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<title>TU_082_N13_medium</title>

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<title>Chapter 2 parenthood</title>

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<title>Paddington muriel</title>

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<title>Bishop's Gate</title>

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<title>Bishop's Gate</title>

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<title>20121112-214023.jpg</title>

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<title>About</title>

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<pubDate>Thu, 10 Aug 2006 22:39:11 +0000</pubDate>


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<content:encoded><![CDATA[My name is Oliver Broadbent, and this is

Eiffelover, a blog about three things that interest me the most: engineering, education and entertainment - and where they meet.

<ul>

<li>By engineering, I'm usually talking civil, buildings and transport.</li>

<li>By education, I'm particularly interested in the learning that goes on around the edges of formal educational routines, the stuff of everyday experience.</li>

<li>By entertainment, I mean getting up and singing a song, telling a story, doing a dance or telling a joke.</li>

</ul>

<h1>Background</h1>

<em><strong>Engineering</strong></em> - I studied civil engineering in

London and Paris, where this blog began, before going to work for engineering consultancy Expedition

<em><strong>Education</strong></em> - I am Director of Think Up, an education consultancy that develops innovative approaches to STEM education.

My job there is effectively being an educational inventor, dreaming new and exciting ways for people to learn about the engineering that surrounds them - and turning those ideas into products.

<em><strong>Entertainment</strong></em> - I've been writing and performing songs for 18 years, and telling bad jokes for even longer. I've been dancing the Lindy Hop since 2003, and run a swing dancing performance and teaching group called Brace Yourself.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_date>2008-02-29 07:01:02</wp:comment_date>

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<wp:comment_approved>trash</wp:comment_approved>

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<title>Why blog?</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/15/why-blog/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">https://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/15/whyblog/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[This first entry is not a treatise on why one should blog. I am not even certain why I should blog. But I am certain that I like other people's blogs, so much so that I want to have a go myself.

So what might the casual reader expect to find in this blog? Well, wary of promising too much and not delivering - a common syptom of initial overenthusiasm - lets just keep it simple...

I want to achieve two things with this blog.

<ul>

<li>Those who know me know that I am on the unhealthy side of enthusiastic about civil engineering - buildings, bridges, towers, tunnels, cities - the lot. I want to use this blog to share that enthusiasm with anyone who is interested.</li>

<li>I am about to spend a year studying in France. I hope this blog will help people I know stay in touch with me and with what I am doing. I also hope that it will encourage those who are intereested in studying abroad to apply.</li>

</ul>

So there you have it. My first entry. Predicatable I am sure. I hope that the rest is less predicatable and more enjoyable.

Ciao for now]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>why-blog</wp:post_name>




<wp:post_type>post</wp:post_type>



<category domain="category" nicename="my-studies"><![CDATA[My studies]]></category>

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<item>

<title>Engineers vs Architects - it's just not cricket</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/16/engineers-vs-architectsits-just-not-cricket/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">https://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/16/engineersvs-architects-its-just-not-cricket/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[I am forever bored of engineer vs architect debates. They are just not cricket. That is unless they are about cricket. Tomorrow I will make my cricketing debut with Expedition Engineering

(<a href="http://www.expedition-engineering.com/">www.expeditionengineering.com</a>), the company with which I am in the middle of a four

week placement. We will be playing against a team from Wilkinson Eyre architects (who were the architects on the Gateshead Millenium Bridge <a href="http://www.wilkinsoneyre.com/">www.wilkinsoneyre.com</a>).

This will be Expedition's third match of the season. Last night the team went down to the cricket nets at Paddington Rec. The great thing about cricket nets are that they funnel the ball towards the wicket. Given my bowling looks more akin to a throw one might use when lobbing a grenade (a technique I picked up during my extensive army training) - that is, up and over and not long and straight - I was grateful to the nets for guiding my ball towards the wicket. As the session wore on however, I found I no-longer needed the nets, and the ball found its way close to the wicket of its own accord. I say close becuase I never actually hit the wicket. The batsman always gets in the way.

Then it was time to bat. A cricket ball is undeniably hard. A ball deflected from my bat hit the roof frame and landed hard on my head - the noise was not unlike a walnut being cracked open. I use a defensive stroke. That is, if the ball is coming anywhere near me I intend to wallop it to minimise the chances of it hitting me. If I can however, I just prefer to jump out of the way. The problem is that this in turn leaves my wickets wide open. I intend therefore to use a combination of the two techinques tomorrow. I will jump out of the way while vaguely leave the bat infront of the wicket in the hope that it might protect my bales, so to speak.

I have to say that my technique is not in line with the rest of the team. It is a fifteen over match and we are gunning for a score of 100. (Since I currently have no readers on this blog, I am confident that I am not giving away our tactics to the Architects!) Work will be on the back-burner today. Strategies needed to be plotted, and maybe even plotted out using AutoCad.

Stay tuned to find the latest. Unfortunately, this blog won't allow me to provide readers with a constantly updating score board for your computers. Sorry about that.]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>engineers-vs-architects-its-just-not-cricket</wp:post_name>







<category domain="category" nicename="engineering-andarchitecture"><![CDATA[Engineering and architecture]]></category>

<category domain="category" nicename="london-andparis"><![CDATA[London and Paris]]></category>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Andy]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>akk03@ic.ac.uk</wp:comment_author_email>

<wp:comment_author_url></wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I've seen your googlies first hand. They really are something.]]></wp:comment_content>

<wp:comment_approved>1</wp:comment_approved>




</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nigel]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>nigelviolin@gmail.com</wp:comment_author_ema il>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[You have at least 2 readers now. A pity I wont be there .... a chance missed ... of returning some of your comments when I missed the golf balls !]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[eiffelover]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>oliver.broadbent@yahoo.co.uk</wp:comment_aut hor_email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/</wp:comment_aut hor_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Thanks for the support - no, really. i thought that I just had a funny way of bowling but an observer in the know seemed to thing I had a skillful outside wrist off leg stump spin going on. I have no idea what that means but I am sure it will terrify the opposition...]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Pierre M.]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>mainguetpierre@hotmail.com</wp:comment_auth or_email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://steinnhondkatur.blogspot.com</wp:comment

_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I have never played cricket, but it sounds like a funny game!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Pont Simone de Beauvoir</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/17/pont-simone-debeauvoir/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">https://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/17/pontsimone-de-beauvoir/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[My thanks go to Mary for finding this article in the Sunday Independent on Paris' newest bridge, Le Pont Simone de

Beauvoir: <a

href="http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3340477">ht tp://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3340477</a>

I am fond of this bridge - not a word I would ever use for a person but entirely appropriate for a graceful structure such as this. Last February I lead a group of

80 students on a three day tour of Paris' engineering sites. This is no news to most readers of this blog as I suspect that most of you were on the trip. For the benefit of those that weren't, the weekend was packed with an ambitious itinerary of Paris' engineering and architectural attractions. For me, the highlight was this bridge.

