All articles by Thomas Lane – Page 7
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FeaturesRise of the machines
It is the year 2004, and a 400-year-old firm in Sussex, England, has become mankind's last hope of resistance to the machine-made roof tile – but for how much longer?
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FeaturesA television quiz
How do you stop an enormous falling-over building located in the middle of an earthquake zone from falling over? We find out how Arup is going about it at the headquarters of Central Chinese State Television
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FeaturesThere's a visitor for you
That alien spaceship over there is the bird flu virus, and its favourite place to be is in modern hospitals, because they seem to have been specially designed to help it infect its victims. We look at how engineers and microbiologists are fighting back
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FeaturesBe afraid (but not very afraid)
The scarily tough and complex demands of the new Part L have left many contractors confused and anxious. But difficulties enforcing the energy-efficiency regulation suggest that its bark may be a lot worse than its bite.
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FeaturesRoll up the beige carpet
It's a fact that all office workers hate their offices. But what if the workspace changes beyond recognition? What if wireless devices replace phones and cafes replace desks? Well for one thing, we'd find it harder to moan about our jobs
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FeaturesArup's giant foaming Chinese puzzle box
Beijing's 2008 Olympic swimming stadium looks like a artifact from a dream: a giant box of glowing blue bubbles in which 17,000 people are concealed. Once you recover from the shock of seeing it, you start to wonder how anyone could possibly work out how to build it.
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FeaturesAll together better
Willmott Dixon thought that a completely rational building process would be about 30% faster than a conventional one. So it tried out its ideas on a social housing development in west London. We found out what happened
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FeaturesNew Part L
The second part of our super E-Z-Read® guide to next year’s likely changes to Part L looks at killer details such as refurbishing existing buildings, clashes with other regulations and why the product manufacturers are hopping mad.
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FeaturesNow even tougher
The new Part L is to come into force three years before we thought it was! Oh my God!! What are we going to do??? Well, why not pour yourself a drink, sit back in a large leather armchair and peruse the first part of Building's E-Z-Read® guide to what's ...
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FeaturesOur homes in Havana
A UK architect is bringing prefab housing to Cuba in the hope that it will eliminate poor quality homes, delays and light-fingered builders. With government backing, residents of old Havana could soon be moving to new homes, leaving their grand colonial buildings for the tourists.
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FeaturesMaker's mark
London's Holloway Road was not exactly crying out for an edgy, in-yer-face building, but Daniel Libeskind's latest design does wonders for it anyway. Martin Spring assesses the design, Thomas Lane reports on the building techniques.
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News
Uproar as Egan's Asite backs internet auctions
Lowest-cost-wins procurement tool is offered by internet portal headed by partnering advocate Sir John Egan
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FeaturesHomage to isokonia
This block of tiny flats in north London was once the trendiest address in 1930s Britain. Agatha Christie, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer all lived here. In the 1990s, only the pigeons called it home. We report on the restoration of a modernist gem
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NewsFurther and better particulars of … Tom Dengenis, Chief executive of Asite
Our monthly series on the construction people in the news targets the chief executive officer of loss-making internet portal Asite. Here he tells us how he plans to make it pay
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FeaturesTales of Temple Bar
Sir Christopher Wren's Temple Bar marked the gateway to the City of London for 200 years. Then it retired to the country. And now, thanks to a £4m stone-by-stone removal job, the arch should see a few more centuries of capital life at Paternoster Square.
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FeaturesGoing down a storm
The Met Office has just moved all its staff and forecasting equipment to a purpose built facility in balmy Devon – without a second's break in its service. We found out how the project team made a tricky transition into a summer breeze