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low tech high tech no tech
energy lab empower: invent, industrialise lucas ward
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low tech high tech no tech Energy Lab Empower: Invent, Industrialise
Lucas Ward Master of Architecture Plymouth University 2014
1.0 Cieszyn is heavily reliant on the use of coal along with much of Poland, current estimates put the country’s reserves at a further 500 years however it was brought to light in 2013 that Poland has been importing coal from Russia promptly becoming a political embarrassment (news reports references ). Cieszyns district heating plant is coal fired and the city also suffers from the heavy pollution spewing from neighbouring Czech Republic’s Trinec Steel Works, also being coal fired. The environmental and health issues associated with these industrial sites and the many similar sites in the area are very serious, with Cieszyns own officials advising against outdoor activities and exposing children to the pollution. With a highly labour based local economy graduates from Ceiszyns nationally renowned schools are moving away to more appealing cities such as Krakow and Katowice leaving Cieszyn as a transitional city with an ever
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current context changing population but static economy. Existing industries in Cieszyn produce large amounts of waste or by-products that are not re used to their full potential some materials are recycled however much of the potential energy is lost as well as being costly for Industries to dispose of safely and responsibly.
strategic shift The Empower: Invent, Industrialise (E:I/I) Urban Strategy and Masterplan understands that Cieszyn has a multitude of very successful elements linked with a series of issues that undermine them, many related to a lack of synergies and a close-minded approach to the city from its governing bodies. leaving a sense of apathy amongst its citizens and users. The urban strategy aims to take an approach of communication and connection at three scales and across industry and social sector. Utilising education and industry in the city and buffering it with new informal elements to initiate a paradigm shift; that responds to the social and human needs of the city; that provides an active role for its citizens and promotes economic growth through innovation. (Empower: Invent, Industrialise. Dido Graham, Lucas Ward, Chloe Willis, Plymouth University. 2013.)
2.0 power stations for both heat and power by bringing industry and education together in a creative environment that democratises technology in response to the basic human need for a clean, healthy, breathable environment and opens up the development and direction of energy provision in the city to its citizens.
Energy Lab focuses on providing a viable alternative to coal fired
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3.0
resource renovation
Local resources will be used to solve local issues, the definition of resource in this project is broad and will cover; waste streams, utilities infrastructure, transport network, natural assets and people. Waste streams from industries producing biological matter such as the local brewery, paper mills, cardboard packaging factory and saw mills will be utilised as raw material for energy production the procurement of this waste could be through a resource exchange or industrial symbiosis agreement, energy for material facilitated through the alliance set up as part of the urban strategy proposition. Existing utilities infrastructure will be renovated with priority given to the district heating system and offering the
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current operator Cieszynska Energetyka to partner with the alliance with the ultimate goal of replacing out dated coal powered technologies with systems developed inside Energy Lab, recognising that heating and power cannot be solely provided within the Energy Lab site. Energy Lab will however aim to power all other E:I/I sites as part of the strategies wider awareness and informal education aims. Cieszyns transport system has already been identified as an integral part of the E:I/I network as a front line in providing information, Energy Lab will build on this, firstly, to provide the fuel for local buses and electricity for local trains and secondly as real world testing grounds of commercial transport power applications and will ultimately capitalise on the exposure of these
technologies to people. Natural resources such as the river, the brook, rain water and Air will be used in the process of producing energy however these will be recycled internally or will be expelled back into the environment cleaner than when they were extracted in line with the aim to improve the natural environment and meet basic human needs of a pollutant free atmosphere. People will be used as a resource of ideas, concepts and knowledge, supported and guided by the community brain to be used to their full potential.