Reading this article, I am sad, although not unsurprised, to see that the structural engineers on this project - Paris based RFR (<a href="http://www.rfr.fr/">www.rfr.fr</a>) - are not once mentioned. I struggle to think of a construction project where architects have been involved and not engineers. Even the models at the end of year show at the Architect's

Association (<font size="2"><font color="#008000"><a href="http://www.aaschool.ac.uk) /">www.aaschool.ac.<b>uk) </b></a></font

></font> this year had to be checked over by a structural engineer to make sure they were safe.

When it comes to bridge design, I believe there is an important part to be played by architects but that the design should be lead by the engineering. When it comes to buildings, the engineering - the stuff what makes it stand up and not fall over when the wind blows - can be hidden away, like in the Ritz (London's first steel-framed building) or on display for all to see like at the Pompidou centre. With bridges however, there is no hiding the engineering. The structural design is the language of the bridge from which all other things follow. It's very hard to hide it.

I am sure that your comments will help me clarify my stance on this matter so I shall leave it there for the moment. There is more to say however on this bridge. Firstly, its structure should really referred to as a lenticular truss. Thinking of it as an arch bridge supported by a suspension bridge is helpful. Anyone who had just read that article might think that the bridge's width was purely architectural. It should be noted however that such a longspanned bridge is susceptable to fluttering in the wind. The bridge's width helps to stabilise it from these wind induced oscillations.

Secondly, the bridge was not technically built in Paris, but rather on the banks of the Rhine in Germany. The enormous central span of the bridge was constructed at a German steel fabricator, and then loaded onto two enormous barges, floated up the Rhine, along the North Sea Coast down to Le Havre, under the Pont du

Normandie (my favourite bridge <a href="http://www.cartepostale.com/honfleur/pontdenormandie.htm">http://www.cartepostale.com/honfleur/pontdenormandie.htm</a>) and up the Seine to Paris where low tide had to be waited for to get the enormous section under Paris' low arch bridges. The whole journey can be seen on the website of the guy who lead the strucutal desgin on the project, Henry Bardsley (<a href="http://www.henry-bardsley.com/">http://www.henrybardsley.com/</a>).

Though it has been open for a few months now, I have yet to make a crossing. I am sure that when I do, readers of this blog will be the first to know.]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>pont-simone-de-beauvoir</wp:post_name>









<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Mary]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>maryistevens@gmail.com</wp:comment_author_e mail>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[You need to learn how to post some pictures! And hide your links better!

Meantime, <a href="http://www.mairie12.paris.fr/public/article.tpl?id=4802" rel="nofollow">here</a>is the little celebration I mentioned - I now see organised by the equivalent of the ramblers' association. So maybe I'll give it a miss.]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Oli]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>lonelyandboring@yahoo.co.uk</wp:comment_aut hor_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[yeah - I realise that the links look ungainly.

I will get on to photos asap!]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Rosy]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>rosy_hosking@yahoo.co.uk</wp:comment_author_ email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Haha! Oliiiiiiiiiiiii! I am now a reader of your blog, hohoho. I shall bookmark you no less. Hurray for more nice things to do on the internet when seeking respite from the strictures of Word and

"Thesis.doc"....(incidentally look up stricture on the OED as I just did - illuminating).

It's lovely to have a forum to be part of where you talk about your great love of engineering and bridges and all that, for neophytes like myself. You have a lovely style - keep it up :)

Looking forward to keeping in touch with you via this blog as well as email/phone/skype/snailmail/dare I say it, eurostar (any donations gratefully received).

All love, Rosa The Reluctant Scribe, iTunes listener extraordinaire, Internet surfer supremo. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[henry bardsley]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>henry.bardsley@rfr.fr</wp:comment_author_emai l>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://www.henrybardsley.com</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Dear Oliver ( it must be he ) our real cause for concern is the once interesting, notionaly Independent

Newspaper, whose limited ranges of cultures, and limited readers have put it into an unstable downwards spiral. Le Monde is not worth so much either, but perhaps the best european newspaper remains the NYTimes.

The Rhine does have two banks, and the central vesica was fabricated on the

West bank.

And then, in contrast to London, the Seine at Paris is not tidal. That is why, in some ways like Saltash, a pair of water balast barges were used for transport, not only to center the bouyancy with the weight, but to be high in the water for the trip down the channel, and low in the water to squeeze under Les Invalides

Bridge, where it grazed the bottom. The dry winter had kept the river levels low.

Regards]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>








<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Dear Henry, you are indeed correct. It is me. There is no hiding behind my pseudonym. I am glad that you found my site.

One of the main points of this blog is to share my enthusiasm for engineering with others, be they engineers or not. It simply won't do to not get the details correct. So I thank you for your corrections which I will update on this evening's post.

Not long now until I come out to Paris. I have under two weeks left at Expedition and then I make the move. And when I arrive, I look forward to taking my first stroll across Paris' 'most travelled' bridge.

Best wishes]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Wilkinson Ire - Successful Expedition</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/18/wilkinson-ire-successfulexpedition/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">https://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/18/wilkinsonire-successful-expedition/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[It is with great pride that I report that Expedition

Engineering won Thursday's cricket match against Wilkinson Eire architects. In a game between two teams each with a fair spread of novices and more skilled players, the tension was maintained right until the last ball of the final over. Expedition won by two runs.

I have to confess that despite my great improvement at the nets, my bowling was a little dismal. When I batted I was in with Chris Wise, and we finished the batting with the pair of us not out. Although I didn't quite score any runs by hitting the ball, there was a no ball called when I was at the wicket - maybe my ugly mug put the bowler off and made him send the ball wide, giving us the two points that we wouldn't have won without, I am sure!

Though my placement with Expedition is short (too short with ever clearer hindsight - funny how with age your eye sight diminishes but your hindsight becomes sharper), there is a chance that there will be another match before I leave for France. Next time i hope to actually score a run. That would be a real improvement!

