Category Archives: biodiversity

a new, sustainable visitor centre for the Great Fens

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Visitor centres are funny beasts. They need to be pieces of architecture which are relatively stand out so they act as a kind of wayfinding structure for the site, yet they should be closely related to their locations and compliment the thing that people are actually coming to visit in the first place.

There can be a delicate line between these points. Stand out, yet not too shouty.

The new visitor centre which has recently been unveiled by Atelier CMJN for the Great Fens in Cambridgeshire strikes a nice balance.

Atelier CMJN, Great Fen Visiting Center, Cambridgeshire, rainwater collection, eolic turbine, fen, organic architecture, adaptation, Architecture, Green Materials, Daylighting, green Interiors, energy efficiency,

Constructed from locally sourced timber, the structure also plans to house water recycling, a water heat pump and rainwater collection.

There is also a very nice connection to place, as the side openings in the building allow visitors to see how the surrounding water levels and the landscape changes throughout the seasons.

This is exactly what a visitor centre should do – introduce the building / subject / location to the visitor in such a way that is supportive, not intrusive. The choice of the circular plan will allow this building to open to all of it’s surroundings and the material choice will give a nice vernacular feel to the structure.

A building that we would like to visit as much as the Great Fens themselves.

(image via Inhabitat)

Monday muses – Brighton and Hove become the world’s first One Planet City

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Every Monday here on the Ecospot we look at a slightly meaty issue and today we just had to be talking about the fact that Brighton and Hove has been declared the world’s first One Planet City – very nicely timed as today is also Earth Day.

earth

BioRegional, an independent sustainable accreditation organisation awarded the title to Council leader Jason Kitcat at a presentation last week, which took place at a sustainable housing project in Brighton.

But just what does this award mean?

In essence, it means that Brighton and Hove Council’s Sustainability Action Plan has been recognised for it’s plans to enable residents to live well within a fairer share of the world’s resources.

The Sustainability Action Plan sets out clear goals for Brighton and Hove – including how we can begin to live within the resources of one planet, rather than the current national average of three and a half.

To date, this has been manifested in a number of ways, with the council investing in updated insulation for council owned properties to allow tenants to benefit from lower energy bills and therefore carbon outputs and community growing schemes.

But the Sustainability Action Plan aims to to a great deal more over the next three years – helping residents and businesses in Brighton and Hove to become more sustainably resilient whilst boosting the local economy.

Ten key principles for being a One Planet City are:

Zero carbon - Making buildings more energy efficient and delivering all energy with renewable technologies.

Zero waste - Reducing waste, reusing where possible, and ultimately sending zero waste to landfill.

Sustainable transport - Encouraging low carbon modes of transport to reduce emissions, reducing the need to travel.

Sustainable materials - Using sustainable healthy products, with low embodied energy, sourced locally, made from renewable or waste resources.

Local and sustainable food - Choosing low impact, local, seasonal and organic diets and reducing food waste.

Sustainable water - Using water more efficiently in buildings and in the products we buy; tackling local flooding and water course pollution.

Land use and wildlife - Protecting and restoring biodiversity and natural habitats through appropriate land use and integration into the built environment.

Culture and community - Reviving local identity and wisdom; supporting and participating in the arts.

Equity and local economy - Creating bioregional economies that support fair employment, inclusive communities and international fair trade.

Health and happiness - Encouraging active, sociable, meaningful lives to promote good health and well being.

Many of these have already been initiated by Brighton and Hove City Council, with an increase in recycling collected from communual points within the city (which, although very controversial, appear to be working as a 70% increase in weight of recyclables have been reported), the Food Partnership projects throughout the city as well as them signing up to become a Living Wage employer.

How this accreditation will continue to manifest itself over the coming months and years will be exciting to see – and how Brighton and Hove can continue to grow as a city founded on sustainable principles.

REVISIT – sweet violets – the most beautiful edible flower for Spring?

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Despite the snow, there are a few plants which are beginning to come to life and remind us that spring is surely on its way.

One such plant is the stunning Sweet Violet, which we wrote about last year and is just starting to get going…

March 2012…

A few weeks ago we posted about the earliest edible flowers available to pretty up your plates and this weekend we spotted our favourites – sweet violets, or to give them their proper name, Viola odorata.

