Weather for the AT

Part 1 the Seasons

Most if on all our external skin detailing is geared to the weather, ok the look, and feel is massive, but the weather is all-encompassing, get it wrong and the building will fail.

So in this series of CPD lectures, I want to outline just what the weather is, the power it can muster and just how we can predict some of the weathers force by good observation looking at the past, and understanding some basic weather law.

This first lecture is all about the Solar System, what you ask, why do we have to look at the stars, well its not the stars, just our immediate part of the solar system, our tilt, orbit and the moon. All three form the basis of all-weather.

The first point of interest is the tilt, Earth in its formation was hit by another planet, astronomers call it Theo, and the earth at this point in time Proto Earth. The collision between the two planets pushed the earths axis into a tilt of 23.4 degrees away from the Earths orbital Plane and left enough debris to allow the moon to form giving the second point of interest in our view of the weather. with an axis of 5.4 degrees away from the earth's orbital plane. The spin we can only assume was also a byproduct of the collision.

Our second point of interest is the orbit itself. Most pictures and solar maps show a circular orbit, but this is so far from the truth, with earth having an elliptical orbit the sun centred not at the middle of the orbit. the nearest point is roughly 90 million mines and the farest point 93.4 million miles

Our  next point of interest is the direction of the tilt, the collision between  Proto earth and Theo pushed the tilt into a particular direction. in that its alined along the longer centre line of the ellipse.

The closest point the earth gets to the sun occurs in early January,when the northern hemisphere is pointing away from the sun and the far point happens in early July when the northern hemisphere points towards the sun

The earth's orbit now gives us the fourth point which is a combination of the orbit, the tilt, the direction of the tilt and the sun not being centred on the suns orbital path to give the fourth point, the seasons themselves. As we discussed earlier, at its apex at both ends of the ellipse, the tilt is either pointing towards the sun, the northern hemispheres summer, and away from the sun the southern hemispheres summer. Add to this the distance for the northern hemispheres hight of summer. 

The difference in distance way from the sun ( 94 million miles away from the sun, called to aphelion or just over 90 million miles, the perihelion, is the reason why the north has a mild summer and the southern hemisphere a rather hot summer. it is also the reason for the daylight change, and the often confusing time  changes each country has.

This difference is what  helps drives the weather, our orbit is fixed for the next million or so years, so is the tilt, although both will slowly change, as will the distance between the earth and the sun, and the sun itself will change too, but the time scales for all these events is very large at millions of years.

The moon is also a major driver for our weather, its orbit and mass drive the tides and pulls the earth's oceans around the planet, which has such a huge impact on the weather, when these tides link with the seasons.

The season are not a wandering phenominan, they are fixed, but how the earth interacts with the seasons is part of a wider picture, of circulating air currents, the mass of the planet, the amount of water with its own currents, both local to land mass, and the larger current that seems to flow around the planet in a never ending loop,  the ice coverage and its complicated relation in regulating the earths weather. plus the moons effect on the earths oceans.

I will look at these areas in more detail in future lectures, but for now all I wanted to do was show the basis of the seasons, the difference between the north and south, and the importance of the moon. To understand the rest of the earth weather machine, as its often referred to, this simple basis of the earths relation to the sun and our moon has to be understood, by any AT wanting to detail correctly, 

 AT-CPD

Well its been a long time in coming, but now I have almost retired, I have time to explore a podcast that's been sitting in the back of my mind for such a long time.

All my sites

You will know that I have both a Scays.co.uk site, and an AT-CPD.co.uk web site the Scays site is predominantly a repository for all my lectures, aimed, in the beginning, for my past students to get hold of lecture slide notes I gave, they often lose access to the Moodle page they were originally listed, so this is a way for them to stay in touch and flood for those old slides. 

Scays.co.uk

All my slides given over several years teaching AT students and also BS, retail, and Planners. But as always if your in the business of construction, take a looked at the website SCAYS.CO.UK you might find subjects for your CPD and use it to kickstart your CPD

AT-CPD.co.uk

The AT-CPD is a new site to allow me to talk and promote the idea of CPD for Architectural Technologists, aimed at, yes AT's but I will also include my Students studying AT, and that also included students studying for :

1. QS
2. BS
3. Planning
4. Retail
5. Engineers
6. Any Construction professionals

The AT-CPD web site can be found on AT-CPD.CO.UK and has a load of new and current CPD topics from webinars to reading list, to books, to a brand new AT-CPD podcast which is listed at present on Google Podcast player look for AT-CPD , I will add to others as the site builds.

