Bike hire comes to London

London is finally set to receive it's cycle hire scheme in the next few months, with operations set to be ready for the summer. The scheme, backed by pro-bicycle London Mayor Boris Johnson is based around the successful scheme which operates in Paris. The bicycle hire scheme will feature a number of 'cycle banks' positioned around the city from which users will borrow the bikes for short journeys, then returning them to any other cycle bank. Bicycle hire is predicted to create an additional 40,000 bicycle trips today around the capital, and of course all this travel will be totally green and environmentally friendly- a journey on a bike rather than hopping on a bus will even benefit the health of Londoners. This is defiantly a scheme which should be welcomed in the capital.

Forgotten spaces- Brunel's Thames Tunnel

For two days only Londoners had an opportunity to experience one of the worlds engineering masterpieces close up- for the first time in 145 years. The Thames Tunnel, built by Marc Brunel and completed by his better known son Ismbard was the worlds first underwater tunnel, running beneath the Thames from Wapping to Rotherhithe. It took a mammoth 18 years to construct, with many problems along the way. Many men perished in the construction and the tunnel flooded on several occasions. When it finally opened to the public in 1843 it was an instant crowd puller, dubbed the 'eighth wonder of the world'- people flocked to the tunnel to experience the novelty of walking under the river and to visit the shops and stalls selling merchandise beneath the Thames. The tunnel despite attracting visitors was a financial disaster, and was purchased in 1865 by the East London Railway Company. Since 1869 the tunnel has been used by trains, latterly as part of London Underground's East London Line. The tunnel today is in the final stages of being converted to part of the London Overground network which will open in may.While scheduled trains are not using the tunnel the opportunity was taken to open it to the public for the first time in 145 as part of London's 'East' festival. For two days the public were once again able to walk through the tunnel as part of guided groups. Credit must go to Transport for London, The London Transport Museum and the Brunel Museum for organising the event. Despite some complaints about it's organisation it is pleasing to see that events such as this can be successfully staged. Now how about some more access to London's hidden treasures?

Can we stop being retarded please?

It is true that the inhabitants of today's society are not as intelligent that they used to be? Certainly they seem to be treated as such. Everywhere one travels there seems to be a plethora of signs and instructions advising the public how to do all of the simplest tasks. It is as if people have lost all sense of self awareness and common sense.
The situation seems to be getting more and more absurd as time progresses. Just yesterday South Kensington tube station felt the need to get out the 'Due to the current adverse weather- please take extra care' announcement... but where was the 'adverse weather' it was sunny... the surfaces were dry... there may have been some chance of rain, but really this is London. Rain is not 'adverse weather'. These announcements might be appropriate in the snow- they should not be played continuously whatever the weather- plus, as I suspect already happens, if they become too common people will stop listening to them and ignore them really.
People today are not stupid- we must stop treating them as such!

Decode at the V & A

'Decode- Digital Design Sensations' is a series of digital installations currently on show at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Digital technology is increasingly being recognised as a design or artistic tool, with this exhibition aiming to showcase examples of work under the titles of 'Code', 'Interactivity' and 'Network'. The installations range from those which process data to create a visual outcome to those which require full audience participation.

I personally unconvinced by many of the digital applications on show at Decode- I see very little value in a screen displaying a number of dots while making occasional squeaking noises- this apparently being an interpretation of random data. This does nothing to aid my understanding of this data, or to engage me.

However it is easy to see that the digital technology has clearly got an appeal. Even the briefest look around the exhibition room revealed that, on a Friday afternoon, it was positively busy. People were clearly drawn in by this exhibition more so than others in the museum- despite the entry fee. Maybe this was in due in part by the fact that people moved more slowly- taking time to understand the exhibits- or maybe it was just more interesting. Where the exhibition really began to interest me was in the second half, where the interactive installations were to be found. I do believe that interactive elements in design, when they work well, can be very effective at engaging an audience, and also promoting connections. The works at Decode certainly seemed to be achieving this. People were happy to interact with the pieces, however it made them look- and began to talk to other users also. This for me is how technology could influence my design. I have no interest in a 'computer graphic statue' or an image pieced together from incomprehensible data- but if there is a way to use technology to inspire people, and attract them, surely this is the use we should be looking for within design.

Traffic Lights

Traffic lights- like it or not they are a feature on our roads which are unlikely to go away. There are many locations where traffic lights are essential to the smooth flow of traffic, many busy junctions, narrow tunnels and busy pedestrian crossings. Are there too many traffic lights though? Or are they just unintelligent? Speaking both as a motorist and a pedestrian, some of the most annoying traffic lights are the 'ineffective' crossings. As a pedestrian you press the button... wait... and wait... but before the lights have stopped the traffic you manage to cross anyway, resulting in the motorist then having to stop... for nobody to cross the road. These crossings can work... when they stop the traffic quickly, but too many are ineffective.
There are too many traffic light controlled junctions as well- it always pleases me to see, as a motorist, that on the occasions where the lights stop working at junctions- life usually continues- people remember rules of courtesy, and the traffic flows. So are the lights really necessary?
The final nightmare with lights is driving at unsociable hours of the night or early morning... you are the only car on the road, yet you have to stop at string of red lights. Surely we should have more 'part time' traffic signals... or introduce a 'flashing amber' signal advising motorists to 'proceed at caution' at times when the road is quiet. Such a signal is used in other locations around the world.
It needs to be remembered that drivers can exercise common sense at junctions- we really don't need all the traffic lights we have. Removing or altering lights to aid the free flowing of traffic could cut carbon as well!

EcoBuild 2010

On 2nd March I attended the annual EcoBuild convention at London's Earls Court exhibition centre.

Ecobuild has become established as the worlds largest event devoted to sustainable design and the built environment, with thousands of suppliers featuring innovative products for use within the construction and design industries. Across the three day event there are also a wide variety of seminars and talks on all subjects relating to sustainability within the built environment.

During my time at the convention this year I attended three talks:
-What makes a sustainable community: discussing the most important factors of sustainability within communities both culturally and environmentally. The talk featured guest speakers including Peter Head (a director of ARUP, with responsibility for designing the eco-town of Dongtang in China) and David Blunkett (MP). The talk discussed issues of why people live where they do, and what makes people stay in a place. The implications of transport as well as the provision of facilities within local areas. The talk concluded with a discussion about the practicalities of the new eco-town movement.

-Retrofitting SUDS: Hosted by Paul Shaffer of the CIRA. This interesting talk gave an introduction to SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems), their uses and applications before looking in detail at a project to retrofit SUDS into an area of Bristol known as 'The Dings' and another example of SUDS being used successfully in a brownfield development in Sheffield.

-Streets for People: A riveting talk hosted by Ben Hamilton Bailey discussing the upcoming tred for 'shared space' streets and the removal of street furniture to better integrate streets into our urban environment. After an in depth introduction to the topic several schemes were presented, firstly the scheme in Ashford presented by Lindsey Whitelaw of Whitelaw Turkington Landscape Architects and concluding with a presentation on the re-designing of Oxford Circus.

Altogether EcoBuild 2010 was a very full interesting and inspiring day.
EcoBuild 2011 will be hosted in March at the Excel Centre.