BUILDING BRIGHTER FUTURES
What are the long-term forces shaping the future of the built environment and what opportunities will these create for innovation?
Travis Perkins and Dragon Rouge have explored how we will live and work in the future, in the hope that this will inspire us to find brighter ways to build. We spoke to engineers, architects, academics, critics, data specialists, designers, futurologists, magazine editors, researchers and students. The result is six forces that we believe will shape the future of both the physical and digital environment. Watch the animated stories that bring the report to life at: dragonrouge.com/buildingbrighterfutures Join the conversation on Twitter: #brighterfutures
Interviewees Josef Hargrave Associate, Foresight + Research + Innovation, Arup Owen Zachariasse Head of Innovation & Sustainability, Delta Development Group Renny Ramakers Co-Founder and Creative Director, Droog James McLachlan Editor, onoffice
DE VE L OP ME NT G R OU P
Adrian Dobson Director of Practice, RIBA Paul Runaghan Senior Associate, Farrells Mark Miodownik Professor of Materials and Society, UCL Mark Stevenson Founder and futurist in residence, We Do Things Differently Ltd
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Squeeze on space 2
Business equals pleasure 3
The responsive environment 4
The rise of community 5
The maker movement 6
Zero waste society
Squeeze on space
SQUEEZE ON SPACE Britain’s urban population will continue to swell and age, changing the way we live, work, travel and have fun
Space will become a luxury good: how can we help people make more of the space they have? How can we bring the natural environment and the built environment closer together? How will new materials, resources and products combine to suit vertical living and modular building?
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Squeeze on space
SPACE SHARING Space will become the ultimate luxury. Multiple generations will increasingly share spaces with others, including homes and working environments.
73 MILLION estimated size of the UK population in 2030
10 MILLION estimated population of London in 2030
92%
“London’s response has partly resulted in the transformation of its skyline. More than 200 buildings over 20 storeys are planned, which is causing quite a stir. I would support the idea of a ‘skyline commission’ for a more structured, defined and considered policy that would merge existing policy documents, mimicking New York’s prescriptive zoning, Singapore’s ‘Gardens in the Sky’ and Vancouver’s enhanced planning procedures which improve designs through peer review.” Paul Runaghan, Senior Associate, Farrells
GREEN WALLS Located in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, a lightfilled apartment, designed by SVOYA studio, comes furnished with an eclectic interior and amazing vertical green walls in the main living area.
DETRIVIALISATION OF SPACE People will seek to make the most of space, through multifunction and modular buildings and interiors.
46M2
Vertical green walls, SVOYA studio
MODULAR LIVING Peg furniture is a flexible furniture system which can be disassembled and all hung from a peg rail on the wall when not in use.
of UK population living in urban areas by 2030
3 MILLION estimated number of adults currently living with their parents in the UK
68% increase in households containing 2 or more families between 1996 and 2012 COHOUSING Springhill Cohousing scheme, Gloucestershire, was the first cohousing project to be completed in the UK. Containing 34 homes, ranging from one bedroomed flats to five bedroomed houses, it has a three-storey common house with a kitchen where meals are cooked. SHARED OPEN SPACES Copper Lane, North London, has no private gardens or washing machines but shared open spaces, a laundry and a communal room for entertaining, which are collectively managed and maintained. GRADUATE TO THE GARDEN The UK ‘garden room’ market has jumped 50% in the last 2 years. Costing £16-20 thousand and with no requirement for planning permission, the pods are seen as a cost-effective way to increase the amount of private space at home.
