She envisions a near future where AI and machine learning will significantly change the construction industry, from better data management and analysis to possibly altering work methods and material handling.
Whereas when you walk in here, you’ve got the smell of the deli, of the food, of coffee.’.Martin Wood describes the concentration for the design of the hospital as being on efficiency of flow, in a way that ‘owes more to manufacturing processes, owes more to buildings that are directly about efficiency in outcome.’ However, he notes that at Circle this doesn’t compromise the user experience in the least.
‘Emphasis on value,’ he says, ‘does not necessarily mean that it precludes the use of interesting architectural form.’ Rather, the opposite.The atrium aids with facilitating natural and easy way-finding, says Wood, adding that the building’s concentration on flow efficiency, as well as the sense of legibility the space provides, actually lends itself to a reduction in stress.‘Everything is self explanatory,’ he says.
‘There is no need for signs.It’s very evident where you might go for your consultation, or go to diagnostics, or in fact, go up to prepare for an operation…’.
‘You can feel that it’s like the hub,’ says Adam Chivers, commenting on the central functionality of the atrium.
‘There are nurses backwards and forwards...consultants....and although you can feel that a lot is going on, it’s still calm.’.There is an increasing amount of pressure growing in the construction industry to design net zero carbon buildings, both in terms of operational and embodied carbon.
In this context, bodies such as the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI), RIBA, GLA and UKGBC, have developed guidance documents on embodied carbon, which include specific targets and roadmaps to achieving net zero carbon prior to 2050.. Based on LETI Climate Emergency Design Guide, a typical medium size residential building embodied carbon, would be 33% of the total carbon, whilst the operational carbon would be around 67%.However, for an ultra-low energy building, like Passivhaus, the breakdown would be 77% embodied and 23% operational and this balance is likely to become more enhanced with the decarbonisation of the grid.
This means that embodied carbon is becoming a more important focus for the sustainable design of buildings..Typical operational and embodied carbon breakdown for medium scale residential for a standard building (left) and for an ultra-low energy building.