Long Life, Loose Fit, Low Energy: Building Today our Future Heritage

03/10/2017

David Jimenez, Senior Architectural Technologist at our Mayfair office attended a very informative and thought provoking talk at the NLA last week. 

"The main point of the talk was designing buildings to last through generations for different uses. A building can be design for residential uses and have the flexibility in to become offices in the future (or the other way around)

Alex Lifschutz from lds architects explained that he believes that at planning stages architects should provide samples of how their designs can be used through time  for different uses. i.e. different type of families, for example being able to change flats from 1 to 3 bedrooms without having to make a big investment in the future. He talked about how much “standardising”  spaces is crucial and all architects should work on it. 

Simon Alford from AHMMA talked about his new project The White Collar Factory in Old Street. 

He made a good point about avoiding future VE changes making sure that everything designed is strictly necessary. This building  has a concrete structure with exposed ceilings and the big spaces give endless possibilities for different uses in the future.

The chat ended with a discussion with the panel which pointed out that money is usually the problem. There has to be an initial investment to bring these ideas forward and usually developers/architects/etc., do not want to get involved once the building is delivered."

PTAL's group of NLA members will be attending more of these seminars over the next year.