the average size of a one bedroom new home in the UK, the size of a London underground carriage
57% of people say that they do not have enough storage for all of their possessions “Space is already a luxury, particularly in large, dense and fast-growing cities. In many places there will be a growing need for higher-density living, similar to what we already find in places like Hong Kong.” Josef Hargrave, Associate, Foresight + Research + Innovation, Arup FLOATING CITIES A floating village at London’s Royal Docks has the official nod and Rotterdam has a Rijnhaven waterfront development experiment well underway. Eventually, whole neighbourhoods of water-threatened land could be given over to the seas. After decades of speculation and small-scale applications, the floating solution is finally enjoying political momentum – and serious investment. GROW UP! Sprouting walls and fences are the hot new trend in garden design. Pioneered by Patrick Blanc, the simple to design, install and maintain gardens make it easy to take advantage of smaller spaces. 5
EVERYTHING FITS BrickBox units function both as shelves and storage boxes. They can be stacked like bricks and fit into any sized apartments, even in tough spots under stairs. Stacked high enough, they can be used to divide walls or offices into separate spaces or even rooms. LEGO-STYLE A one and two bedroomed apartment complex, located in Perth, took just 10 days to assemble. Each apartment is factory assembled, so they can be simply be stacked like Lego. 15 apartments were erected per day. “We’re designing buildings that are called Unitised Systems so the facades are manufactured to a module and just get replaced as and when required. It’s easier for installation.” Paul Runaghan, Senior Associate, Farrells
Business Equals Pleasure
BUSINESS EQUALS PLEASURE The boundaries between work and play are blurring, as a result of more fluid time management, mobile and wireless technology
How can we help people to create and maintain a workspace at home, in the garden, or beyond? How can we train people in the construction industry to be better entrepreneurs, as well as better builders? How can we respond to the need for working spaces to contain a mix of fun and functional areas?
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Business Equals Pleasure
“With the increase in tuition fees, universities have realised they will have to up their game if they expect students to spend £10,000 to study at their institution. They’re going to have to build top-notch facilities, and we’ve seen a lot of universities investing heavily in their campuses.” James McLachlan, Editor, onoffice
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Business Equals Pleasure
ENTREPRENEUR GENERATION The traditional concept of a ‘career ladder’ is being replaced by a non-linear ideal, where working lives involve multiple careers, often concurrently.
55% of 16-25 year olds want to set up their own business, according to a recent YouGov survey
14% of 16-25 year olds in 2014 had already begun to set up their own business, compared to 8% in 2013
71% of Millennials want and expect to work overseas at some point in their career
41% of Millennials prefer to communicate electronically while at work, rather than faceto-face or by telephone GOOGLE CAMPUS “At Campus, our mission is to create an environment that encourages innovation through collaboration, mentorship and networking. With speedy Wi-Fi, a café, frequent networking and speaking events and co-working space, Campus is seven floors dedicated to startup success.”
£2.1 BILLION expected contribution of pop-up retail to the UK economy in 2014
PEER-TO-PEER BORROWING LendInvest is the world’s largest peer-to-peer marketplace for home mortgages, with £132m invested to date. Lenders receive an average return of 7.8% p.a. Their aim is to change the whole concept of a mortgage, making the process faster, easier and more transparent.
83% of people cited flexibility as an important factor in choosing their current job, according to the Telework Research Network
FLEXIBLE WORKING ENVIRONMENTS The concept of a working environment is expanding along with our definition of working lives, to allow for more seamless and flexible transitions between work and play, online and offline.
703 coworking spaces in the USA in 2011
MODERN WORKSPACES ContainerVille is a new home for start-ups and small businesses. 30 shipping containers are arranged over 2 floors and up-cycled into modern workspaces by Regent’s Canal, London. Each container can accommodate up to eight desks, which works out at about £35 per desk per week. COLLABORATION ZONES Alphabeta London claims to be an ‘architectural expression of the new economy’, offering small office clusters, chill-out zones, rooftop bars, lofty atriums and a ramp that allows people to cycle straight into the building’s basement, where secure storage and changing facilities await. MEMBERSHIP NeueHouse is designed for entrepreneurs in creative industries, influenced by successful hospitality models, to promote collaboration and creativity among teams and entrepreneurs. Membership of NeueHouse was initially by invitation only and a committee is used to decide which people on the waiting list are admitted to the club.
2,498 coworking spaces in the USA in 2013 A three stage hierarchy of co-working models is emerging: CUBISM All that is provided is a desk, power and access to the Internet. COLLABORATION Open, collaborative workspaces that blend fun with function. COMMUNITY Spaces designed to stimulate interactions between like-minded entrepreneurs.
