technicalities: Dogma design
In his film The Five Obstructions director Lars von Trier set his mentor, Jorgen Leth, the challenge of remaking Leth’s film the Perfect Human, but with a series of impediments.
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TechnicalConcretes finer details
Concrete is taken to a new level in Panter Hudspith’s City & County Museum.
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TechnicalIn detail 15: City & County Museum, Lincoln
Located on a site designated as a scheduled ancient monument on the hill below Lincoln Cathedral, the museum uses self-compacting concrete (SCC) extensively to deal with complex geometries and to achieve a very high quality surface finish. The piled foun-dations reuse the slab and some existing piles of a demolished ...
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Technical
Techbrief
Hot off the pressA new guide to underfloor heating has been published by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Domestic Building Services Panel. The Underfloor Heating Design & Installation Guide — to enable architects to understand basic principles and design techniques — covers floor structures and finishes, ...
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TechnicalIn detail 14: Tower of London environs
Tower Hill, the main approach to the Tower of London has been transformed by a new 200m-long public square. Three pavilions on the western side house visitor facilities. The whole square ramps down towards the river to the south at a 1-in-20 gradient avoiding the need for landings. On the ...
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TechnicalWith paint technology, the walls can talk|
Microscopic paint analysis is a process whereby a section of paintwork is analysed under a microscope and photographed to determine the build up of layers. The resulting image is sufficiently detailed to enable the individual pigments of colour to be identified within each paint layer and there-fore allows a ...
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TechnicalHidden treasure
Research and paint analysis have revealed Soane's Moggerhanger House to be one of his finest works.
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TechnicalTechnicalities: Reversible fortunes
In working with historic buildings we are advised by statutory bodies that alterations should be "reversible". I must admit to having severe difficulties with this advice.
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TechnicalIn detail 13: Moggerhanger House Restoration
Restoration work at John Soane’s Moggerhanger House has revealed a two-storey “tribune” which acts as a lobby between the main stair and the rooms on the east side of the house. An opening in the first floor and a roof lantern are being reinstated and this will bring light ...