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4.0
proposing power
The replacement method of energy production needs to be both viable in terms of maturity and ability to work immediately in its current state of technological and commercial advancement and yet be in a state of infancy to allow for it to develop and evolve freely. The production and subsequent use of Hydrogen is an industrial process that has the capability to use multiple forms of input, provide multiple forms of end product and output multiple forms of by-products. There are also many cyclical stages and internal recycling possibilities. A process of waste matter from Industry types mentioned above converted to Hydrogen gas and subsequently Liquid Hydrogen as a storable energy source for use directly as a fuel for vehicles or through fuel
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cell conversion to electrical energy for heat and power will provide the core function of Energy Lab. Utilisation of the by-products from the core production will be left to the needs of individual user groups, many of these by-products are highly pure raw elements or synthetic compounds, where not used, they will be either recycled back into the core process or sold on to other industries as appropriate. Multiple existing renewable energy sources such as Solar and Hydro can be used to provide initial and supplementary power, some sub-processes can produce the energy source for other sub-processes.
creating creativity Arguably the most efficient way to mass produce a saleable item is through an established production line. However, when you tell a person this is how an item is made with these machines, in this manner the process will be viewed as something very static. By setting up the current hydrogen production process as the first stage of a technology, regardless of how long the production method has been accepted as the norm, it is now viewed as something that wants to evolve as technology ‘naturally’ does, and in general, technology is regarded in the public eye as something creative, innovative and of the future.
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is possible to purposefully spread out the process so that it can be consciously manipulated, branched off, opened up and exploited in a precise manner turning inter-connections into interfaces that users can plug into for work, research, development, prototype and commercialisation. The production line has now been transformed into a technological infrastructure.
By analysing the process for all inputs and outputs of all types including heat, energy, wastes, recyclables in all stages of production it
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process
hopper loading bay stage 01 gasifier separator
stage 02 gasifier
pyrolyser
distillation column
cooler
condenser
storage tank
multi stage filtration
bio-oil tank
synthetic gas tank storage tank compressed gas tanks pressure swing absorption towers
oxygen tanks
compressed alkane gasses
ionic compressor
hydrogen gas tanks hydrogen power cell stack
micro process setup
low pressure hydrogen tanks
core technological infrastructure and production processes within the energy lab
people
plug-in units supported by localised process outputs and technological infrastructure
university researchers in-situ group discussion
smart i.d. card unlocks detailed process telemetary and control g.u.i.
weekly, open workshop event hosted by ‘fablab’
day visitors using real-time data interactive display panels
plug-in units supported by localised process outputs and technological infrastructure school workshop
phd researcher presenting prototype design
impromptu stop off on new route connecting zamek and train stop
young entrepreneur event organised by community brain
construction lab technician over-seeing pod construction
netwoking
key and actors and public interaction within the energy lab
workshop stations provide multiple digital and analogue tools
proposing power 10
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creating creativity 11
6.0 Architecture and Technology work together, informing each other, working closely together but also allow each other to adapt to changing circumstances bought about by advancement. The architecture must facilitate the process as a technological infrastructure supporting its want to evolve and therefore the building fabric is designed to accommodate as many future scenarios as possible by providing a constant ‘zero point’ and highly flexible open layout in both the X,Y and Z axis for each. The technology infrastructure must facilitate its own self evolution and support parallel technologies that feed in to it and out of it. Together they must facilitate a user environment conducive to knowledge
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factory facility sharing, collaboration, innovation and invention, for the democratisation of technology and ultimately facilitating total exclusivity of technology.
inclusive infrastructure
7.0
Multiple overlapping and interconnected infrastructures. Technological process infrastructure provides locations of fillable space that use localised inputs and outputs for specific potential development opportunities. Regarding the architecture as an infrastructure to fill the specified spaces as well as the infrastructure to support those spaces at a building physics level removes the feeling of permanence in the building allowing the users the freedom to adapt the architecture to their desired needs in the interest of the technology.