A video version is also available and is part of a playlist which can be found on YouTube

A List of CPD Events

Some time ago, I thought it would be nice to compile a list of CPD events, I made the usual ToDo list and

filed it away, under todo, and a couple of years later I was reading a list of items I wanted to do, ok it was more of a bucket list, but halfway down was the "Make a CPD list", so this got elevated to an active project. Partly brought on by the old ToDo list, and in part, by a comment, a friend made on a Zoom meeting.

So I turned to Google Sites to make a mockup of the site I had in mind and some of the content, this changed over the next few days till I had what I thought worked for me.

Next, I needed to populate the list with current CPD webinars, Literature, and youtube videos of CPD that fitted my tight search criteria of " Construction Technology".

The list is now workable and is ready for testing. Like most projects of this sort, it will need a lot of editing, spelling checks, and above all content, it's not a simple overnight creation that will look after itself, each listing needs peer review, to check if the subject matter is relevant to my or my group of like-minded professionals needs, so its a long term project that needs constant updates and research.

So the site is live, it's named "CPD Webinar List for AT's" this might well change and the content gets moved or remixed, but the overall feeling and help to know what CPD is available.

I will not give CPD certificates out, that's the role and need of the Webinar provider.

I have also added a guide to storing a record of CPD hours in a Google Sheet, its not perfect but its getting an update, but until then. CPD of Continued Professional Development

 

A simple question has such a complicated reply

How do I update the energy efficiency of my home

I have seen this question so many times, there is no simple answer, each house is individual, from orientation to build quality, But some methods might be worth exploring. The notes below will help, but it's such a wide area of research,

Let's split the information into two separate camps Winter and Summer

Winter

It is here we find most home improvements being applied, some a complete disaster, some a complete waste of money, but some do add to the house comfort levels.

Loft

Here is the easiest way to improve the house level of comfort, add as much insulation as possible 200mm, will give an immediate comfort improvement, but there is a caveat or two, there will be a lot of electric cables feeding lighting and possibly plugs, together with tv cables and aerials, these need protection to prevent overheating. Next, the improvement will need adequate ventilation to remove the condensation risk. Finally don't forget to update and insulate the loft access panel, and whilst you’re at it, improve the access with a folding ladder. Plus too much insulation is a waste, do the calcs to work out the optimum.

Doors

If at all possible look at upgrading the external doors together with seals, is it possible to add a small canopy to your doors to shade and keep the rain away, or a porch to add that valuable lobby.

Windows

Windows are next but is in the next level as far as cost is concerned. but will add massively to the overall improvement of energy loss. there are many alternatives, choose wisely, but triple glazing is a must. Whilst I am here as a larger investment, a conservatory adds a large upgrade avenue for thermal and cooling, plus adding extra room to the smaller house, there are many excellent designs with some very high insulation qualities.

Walls

Some might think wall insulation should be included, if your house is a recent build and has a cavity then yes, but be careful, insist on a full cavity survey, with video probes, looking for a clear cavity, Choose the fill carefully and only go with a full guarantee and an approved British standard system and if possible with an agreement certificate.

Walls with no cavity is in a different league, consider first the mortar joint, does it need raking and repointing, it might not improve directly your heating bill, but its the first-line defence on water leaking in so worth doing. Next look at the house as a whole, do the gutters leak and are the downpipes, water running down a wall is not a good idea. Can you insulate, the answer id yes, but this needs careful investigation, externally, insulation will solve many of the walls problems, a good thin but high-efficiency sheet insulation with a thin render will look good but do not fall foul of the planners, check to see if they need an application made. Internal insulation is also possible and will avoid the planning problems, but it opens up some technical condensation problems, a simple calculation by any surveyor will solve this with good quality insulation and good vapour resistance. Just check on your plugs and radiators, they will need refixing, again a good quality contractor should account for this.

Floors

If you have a timber or concrete floor then we have options to insulate and look at alternative heating systems, like removing wall mounted units and turning to underfloor heating, here we can look at both water and electric systems, which opens up the Solar PV side and any storage. For timber floors the options are larger with insulation slung between the joists, but be careful to make sure ventilation is adequate to the underfloor void.

Heating System

Take some time to consider your heating system, is the boiler efficiency good and can you improve the feed to the house, Next radiators can clog up with silt, flushing the system is time-consuming, but a useful exercise. Fitting radiator temp controls are next, but before spending in this area, I would take a look and installing a complete house sensor control, to the individual radiator.

Here I want to mention alternative energy feeds such as solar, these preheat the water feed, and are excellent, and so often completely take over the water heating, but plan carefully, consider the orientation and amount of solar your house can expect to receive and its connection to the existing system.

