In Europe oil consumption peaked in 2005. There is a strong push towards renewable energy and this will also affect petrol stations. They will have to develop into charging stations for vehicles powered by gas, electricity and fuel cells and become part of an energy supply system based on smart grids.

Since 1999 the Munich based practice Haack + Höpfner Architekten und Stadtplaner BDA have been working with Allguth, a regional company running petrol stations. The project started as a competition with the brief to find an innovative way of construction which allowed for business growth in the short as well as the long term. The design had to support the brand values and avoid the aesthetic of the ubiquitous industrial shed architecture on fringes of our cities.

The architects proposed a contruction system which is open for future developments and can be adapted to different building sites and local business demands. The system should be based on standards which allow for economic and material efficiencies as well as future growth. At the same time the design should have a positive effect on the visibility of the brand and the company.

Haack + Höpfner . Architekten und Stadtplaner  BDA won the competition and their design integrates  the use of natural light and natural ventilation, modular layouts, energy efficient building automation, standardised construction elements, change of use and re-use of the building as well as recycling and sorting of (so called waste) materials. Another key aspect was the integration of the buildings into the urban environment allowing for plants and green spaces.

The modularity of the system and the high standards of design allow for appreciation by the users, low maintenance costs, easy upgrading and longevity. The introduction of renewable energies will demand more flexible and adaptable quiet design solutions like this.

 © M.HAUS 2009, all right reserved

Solar collectors transform solar radiation into heat and transfer the heat into water, solar fluid or air. The solar heat can be used for heating water for bathrooms, kitchens, swimming pools or heating the house.

At the heart of a solar collector is an absorber, which is normally  made of several narrow metal strips painted black. The black paint absorbs the short wave solar radiation, the absorber heats up and transmits the accumulated solar energy in the form of longwave heat rays to a fluid inside the absorber.

Basic absorbers are often used in outdoor swimming pools. The water is pumped through the absorber and water temperatures up to 20⁰C higher than outside temperatures can be achieved.

Glazed collectors achieve higher temperatures. In flat plate collectors absorber plates are connected to a pipe work system and fitted into a well insulated housing with a glass cover. A heat transfer medium such as a water-glycol mixture, to protect against frost, is pumped through the pipe work. This medium then gives off the heat to the water you can use in your bathroom, kitchen or central heating. Flat plate collectors can achieve temperatures of about 50⁰C and efficiencies of up to 60%.

Vacuum tube collectors offer improved efficiency and higher temperatures. They are made from evacuated glass tubes containing absorber strips. The vacuum provides ideal thermal separation and keeps convection heat losses at a minimum. Vacuum tube collectors can achieve temperatures of up to 70⁰C above the outside temperature and they are suitable to support your heating.

When using renewable energy systems, make sure that you introduce energy efficiency measures such as insulation first. This will prevent you from over sizing your systems and save on investment as well as running costs.          

© M.HAUS 2009, all right reserved

Maybe we should talk about style rather than fashion. Your style will reflect your personal story. Style is about being inventive, innovative, independent and creative. You might love a garment for a long part of your life and it might grow and change with you. Quality, longevity and adjustability become far more important.

Fashion dictates, style allows you to re-invent, re-create and repair. Style is more creative, more satisfying and more responsible. Style builds on ideas and does not discard them. Swap the buttons and suddenly this five year old coat it super cool. You created your own coat, your own design and story.

If you need a car, a well maintained old car is much greener than a new car. Most of the energy a car uses in its lifecycle is embedded in the materials and the manufacturing processes. The quality of most cars is very good. Why not look after it for a long time?

High quality furniture can last you a live time as many of the design classics have proven over the years. Pieces can be repaired and well designed products sit well with a new colour on the walls or a new blanket you have found for your sofa.

Style allows for searching out, swapping, bartering, inventing, making, changing, producing, showing – all rewarding and creative skills.

Suddenly fashion seems rather old fashion.

M.HAUS 2010

Automatic taps have one disadvantage however: the integrated sensors need electric power and very often this power is provided by batteries, which needs servicing and are difficult to recycle.

The Japanese bathroom brand Toto has solved this problem: Their Self Power product range incorporates two technologies for public facilities. They work together to ensure optimum power- and water-saving performance.

The first is an automatic micro-sensor – one of the world’s smallest – positioned at the tip of the spout. Accurate hand detection means only the minimum necessary amount of water is used. Located inside the unit is the second technology, a generator that harnesses the energy from water flowing through the tap to make the micro-sensor energy-self-sufficient. External power supply is therefore cut out.

The high design quality of the Toto product speaks for itself.

www.eu.toto.com

In the United Kingdom, walking has declined by 1% (from 322 km to 317 km per person per year) and cycling by 16% (from 69 km to 58 km per person per year) between 2002 and 2005, although cycling in London has been on a steady increase. Overall European citizens make, on average, 500 trips per year that are shorter than 5 km. The majority of these trips are done by car. Walking could be a realistic alternative for many of these trips.

Getting around cities can be very confusing. 109 journeys between neighbouring central London Underground stations are actually quicker on foot than the Tube. Street signs for pedestrians are hard to read, confusing or non-existent. 

Over the past years the designers at Applied Information Group (AIG) have been working onWalking Cities projects. The team has been designing multi-media systems for cities, which combine on-street signs, paper and digital mapping. The main purpose of the projects is to engage people with the city, make walking easy and reduce dependence on the car and public transport.   