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factory facility 14
implicit interaction 15
8.0
implicit interacion
Human to Technology interaction within Energy Lab will have to exist in two simultaneous states at three simultaneous levels. Hierarchical, with sub categories of Top – down and Bottom – up, and democratic, these will be present for low tech, high tech and no tech. sharing, collaboration, innovation and invention, for the democratisation of technology and ultimately facilitating total exclusivity of technology. Types of human to technology interaction are classified in two ways; explicit and implicit. Explicit interaction is the current method and simply relies upon the user providing an input, pressing a button on an interface and the technology follows a designated command or routine. Implicit interaction in technology is less
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common and is based on core concepts of perception and interpretation and the assumption that the technology has a certain understanding of our behaviour in the given situation, a contextual understanding from the ability to see, hear, and feel the user and its environment, this information is then considered as additional input. Examples of this type of technology are most common in artificial intelligence. Human to Human interaction is in almost all situations a combination of the two, explicit interaction being the word ‘no’ and implicit being shaking your head. (Implicit Human Computer Interaction Through Context, A, Schmidt) A smart I.D badge given to users of Energy Lab using implicit human
computer technology can autonomously hold information on the users activity in the building in order to have a perception of use, the environment and the circumstance the user is in, using near field identity tags to receive localised information from cameras, microphones, internal GPS and sensors embedded in the process technology and building fabric this information is then sent to Interfaces and processors on the equipment to enable it to act pro-actively for the user based on both their past current situational context.
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9.0 Through ubiquitous commerce technology is made to appear everywhere and anywhere, the seemingly high tech will be integrated into the everyday, the seemingly low tech, busses, trains, key civic and tourist locations, park lighting, information boards, interactive exhibitions and other E:I/I sites. A passive education of Energy Lab to help facilitate a cultural shift in favour of new technologies and their real world applications and integration into daily life, working again to democratise technology.
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factory facility
reversed research Drawing together types of human to technology interaction and ubiquitous commerce it could be possible to reverse the roles played by humans and technology to support the democratisation of technology without undermining the hierarchical needs of technological innovation. Ubiquitous technology involves the autonomous gathering of implicit information. Implicit interaction assumes there is a contextual understanding of the given situation, therefore, if it were to be reversed, the understanding of real world applications of high tech systems in a low tech environment would be transferred to the user, in the right situational context such as Energy Lab, using the correct behaviour such as working with technology the information would be recalled and used. For example,
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A hydrogen fuel cell in a bus is a high tech real world application of technology developed in energy lab however a bus is perceived as a low tech environment ,of course buses are very complex but are common place therefore the barriers of complexity are broken down through familiarity. Using ubiquitous commerce and graphic interfaces, and subtle colour changes operational information on the buses technology, efficiency, fuel rates and other key information packets can be displayed this information is both explicit and implicit and users will store this through exposure on the transport network. When visiting Energy Lab regardless of how much prior technical knowledge the user has they can understand how the building works through being exposed to a scaled down version of the technology.
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11.0 Using technology to break down complexity and barriers in technology in order to progress technology. A secondary technology such as the Smart ID Card can make the primary technology accessible. This enables all ideas from all levels to be considered as viable forms of technological progress, removing the necessity for high tech to just be developed by highly trained engineers or other high tech solutions. Low tech solutions can be used or simply ideas can be borne from a simple concept or desire for change devoid of any prior technical knowledge.
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paradox path
reactable The Reactable is a new electronic musical instrument with a simple and intuitive design, which enables musicians to experiment with sound, change its structure, control its parameters and be creative in a direct, refreshing and unseen way. It uses a tabletop tangible interface, which allows the performers to control the system by manipulating tangible objects and with their fingers. The instrument is based on a translucent and luminous round table, and by putting these pucks on the Reactable surface, by turning them and connecting them to each other, performers can combine different elements like synthesizers, effects, sample loops or control elements in order to create a unique and flexible composition. Reactable’s pucks represent the building blocks of electronic
12.0 music, each one having a different functionality in sound generation or in effect processing, in a way deeply inspired by modular analogue synthesizers such as those developed by Bob Moog in the early 60s. [Reactable, Music Technology group]
“Reactable really started from a concept, and not from a technology”
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12.0 . D. Graham, L. Ward, C. Willis (2013) Empower: Invent, Industrialise Urban Strategy. Plymouth University. A.Schmidt, Imlicit Human Computer Interaction through Context, Personal Technologies 2000, Volume 4, Issue 2-3, pp 191-199 https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc http://highlowtech.org/ http://mtg.upf.edu/project/ reactable
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bibliography
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energy lab