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Googleplex patio
“If you look at Apple, or Google, not only do they have work spaces, but they have spaces to play, they have restaurants… Maybe in the future it would be that organisations build vertically and have all these elements integrated vertically. The only time that people need to leave the building is when they want to go home, or maybe they’ll want to live there as well.” Paul Runaghan, Senior Associate, Farrells
The Responsive Environment
THE RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENT The planning of buildings and places will increasingly resemble car design, becoming more complex and dynamic
How will we make sure smarter, more responsive buildings lead to happier people? How can we inspire and educate people through the sensorial and emotional benefits of different materials? How can we efficiently design, maintain and upgrade sensors and systems?
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The Responsive Environment
INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS Buildings will become dynamic structures, capable of maintaining themselves, responding to the environment around them and the people inside them.
“The ‘Home of the Future’ will adapt to user needs through three key attributes: Show me: it will make complex data visible and useful to make better choices Know me: it will learn consumer needs and recognise lifestyle patterns Tell me: it will proactively adjust to their needs and provide suggestions without being asked.” Boo-Keun Yoon, CEO Samsung Electronics PROTO HOMES “Your house should be at least as smart as your phone”
The ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) is made up of billions of connected devices – from toasters to traffic lights – that use the Internet to respond to one another and to us. The explosion of the IoT is the result of the scale and cost-efficiency of cloud computing.
2 BILLION objects connected to the IoT in 2006
200 BILLION projected number of objects connected to the IoT by 2020.
“I think the advertising industry is an interesting analogy. Advertising was traditionally based around creative and account management skills. A huge chunk of their business is [now] actually around writing web-based code. You can see that shift happen in architecture... It’s not necessarily just going to be people with traditional architectural skills we need. I think all these boundaries and definitions of disciplines are going to begin to break down a little bit.” Adrian Dobson, Director of Practice, RIBA Burberry’s flagship stores in London and Shanghai are designed to bring their online experience to life in a physical space. The stores include interactive facades and displays that react to both people and natural light through RFID technology. According to CEO, Christopher Bailey: “The approach to the store was to make a bridge between the online and offline experience.”
DESIGN FOR EMOTION Materials and spaces will be selected for their emotional effect, as well as their functional properties. Thinking City is a forum for discussing and understanding how to improve our experience of the urban environment – ‘space and place’. This experience can be individual or communal. It can be multisensory – incorporating sight, sound and sensation and builds on research into environmental psychology. “We want to create a city model based on lifestyles... Once we’ve mapped [‘city dwellers’’] desires and needs we are going to design all kinds of solutions around them. It could be businesses, it could be spaces, it could be anything.” Renny Ramakers, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Droog The University of Lincoln has created a ‘Social Media Garden’ that uses Twitter feeds to map and respond to the emotional state of the people it interacts with. The garden reacts to activity on Twitter when people use the #gardenup hashtag, translating this information into movements of the garden’s mechanical landscape.
The ultimate benefit of a smart, connected built environment is a more efficient, smarter city. IBM and Cisco have both raced into this category, installing sensors and using people’s smartphones to bring together personal and public data as ‘big data’.
SMART HOUSEWORK Tech and media companies such as Virgin Media and Samsung Electronics have recently released their visions for the ‘Home of the Future’ – typically involving lots of screens and connected gadgets. The Samsung WW9000 is the first connected washing machine to be sold in the UK. It can automatically assess the optimal cycle to use, based on the weight and dirtiness of the laundry. And it can be remotely controlled using a smartphone.
As more and more technology is incorporated into our buildings, Moore’s Law will begin to kick in. Those buildings will need to be continuously upgraded as technology evolves and improves. More frequent upgrading of the building’s infrastructure will be required.