There is a large bank near our studio which sits right on the edge of a road, by a bus stop, which is completely smothered by a blanket of sweet violets which fills the air with the most amazing scent each March.

Given their demure size, the scent they produce is actually quite incredible, with a little bunch happily scenting a whole room.

The blooms are also wonderful added to spring salads to give a bit of colour, but our favourite way to use them is to place a single bloom on a chocolate violet flavoured cupcake – the dark brown icing really making the blue purple of the violet sing out. Or, as pictured to the left here, they can be crystallised and added as decorations (these cakes were vanilla with violet extract flavoured icing)

Sweet violets are a great addition to a garden and as they are happy in both full sun or semi shade there will almost certainly be a place that they would love.

Plus, as well as the standard violet coloured sweet violet, you can get white varieties too, which, if colour is not your thing, would be a brilliant alternative.

Get them here or here.

(top image from crocus)

SPOTTED – a great, low tech green walling system

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As some of you are probably aware, we are pretty obsessed with the greening of our cities – be it with ornamental green wall cladding, or preferably with edible landscaping. A few posts of late have been dedicated to the art of green walling, from the highly efficient living wall systems of Biotecture to the very low tech DIY green walling systems using traditional climbers to clad a building.

And there are clear merits to each of the systems, from versatility, water recycling to just utilising natures own plants which want to scramble and climb.  They also come with very different price tags.

One DIY system we really like takes the green wall plants right off the face of the structure itself so potential damage from the plants climbing to the façade of the building is minimised.

green wall 2

So whilst wandering around Ecobuild last week we were delighted to see such a system installed as a demonstration stand around one of the lecture pavilions.

It uses stainless steel fixings which space a tensioned mesh away from the face of the building, creating a secondary skin across which a climber, in this case English Ivy can climb.  What is great is that these types of fixings are readily available, reasonably priced and can be customised to the space you need to clad.

green wall 1

It creates a very nice and clean detail – and some great shadows on the façade of the building, which in this case was large format tiles.

And this is the beauty of shows such as Ecobuild – finding ideas and inspiration for your own projects, so why not take this idea and apply it to your own buildings in need of a bit of green walling?

(images by claire potter)

more climber based green wall cladding…

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A few posts ago we looked at how you can create a green wall type installation using a basic framework, built around your existing building and allowing climbing plants to be grown up the structure.

As we discussed, this sort of installation ensures that damage to the building structure is minimised as the plants are grown off the façade.

It also creates a very interesting secondary skin to the building, which could be allowed to envelop large sections of the structure, or changed periodically to give differences in texture – or even edible crops such as squashes.

It does seem as though this type of ‘green cladding’ is becoming very popular, as we spotted another example at the end of last week, using this very framework based system.

Formerly an existing garage in the Italian Alps, architects Act_Romegialli were bought on board to convert the structure into a welcoming studio for their clients.

green design, eco design, sustainable design, Green Box, Act_romegialli, green roof, Italian Alps, vine covered garage, living walls

The resulting structure, called ‘Green Box’ is encased in a lightweight steel frame upon which climbing plants have been encouraged to grow – shielding the building and developing it into a piece of the landscape itself.

Privacy to the retreat section of the building is given by the growing vines and climbers themselves which filter light passing into the structure.

green design, eco design, sustainable design, Green Box, Act_romegialli, green roof, Italian Alps, vine covered garage, living walls

The interior of the building follows this simple theme, with reclaimed timber boards, stone and steel being used to create a very industrial yet rustic aesthetic.

What is beautiful about this particular project is the simplicity with which it was envisaged - using the natural growth of the plants to create the covering skin – an idea which could easily be employed with any small scale structure.

Garages, sheds, outbuildings – why not think about creating your own green wall cladding this Spring.

(images via Inhabitat)

the edible city – the future of our workplaces?

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This week we have been preparing for a talk we are giving at the University of Brighton for the Brighton Interior Architecture and Architecture Society, about the work of the studio and stuff that inspires us. One such element is the integration and development of the edible city and how this can inform public landscaping and workplace design.