Adding Solar PV systems might not add to the efficiency much but with the need for electric cars and battery storage improving, this needs to be reassessed on a regular basis plus with tariff feedback on adding feeds to the grid this needs to be studied for your individual area and supplier.

At this point it’s wise to take a comprehensive look at your whole house electronic needs, using your WiFi to connects radiator controls, solar blinds and generally keeping your house efficient is now not something out of the Jetsons, different house designs will need different systems, but before heading down a route to improve energy efficiency take a look at modern electronic whole-house controls, we as humans are not good at this, computers are.

Summer

House orientation

Something so often is forgotten, yet understanding where the sun rises and sets will determine your strategy on many of the items above, don't forget solar panels don't need to be on the roof, if a patch of your garden is a sun trap, consider alternative panel designs to take advantage of this.

Summer so often means warm days, and in some countries chiller units kicking in, choosing a good quality external roller blind, to shade the internal areas and cut the need to cool. If you need to use a chiller unit, again choose wisely good ventilation could be the better route, but older chiller units are often very inefficient, consider changing or re-charging the coils. With a new gas.

Above I mentioned, updating and choosing external windows, looking at the way the window opens and allows the correct ventilation for summer is a major benefit to keeping a house cool. Sash windows are particularly good at this. Understanding whole-house ventilation is a great way to understand how your individual house reacts to the sun and will offer huge savings on energy.

Flats & Appartments

Flats and apartments offer a different set of problems, with very little room to manoeuvre, however, we can do some of the above, like adding an internal high efficient mobile chiller, these need little energy, but like many of these units, they generate condensation water and need regular emptying. 

Underfloor heating can be added, but be selective, to areas where it is really needed like bedrooms and bathrooms. Electric is easier to install and a lot thinner and can be fitted under tiles in the adhesive. Not ideal for short term renters though.

Solar tint films to windows are easy to apply and reduce solar gain. 

The new home hub electronic systems offered by Google, Amazon and Apple include a lot of interesting controls, if you are allowed to, then installing radiator valves connected to the home hub is a good move.

In this area, light bulbs are an easy install, and although its not really a thermal energy upgrade, installing white noise generators make living in a flat so much quieter.

Major construction alterations like wall installation are often as not an option, so consider your upgrade carefully, if the upgrade you want is wireless and will connect to the flat wifi it gives the option to take it with you but if the alteration is a major item like window replacement and your flat has a management body, then consider many of the options above.

The consideration for resiting equipment for the flat renter who moves on is the high priority route to go for here.

I have only touched the subject, there is so much that can be done, and the new Google home developments open up more on the digital side.

Home Lockdown Update

So here I am, at home, keeping out of everyone's way. The University is closed, so no travelling back and forward on crowed trains, plus I am saving a shed load of cash, no mid-morning breaks, two or three trips to the coffee machine and that odd chocolate bar mid-afternoon.

But I have never been so busy at home, first, the University may be closed, but only for face to face teaching, we have moved to the cloud and that means holding lectures online, getting students onto the preferred sharing platform, ie Microsofts Teams, and to a very small extent Zoom, plus whats app, text and mobile.

Next, it's the slides I use, most are great for general lecturing but needed to be updated to account for presenting online, so a lot of lecturer notes and individual video's for each slide, plus a complete video of the lecture. I am also sending out mini-blogs organising the lectures and in my case organising the linked lectures related to my module IDD or Integrated Digital Design.

I am also quite busy updating mt slides, I intend to retire at the end of this semester, and want to hand over to my successor a well-formulated and complete module. so lots of thinking, and updating to be done.

Next comes the usual University group meets, Teams is incredible for this, do you notice I have not mentioned Skype, it does not come close to the services Teams offers, and the ease of use.  OK there is a learning curve, but the more you use it, the more you learn and use. The Uni team meets are essential as we venture into this new way of teaching, and the group meets are essential for sharing experiences and lecture methods.

Students are also demanding, and time has to be put aside for one to one meets to help them understand or use the lectures in their module and course work. so I am booking time slots for over 200 students all within the built environment. Then there are research students, who just by there very nature, need a lot of conversations to discuss a paper or theory of a new paper.

Its a long day in front of a screen, and although its once working from home it's also tiring. I spent a long portion of my career, working from home being a tech guy for Dow and I should know how it works, but this is so different.

I am also reviewing my web site Scays.co.uk and updating the layout a little, plus writing notes for up and coming papers, oh and walking my dog Barley. and it's here where I can indulge in my love of blogs. I listen to about a dozen different producers, on a range of topics and walking Barley is my blog time. I have also begun buying my books as Audible files, yes I still order the paper version, but so often I am taking offers to get the Audible file, it's part of my dog walking experience now.