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“We’re also thinking of how we can actually live. For example, some people have designed vertical botanical gardens. You may actually be bringing people together in vertical communities, rather than horizontal communities… this needs a complete change in people’s perceptions of what a tall building can do.” Paul Runaghan, Senior Associate, Farrells
The Responsive Environment
“The garden essentially points to a future in which buildings could modify themselves in response to monitoring our emotional state via social media… Buildings may begin to reflect the mood of a populace by changing colour or shape, constantly remapping our perception of our urban environment, with façades becoming animated, reflective and mobile in response to communal desires and emotions.” Richard M Wright, Senior Lecturer, Lincoln School of Architecture Materials have sensorial and emotional properties, as well as functional properties and we are only just beginning to explore these qualities. “There is an enormous amount of work going on in material properties. Stainless steel for example, is not the right material for a hospital. Copper alloys kill bacteria very fast and if you had copper surfaces in hospitals you would really reduce the contamination of handles and things like that.
Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria
We also found that the material itself changes your perception… different woods, plastics, ceramics, glasses… We made spoons of different materials and started doing blind taste tests and found some quite striking differences in how things taste and feel.” Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials and Society, UCL Kunsthaus in Graz, Austria, was created in 2003, to serve as a hallmark of the City’s status as European Capital of Culture. One of the façades was designed to function as a large scale instrument of communication, interacting with the people and the environment that surrounds this cultural centre. Researchers at MIT have created the Place Pulse tool to explore how the urban environment affects people’s perceptions of a city’s safety and sense of affluence. The data produced by the tool can be used to create colour-coded maps based on people’s perceptions. Those maps can then be compared directly with maps that show the prevalence of crime across a city, for example. The MIT research team discovered that in New York perceptions of unsafe areas correlated strongly with incidence of violent crime.
Place Pulse, MIT Media Lab
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Materials have sensorial and emotional properties, as well as functional properties and we are only just beginning to explore these qualities.
Construct Me! Hardware Collection by Studio Droog
The Rise of Community
THE RISE OF COMMUNITY Complex global networks and supply chains will give way to more localised, more meaningful interaction
How will a ‘community hub’ for tools and materials benefit local areas? How can we facilitate peer-to-peer sharing of tools and materials between local tradesmen? How can we move profitably towards locally sourced materials?
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The Rise of Community
65% of Britons say that their neighbourhood would be a ‘stronger’ and safer place if people were encouraged to get to know each other better
50% of people use the internet to find local information
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The Rise of Community
SHARED RESOURCES Online social networking will increasingly result in meaningful offline interactions at a community level, with increased sharing and local initiatives.
ZIPCAR Zipcar are redefining the way people think about transportation. Born from the desire to get fewer cars on roads, they anticipate that 10% of the population in the US and UK will adopt club cars as their primary mode of transportation.
SHARING SURPLUS Recipro is an online exchange for construction surplus and re-usable materials. It can be used to pass on leftover building supplies or to source good quality, low cost construction materials.
36% of people believe that a building’s history makes it iconic
8% of people contact their neighbours online
“The idea of the high street and what the high street is going to be like in the future, relates a lot to how communities are going to be organised and how local services are delivered. There could be a greater shift towards communities that are collaborative and self-supporting, and where services around health and work are delivered on the local high street.” Josef Hargrave, Associate, Foresight + Research + Innovation, Arup
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE Zipcar
THE MOST EXCLUSIVE RESTAURANT IN TOWN Eatwith offers people the opportunity to experience new cuisines, people and environments by putting them in touch with people who like to cook for others at home. COMMUNITY CENTRE Somers Town Community Hub, Portsmouth, was built to help kickstart regeneration in the local area. Facilities within the threestorey hub include a community centre, a youth centre, a primary care trust and dental surgery, a local housing office and a pedestrian bridge. The community centre has a number of lounges, a sports hall and a curved fully glazed double height communal lounge at its centre.
