New U.K. Lab Re-Creates Real-World Disaster Scenarios
Michael Lawrence runs the new HIVE facility where researchers can test methods and products for building more resilient structures.
Michael Lawrence, a low-carbon design expert at the University of Bath, knows something about brass tacks. He’s working on a paneling system that aims to equip walls with hardier and more energy-efficient insulation. His testing ground is the HIVE, a new facility for developing resilient construction methods at the university’s September-inaugurated Building Research Park. Lawrence, the HIVE’s principal investigator and the park’s director, says that the process of settling on a design, clearing its site (a former airfield) for new use and finally building the space took a little over a year.
The HIVE’s hygrothermal rooms (hygrothermics is the study of high temperatures and humidity) allow researchers to analyze how a wall’s integrity changes — right down to vapors. Diving into such details is integral to discovering resilient construction methods that don’t just fortify but can adjust for complex, changing weather cycles. When Lawrence is testing his paneling system, for example, there are sensors to detect and register the moisture and heat that seeps through.
Beyond the individual projects at HIVE, what’s piquing interest is the number of potential experiments that the facility can play host to: One building materials expert may be curious about how wind can distort materials during a hurricane, while another may be more interested in the whirlpool of a dust devil. Both could stage gusts from the “bladder” cell.
For Rest of Story, Read
http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/hive-lab-university-bath-experiment-resilience
http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/hive-lab-university-bath-experiment-resilience
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