But walking and listening, does not allow the making notes, so I get back and try to make notes, not easy and certainly not the best way, but it makes me rethink a little. Plus I have made Sunday afternoon a time to reflect on these badly written notes and try to correct and update. Kindle does have a great way to highlight a passage and retrieve that text, Audible has a clip feature that I have found so intent to test it out.

I have just finished "The order of Time" by Carlo Rovelli, and have just started "21 Lessons for a 21st Century" by Yuval Noah Harari. It's too late for the Order of Time and I will make use of the clipping in 21 lessons. Both books I have added to the Scays.co.uk web site book list.

Saturday and Sunday, have always been my days for buying the weekends papers. I started doing this in my early teens and never really stopped, except for the times I live abroad and English papers were very expensive. I started clipping articles and adding them to my little blue book, a ring clip binder I used. But now I tend to use an app on my Pixel mobile to scan as a pdf article the item I want to clip, far more efficient way to clip as I save it to my Google Drive and the article is OCR'd so searchable.

So there we have my update on home Lockdown, stay out of the way, and keep up with Uni life. Oh and try and get a Tesco or any other slot for home delivery, almost impossible, so might have to visit the local store.

Today's photo is my loan Brompton I have from the University, so good to get back into the sale, and on such a nice bike, I am now looking for one to buy.

AI - An interview with Alex Garland via Lex Fridman's podcast AI

I watch listen and read about AI with interest, not because I understand it, but more, I need to understand it, simply because I can see how our building will at some point integrate AI into its fundamental running,

So often we design and detail building in the vain hope that the client and subsequent owners will run the building as we envisaged, clean it as we want and occupy it in the way he told us in the brief. But in reality, this is never quite to way, Clients don't understand, or can't afford it, or simply think they know best !!

AI will, if used correctly, run the building as we envisaged, and adapt as life depicts, understand new owners and shout loudly when they abuse the design.

To this end, I listen to a podcast and also read Lex Fridman's articles on the subject, his latest podcast and one I have listened to twice is a conversation he has with Alex Garland, this link takes you to a page with almost every podcast player, choose your poison. But the video is below via YouTube.

Alex Garland is a writer, not a trained scientist or physicist, his claim to fame are plenty, but the three films I like most taken from his work are:

• Ex Machina, 
• Devs, 
• Annihilation

But it's Ex Machina I watch time and time again, each time picking up on how the robot, works and thinks, or how the automation of the dwelling works if you have not seen it, look it up on Netflix, There is so much to see and understand around AI, how complex the algorithms must be to even start to work at the level he imagines.

Apart from the real question of AI, how do we teach this to aspiring construction graduates across the broad spectrum of disciplines found in Architecture? My own thoughts are that we should introduce the subject at the undergraduate level, but concentrate on the construction, materials sequence of operations, teaching an understanding of sharing their work in a manner that allows a complete understanding of the building materials used plus the art of detailing, and introduce this concept of programming gently, simple use of Dynamo or Grasshopper, the use of spreadsheets generated from the model which relies on good sound data input, and leave the more complicated stuff to Masters and above.

Even at undergraduate level, I teach the use of a digital plan, so often this is aimed at understanding the way technology will be used during the construction phase and into the life of the building, perhaps the way AI is used at this later stage is the work at Masters and above.

Augmented Reality almost here

For so long, I have been teaching that Augmented Reality will take over how we draw and overlay the technical parameters of our designs on reality. the technology has its ups and downs, Google glass lead the way, but fell due in part to the lack of foresight in the public, "Magic leap" has tantalised us with hints of what might be, but as yet have failed to deliver. The same goes for so many startups.

Yet both Google and Apple are poised to offer us the next phase of Augmented life and it looks interesting to the point I might even have to keep my MacBook Pro.

This article on Medium, and if you do not have an account here, get one, they are a major repository of so many interesting articles, but I digress. The article by Novac B, offers a lot of reason why Apple might just pull of another leap in Technology over the efforts of Google, that will, like the iPhone and Mac, send us into raptures and back into the Apple stores.

The article is titled Apple’s Smart Glasses — The Final Piece of the Puzzle is Almost There! and its a thesis of note, looking over the titbits of information currently out there and piecing it together to show just how far along the path Apple really are. So many like to give doom and gloom to Apple, their sales might be falling, but watch this space, they have done it so many times, announcing to the world products that change how we live.

Today's image is the title image from the above article, it so sets the scene

IDD or Intergrated Digital Design

I did not invent the name of this blog it came from previous lecturers at Birmingham City University. But over the last two years of my involvement, I have made it my own, steering first and second-year students along the digital path, now encompassing Architecture, from CAD to the ultimate end of the Smart City, Self-driving cars, the future.