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The Traditional Buildings Company specialise in working on older properties, using traditional building techniques and local materials where appropriate. They have an in-depth understanding of the way older buildings were designed to function and apply this knowledge in their day-to-day work. They work hard to reveal and preserve the original craftsmanship used to build local heritage. DEBRANDING TO DIFFERENTIATE Starbucks are refitting their flagships stores in each major city in the US to revolve around the local environment, cultures and traditions. LEED Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design is a green building certification programme that recognises best-in-class building strategies and practices.
people are worried about the lack of amenities in their local area CAMDEN SHARES Camden Shares is an online marketplace that helps to put demand and supply together. If someone has an idea for something they would like to do, but is struggling to get their hands on resources, people, time, effort or support, they can use Camden Shares to request what they need.
Building will evolve over time to reflect local history, economy, culture and materials.
SOCIAL SUPERMARKET Community Shop redistributes surpluses that exist in the food supply chain. Initially in pilot, their members receive 70% off the recommended retail prices. Community Shop also provides people with access to extended services such as CV writing skills, debt advice, cookery classes and skills training.
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Principles that buildings are judged on include how local the materials are, how a building fits into the local environment and the effects it has on transport links.
400 MILLION tonnes of material are delivered to construction sites in the UK each year
The Rise of Community
EatWith
60 MILLION
“Society is definitely moving to a more circular economic approach. I think we all need to get into a more circular economy, and there’s so many ways we can do it.”
tonnes go straight to tip due to over ordering or damage RECLAIMED MATERIAL MARKETS One way to address the pressure of reducing waste is through the use of reclaimed materials. The materials might be altered, resized, refinished, or adapted, but they are not reprocessed in any way, and remain in their original form.
Renny Ramakers, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Droog
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The Maker Movement
THE MAKER MOVEMENT People will become more involved in the design and maintenance of the material world
How will we provide people with the unique and customisable products/ materials that they desire? How can we bring builders and their customers closer together so that they can share knowledge and insight? How can we introduce additive manufacturing to create greater speed, flexibility and cost efficiency?
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The Maker Movement
WORLD OF MORE CRAFT
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURE
Online platforms will enable smallscale, local creators to develop a market for their products.
The rise of 3D printing technology will enable greater personalisation and on-demand fabrication.
93%
×3
of people do or have done DIY
The global 3D printer market is predicted to triple in value over the next 4 years
REPAIR CULTURE
£417 MILLION
Austerity and the rising cost of raw materials will result in a revival of a ‘make-do-and-mend’ attitude.
41% of people would rather pay a professional than engage in DIY BUZZFEED CULTURE BuzzFeed offers news as entertainment, applying twists to popular items and trends from politics and nature through to business and DIY. HOME HACKING Websites such as ikeahackers.net provide inspiration to help people adapt their homes to take advantage of quick and no fuss wins that save time, money and effort. TECHSHOP TechShop is a playground for creativity. Part fabrication and prototyping studio, part hackerspace and learning centre. “You could argue that the role of the DIY centre will change considerably going forward. Spaces such as TechShop in the US are already transforming how people make things and innovate. It’s like a gym membership. You sign up and can use and learn about any machine imaginable, from 3D printers to CNC cutters. People have built motorbikes and jet packs using TechShop. This trend reflects a democratisation of much more complex design and manufacturing processes, which are creating a new generation of makers that go far beyond the current DIY enthusiasts. I think there is a risk for existing DIY centres to miss this trend, and the opportunity to build and expand within an entirely new customer base.” Josef Hargrave, Associate, Foresight + Research + Innovation, Arup ETSY Etsy is on a mission to re-imagine commerce in ways that build a more fulfilling and lasting world. Etsy connects people by making fashion a form of socialising and allows local creators to develop a market for the products they make.