It is great to be playing sport. I forfitted that day's gym session because I knew I would be getting some excercise at the game. Though quite what the net benefit was, considering the beers and chips on the company tab afterwards, I am not so certain.]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>wilkinson-ire-successful-expedition</wp:post_name>









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<title>Getting ready for the off - Number One</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/20/getting-ready-for-the-offnumber-one/</link>

<pubDate>Sun, 20 Aug 2006 15:15:28 +0000</pubDate>


<guid isPermaLink="false">https://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/20/gettingready-for-the-off-number-one/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="405" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/dsc01758.JPG" alt="dsc01758.JPG" height="554" />

This weekend is my last in London. I am away next weekend for the bank holiday, and the weekend after that it's the big off. It has all come round much faster than I expected. Obviously, the biggest thing I need to sort out is packing.

Sitting here in my bedroom - no, stuffroom would be a better name for it as there is only one bed in here but lots of stuff - I keep merrily imagining that it all might pack itself, Mary Poppins in the nursery style. It's not, is it? Right. Well then, what to take?

Earlier this year I had had the opportunity to take some stufff out to Paris four months ahead of my move. Given that I was still going to be living and studying in London for four more months I tried to pack things that I definitely needed for my year abroad but didn't need in the short run. What went was a motley assortment of blankets, posters, thick jumpers and books that are halfway down my reading list for the year. When I went over in the summer I came very close to taking my skis with me, for one it would mean less stuff to take out in

September. It would also have appealed to my sense of humour to be travelling with a pair of skis during the July heat wave.

A very major concern is what to do with all my notes. The thought of going through them all in the middle of the summer holidays does not make me somersault with joy. In fact, the later I leave it, the closer I am to reaching the conclusion that all I need is my computer, a sharp pencil and clean underwear.

The other part of leaving is saying the goodbyes. Unlike my friend Chloe who is going to be in the Middle East for a year, I am only going to be across the water.

There are places on the Metropolitain Line that are further from central London than Paris. And given the number of times that I have been to and fro this year already it really doesn't feel that far. I don't raelly need to say goodbye do I? But I know it doesn't work like that. So yesterday the two of us had a leaving party. It was a really good afternoon and evening in a pub, but the ironic thing is that I am planning to see everyone that I saw yesterday again before I leave, thus adding to, not diminishing, the irreality of the fact that very soon I am leaving. Also, if I am going to see everyone again, how am I going to find the time to pack?

I say again, all need is a computer, clean underwear and a sharp pencil...]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>getting-ready-for-the-off-number-one</wp:post_name>







<category domain="category" nicename="travel"><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>

<wp:comment>








<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Do you need the pencil and underwear for pretending you've gone mad a la 'blackadder goes forth'?]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Oli]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>lonelyandboring@yahoo.co.uk</wp:comment_aut hor_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[wibble]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[marystevens]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://marystevens.wordpress.com/</wp:comment_ author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Who's that in the picture? x]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

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<item>

<title>Blog blues</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/21/blog-blues/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">https://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/21/blogblues/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[Thanks to all of you (well one of you) for your requests for photos. I have now been trying to get photos to work on my last entry but to no avail. I will attempt tomorrow at work. A new banner is on its way as well. You lucky things. Until then I am afraid you are just going to have to make do with all my little words. ]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>blog-blues</wp:post_name>








<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Idetrorce]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>idetrorce@mymailin.net</wp:comment_author_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[very interesting, but I don't agree with you

Idetrorce]]></wp:comment_content>





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<item>

<title>It is nearly always a lovely day in Architecture world</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/21/11/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">https://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/21/11/</guid

>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[This quote is from Jonathan Glancey in today's

G2:

"It is nearly always a lovely day in Architecture World. Happy, shiny, gym-fit young people living today's latte-fuelled urban 24-hour lifestyle, stride through sparkling, quango-approved "regeneration" utopias. In these illustrations it never rains. The wind never blows. Snow is an alien concept." Lamenting the fact that so many architectural renderings of future developments look blandly sunny, he rightly points out that many drawings are done with the same standard bits of software so every scheme looks much of a muchness.

Structural engineers on the other hand could do with a little more sunny weather. While the architects are worrying about what the building will look like in the sunshine, engineers are more bothered about whether it will stand up in the wind. Those who are (un)lucky enough not to know about these things may like to know that a significant portion of a building's structure is there to stop it falling over in the wind. And once the wind is catered for, the weight of a dusting of snow on the roof - by no means insignificant - has to be accomodated. And of

course there is rain water to look out for, collecting under joints in steel and causing rust in hidden places, getting into cracks in the concrete and coroding the rebar or just making stuff rot. When all this is said, I quite like the sound of

Architecture World.

On the subject of gym-fit people walking through these shiny utopias, I am often interested by the care that goes into choosing the people that architects put into their drawings. The people in a landscape drawing I was working from for a gallery were wearing the most skin-tight jeans (These architects were obviously certain that this project would be finished before next year by which time drain pipes will habe bewly returned to fashion's gutter). I can imagine the meetings where architects sit around a table and work out how the people in their drawings can best represent the desing ethos of the company. I imagine Richard

Rogers (Pompidou centre and Lloyds of London) proposing that the people they use have all their veins and digestive systems on the outside! On a more serious note, I do know of a project where the architects were asked by the client to remove two people from their drawings because they looked too homosexual.

Doesn't sound all that utopian to me.]]></content:encoded>















<category domain="category" nicename="engineeringcommunication"><![CDATA[Engineering communication]]></category>

<wp:comment>








<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Ah Oli, I was thinking of you this morning as I drank my tea, poring over the review section of The Observer (or, as I

poured my tea, drinking in the review section). Deyan Sudjic, their architecture critic, is leaving the paper to become director of the Design Museum - and so writes a retrospective this week of some of the lovely things he has seen, and why he thinks the UK 'has seen a truly remarkable renaissance, resulting in some of the most audacious and brilliant buildings of the post-war era': http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1853974,00.html

...In particular, he remarks that 'What makes architecture such an all-absorbing, endlessly fascinating subject to write about is that it is so intimately connected with the hard stuff of power, politics and city building. Architectural creative energy is irresistibly drawn to those places in the globe that are going through the fastest transformations. It reflects ambitious cities and individuals determined to make a mark and the birth of new economic and political systems in a sometimes-lurid glow.'