For some its a mind-blowing entrance to a University Degree course, for some, it's well an opening to their future. They seem to soak up the knowledge, some are gamers,  they have a mindset that understands the route ahead.

So far for the last 5 weeks, I have introduced the concept of the digital world, but today I introduced all of the past weeks into the start of the world of CAD, the introduction of Data to the 3D model and its use, as part of what's known as BIM.

It's not an easy route, made harder by the fact that the group is made up of Architectural Technologists, Building Surveyors, Quantity Surveyors,  Planners and Construction managers, all of whom have just a little different use and role in the digital plan.

Oh, and did I say the whole class, some 140 students in the first year are flung together within individual groups, they need to work together, exploring the data and sharing it, much like a real-life practice. or project.

Lectures range from introductions to CAD to understanding the effect of the weather on details, and of course, researching the data needed to understand how materials work as a built structure.

Some of my slides are on Scays.co.uk, but I need to pull together in a coherent page, a project to be done.

Today's photo the little blue dot Voyager photo set up by Carl Sagan, a classic. I just purchased a "T" shirt with a little version of the photo.

Freeman Dyson

I awoke yesterday to be confronted by the news of Freeman Dyson's death. Who you might ask, well he was a Theoretical Physicist, a man who dreamed of things and tried to make it work with very complicated mathematics.

For most it was his episode of Startrek and Picard's discovery of a Dyson Sphere, also staring the last appearance of Scotty.
His daughter, one of many children he leaves, is EstherDyson her book 2.1 is required reading. on Computer Science and the internet, I have an old copy I purchased on my travels through an airport.

The Guardian has an excellent obituary of Freeman, his life and Family, his awards and papers. Although searching on Google Scholar has many of his papers. If like me you can access many of them they are excellent reading, well mostly, a couple are full of complex maths I can't begin to follow.

My Brompton Travels

As a boy, I used to bike everywhere, the distance was no object, but as I started work, the joy of this activity fell by the wayside, a car began to take the lead and I travelled all over Europe for business. But now as I enter retirement, biking is taking my interest again, and one cycle, in particular, a Brompton, I have one on loan, just to see if this is not just a fad, well I am pleased to say its not. So I am looking for my own, new or secondhand.

I have a few trips planned, but it's going to have to be a summer expedition, I have tried cycling in the wet and its not fun, so Fairweather cycling it is.

But why a Brompton, well it's simple, I intend to use trains as part of my travels, it's folding nature allows easy access and no problems, My first trip will be on the train to London and a meeting on the Euston road, then on to the Kings Cross area to look at the Google building, and I hope a small report.

I use a Pixel phone, so along with my Brompton, a  handlebar holder, to use the maps app, together with  I hope time-lapse photography.

My fourth Career move

Its that time of my life when I suddenly realise its all over, 50 years working and I am seriously considering that final move to retirement. I had dinner with a friend last night and although he retired 20 years ago, he is busier than ever.

Will that be for me, I wonder. I take a look at what's available, I could go as a consultant and earn a little, but that means forming a company again, accounts and insurance, and that is just not appealing. No that's not the right route for me. Can I start writing, Mmmmm now this seems to be more like what I want, a little writing each morning sound good, but what do I write about, old work-related subjects or something completely new, or perhaps a side of my business life that I have never delved into?

This last thought has me thinking, and the more I dwell on the subject the more I think, this just might be for me. I have my Scays web site and I wonder if this is the tool for expanding this new area.

Scays.co.uk, was and still is my site for my lectures, this might prove a basis for all I want to do, expand my thoughts out of the normal lectures into something a little bit more out of the box, so to speak.

Scays has for the last few years been a place where students, ex and present, can find the slides I use at my University lectures on construction, themed around the role of the Architectural Technologist.

Expanding it into this new area is beginning to excite me, and might just be the fourth career move I have been looking for.

So where to start, well this blog seems the right beginning, a place where I can explore my thoughts, develop themes and work up ideas, that I can migrate over to scays.

In recent years I have developed an interest in photography, mostly about the places I have travelled to, but a little on photos to back up my slides, I have placed some of these on Flickr, so search scays to see my collection, or follow the link. I intend to enhance the collection with more from my Google Photo repository.

So here it is, retirement and my fourth career, oh did I mention travel, part of my writing will be travel, and yes I intend to travel widely. Mostly by trains, and including cruising. But some airlines will be inevitable.

Today's photo is of the monolith in Hudson Yard, it's not just the buildings or the truly stunning Architecture, but the construction itself being situated over the station and railway tracks. More on this later, but for now just one of my many photos of the complex.