Wednesday 22 February 2012

re-building Christchurch



link above to interview with Di Lucas regarding the Peterborough Village workshop - 

key issues / questions
- we need to understand the composition of ground conditions more comprehensively
- we need to take geo tech seriously (and invest in the tests necessary to reveal this critical information)
- we need to think innovatively / creatively about foundation solutions for soft mixed soils 
- lighter buildings are safer in earthquakes, so how could we achieve lighter buildings?
- how can we make earthquake responsive buildings affordable?

key findings / suggestions
- could we re-level buildings after a quake, could this become a new way to build
- prefabrication offers quick response, high quality, affordable solutions
- new timber technologies such as LvL and CLT can provide robust earthquake buildings
- new kinds of land remediation are available
- new kinds of foundation systems are available including hollow timber rounds. 

click-raft addresses all of these issues, since it starts with these critical givens without the baggage of traditional construction, and instead focus' directly on issues of affordability, strength, lightness, speed of assembly, flexibility and adaptability

the challenge is to bring click-raft technology to a broader audience and acceptance. Of course new technologies and solutions such as click-raft or re-levelable buildings that perform differently will look different. So are we open to these strange new solutions? Are we ready for things to look different? Are we ready to build differently?

Perhaps we should be asking a different kind of question - can we afford not to ?



Monday 13 February 2012

Peterborough Village Workshop, Christchurch

A very big thankyou to Di Lucas, Mark and Rea Mcintyre and the rest of the Peterborough team for inviting me down to Christchurch to help contribute to the Peterborough Village Workshop inviting geotechnical engineers, structural engineers, and architects to come up with innovative solutions to the tough challenges of soft ground re-building after the earthquakes, what a wonderful spirit of hope and resilience in the face of adversity - I take my hat off to you!
I presented click-raft as a super light, super strong, and super cheap and adaptable system which can respond to this challenge.... super fast. .... was that enough super's ;)
Both the expert workshop and the public meeting in the evening were packed with enthusiastic people with a can do attitude, this is just the kick that government and council need to start making things happen, since the challenges here are huge, and the issues of ownership and in particular insurance are really tough to deal with. Once demolition is completed there will be almost no buildings left - it will be like a desert, and this is largely to do with short term economics - so the challenge is to bring a whole range of different and special yet pragmatic solutions to high density, mixed use, low rise development - just the stuff that click-raft was always intended to address - city on a roof, and fusionopolis ! (refer http://www.cityonaroof.net/ )

Refer to the Peterborough Village website for more information and the prefabNZ HIVE innovation park opening on April 21/22
 http://www.peterboroughvillage.org.nz/news/

http://www.prefabnz.com/Events/Upcoming-Events/Canterbury-Innovation-Park/

HIVE
 
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