- Which I agree with, but after having spent time with you and your Civil

Engineering crew, my eyes have been opened to how glibly chaps like Sudjic pass over the contributions of the engineers - as illustrated in your post today. He goes on to say 'But to focus just on how these towers will look is to miss much of the point. What really matters is to try to understand why people would suddenly think that building tall in London is a good idea after so many years in which it seemed like exactly the opposite.' ...which would have been a good point at which to pay tribute to how things like the shard of glass will actually work. I shed a silent tear for you, Oli, and shall be campaining for a civil word to be said in your honour :) Xx]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment>








<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I love the new header. YES! tres cool. Juste comme toi. xx]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Corrections and Clarifications</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/24/corrections-andclarifications/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">https://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/24/correction s-and-clarifications/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[My thanks go to Henry Bardsley, lead structural engineer on the Pont Simone de Beauvoir, for putting me right on some of the points I made in my article on this bridge earlier on in the week. Since it is not the purpose of this blog to disinform, I will bring these corrections to the fore.

For starters, while the central vesica of the bridge was indeed built on the banks of the Rhine, it was constructed on the west bank and not in Germany but in

France. Secondly, the Seine is not tidal in Paris and as such there was no need to wait for low tide in order to fit the barges carrying this central section of the bridge under the low arches of the Pont des Invalides. That is not to say that passing under the arches didn't present the engineers with any problems.

Indeed, Henry writes that ballast was used to not only to balance the barges but also to change their height in the water so that they could carry their cargo high over the seas and low under Paris's other bridges. The Pont des Invalides was successfully passed but not without a grazing the river bed!

Once again, my thanks to Henry for setting the picture straight!]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>corrections-and-clarifications</wp:post_name>








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<title>Getting ready for the off - Number Two</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/getting-ready-for-the-offnumber-two/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">https://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/gettingready-for-the-off-number-two/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="406" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/france-rushes-by.JPG" alt="France Rushes By" height="295" />

26th August 2006 I am on my way down to the south of France for the bank holiday weekend. This is the first time that I have managed to get down to Agen for a long weekend without flying. The difference is being able to stay the night in Paris on the way down. Having stayed the night somewhat fleetingly at the apartment - leaving before I arrived sort of thing - I had the chance to enact

Phase 2 of the Move to Paris (the first being the random collection of posters, blankets and books last March described in a previous entry). In the end, I didn't have the strength of character to take only my computer, underwear and a sharp pencil. Yes, in addition I packed a more predictable assortment of clothes and engineering notes. These were packed into my now-famous US Army surplus army bag. A bag of such enormous dimensions that if for some awful reason

Mary and I get turfed out of our apartment, we could easily invert the thing and turn it into a three bedroom teepee on the Place de la Republique. While this bag presents tremendous advantages in terms of the sheer volume of stuff it can take, it is also impossible to lift when full. Presumably the US Army uses Hercules aircraft to move theirs. In March I had to rely on my own Herculean strength to carry that thing up the four flights of steps - sans ascenceur - to the flat, and compacted my spine in the process. This time I was more cautious and only half filled it. I had to leave out my pencil sharpener, which means my sharp pencil won't stay sharp for long... And now I am zooming south on the train. They're a sophisitcated bunch on the TGV (train de Grand Valise - train of big suitcase as I like to call it). Apart from the half of the occupants of the carriage who were asleep, the rest fell into one of three catagories: those who were reading a white folio french novel, those engaged in that French game - i've only seen it in France

- where they have to fill in a completely empty grid with words, and the rest who were almost certainly students because they were copying out almost word for word notes from lectures, carefully underlining words in lots of different colours.

No one was heard talking too loudly on their mobiles, and no one was drinking

Stella. Bliss.

<img width="227" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/chictgv.JPG" alt="Chic TGV" height="319" />

As I left Paris, I could see the tower who's engineer is the namesake of this blog, somewhere in the mist. Later on, as the train approaches Bordeaux St-Jean station it slows to a crawl in order to cross the enormous truss bridge across the swollen brown waters of the Gironde. It was only recently that I discovered that this bridge was where Gustav Eiffel first made his name as an engineer in charge of this building site. Arriving at Bordeaux St-Jean, I was presented an exciting array of alternative destinations: the Basin de Arcachon for some Atlantic waves,

Nice for the Med and Irun which is only one vowel away from one of my dream train destinations... Only last night I heard the story of two similarly trainminded friends who were enroute to Istanbul by rail. Initially flumuxed at not being able to find their train at the station in Budpapest, they found their single

Turkey-bound sleeper carriage hooked up to a train to Bucharest. Their tickets matched the carriage number and so with a certain degree of trepidation they boarded the carriage which was empty apart from a conductor with whom they shared no common language. The next day, their carriage wsa unhooked from the rest of the train and left standing alone - tracks stretching out in either direction in the searing midday heat, Istanbul somewhere in the distance. They waited several hours with no information as to where they were, or when they were going to be leaving. It struck me as quite romantic. Now you don't get that on a plane.

<img width="410" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/stunning-roof-bordeauxst-jean.JPG" alt="Stunning Steel Arch Roof at Bordeaux St Jean" height="287"

/>]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA['salright. You can borrow my pencil sharpener whenever you need it. x p.s. you should put a link to your Dad's blog on here.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Ralph]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>Ralph007@hotmail.co.uk</wp:comment_author_e mail>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://www.stringfever.co.uk</wp:comment_author_ url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi Oliver,

just got an Eiffel of your blog for the first time.Nice work. I did worry you might accidentally get hits from lovers of Eiffe but then I realised there is no such thing as Eiffe so you're probably safe.

Hope all is going well and look forward to visiting at some point.

Cheers

Ralph]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Mr B.

As I sit looking at a tanned long haired Italian, Mauro, who has taken your place at Expedition, it really hits home that I have withdrawal symptoms from

Eiffelover entries.

Please post soon! See you next weekend.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Hello Paris - Ultra-modern out-of-date stations - Blue sky thinking for council houses</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/09/16/hello-paris-ultra-modernout-of-date-stations-blue-sky-thinking-for-council-houses/</link>

<pubDate>Sat, 16 Sep 2006 08:40:14 +0000</pubDate>


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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Hooray - I have arrived. Last night, I hauled up the steps the final suitcase into the flat that will be Mary and mine for at least the next year. And unlike my last few visits to Paris, I won't be getting on a Eurostar back to London at stupid o'clock tomorrow morning, nor the day after (not in fact until the end of October, and that will be an evening train). It feels great to be able to settle in.