When putting together the lecture, we were aware of just how many concepts there are for the integration of food growing, particularly beautifully rendered, high technology concepts, but just how little are actually built.

Is it that we are just thinking about the edible city but have just not got around to building it yet?

Also, the vast majority of the concepts are new build projects, usually in the vertical format. Towers, Sky Farms, layered buildings with horticulture and agriculture combined.

There is, of course a certain amount of building efficiency which can be planned into a new structure, but it does not necessarily mean that our existing buildings cannot be adapted to integrate localised growing into their footprints.

Dalston 1

We wrote about one such project here – the FARM: shop project by Something and Son in Dalston, London, which uses a standard retail location to produce fish through aquaponics, salads and even eggs from rooftop chickens – all of which is used in the on site cafe. They also run educational programs to encourage other people to grow.

But thinking of the larger, city workplace format, there is one project which is a very interesting example of what the future of our offices could be – and not in a new structure.

The Pasona HQ in Tokyo is based in a retrofitted 50 year old building, which has been adapted to be not only a working environment, but an urban farm.

Pasana hq1

Designed by Kono Designs, the building grows most of the food required to feed its employees, from broccoli, squash, tomatoes and even rice, through a variety of interior and exterior growing methods.

There are growing areas included throughout the building, from the main lobby to private offices and meeting rooms, with both soil based and hydroponic systems being employed.

Pasana hq2

Outside, the exterior of the building has a living facade which includes orange trees, which provides valuable seasonal solar shading and improves the air quality as well as being productive.

What is also great about the Pasona HQ is that the employees actually tend to the crops themselves  and are encouraged to spread the word about growing to other city goers through education – leading by example. The sight of someone cutting the rice paddy in the office reception is a welcome change to the usual piece of sculpture.

Pasana hq3

Overall, this existing building has been redesigned to include 43,000 square feet of ‘farmland’ with over 200 species being grown.

Could this become a model for the development of our edible city and workplaces?

(images via Inhabitat fron Kono Designs)

Cladding with a green wall

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On Friday we looked at how living green wall systems can be used to bring a bit of the Pantone colour of 2013, Emerald Green into an interior space, even though the green wall is most often seen outside.

Of course, as well as bringing a bit of colour into any space, green walls have many air purifying qualities and can even be used to grow edible crops, making then a great space saving choice for residential and business premises. But, as we detailed on Friday, the green wall system is a technical beast.

There are however ways to create a living green wall effect outside with relative ease, as this project, the Art Barn in Greenwich, USA by Robert Young Architecture demonstrates beautifully.

Instead of the traditional panel green wall system that we have come to know, this project takes the effect right back to it’s literal roots – with climbing plants.

The structure is covered with an open mesh type cladding panel which allows the plants, in this case white wisteria, to cling on and scramble up the building. The wisteria acts as a natural rain screen and provides insulative shading in summer, whilst still being a separate ‘skin’ from the building beneath.

This separation provides the feeling of a shield, but also ensures that the vigorous nature of the climbing plants do not do any adverse damage to the structure of the building as they grow. There does seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to climbing plants – good living screens or potential structural nightmares, but if treated with care and attention, with this type of separation, you can have the best of both worlds and is usually the path we adopt with clients with similar projects.

This type of green wall ‘cladding’ is a great way to cover an unsightly building, garage, or to provide a skin for a larger building, just like the example above. Install an open mesh system first, slightly separated from the structure, then choose your climbers. Think of it as a modern, freestanding trellis project and you are pretty much there.

Of course, this type of green wall does take a lot longer to create the end result, but climbing plants which are relatively vigorous can be chosen to cover your chosen structure. You could even mix up your planting with edible climbers too, making the green wall productive as well as aesthetically pleasing.

So, why not think about your own green wall this year? make use of a structure and get growing.

(image via Inhabitat)

REVISIT – early edible flowers

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When planning all of our landscape (or internal planting schemes) we try and make sure they are working as hard as possible for our clients. Multi functioning spaces and companion planting is right up there on our lists, as is edible planting.