projected worldwide spending on 3D printing in 2014, up from £180m in 2012 “With 3D printing you can build in more variations, more personal variations, so more colours. And you can have more different decorations so it becomes, in the end, more personalised.” Renny Ramakers, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Droog THE ANSWER TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING? Researchers from the University of Southern California created a 3D printer that can build a 230m2 house in 24 hours. They have also developed a new layered fabrication technology using 3D printing called Contour Crafting. Instead of using thermoplastics, a common material used in 3D printing, the robot applies layer after layer of concrete to construct straight and curved walls, as well as domes. THE NEXT STEP “If you think about it, concrete is a form of 3D printing. If you look at how the machine works, it’s purely pouring powder on a bed… concrete is not that different. There are similarities between this and what’s already there in the construction industry.” Michele Pasca di Magliano, Associate at Zaha Hadid Architects “I don’t see 3D printers or robots any different from a hammer or a lathe. They’re tools and behind every tool you need someone who has a relationship with the material. You get as much satisfaction of designing and making an object that comes out of a 3D printer, even though you didn’t actually physically touch it, because every aspect of that is about attention to detail. There are all these design loops that you have to get right. It’s still very satisfying that the thing that comes out is the thing that you designed and built. A 3D printer doesn’t dilute that at all.” Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials and Society, UCL 19
“It’s totally technological, but also, you are the designer and you can decide what’s coming out. You can calculate every possible shape and that was of course not possible in mass production, and it’s the same in crafts – people want to be the owner of what they are doing again.” Renny Ramakers, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Droog
£1 BILLION could be saved in a year if people re-used and repaired appliances and furniture instead of throwing them away REPAIRS ON US At selected Nudie Jeans stores around the world, people can have their jeans customised or repaired for free. They also offer extensive tips and advice on how to repair garments yourself and offer a free repair kit with all purchases. SUGRU Sugru is a multipurpose brand of silicone rubber that resembles modelling clay, but dries to a very durable finish. It can be used across a wide range of appliances, from dishwashers to reading glasses. PROJECT RESTART “The Restart Project is a London-based social enterprise that encourages and empowers people to use their electronics longer, by sharing repair and maintenance skills. Through community and workplace events we create engaging opportunities to extend the lifespan of electronics and electrical equipment.” therestartproject.org MEND-A-THON Brighton Repair Café run monthly ‘Menda-thons’ where people take broken items along to the café and people with expertise, knowledge and skills can help them mend their broken things. FIXPERTS TO THE RESCUE Fixperts is an online platform that connects designers with people who need help solving everyday problems.
“With 3D printing you can build in more variations, more personal variations, so more colours. And you can have more different decorations so it becomes, in the end, more personalised.� Renny Ramakers, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Droog
Zero Waste Society
ZERO WASTE SOCIETY The reality of resource scarcity will hit home, prompting more efficient use of energy and materials
How can we encourage people to design more efficient buildings that can be deconstructed? How can we inspire people to make their homes water and energy efficient? Should we subject buildings to the equivalent of an annual MOT?
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Zero Waste Society
BETTER BUILDINGS… A more holistic approach to funding, designing and fabricating buildings for resource efficiency.
50% of UK carbon dioxide emissions are from the construction and maintenance of buildings and other structures
90% of non-energy minerals extracted in the UK are used to supply the construction industry with materials
109 MILLION tonnes of waste is produced by the construction industry each year “The effects of construction activity on waste production are enormous. The industry produces 109m tonnes of construction waste each year (24% of total waste), of which up to 13% is delivered and unused. It produces three times more waste than all UK households combined. Although around half of this waste is reused or recycled, the amount that is simply disposed of remains alarming.” ‘Construction and Sustainable Development’ Plain English, Constructing Excellence At a global level, our hunger for resources has led to what McKinsey describes as a ‘turning point’ in the trend of its Commodity Price Index, which has already reversed a century of declining raw material prices. The concept of the ‘circular economy’ is gradually being adopted by the construction industry. Advocates of this view, describe buildings as ‘materials banks’ and this concept could have a significant impact on the construction industry. Biomimicry is an increasing area of interest in sustainable building. We are beginning to apply insights from the natural world into more efficient building design and beyond.