First thing this morning I went out to the university campus because I have been given the opportunity, through a friend of Mary, to teach some conversational

English classes. The ideal thing about this part-time work is that it would take place in the building next door to where I will be studying. To get out to the

campus, it is a five minute ride on the metro down to Nation and then twenty minutes on the RER out to Noisy-Champs on the outskirts of Paris.

The RER is Paris' answer to London's CrossRail - or should that be the other way round since the Parisians designed and built theirs over twenty years ago. The

RER station at Nation is an impressive feat of geotechnical engineering. Deep below ground-level, the RER's platforms are in an enormous tunnel, 30m in diameter and several hundred meters long. The station has some amusing pseudo-technical features that someone who has just missed their train might happen to notice. For example, it looks like the train drivers look at computer monitors to see when people have finished boarding the train, but on closer inspection these devices are in fact a mirrors mounted in the shells of a computer screens. Hmmmm. That along with hi-tec looking train indicator board that actually has all the possible destinations permanently displayed, with a light bulb that lights up next to the destination for the next train, and the ultramodern-ultra-dated vacuum formed plastic benches along the walls, lead me to conclude that the designers could see the future, they just didn't yet have the technology to implement it. But enough about stations...

The univeristy campus is called the Cite Descartes. It houses numerous 'Grandes

Ecoles' as well as the university of Marne La Vallee. The Cite is an architectural playground and I am looking forward to taking a closer look at some of the buildings. After some wondering, I found the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et

Chausses. It is an attractive steel and glass building with an impressive and inviting attrium in the middle. It is in stark contrast to some of the buildings of the University of Marne la Vallee and a reminder of the extra funding that the

Grandes Ecoles enjoy over France's regular universities.

The interview went well, and depending on my timetable at ENPC I will be teaching a few hours of conversational English a week. Some of the teaching will be for science and maths students and there will be also be classes for students studying urbanism. I think it is all going to be quite interesting and I look forward to starting. It will be a good intro to the world of work in France.

This afternoon we went to an exhibiton called "Residencity", a history of the housing that has been built around the edge of Paris. The exhibition itself was in

Montreuil, a suburb in the east of the city, in a beautiful building about twenty minutes from the end of the metro. We were in the heart of the banlieu, a catch all term for anything outside the Periferique ringroad and synonymous with the riots of last year, or so the news would have you believe. This bit didn't look all that different from the urban landscape you would find around Harrow. I get the

impression that there are many who would think of this as a no go area. Seemed quite nice to me!

"Residencity" charts the housing projects that were built to provide accomodation for Paris' worker population, which swelled at the end of the nineteenth century. Early schemes to clear slums envisaged replacing them with low level blocks of houses among trees remincisent of Ebenezer Howard's garden cities. These early sketches look surprisingly modern but their age is betrayed by the clothes that the people in them are wearing. Designs for buildings in the 20s are not all the dissimilar to the building that we live in. By the 50s, the developments had taken on the enormous sprawling dimensions typical of some of Paris' grimmest housing projects. It was all to clear from the posters and protest slogans displayed opposite these designs that slum-dwellers had little choice as to where in these monster developments they were to be housed.

One cartoon particularly made me laugh. It showed the aspirations for housing of three different classes. For the working class, heaven was a detached house with a garden, purgatory the new edge of town developments, and hell, the slums. For the middle class, heaven was a modern apartment block, purgatory a detached house with a garden, and hell, the new edge of town developments.

And finally for the upper classes, heaven was a chateau, purgatory was a modern apartment block and hell was a detached house with a garden. Well, it made me smile (Note to self: they do say that a picture says a thousand words - a photo might have been good here)

Some archtiects of these developments were more creative than others. Blue sky thinking is evident in the conception of this quite unbelievable housing development - Les Tour Nuages: (click to see image in full)

<a class="imagelink" href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/cloud-tower.JPG" title="Cloud tower"><img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/cloud-tower.JPG" alt="Cloud tower" /></a>

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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Izzie]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>Izzie_Cartwright@swissre.com</wp:comment_aut hor_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi Oliver - good to hear you have settled in

OK. I am new to the world of blogging and I think they are fascinating & a fab way of keeping in touch. So - with that in mind - I can take this opportunity to say 'hi' to Nigel & Mary! Take care & have a great time in Paris! Love,

Auntie xx.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>You wouldn't do that at home now would you?</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/09/19/you-wouldnt-do-that-athome-now-would-you/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="406" height="295" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/paris-cest-chez-vous-

2.JPG" alt="paris-cest-chez-vous-2.JPG" />

I saw this ad last spring but it still makes me laugh!]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Sunday lunch with the neighbours</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/09/19/sunday-lunch-with-theneighbours/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img height="319" width="227" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/gambetta-q4.jpg" alt="gambetta-q4.jpg" />

On Sunday I had the chance to go to a "repas du quartier" - (neighbourhood meal). The deal is that it's a meal somewhere in the locality, sometimes on tables in the streets, where everyone brings some food and shares it with whoever likes the look of it. Sunday's repas took place in the local cultural centre, called

"Confluences." There our lentil salad and tzatziki were swapped for various pasta salads, some sizable hunks of cheese and some delicious brownies.

My description makes it sound a little like a battering stall - "I'll give you a bit of

French tart for some of your melons" but it is far from that. You stroll from table to table taking a pick at whatever you fancy. We got chatting to a woman with the most adorable little girl who kept getting chocolate moose on her nose. The

mother had brought with her an entire roasted chicken wrapped in foil. It was just like having Sunday lunch with the neighbours.

The cultural centre used this opportunity to promote their programme for the year which included a season of plays, films, something else that a very passionate man spoke about at some length but which I failed to catch a word of, and photography exhibits. At the moment the centre is displaying a set of photos taken by a group of African photographers who were invited last year to come to the Twentieth and photograph the area.

One of the sets of photos was taken by a lady who set about approaching twenty different households and cooking them a meal. In each case a photo was taken, some at the table, some in the kitchen, all very warm photos, and almost all featuring the brightly coloured casserole dish that she brought the food in. Later, when clearing up our plates, we spotted that same casserole dish on a table. The photographer had long gone, her visa having expired soon after the final photo was taken, but the dish that she had used as her prop remains along with her pictures.

