omnispace

HySSil

HySSil is a revolutionary aerated cementitious (cement-based) product that is as strong as normal concrete but is only half as heavy. It provides up to five times the thermal insulation of concrete and is also impact and fire resistant. Significant savings are achieved because the CSIRO HySSIL technology uses readily available raw materials in smaller quantities, and through the low-cost and low-energy technology developed by CSIRO.  Unlike certain processes used to manufacture aerated products, HySSIL production does not require expensive curing equipment.

Cielos

Conventional luminous ceilings actually use relatively little lighting technology. They rely exclusively on a maximum clearance between lamp and diffuser - typically 300 to 700 mm - in order to produce uniform illumination, and rarely offer many color options. Cielos is a multi-colored luminous ceiling system comprised by the lowest-profile, wide-area luminaires available.

Board 16

Developed by Traxon Technologies, Board 16 SMD RGB is a lighting system which allows for the easy installation of LED on floors, ceilings, walls and other horizontal and vertical surfaces. Installed behind fixed or malleable foregrounds, the Board spreads its light from 16 high performance RGB SMDs (Surface Mounted Diodes). The Board's compact size of 23 cm x 23 cm x 1.85 cm allows for the realization of a variety of geometric shapes, and the wide beam angle of 120° guarantees an even light spread. As an optional accessory, the installation pad ensures a fast and easy mounting of the boards in a precise way. Board 16 may be used in interior applications such as exhibition spaces, interiors, bars, casinos, offices, restaurants, shops, shopping centers, and a wide number of commercial applications.

Pixel Skin

Developed by Sachin Anshuman, Principal Organizer for the Intelligent Building Laboratory at GCU Glasgow and creator of Orange Void, Pixel Skin is a smart surface designed to regulate light, solar radiation and views, as well as display dynamic signage. Anshuman's prototype uses shape memory alloys (SMA) to actuate each of four triangular panels residing within a single module, and each surface acts as a "pixel" with 255 increments between open and closed states. Pixel Skin is designed to create dynamic windows which allow views or control internal lighting conditions across the building membrane in response to particular subject states and their positions. The surface may also simultaneously be used to generate low resolution images, low refresh-rate videos, or abstract patterns. A response to common conflicts encountered with daylighting and signage in contemporary architectural surfaces, Pixel Skin is an electrographic surface which allows the integration of illumination and view controls with real-time communications media.

Linelight

Developed by the innovative Tokyo-based company Material House, Linelight maximizes the illumination potential of artificial lighting by channeling the illumination of a single light source along a line. Linelight is comprised by a highly-reflective mirror housing fronted by an acrylic lens designed for even dispersion, which is contained within an aluminum frame. Linelight accepts lamps from 35 to 150 Watts in power, and will carry bright light 30 feet using only a single lamp. Not only are fewer fixtures required compared with conventional point-source installations, but maintenance is also simplified, as only a single fixture must be changed.

Expedition Engineering

Expedition Engineering is a London based firm of structural and civil engineers. Co-founder Chris Wise and his team have lead engineers on international projects with construction costs of up to £400m. Chris's engineering skills have won him the Construction Industry Building of the Year award and the Stirling Prize. Key projects include the Commerzbank HQ in Frankfurt (still Europe’s first green skyscraper), the Millennium Bridge in London, the American Air Museum in Duxford, the 290m Barcelona Telecoms Tower, and the Halley 6 Ice Station in Antarctica (the world’s first walking building).

Freeform Construction

Milan Exhibition Hall by Massimilano Fuksas
Freeform Construction combines high levels of automation and computer control with the design and construction process.  It is based on an existing technology known as Rapid Manufacturing. In its simplest form, you will be able to build literally any design or shape of building and at any scale. As each layer is printed you can create all the channels and ducts required for ventilation and air conditioning.  You can print in optical fibre networks and you can print in really complex structures digitally scanned from respiratory and circulatory systems to serve the same function in our own dwellings.  These are the self-regulating and adaptive structures we find in nature that we can print into the walls to make buildings which do not use electricity to regulate our environment.

The construction industry is facing significant pressures which can only be met through, what is perceived to be, a step change in construction methods. The ‘drivers for change’ arise from many sources, not least the UK Government’s own analyses demanding change and improvement, the latest being Rethinking Construction (Egan 1998). Interestingly, Egan looks to correct the system without making consideration or emphasis on the process of construction. ‘End of Life’ policies are driving radical changes to manufacturing which, some believe, can only be met by the Freeform Construction methods currently under development.  Such demands are expected to hit the construction industry whose implications go beyond the capabilities of existing and proposed ‘off-site’ solutions.

Technology Trends

Roland Piquepaille lives in Paris and spent most of his career in software for high performance computing and visualization for Cray Research and Silicon Graphics. He left the corporate world three years ago to become an IT consultant and in 2002 started a blog about technology trends and how they will affect our lives.

Smart Geometry

The SmartGeometry Group is dedicated to educating construction professions in the new skills which will be required to use these new systems effectively. The Group includes Lars Hesselgren (KPF), Hugh Whitehead (Foster and Partners), J Parrish (Arup Sport) and Robert Aish (Bentley) They all have background in parametric modelling as applied to architecture and their work has resulted in some of the most admired buildings of the 21st century - Swiss Re and GLA in London, the Sydney Olympic Stadium in Sydney, the Waterloo International Station. Currently their development efforts are focused on the new Generative Components technology being created by Robert Aish at Bentley Systems.

NanoFabric

This electrospun fiber mat was developed by the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center, Supporting Science and Technology Directorate, and fabricated by Heidi Schreuder-Gibson. It's made in part of electrospun nanofibers of polyethylene oxide.