Eco-Build Event: 27 February – 1 March 2007

Ramsay Ritchie, Associate at ReardonSmith, spoke at Eco-Build 2007, the UK’s only event dedicated to sustainable design and construction, combining a conference, exhibition and seminar.

Defining intelligent building as “one which combines innovations, technological or not, with skilful management to maximise a return on investment”, Ramsay went on to propose that environmentally conscious design is not a new phenomenon. In fact, he argued, it has only been since the Second World War that architects have designed buildings entirely dependent on fossil fuels for their manufacture and operations. Taking his audience through a series of visual examples, including recent ReardonSmith projects, he called on architects to balance the five elemental requirements of insulation, heating & cooling, lighting, ventilation and water – irrespective of the function of the building they are designing. However, he warned, there was a risk that architects today ‘over-design’ the environment and thus make it too complicated for people to use and adapt to meet their needs. Buildings, he said, need to be ‘future-proofed’ so that, as technology changes, they can be adapted to meet the next generation’s requirements.

Click here to read the full presentation (PDF, 2.3 Mb).

Click here to read about Sleep 2005.

Click here to read about Hotel & Event Profit Congress.