This photo display was one stop on a trail of photo exhibits around the 20eme arrondissement called "Nouvelles Africanaines". We took a map and checked out some of the others. The image below shows a wall of photos donated by residents of a local hotel where the majority of the rooms were filled with families who lived there permanently.

I am really glad to have found out what's on at Confluence and I am really looking forward to going back there soon to see a play next week.

<img width="410" height="295" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/photo-wall-q4.jpg" alt="photo-wall-q4.jpg" />]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Africa in the 20eme: home through new eyes

« Mary’s research blog]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email></wp:comment_author_email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://marystevens.wordpress.com/2006/09/20/afr ica-in-the-20eme-home-through-new-eyes/</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] On Sunday Oli and I went to see an exhibition of African photography at Confluences cultural centre called

‘Nouvelles africaines‘ (read Oli’s post about the

‘repas de quartier’ that preceded the expo here). Four artists were showing in the centre itself and many more on a trail around the 20eme.

The four at ‘Confluences’ had all completed a residency in the

20eme and were asked to turn their lenses on the arrondissement. From both an ethnographic and and an aesthetic perspective the results were provocative and engaging. Whereas Zaynab Toyosi Odunsi struggled with limited French to get her feet under the neighbourhood’s dining tables, eventually producing a series of photos that exude the warmth and easy diversity of the neighbourhood, Herve Yamguen eventually had to abandon his project to take portraits of residents as he struggled to make connections sitting in a cafe

(anthropologists will sympathise here). Instead he chose to document the intimate relation that somehow grew up between him and an unknown woman - a lover? a collaborator? a kindred spirit? a fellow loner? a prostitute? who knows

-that spoke volumes about the surprising fragility of urban connections, the vulnerability of the stranger and how sometimes the presence of the other only serves to accentuate it. [...]]]></wp:comment_content>


<wp:comment_type>pingback</wp:comment_type>



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<title>False starts - Grave affair - Breaking & Entering</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/09/19/false-starts-grave-affairbreaking-entering/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Sunday evening I started to pack my bag for my first day of school on Monday, or so I thought... A double-check of a letter from

ENPC reconfirmed what Mary has suspected: that I wasn't actually starting until

Tuesday. Brilliant, a free day in Paris, and with my new travel card I could do absolutely anything! I could have started on the Louvre, go for a walk across town, walk across Henry's bridge, even start a neighbourhood photo diary - obviously being inspired by Sunday's exhibition. The important thing about being able to do anything is that you must finally settle on something.

I settled on making tomato soup for lunch with Andy and Liz who were staying with us at the time. To this activity I had alotted an hour, but anyone who knows me in the kitchen won't be suprised to hear that it was ready only just in time for lunch. It was worth the wait though, even if I do say so myself.

In the afternoon, Liz an Andy invited me to tour our world-famous local cemetary Pere Lachaise. Amongst its 'old members' lie Jim Morrison, Oscar

Wilde, Edith Piaf and a whole host of nineteenth centrury notables including

Proust, Hausmann (I will surely write more in the future about this legend of town planning) Berlioz and Chopin (I have heard of these latter two that they are now de-composing!). But I am never entirely sure what I am supposed to when I approach one of these heady headstones/town planner tombstones/composer's coffins/celebrity sarcophogi. I don't feel sad for someone who has been dead all my life, and whose great works are not contained this cemetary. It also seems bizarre to be happy snapping tombstones when there are freshly laid flowers all around for the much less famous recently deceased. Still, I am as guilty as anyone: here's a photo of Liz and Chopin's grave

<img height="414" width="295" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/liz-and-fred-q4.jpg" alt="liz-and-fred-q4.jpg" />

So, with still half the day still to kill, we popped back to the apartment only to get the key stuck in the front door. It wouldn't budge in, out, round or any combination of these. We were locked out and there was no one on the other side to help us out. We waited an hour and a half for a lock smith that never showed up, then found another who said he'd be round in fifteen minutes. Liz,

Andy and I were shacked up in a bar next door to the locksmith's store so I was

waiting to follow him up the road to our apartment, thinking he would walk.

Only suddenly he put on a helmet and disappeared off towards our flat on a scooter. I chased after him to no avail, but thwarted him at the one way system.

He couldn't budge the dammed key and so he brought all his skills to bear on his crowbar with which he forced open the door. Though the door and frame were hardly damaged the whole lock had to be replaced. A nice one hundred and eighty Euro surprise.

By the time it was all cleared up, it was gone 5pm. Somehow, though I had had a packed day, it was not exactly how I imagined my free to day in Paris to have been filled!]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Poor Oli! Seems like it's the week for lock changing - we had ours done as Jocelyn had her bag snatched from her bicycle basket (note to cyclists: I D-lock my handbag to the bike when it's in my basket).

I thought you would be interested in this article, an excerpt from George

Monbiot's new book Heat.

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving/story/0,,1876817,00.html

...See if you can effect change from within when you are civilly engineering - make more buildings super-duper energy efficient :) And I thought you'd also like it for the killer pun half way down:

"In the field of home insulation, Britain lags behind." xx]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Liz is miming playing the piano over

Chopin's grave and not, as oft mistakenly believed, trying to raise him from the dead.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Economic croissants and maps of cheese</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/09/26/economic-croissants-andmaps-of-cheese/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Time is flying by. I am already into my second week of college. These first three weeks are preparatory classes for all the

Erasamus students at les Ponts, afterwhich the term starts in earnest. I am being taught in a group of ten made up of two German students, one from Austria, one from Grand Canaria, two Portugese and then the three of us Brits from Imperial.

So used to the Imperial timetable (teach 50 mins cappacinno for 10 teach 50 etc)

am I that I found the two hour long classes a little hard going to start with. The trick really is to not look at the clock!

Not that the lessons are boring. No, the course is being taught well and as far as language classes go I think it is the most I have ever been engaged in this sort of lesson with a good mix of group work and class disscussion. The aim of the course is to help us to settle in and to bring our French out of retirement. Part of the settling-in is achieved by teaching us about "French culture". The material is almost priceless in the way it conforms to a sterotype of what kids are spoon fed in French schools (France's rivers, mountains and departments, as well as gastronomical maps and economic croissants - the term given to the younger and more productive cresecent from Brittany to the northern Alps). We've had gastronomical maps - my request for a map of cheeses is currently being processed. More alarmingly, the worksheet that gave the history of names that you are likely to hear in France failed to note that between 15 and 20% of

France's population are from families of immigrants one, two or three generations ago and so do not have names derived from Asterix or celtic invaders. There was also no mention of the foods that these groups might traditionally eat on the gastronomical map. No surprise there. But on the plus side, I have to say that I am sucker for learning things like maps of cheeses so give me a few weeks and you can test me.

