Re-scripting the streets in the sky : shifts in the typology of a listed building in Park Hill, Sheffield

Inspired by Le Corbusier’s ideas for vertical living, the concept of “Streets in the Sky” was created in the UK in the 1950’s to describe large-scale circulation at a level above the ground in high-rise buildings. The term was originally coined by the Smithsons, in their 1952 entry for the Golden Lane competition, but the first built manifestation in British social housing was in the design of Park Hill, Sheffield, in the late 1950’s. Park Hill was designed to encourage social interaction between residents and even allowed vehicles to move on the elevated decks. The new “Streets in the Sky” were the nearest social housing ever got to imitate ground level street conditions. In 1998 English Heritage assessed the building as being of international importance, and included as a listed entry. The importance of the elevated decks is evident throughout the listing report, and the historical significance of the “Streets in the sky” clearly stands out. A visit to one of the recently redeveloped flanks of Park Hill, however, reveals otherwise: the “Streets in the Sky” have been significantly altered. This paper will discuss the shift that I have observed in Park Hill’s redevelopment. What started as a listing based on a historical concept, shifted during the reconstruction in ways that have changed the typology of the building. Interactions between developers, altering user needs and limitations from existing materials have impacted on the historical associations of the new development and have re-scripted the narrative of the “Streets”

Using BIM to achieve Architectural Engineering undergraduate learning outcomes

Building Information Modelling is a process integrating 3D graphics and data. It is being adopted into the AECOO industries and by default into the delivery of undergraduate Architectural Programs. This object approach offers a range of benefits over the more traditional CAD approach that uses lines and arcs and manual techniques, by adding the third dimension and creating a database model. It redefines the ways of thinking and working for students and future architects and architectural engineers. The requirements of architectural programs are defined through their learning objectives to meet professional requirements such as those set by the ARB and the RIBA. This paper aims to investigate how the capabilities of BIM can be utilized to deliver the requirements of undergraduate architectural engineering programs in a more effective manner. . Purpose: to further develop an implementation strategy for BIM in the undergraduate program of architectural engineering that helps in achieving the learning outcomes. Design/Methodology/Approach: In order to ensure transparency and reliability in the formulated solutions, the adopted methodology for this research is the design science since it deals with explicit problems and provides solutions by creating an artifact. The design science method also provides validation for the proposed solution by peer assessment. At the educational level, the study explores the undergraduate curriculum by taking case studies of programs and their learning outcomes that are set under the criteria of ARB and RIBA. The research analyzes these case studies in an attempt to detect the problems and define the requirements to solve the gaps. Findings: The findings of the literature review identify the gaps that exist in the curriculum of the undergraduate architecture programs in the UK. The methodology is designed to develop a framework that acts as a guideline in implementing BIM in education. This paper sets the parameters for tutors to integrate BIM effectively into architectural undergraduate programs which shall promote the development of undergraduate students. Originality/Value: The adoption of BIM within the architectural curriculum has been partial or immature up till this time. This paper addresses the effective implementation of BIM within the undergraduate programs which shall act as an original guideline that can aid professional institutions

Effects of Harmful Blooms of Large-Sized and Colonial Cyanobacteria on Aquatic Food Webs

Cyanobacterial blooms are the most important and best studied type of harmful algal blooms in fresh waters and brackish coastal seas. We here review how and to which extent they resist grazing by zooplankton, how zooplankton responds to cyanobacterial blooms and how these effects are further transmitted to fish. Size, toxicity and poor nutritional value are widespread mechanisms of grazing defense by cyanobacteria. In some cases, defenses are inducible, in some they are obligate. However, to some extent zooplankton overcome grazing resistance, partly after evolutionary adaptation. Cyanotoxins are also harmful to fish and may cause fish kills. However, some fish species feed on Cyanobacteria, are able to reduce their abundance, and grow on a cyanobacterial diet. While reduced edibility for crustacean zooplankton tends to elongate the food chain from primary producers to fish, direct feeding by fish tends to shorten it. The few available comparative studies relating fish yield to nutrients or phytoplankton provide no indication that cyanobacteria should reduce the ratio fish production: primary production

Warming and Ocean Acidification Effects on Phytoplankton - From Species Shifts to Size Shifts within Species in a Mesocosm Experiment

While the isolated responses of marine phytoplankton to climate warming and to ocean acidification have been studied intensively, studies on the combined effect of both aspects of Global Change are still scarce. Therefore, we performed a mesocosm experiment with a factorial combination of temperature (9 and 15°C) and pCO2 (means: 439 ppm and 1040 ppm) with a natural autumn plankton community from the western Baltic Sea. Temporal trajectories of total biomass and of the biomass of the most important higher taxa followed similar patterns in all treatments. When averaging over the entire time course, phytoplankton biomass decreased with warming and increased with CO2 under warm conditions. The contribution of the two dominant higher phytoplankton taxa (diatoms and cryptophytes) and of the 4 most important species (3 diatoms, 1 cryptophyte) did not respond to the experimental treatments. Taxonomic composition of phytoplankton showed only responses at the level of subdominant and rare species. Phytoplankton cell sizes increased with CO2 addition and decreased with warming. Both effects were stronger for larger species. Warming effects were stronger than CO2 effects and tended to counteract each other. Phytoplankton communities without calcifying species and exposed to short-term variation of CO2 seem to be rather resistant to ocean acidification

Modelmaking in architectural space production : studio interactions in the material and the digital realm

This paper will question and reposition what traditional model making practices in architectural education have enabled and how the transition to digital model making ultimately also means a paradigm shift in the ways we produce, manufacture, design, use and experience architecture. To do so, I will argue that the shift that has taken place in architectural production from physical model making to using digital means of fabrication has not only created a shift in the way architecture is produced but also a shift in the type of architecture produced. I begin by arguing that the change of medium from the physicality of a material to the terrain of a virtual environment, is at first glance a simple change of medium, a change in the tools and techniques used. But because it involves a different type of interaction, a different effect is produced. The paper investigates examples from student work and concludes that the physical handling of matter informs the development of ideas in architectural and design education in a different way than the engagement with a digital tool because of the different experience the software affords and because of the different embodied experience that an object’s materiality offers

Big fish eat small fish: implications for food chain length?

Food chains in the pelagic zones of oceans and lakes are longer than in terrestrial ecosystems. The perception of the pelagic food web has become increasingly complex by progressing from a linear food chain (phytoplankton – crustacean zooplankton – planktivorous fish – predatory fish) to a food web because of an increasing appreciation of microbial trophic pathways, side-tracks by gelatinous zooplankton and a high prevalence of omnivory. The range of predator:prey size ratios by far exceeds the traditionally assumed range of 10:1 to 100:1, from almost equal length to 105:1. The size ratios between primary consumers and top predators are 3½ orders of magnitude bigger in pelagic than in terrestrial food webs. Comparisons between different pelagic ecosystems support ecosystem size as an important factor regulating the maximal trophic level, while energy limitation of the number of trophic levels is less well supported. An almost 1:1 relationship between ingestion by predators and prey mortality and a better chemical match between primary producer and herbivore biomass are further distinctive features of the pelagic food web whose role in explaining the higher number of trophic levels in pelagic systems needs further examination