For some schemes this is the planning of a vegetable bed, or orchard, or nuttery, or even greenhouse schemes. For others a smaller focus is required, with edible planting being planned into vertical green walls, green roof areas and in the simplest forms, planters and window boxes.

There is something very comforting about being able to wander into your garden or lean out of your window and pluck something to add to your meal, make into a tea or even just garnish a sunday chocolate cake.

And even though it is still pretty chilly outside there are a few plants which are producing the most stunning, and edible little flowers, right now, and are available very readily from all garden centres.

Primroses usually flower in the very earliest parts of Spring, and here in Brighton we already have ours out now. The palest of yellows, the primrose flowers are brilliant candied (coated with egg white and dusted with sugar and left to dry) or added to salads and onto cakes just as they are. They are great as edible additions to anything where a touch of Spring is required.

Violas have to be one of my favourite of the edible flowers and we make sure we always have a good selection of these beautiful little plants around. With the huge wealth of colours available there is always going to be something to suit your own scheme, and they are just wonderful atop the darkest of chocolate cakes as a naturally coloured decoration. I particularly like the bi-coloured flowers, but everything from white to darkest purple black are available so really, take your pick.

Pansies are the bigger and brasher cousin of the delicate viola, but the flowers can be eaten in exactly the same way. Try adding a single bloom to top a cupcake, or to float on drink. Petals can also be torn into salads to add a great bit of colour and interest as well.

Using edible flowers is not rocket science, just make sure you correctly identify ANYTHING you are planning on eating before you shovel it in. But take the time to experiment and these little additions really can bring a dish alive – plus from a horticultural point of view, the plant will produce more flowers for you, so a double bonus.

another trend for 2013 – the designer treehouse

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We are lucky enough to come from a generation where it was fine to climb a tree, build a very rickety structure and then declare that you were going to sleep in it all night. Building and designing a treehouse with my Dad is where my love of materials, structures and architecture began.

There was something very magical about inhabiting a space so close, yet so far removed from the ground level we were used to. Noises were different, you felt the wind and the satisfaction of sleeping in something you had made was wonderful.

And it does seem that as we have grown, we have kept that desire to live in the trees, for however short a time.

Treehouses have literally been springing up everywhere - from the low tech to the highly specified and engineered. This example from architect and master treehouse designer Antony Gibbons is just lovely.

The ‘Inhabit’ treehouse is quite substantial, but all of his structures are designed to minimise their environmental impact.

It evokes the feeling of a woodland watch tower, with large glass panels directing the view through the branches and could sleep up to six people, depending on the internal configuration.

This treehouse is still on the drawing board, but there does seem to be an increasing interest in woodland structures generally within the industry and we would love to see some more actually being built in a sensitive way.

Could 2013 be the year of the treehouse?

(images via Inhabitat, from Antony Gibbon Designs)

REVISIT – snow shows your garden structure

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So, some of us have had some snow, with a bit more on the way for a lot of us. But instead of cursing the white stuff, get outside and start to replan your landscape. Trust us – this works – as we highlighted last year…

Feb 2012.

We have all been shivering a bit in the cold over the past week, with the ravages of ice and snow blasting their way across the UK.

For some things in the garden, this is a really bad thing, with the early risers being caught out by the cold. Other things such as garlic will be really pleased about the drop in temperature. Most other things will not be that bothered. Life is of course a matter of balance.

But there is a very important function that snow (or even a hard frost) can bring to the garden in winter.

Structure.

If your garden does not have structure then it is really evident in the winter, when landscapes are blanketed in one singular colour. If there are not great bones in your garden you will be able to see the flatness easier now than ever before.

Do you have a good balance of evergreen shrubs, skeletal trees and shrubs with good form, arches, urns, statues, buildings or hard landscaping?

Take a step back. Take some photos. Pick out the ‘flat’ areas with a view to moving stuff in early spring, or positioning a new feature.

Now, some flatness can be great. Think of a beautiful, crisp section of lawn or a meadow. But the flat has to be balanced with the bones.

Get your structural bones right and your garden will literally stand up to all weathers and look beautiful come rain or shine, or even frost or snow.

 

(images by claire potter design)