Right, got to run for my first test...]]></content:encoded>







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<title>An unlikely number of people in our living room</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/09/27/an-unlikely-number-ofpeople-in-our-living-room/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="406" height="287" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/meal.jpg" alt="Meal" />

So with an oven installed in our ever-better equipped kitchen, I decided to invite a few of my new international chums over for dinner. We discovered that our modest dining room table normally used for sitting two to four people, can actually accomodate eight. I cooked up a tomato soup (1.5 kilos of tomatos for a euro!) and some pesto to go with. The guests came with offerings of cheese and a fine selection of wines (all ticked off of course on our gastronomic maps).

Christna and Alex's tortialla espagnol was the best I have ever had - suspiciously good in fact. It turns out that for a piece of coursework that had had to do on quality control processes, they investigated the factors that affect how good a tortilla tastes. (Fingers crossed that the secrets will be divulged).

With the meal over, another four people showed up taking the total up to twelve

- a record for the moment - before we headed off to the local venue the Flesh

D'Or to see a few bands. As we piled out of the club in the early hours, I was glad to only have a ten minute journey home. Some of the others living out near the campus had to wait until five in the morning to get the first train home.








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_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Being a current/former (living abroad in

Canada) student of ENPC, I experienced this not-so-funny situation when you miss the 12:49 train at Chatelet ... How many nights did I spend sleeping on benches or wandering in exotic places in Paris?]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Mister Monsieur</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/09/27/mister-monsieur/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="400" height="295" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/eiffel.jpg" alt="Eiffel tower" />

It's one of those things about growing up. People start calling you Mister. For a long time it was just my bank or anyone asking me for money. It wasn't until I started teaching maths in the states that I had to get used to the sound of

Mr.Broadbent on a regular basis. You see, the trouble is it's just not me, it's my

Dad, or even his father.

Since I have been at Imperial, things have been pretty quiet on the mister-stakes.

Today however, I became Monsieur Broadbent when I stepped for the first time into the English conversation class that I have now started teaching at the

University of Marne-la-Vallee. There are few things that I hate. Nuclear bombs and radishes. Apart from those the only other thing I really dislike is the sound of 'Broadbent' said in a French accent. There is no way you can twist Broadbent to make it sit comfortably on a French palette, and I have tried. So no sooner had

I become Monsieur Broadbent did I quickly rebrand myself as 'Oliver'. Original, I know but it just seems to sit well with me. My parents like it. If it wasn't for all the trouble it would cause with French bureaurocracy, I would just ditch the

Broadbent bit all together for the year. Just like Brittany did.








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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Isabel Hoff]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>Isabel.Hoff@gmx.de</wp:comment_author_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi Oliver!

I don't know if it's really you I'm looking for, but I've seen that your father is

Nigel and that he plays the violin in the LSO. So I think you're Daniel's brother, aren't you? Did you spend some of your long vacation in Clermont Dessous in

France at your great-grandfather's house?

I came to London with my parents in 1997. So it's a long time ago. I have an old address..something with "chiltern road", but I never got any answer to my letters

=(

Well, I hope yo're the right one and that I get a reply. You have my email address

^^ best regards

Isabel]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Better than a free lunch</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/10/02/better-than-a-freelunch/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[As far as food at institutions go, the grub at ENPC ain't half bad. For the early morning caffine boost, elevenses and mid-afternoon pick-moi-ups there is the coffee bar situated in the full splendor of the atrium.

Canny students know at precisely what time to grab the left-over croissants before they get put out at the end of the day. That just leaves lunch which is served in the cafeteria. There is a generous selection of hot and cold food not to mention the bulging desserts. Not only does it taste good, it is also subsidised, but instead of knocking ten percent off the cost of any purchases as they do at

Imperial, they just knock 1.70 Euro off the bill. This reduction makes a meaty main course half the advertised price. But if you opt for the enormous bowl of salad from the salad bar costing only 1.50, when it comes to the check out my discounted meal has a negative price. That is, everytime I eat there, I earn money! All I need to do is eat 75,000 more lunches there and I will have paid off my entire student debt! Yum...

<img width="400" height="295" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/tables.jpg" alt="tables.jpg"

/>








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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[You catch French habits very quickly! BE careful, not becoming a Parisian!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Manifestation</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/10/04/manifestation/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/10/04/manifestati on/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[This post refers to an event I took part in a couple of weeks ago and I have been meaning to write about it for some time. One afternoon Mary and I were walking past Place Gambetta in the 20eme when we were approached by a woman getting people to sign up for a peace protest in the following week. The protest coincided with the interational day of peace, I think.

Anyway, what caught my eye was their plan to make an enormous CND sign using people holding flaming torches. I think that this kind of protest can attract a lot more meida attention than smaller activities and so can have more impact.

This human CND sign was to be formed infront of the Eiffel Tower, so as to get a good photo shot from above. Mary couldn't make it but I signed up there and

then and bought my wax torch for the protest (the police wouldn't let the protesters sell the torches at the event itself)

So later that week, I sauntered down to the Champs de Mars with my rather menacing enormous wax-covered batton. When I signed up I was given a number which corresponed to a position in the CND sign at which I would be standing. And sure enough, on the grass beneath the Eiffel tower I found my number written in flour in the glass. Not being a regular protester, I naively assumed that things would kick-off on time. Silly me. But over the next hour, the crowd started to gather. Pic-nicers enjoying a romantic glass of wine beneath the tower became unaware that they were slowly becoming encircled, trapped, overwhelmed by an enormous symbol of peace (I'm only kidding - everyone seemed quite friendly really). All of a sudden it was time to light the touch papers. From the ground it was hard to really make out the form of the symbol. There we stood for an hour while speeches and demands were called out. I only narrowly avoided setting light to the hair of my section commander.

It's amazing actally that no one's hair did go up in flames. Then it was time to go home, satisfied that the world would surely take notice and get rid of all its nuclear weapons.

