Freeform

Over the weekend, we headed to the Southbank with the children.  There was an exhibition entitled "Pestival" that dealt with all things creepy-crawly - insects to be precise.  The highlight was walking through a giant scaled model of a termite nest.  Inside the nest was an enthusiastic fellow who explained the architecture and habits of termites.  Architecture without architects is a fascinating topic and these termites are ancient leaders of the green movement.  Nests are constructed in a way that provides natural "air conditioning".  The man inside the hive lecturing was Dr. Rupert Soar.  He was not an ordinary insect expert.   The head of a company called Freeform Engineering, Dr. Soar has extrapolated the ideas found in termite hives and combined them with rapid prototyping technologies.  I first encountered a rapid prototyping structure when I was in the 2002 Whitney Biennial.  Artist Robert Lazzerini used rapid prototyping machines to manufacture skewed sculptures.  

Back to the termites.  Philosophically, the marriage of what a termite constructs combined with the use of rapid prototyping technologies for use in architecture is a good mix.  I love the idea of printing a building layer by layer, using robotics.  Building complex structures such as those made by termites would not be readily achievable without this technology.   Whilst listening, I imagined several people must already be developing large scale use of rapid prototyping for use in architecture, and, according to this article in the FT, that is the case.  I do think this company has a very interesting angle on it with the incorporation of green structures based on termites nests.

It is really this kind of thinking that makes the world go round.  I wish them baskets of success.

A ramble...

From the suburban mall design of the Excel centre to the icon-known since-childhood nostalgia of Buckingham Palace, a parade of British architecture has swirled by during the coverage of the G20 summit.  Even spiderman himself was seen today climbing the iconic Lloyds building.  The very large glass sheets of the ruptured RBS building featured yesterday.  Broken, climbed, removed, iconic.  If all these were amalgamated together in form and idea, the result would be a major architectural nightmare.  And probably have a Topshop inside it featuring spiderman t-shirts, ripped see-through blouses, and vintage teacup patterned frocks.

Oh.  And perhaps an anarchist outfit or two.  Missmc has just learned that anarchist fashion is going to be the big next thing in the fashion world.  If the gay guys are onto it, well, it is coming.  And what strange bedfellows anarchists and gay guys make.  Though I guess the Stonewall Riots do make it all make a bit of sense.  Watch out Black Bloc, you are about to have a makeover.