All articles by Chris Lo
Chris Lo
Can architecture kick its concrete habit?
Concrete has laid the foundations for the modern world, but its carbon cost is a huge burden weighing down the fight against climate change. When it comes to moving on from concrete, how can architects – and society more broadly – kick a habit ingrained over decades?
Urning a place: when is a listed building not a building?
The five-year legal saga over the sale of two urns that were included on the UK’s protected buildings list has shed new light on the inconsistencies of listed building enforcement. Shakespeare Martineau planning partner Simon Stanion, who represented the seller, discusses the case and its implications for the future.
Knock knock: cyber resilience and building access controls
Connected building access systems have introduced a range of features to make access control more secure and convenient for users. But as with any IoT installation, cybersecurity is a key concern. 2N chief product officer Tomáš Vystavěl lends his insights on making modern buildings cyber-resilient as well as physically secure.
Circle of life: designing sustainability after death
Plans are underway to build the US’s first facility for human composting in Seattle. Is the country ready for a new paradigm in death care, and how is architecture and design supporting this new vision? Senior partners from design studio Olson Kundig discuss the Recompose project and the development of its flagship site in Seattle’s SoDo neighbourhood.
The coming storm: designing climate-resilient buildings
As the world’s climate changes, increasingly volatile weather events are presenting new challenges to architects. How is climate resilience being incorporated into building design, and what’s still needed to close the gap on climate adaptation?
BIM and the IoT: the grandest of all designs
Building information modelling (BIM) has become widely used in architecture, but now a growing number of products are integrating Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities. Patrick Kingsland takes a look at how bringing the two technologies together might add new capabilities and asks what it all means for architecture.
Will robots drive the digital revolution in construction?
Kalyan Kumar is the chief technology officer (CTO) and CVP of HCL Technologies, an Indian multinational IT services and consultancy company.
Dutch Mountains: a circular revolution in the world’s largest wooden building
Dutch Mountains, a planned high-tech hub near Eindhoven, Netherlands, will be the largest wooden building on Earth when completed. In development by a team of architects, developers and service companies, it will be entirely self-sufficient and highly sustainable. But what makes this project possible now, rather than in the past? And how might it become a model for circular building design in the future?