UrbanBuzz
Building sustainable communities
DEI DEMONSTRATION
Project title
Project summary
Deployable External Insulation
Demonstration installation
Windows designed in new buildings are getting
fewer and smaller – why?
Lead organisation
UCL
Buildings are being designed to lose less heat energy.
Heat energy can go through windows 5-20 times
faster than through well-insulated solid walls. At
the moment the possibilities of using windows to
flood spaces with light and provide warmth in cooler
weather are being increasingly ignored.
Project coordinator
Stephen Gage
Contact details
T: 0207 679 4852
s.gage@ucl.ac.uk
Website
www.urbanbuzz.org
Project value*
£10,246 grant, plus £25,366
contribution in kind
Start/end dates*
1/2/08 to 31/10/08
Project partners*
Make Architects; Haque
Design+Research; Max Fordham
UrbanBuzz project monitor
Chris Anderson
C.E.Anderson@uel.ac.uk
*subject to finalising contract at time of printing
This project will demonstrate a strategy to bring
windows (and roof lights) back to buildings. A
demonstration installation will be constructed
which will take the form of a small conservatorytype building to show the possibilities of deployable
external insulation over a glazed screen.
Deployable External Insulation (DEI) allows the
possibility of constructing better, brighter buildings.
DEI could be retro-fitted to existing buildings so
that systems building owners could retain existing
window opening sizes. This especially applies to
the front elevation of many old buildings that were
constructed to give effective day lighting to main
rooms. The use of natural daylight and sunlight for
lighting and heating will reduce energy loads and
CO2 generation.
The demonstration building will be sited in the UCL
main Quadrangle and form The Bartlett contribution
to the London Architecture Biennial in June 2008. It
will also be shown at the Bartlett Architecture School
End of Year Exhibition.