{"id":239,"date":"2021-01-25T00:30:48","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T00:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/?p=239"},"modified":"2021-05-18T02:01:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T02:01:23","slug":"ongoing-and-occasional-2021001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/?p=239","title":{"rendered":"Ongoing and Occasional 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Header_Maill001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/address>\n
\"Helsinki<\/a>Helsinki Library \u2013 Photo ALA Architects<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n

Dear Fourth Door mailing list folks<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the first in an occasional if regular Fourth Door missive series, mixing things I\u2019ve noticed and noted across the span of FD-terrain. There\u2019ll be further edition as part of a renewed and active year ahead. Let us know what you think, positive, negative and neutral, and I\u2019ll look forward to folk\u2019s communications, and to sending the next of these out soon.<\/p>\n

All kindnesses,
\nOliver (Lowenstein)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Materials \u2013 Timber, architecture<\/strong>\u00a0and the 21st<\/sup> century<\/p>\n

Our friends in the North\u00a0<\/strong>(i) Germany\u2019s Detail Magazine<\/strong><\/a> just awarded their main 2020 architecture prize to Finnish\u00a0ALA Architecture’s<\/a><\/strong> Helsinki Library, with its rather wonderful looking sinuous, swooping timber canopy facade. Just how much timber is integral to the design is another\u00a0matter. Read about the rise of Helsinki\u2019s new architectural generation \u2013 including ALA \u2013 in Fourth Door\u2019s Unstructured here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our friends in the North<\/strong>\u00a0(ii) – Some of you will know of our liking for the small island<\/strong><\/a> with the big craft scene<\/strong><\/a> in the middle (well, in the west-middle) of the Baltic Sea – Bornholm.\u00a0This week brings news that the island\u2019s showcase Green Solution House hotel is expanding, with a first in timber designed by major Danish architects 3XN (That\u2019s three times Nielsen, the name of all three of the Aarhus studio founders) and their circular underlings,\u00a0GXN<\/strong><\/a>, another sign of the times that the Danes are moving into timber.<\/p>\n

Our friends in the North<\/strong>\u00a0(iii) – following the news of the first UK manufacturing Cross Laminated Timber (CLT)<\/strong> <\/strong> (along with other indigenous wood materials) by Scotland\u2019s CSIC noted in the last of these missives, TRADA posted a guide to\u00a0grading UK woods<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by Dan Ridley-Ellis<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> from Edinburgh Napier University\u2019s Centre for Timber Engineering. Ridley-Ellis also runs the centre’s terrific\u00a0blog<\/strong><\/a> as well as being one of a – in probable likelihood – minority of timber engineers who lives a double life as a stand-up comedian (at least in the evening).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Stroud<\/a>Stroud Chapel \u2013 Nicolas Pople Architects \u2013 Photo Fernando Manoso Borgas<\/p>\n

Our friends north of the Ashdown Forest\u00a0<\/strong>– not exactly the same sort of thing, but another epicentre of small-town quirk, Stroud is home to <\/strong>Nicolas Pople Architects<\/strong><\/a> rather wonderfully idiosyncratic, Steiner Chapel. The chapel\u00a0received a write up for the Forest Row studio in the Architectural Journal<\/strong><\/a> this week. An early write up about this ground-breaking use of\u00a0CLT for what engineers describe as a Monocoque structure initially appeared on Unstructured here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Materials\u00a0<\/strong>–\u00a0Green\u00a0Steel\u00a0<\/strong>– \u00a0 increasing numbers of reports regarding major moves towards Zero Carbon Steel have been appearing across diverse sections\u00a0of the media, department of hydrogen futures, over the last months. Given steel contributes between 6% and 10% of all carbon emissions the\u00a0moves are significant if not surprising. Part of the broader emergence of the Hydrogen Economy \u2013 using hydrogen energy to replace smelting ore in blast furnaces – features like this overview<\/strong> in a November FT are becoming almost everyday. LKAB, Sweden\u2019s largest steel manufacturer –\u00a0 yes the same company which is moving part of the northern town of Kiruna out of safety concerns about the town collapsing into its underground mines \u2013 caused ripples when it announced it was targeting producing the first\u00a0\u2018Zero Carbon Steel’<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by 2026 latest, and made a commitment for all operations to be fully zero carbon by 2046.\u00a0Meanwhile in Austria, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries hydrogen-based steel is behind what\u2019s\u00a0described<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0as ‘the world’s largest steel plant capable of\u00a0attaining net-zero carbon dioxide emissions\u2019 at one of Austrian steelmaker voestalpine factories. ThyssenKrupp are working with the Norwegian giant, Equinor, on another<\/strong><\/a> hydrogen project for the formers Duisburg steel plant, while ArcelorMittal are also undertaking research in Spain. But, as is often pointed out, unless China makes green steel commitments (and acts on them) none of this will be enough to make a meaningful dent on steel’s carbon count. (Source of this mainly through Chris <\/strong>Goodall\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong>Carbon Commentary<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Polysilicon<\/a><\/p>\n