Lotusan is a paint that mimics the ‘lotus effect’, in which microscopic bumps are used to repel water and dirt, effectively creating a self-cleaning coating that can be applied to everything from clothes to buildings. Advances in materials technology will also play a significant role in creating ‘active’ buildings that adapt to environmental changes. “There are thermochromic materials, which can switch from any colour to another colour. We made bricks that were thermochromic – they change colour with temperature, so we opened up the possibility that you can have a building that is white in the summer and dark in the winter.” Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials and Society, UCL
1% Energy is a significant issue in the design and use of circular buildings. The ideal building generates enough clean energy to power itself and to sell into the grid. If we could capture approximately 1% of the sunlight falling on to the British Isles and turn it into electricity we would meet our current energy demands. “Depending on who you are and where you are in the world, we are less than a generation or a couple of generations away from cheap, clean, abundant energy not owned by the utilities, but owned by you and me.” Mark Stevenson, Founder and futurist in residence, We Do Things Differently Ltd Circular economy buildings are also designed to be deconstructed rather than demolished, so they have a positive terminal value. This has the potential to lower the capital cost of building, but it also means that buildings need to be designed to preserve the integrity and purity of the materials they contain.
“We want to make sure that demolition teams provide insight to our design team… how you automate the deconstruction process as much as possible.” Owen Zachariasse, Head of Innovation & Sustainability, Delta Development Group
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…USED BETTER Using technology to better manage how we manage, maintain, reconstruct and deconstruct our buildings. The circular economy has prompted a renewed focus on business model innovation, aimed at eliminating waste through more efficient design and use of resources. This approach throws up a number of questions: Who owns the materials in a building? Will building owners rent the hardware? Or will they pay for space, warmth and light rather than for the materials themselves? “This is something no-one’s ever really thought about: which [material values] am I going to lock in and which am I going to speculate on? You’re basically trading commodities.” Owen Zachariasse, Head of Innovation & Sustainability, Delta Development Group Desso takes back old carpets and separates the fibres from their backing. Yarn is sent back to suppliers for recycling and bitumen backing is sold to the road and roofing industry. All non-recyclable fractions are used as secondary fuel in the cement industry. Through its ‘Everlasting Boilers’ scheme, A Shade Greener installs, maintains and services customers’ boilers for a monthly fee. Through its ‘Pay Per Lux’ solution, Philips retains responsibility for the ownership and performance of its LED lighting.
NUS office, London – Pay Per Lux solution, Philips
Building Brighter Futures highlights the key influences that will shape the future of the built environment. We have an opportunity to design physical and digital spaces that will encourage smarter working, more efficient resource use and closer, happier communities. The scope for interdisciplinary practice, where businesses cross industries to find innovative solutions, will continue to grow. The more keenly we anticipate these forces, the more purposefully we can design spaces in which to thrive. Watch the animated stories that bring the report to life at: dragonrouge.com/buildingbrighterfutures Join the conversation on Twitter: #brighterfutures
If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve seen and read and would like to know more, please contact Nick Liddell at: n.liddell@dragonrouge.com For press enquiries, please contact Jigna Umeria at: j.umeria@dragonrouge.com Other Dragon Rouge projects that might also be of interest: Brand Futures dragonrouge.com/brandfutures Families of the future dragonrouge.com/familiesofthefuture Business is Beautiful: The hard art of standing apart dragonrouge.com/businessisbeautiful
About Dragon Rouge Dragon Rouge is a global design and innovation business. We help brands and businesses to inspire, change and grow. Using insight, foresight and creativity we help our clients define strategies, create new products and services and deliver exceptional experiences. We have offices in eight markets from São Paulo to Shanghai and work with clients as diverse as 3M, Arla Foods, Autograph Hotels, Diageo, M&S, Mondele- z , RIBA, SCA, The CocaCola Company and Unilever.
About Travis Perkins Travis Perkins knows a thing or two about the building and home improvement markets. After all, we’ve been supplying the building and construction trades for more than 200 years. These days, we’re one of their biggest suppliers – a FTSE100 company with 19 businesses, 1,900+ outlets, 26,000 employees in the UK and Ireland. Travis Perkins plc includes some of the leading brands within the Building and Home Improvement markets such as, BSS Industrial, PTS, Keyline, City Plumbing Supplies, CCF, Wickes, Benchmarx, Tile Giant and Toolstation.
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