The mapping designed by AIG takes an entirely pedestrian-centric approach. It incorporates graphics of recognisable landmarks and well known retail outlets. It also includes colour coding to indicate direct routes on foot. Custom designed digital mapping is accessible on the Internet – now also accessible on many mobile devices.

AIG have been working on wayfinding systems for Brighton & Hove and Legible London, which includes the three pilot areas Richmond and Twickenham, the South Bank and Bankside as well as Bloomsbury, Covent Garden and Holborn. The first prototype was tested in the West End. Londoners and visitors love the scheme and 85% find it easy to use.

Start the year 2010 walking – it is good for you and the environment.

www.legiblelondon.info

www.visitbrighton.com

www.appliedinformationgroup.com

Textile structures have enormous potential in lightweight construction because of their low weight. Whilst the commercial aviation industry has recently started to use fibre-reinforced plastics, coated fabrics and laminates are finding more and more smart applications in paragliders, kites and hot air balloons.

The Berlin based company aeroix focuses on the development of  innovative products in the field of applied aeronautical sciences and technical textiles. The inter-disciplinary team recently developed and successfully introduced an insulation  system  for hot air balloons called Aerofabrix. The material is a lightweight multilayer fabric and it has the lowest density currently available on the global market.

An air gap within the fabric is required to achieve the insulation properties. Flocked filaments create this air gap whilst being super light. Through this integrated flocked insulation material fuel consumption for ballooning can be reduced by more than 50% or alternatively, larger passengers groups can be transported.

The aeroíx team is currently experimenting with applications in architecture. Other applications could be in the field of protective clothing or outdoor equipment for extreme conditions. The material could also be used in light building structures. aeroix is also working with another Berlin based company called Zendome on lightweight, well insulated and mobile structures,building on Buckminster Fuller’s early groundbreaking structures..

Text by Dr. Sascha Peters, CEO haute innovation – translation by M.HAUS, © all rights reserved

Take your time and explore the two websites – www.aeroix.de and www.zendome.com .

For many drivers, tyres have remained objects of mystery and purchasing decisions can be arbitrary or given over to the dealer. Most of us would not ask for their energy efficiency performance or know how to find the information. On 25 November this year, the European Parliament formally adopted a labelling system, which will make this information easily accessible to consumers.

The information design for this labelling system was done by Applied Information Group (AIG) in London and Mostra managed the project.

The labels build on the iconic and well known energy scale used on EU labels for domestic appliances. AIG has developed three pictograms for the information system, components of which are based on international standards for symbols, and subsequently tested options with would be users. The designers gave consideration to the pictograms’ representation at small sizes and at low resolution, for future multi-channel applications.

The design enables drivers to compare tyres in terms of economy, safety and traffic noise. The information design developed by AIG communicates these concepts and values across all the languages and cultural barriers of Europe. It allows the consumer make well informed choices and purchasing decisions.

However, to achieve a reduction of 40% of CO2 emissions by 2020 a country like Germany will have to reduce its emissions from transport by 15 million tonnes per annum. Technical innovations and higher energy efficiency will help to achieve these goals. If, however, 5% of all car journeys were done by public transport and 30% of all car journeys shorter than 5km were done by bicycle, 3 to 4 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved each year.

 M.HAUS 2009

Until recently this change of attitude would have been regarded as some romantic fancy. However at the DesignBoost conference in Sweden in October this year, Roy Antik, the Development Manager for Sustainability at Skanska announced that the company will reduce its energy and resource consumption by 50%. A key part of this strategy will be local recycling and the use of local materials. Skanska is one of the major players in the construction industry.    

Mass production, global sourcing and the availability of cheap labour has had a huge impact on the quality of our built environment, but also the traditional skills and methodologies in the construction industry.

In a separate initiative,Atelier Rang – an architectural practice based in Frankfurt – recently finished the Tower of Bhaktapur in Nepal. In this project they not only resourced the building materials directly on site, but also combined the traditional hessian building traditions with the local skills of the Newars. The team exported the forms of the Frankfurter Ziegel (brick), but used the local clay dug up on site in Nepal. The scaffolding was made from bamboo grown in a grove next to the site. The bricks were laid in a structure which reflects the Himalayan Mountains.

The architects describe the building as a brick sculpture and the project could be a prototype for local sourcing of materials. The history of architecture is full of such examples. Older brick building in London, Amsterdam or Hamburg are a reflection of the local clay and building traditions. The Tower of Bhaktapur can offer many lessons for the future.

Text by Dr. Sascha Peters, all rights reserved © 2009

Watercone consists of two elements: a black pan and a transparent cone made from thermo- formable polycarbonate. The same material is used in water dispensers. The material is light, it lasts up to five years and  is100% recyclable.

The product in use is as simple as its design: salty or brackish water is poured into the black pan, which absorbs the sunlight and heats the water. The water evaporates and condenses in the form of droplets on the inner wall of the cone. The inner base of the cone is shaped as a trough, into which the water droplets trickle. On top of the cone is cap just like on a water bottle. If you open the cap, tip the cone and turn it upside down, you can pour the condensed water directly into a drinking receptacle.

A single cone can collect between 1.0 and 1.7 litres of water per day. Its primary use is in costal areas in developing countries with no access to clean drinking water. The Watercone is becoming widely used in field and mobile hospitals, where the supply of clean water can make the difference between life and death. The product can generate business for water traders who have plied the markets in Africa, the Mid East and Asia for centuries.

Watercone has received many awards and has been shown in many prominent exhibitions such as the 11th Biennale Architecture in Venice and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

www.watercone.com