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100 Innovative Days

100 Innovative Days
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Day 13

100 Innovative Days

Green Building Encyclopaedia

On the face of it an encyclopaedia is very useful but nothing innovative

A book with Alphabetized information is only useful if you know the Sustainability Revolutions’ Jargon to be able to interrogate the subject.

GBE has already assembled 9000 term environmental jargon buster, indicating the breadth of the subject and the enormous task we face reeducating our industry before the mainstream will truly engage with the task ahead.

Innovation 1: Mimic the human brains’ neural network

GBEs’ ambition includes:

To reeducate the construction industry on all things environmental by exploiting Internet technology to create the equivalent of a human brains’ neural network
Every topic has its own page each a nugget of information (neurons)
Linking every topic page to every other related and relevant page (neural network connecting the neurons)
Other pages making themselves known, listed and linked in both directions
No more searching down any menus or lists
Everything comes to the reader.
Every chance of assimilating the subject in depth and making better informed decisions
Armed with this knowledge, minded to defend decisions against fiduciary rule driven cost cutting/substitutions

Innovation 2: A 2D or 3D Interface interrogates the encyclopedia for you

With CAD (Computer Aided Design), BIM (Building Information Management) and web software we now have the means to embed this vast collection of information into a virtual building that can be walked through, climbed over, dug under, passed through, interacted with and interrogated.

Wherever the mouse hovers: context relevant information will popup, starting with options to consider and things to avoid (GBE Checklist),
With a mouse click: menus will appear with links into GBE Product Pages, linking designers to manufacturers, supply chain and installers, links into GBE Code and its many parts with their links anywhere in the website content and beyond to the internet.
Hovering over a tap will reveal water saving behavior-change options, a click will promote antibacterial coatings, alternative eco-chrome plating research and product pages (a more detailed exploration below)
Hovering over a pavement will reveal low carbon or recycled content material choices, permeable pavement options, water harvesting, a click will access biological water cleaning, pavement solar heating water installations and urea alternatives to road salting and product pages
Hovering over a wall will suggests alternative methods of construction, materials and finishes, linking to GBE Product Pages; a click links to how to incorporate biodiversity without compromises.

How much detail could be revealed?

For example: hover over or click a tap in the 2D or 3D image and information windows will appear containing everything there is to know about taps pulled out of the encyclopaedia:

GBE Jargon Buster: taps
GBE Environmental Checklist: New build and refurbishment: Taps
GBE Lifestyle: Turn off taps when brushing teeth to save water
GBE Resource efficiency:
- Low flow and sprinkler taps save water automatically
- Always add a water isolation and flow balancing valve between the pipes and the taps
- to allow washer replacement without draining the system,
- and control excess pressure and water consumption
GBE Retrofit: water saving nozzles and aerators can be retro-fitted to taps to reduce water flow
Proximity detection: avoids bacteria transfer, turn on and off automatically and saves water
Avoiding contact: avoids leaving soap deposits that will need cleaning consuming water and cleaning materials
Anti-bacterial coatings: silver plated taps kill any bacteria deposited
GBE Materials: Chromium is high impact, research is underway on alternative manufacturing techniques
Multi functional taps: near boiling water and cold filtered water from same tap
Multi functional and proximity control taps with 6 settings are available
GBE Design: BRE Environmental Assessment Method: flow targets requirements
AECB Water Standard
Water Technology List: taps eligible for Enhanced capital allowance (UK Tax)
Water Aware Labeled accredited taps available
Bathroom Water Efficiency Label accredited taps available
GBE Manufacturers of: water efficient taps
GBE Suppliers of: water saving taps
GBE Specialist installers: of water saving taps
GBE Servers/Service Providers/Consultants: Water Specialists
GBE PASS: Product Accessories System Screening: Taps
GBE Compare: Tap performance compared: Taps
GBE Product Pages: Water saving taps
GBE CPD: Greening your Office: Sanitaryware, Taps

There will be many pieces of information delivered in a concertina block of windows where the user chooses the particular window they want to be open at any time.

The interface finds all there is to know without ever searching for anything.

One click will take you to the page you choose, one click will bring you back.

Scope:

The scope includes substructure, super structure, building fabric, services, interiors, furniture, landscape, and infrastructure.
The project will initially limit itself to one non-domestic building and could address refurbishment to decrease carbon consumption by >80% in the absence CRC, GreenDeal and ECO.
Creating the 3D CAD BIM-ready model
Structuring and linking the information in the website to the 3D CAD model objects.
There may be a need to reconfigure the information structure of the GBE website but it is being developed now in logical orders (plain English words, phrases, abbreviations, acronyms, jargon busters, classification systems and matrix) to permit access by many methods & routes by English reading audiences, of all disciplines. Internet browser translators will open the website to a larger audience.

Background:

BrianSpecMan of GBE has been collating information on environmental construction for over 16 years.

In that time he has created many long and consequently potentially difficult to consume documents: E.g.

Over 800 GBE CPD Seminars,
100s of GBE ROBUST Specifications and guidance notes,
GBE Checklist(100+ pages)
GBE Jargon Buster(440 pages, 9000 terms, read 16,875 times on Scribd 05/01/2014),
GBE Linksto information sources (100+ pages), etc.

In order to test the usefulness of this information to both consumer and business, samples were published on Scribd website where over >300 document have been opened by 275,000 readers in since June 2009 (then the counter was reset in 2014)

GBE website is being created now, to bring all this information and a wealth of >40 years of consultancy and into one structured set of information so it can be accessed easily and intuitively by different public, professional, tradesmen audiences.

All of the topics and subjects in these documents is extracted and given its own page, supported by links up and down and sideways like a brain’s neural network to any related information in different formats (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF, PNG, HTML).

More over with internet technology any subject can be drilled down to interrogate web published research papers anywhere on the internet giving direct unambiguous access to research often missed by designers, bringing a wealth of research to the fingertips of those that need it, and avoiding this wealth of information just sitting on shelves.

The project is currently being discussed with other collaborators:

Information provider/Architect/Specifier/GreenDeal & ECO seminar presenter
Mechanical & Electrical Services Engineer/Author Mike Malina
Structural Engineer Jim Allan
Renewable Energy/ Refurbishment/ Passivhaus Specialist/GreenDealAssessor Paul Bourgeois
2D & 3D CAD & BIM/Architect Dan Ward
Biodiversity specialists Stacey Waring & Kelly Gunnell
Behavior-change and lifestyle Edith Colomba
Urban design Dr Julie Ann Futcher

When the project is underway through our involvement in numerous committees and membership groups we will invite other Gurus and practicing Architects to contribute their know-how.

Development Partners:

We have investigated a number of websites and their authors to find the right development partners
We have shortlisted WordPressNoStress for the interface
We have shortlisted Archisan for the 2D & 3D model and navigation Icons

Future development:

Domestic and other non-domestic buildings Refurbishment
New build Domestic and Non-domestic
Potentially link into AECB’s CarbonLite Retrofit & CarbonLite new-build project outputs.
Website content is unlimited, Internet content is unlimited
The 3D model of a building can grow into a cluster of building with all associated landscape and infrastructure.

Seeking funding:

We are trialing a subscribing membership model but Architects expect most of their information for free.
We are also investigating crowd funding to get its developments started and completed sooner, 5 years instead of 40.

3D becomes 2D and later grows to 3D:

After much debate the 3D ambition feels too optimistic so we are reducing the ambition to 2D initially and later turn this into 3D.

I am now aware that 2 parties have developed 3D models, so the GBE 3D View cannot be too far away.