Polysilicon – Images used in compilation by Georg Slickers, Warut Roonguthai and \u041a\u043e\u043c\u043f\u0430\u043d\u0438\u044f \u041d\u0418\u0422\u041e\u041b. Compilation Own work. \u2013 Derived from by Georg Slickers, released under CC-BY-SA-2.5,2.0,1.0. https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/<\/wbr>w\/index.php?curid=36385096<\/a><\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n
Materials – Polysilicon –\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Speaking of the first green civilisation, a\u00a0<\/strong>New York Times report<\/strong><\/a>, amplifies research by Horizon Advisory<\/strong><\/a> on forced labour being used in the workforce for a number of China’s solar power companies in its north western Xiajiang state, home to the Uighur and other minorities. The state is one of the only sources of polysilicon, critical for solar panels’ surface film. The NYT reports\u00a0that in 2020 Xiajiang was the source of 40% of the solar energy sectors polysilicon; it is a critical material needed for solar panels manufacture, and that China whole is\u00a0the source of 82% of all polysilicon, up from 26% in 2010.<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n
\"Eleanor<\/a>Eleanor Pritchard, Blanket Coverage<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n
A weave in time<\/strong>\u00a0– By way of contrast\u00a0Blanket Coverage<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> a rather lovely looking exhibition focused on contemporary blanket weaving, is on \u2013 lockdown permitting \u2013 until mid-April at the Welsh art space Llantarnam Grange<\/strong><\/a> (close to Torfaen, between Newport and Abergavenny.)<\/address>\n
Pan-Continental Acoustic Ecology –\u00a0Acoustic Commons<\/a><\/strong>, a network of acoustic ecology sound arts partners, who are bringing to our attention, and indeed our ears, soundscapes from places and spaces across Europe and beyond, are co-organising a live streaming workshop this coming Monday through Friday 25th-29th January transmitting 10am to 5pm (CET) each day.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Forests and Africa<\/strong> – Hopeful dreams to file under the good news section. From afar\u00a0A<\/strong>frica\u2019s continent crossing mighty forest regreening<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0initiative, which, once completed will run from Senegal in the West to \u00a0the Horn of Africa in the east, received a $14 billion boost in international pledges, looks inspiring.<\/div>\n

Meanwhile<\/strong>\u00a0– Yekaterina Nekrasova<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> 40, swam a record 85 metres under the ice of Lake Baikal wearing only a cap and swimsuit. Easy when you know how, apparently.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Forest<\/a>Forest in Congo peatland \u2013 Wikipedia<\/p>\n

This is the second in Fourth Door\u2019s Ongoing information mail-outs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  \u00a0 Helsinki Library \u2013 Photo ALA Architects \u00a0 Dear Fourth Door mailing list folks This is the first in an occasional if regular Fourth Door missive series, mixing things I\u2019ve noticed and noted across the span of FD-terrain. There\u2019ll be further edition as part of a renewed and active year ahead. Let us know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ongoing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299,"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions\/299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthdoor.org\/ongoing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}