So here the forth focus week started. The weather as anyone might guess was still around the zero and 'unpleasant' was the mildest possible word that could be used to describe the 'lovely' London temperatures. Despite that we were preparing for the once-a-year event during the past few weeks. Of course it's Eco Build 2011. I started with registering myself alongside with some of my classmates and at the end of all I got myself a nice badge (so as thousands of other people as well who visited the ExCeL centre).
This year's exhibition was from the 1-st till the 3-rd of March in the ExCeL centre on the DLR very close to the London City Airport. The building itself was so big that both of its ends had their own stop of the train. The flood of people going to that place was so big that even from Surbiton we heard groups of people talking about it. And of course that was my first time going to it so I was full of expectations.
When we finally arrived we found ourselves in a huge building. The main 'boulevard' that separates the place in South and North hall was as broad as a boulevard. Full of cafes and restaurants the place was ready to welcome the visitors.
As one can see the place was so big that we didn't know where to start from. We had some time until the targeted seminars was due to start so we were wandering around with open mouths just like a visitor for the first time in New York gazing at the skyscrapers. As I mentioned the place was divided in 2 parts which consisted of various sections depending on the topic. One huge area dedicated for solar energy with panels, boilers etc. Another was about green roofs and green walls. Another was about timber applications and so on and so on. The name Eco Build speaks for itself: it's the sustainable element in building the future. We even found our own University's stand among all others.
Every single manufacturer (presenter) had it's own unique stand. Some smaller some bigger. And depending on the element they represent they had different decoration, floor, colour theme. Even their pens were unique. Some stands were whole houses, some illuminating, some with lights.
As the the few minutes we had passed we were on our way to seminar gallery 19 for our chosen seminar - From Grey to Green.
Here is a link to the
session programme. The reason why we chose this was that it was the one which was most related to our current project which included green roofs, green walls, biodiversity and water management. The main sponsor of the seminars was Marshalls and co-sponsor was the Landscape Institute. The talks were very interesting. Lots of projects were shown to us spread all over the world. I felt myself in a very formal environment. Not just another meeting in the MLT in uni. So instead of bullet pointing all my notes I have taken pictures of them:
These were the first 3 of all 4 different thematics. Unfortunately I had to go home just before the beginning of the last one which was directly related to my own project. It was the main reason why we went there but unexpected event made me go back to Surbiton.
However since I am registered in Eco Build website I have access to every single presentation that was presented during these 3 days.
On the next day I came only to wander around, gather ideas and try to see some of the most interesting presentations. The other useful benefit at the end of the day was that I finally found and bought my Landscape Architect Pocket Book. On top of that I got 20% discount straight from the RIBA stand. As I was told it is really useful and practical so ever since I had it I've been consulting with it before making a step in a project. Simple steps that I used to think were 'simple' had their answers found in the book.
Thanks Eco Build - see you next year!!!