From the ground

<img width="227" height="319" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/bottom1.jpg" alt="view from the ground" />

From above

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<title>Freedom of speech for the mute - Cookie Doog - First movie in the can</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/10/09/freedom-of-speech-forthe-mute-cookie-doog-first-movie-in-the-can/</link>



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Freedom of speech for the mute

Today I taught for the first time my other English conversation class. This class is larger than the first; twenty to the previous lot's eleven. It was hard work to get them talking, and that's all my boss at in the language department wants me to do! I knew that the students of this second group were broadly from science and computing courses so I opted in the first lesson to teach from an article on

Google's recent entry in to the Chinese Internet market. Before we worked on the article itself we had a good session generating useful vocabulary for all to use. My second preparatory item however, a discussion about freedom of speech, was not so successful. Questions such as "what do you think freedom of speech means" and "do you have the right to say what you want here in France" were all met with stony silence. I had to hide the smile on face. It did seem a little ironic that we were talking in essence about a country where there isn't the right to freedom of speech, and there I had a bunch of students in a 'free' country who could have said anything for all I could have cared but instead exercised their right to say nothing. A case of freedom of speech for the mute. Still, things picked up with a vocabulary quiz at the end where students had to buzz in with animal noises. That old pedagogical chestnut!

<img width="405" height="295" src='https://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/dsc02160d.jpg' alt='dsc02160d.jpg' />

Cookie Doog

In August I went for an ice cream with my grandmother at an ice-cream parlour oft frequented by us on trips to the seaside on France's Atlantic coast. She was giving the order, so I asked her to order me a double cornet with vanilla and cookie-dough ice cream. Not certain what I meant by cookie-dough, I pointed to the little card above the box that gave its name. There was no French translation.

She wouldn't even venture trying to say cookie-dough with a French accent so I made the order myself sticking to the English pronunciation.

The ice cream itself was unmemorable, but the question of how to say cookiedough in French stuck. Clearly the ice-cream parlour didn't think there was a translation. I was reminded of this question when I went to see Indégènes at the cinema the other day. There again was cookie-dough ice cream. I had by now reached the conclusion that French for cookie-dough is in fact cookie-dough which then raised another question, how do you say it with a French accent? My grandmother clearly didn't know and Mary sidestepped the issue by plumping for vanilla (boring).

According to my dictionary, dough is pronounced "d � ℧ " (at last, a good use for windings) which is not really a sound I associate with spoken French. But in a

French class the other day, our teacher said that French speakers tended to say words taken from a foreign language with a French accent. She gave the example of people in France pronouncing itunes as 'ee-tunes'. (In contrast, according to her, to the Germans who have a tendency to attempt the pronunciation according to the language of origin of the word). So I struck while the iron was hot:

"comment dit-on «cookie-dough» en français?"

The subsequent conversation was one of the most surreal lesson experiences I have encountered. Cookie-doog, cookie-dooooog, coooookie-dow, cookie-dog, cookie-doth. Language assistants were called in. Heads of department were asked over lunch. There was no official consensus, so the class agreed upon cookie-doog upon-which the pronunciation of this foodstuff has stuck among our group. It and it seems to get mentioned on a daily basis. Yesterday our quiz team entered the name 'les cookie-doogs' and today Mantej reliably informed me that his French roommate had no idea either. Thanks then to Messieurs Ben and

Jerry for this surreal language experience. Amazing things happen when you don't just order vanilla!

<img height="295" width="405" src='https://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/dsc02130c.jpg' alt='dsc02130c.jpg' />

First movie in the can

Today in French class we each gave a presentation on a subject relevant to our studies. My chosen topic was the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir (already mentioned in this blog). Bored of power point presentations, I decided to opt for a different approach - I made a film. I wanted to interview people using the bridge, which gave me the idea of using video. I then thought why not give the whole presentation from the bridge itself. I managed to borrow a video camera from the French department without letting on what about my plan. I went to the bridge on Thursday to take some stills to help me with the planning. On

Friday night I learned how to use the editing software with a short test-run movie. On Saturday afternoon I went down to the bridge to do some interviews, and then with the help of Cristina and Alex from my class, and later Mary, we filmed the bits with me filming. Eleven hours of editing later on Sunday afternoon and the film was 'in the can'.

It took a great deal of effort to make but every moment of it was fun. It went down a storm today in class. I think I have found a new hobby to fill my abundant free time!

(I will be uploading it to the web at some time soon - watch this space)








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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Anne]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>a.f.stevens@aston.ac.uk</wp:comment_author_em ail>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I asked a Germanist colleague who confirmed that educated Germans would regard it as very uncultivated not to pronounce an imported word as in the language of origin. In Italy on the other hand, she understands, to do so would seem very snobby and stuck up!

A decade or so ago the EU set up a "know-how" fund to assist central and east

European countries in transition. This caused awful problems. Nof-hof? Noohoo?]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Lies! All lies! We had one ice cream to share, I ordered it and it was cookie dough. And I shirked the issue by pointing and saying "that one there". (Or was it chocolate, now I come to think about it?...oops).]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Eiffelover]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/wobbl ing-la-passerelle-simone-de-beauvoir/</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] on Wednesday to go and help wobble the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir (previous posts here and here). The wobbling was being sollicted in order to conduct ongoing tests on the bridge’s dampers. [...]]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Unconventional non-sanctioned corrugated football</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/10/15/unconventional-nonsanctioned-corrugated-football/</link>



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Tuesday lunchtime saw the end of the SPEIF (semaine préparatoire pour

étudiants ingénieurs en Français – a stunning acronym). With our free afternoon a group of us students had hatched a plan to play football. The day before, one of our number spoke to the manager of the Pont’s sports pitches and said it would be no problem. However, when we turned up on Tuesday we were told that we weren’t able to use the pitches because we were not part of a registered team. I have to say that I wasn’t as surprised as some of my would-be team-mates as I had heard similar tales regarding extra-curricular activities at French universities. The trend seems to be that if it is not sanctioned as a registered team event then the doors or gates will be remain locked. I suspect for example that if I try and set up a band I won’t be able to use the practice rooms unless I can demonstrate my proficiency on the rhythm guitar.

The trouble is that we didn’t want to set up a team, we just wanted to have a kick-around. And even if we had tried to set up a team I wouldn’t have been able

to join as I can’t join the sports club, the reason being that I don’t have a vaccine card to prove that I won’t get whooping cough as I step up to the penalty spot and sue the school. In this respect, either I try and dig through the annals of the

NHS to find out if I have such a card, or I turn my arm into a pincushion and have all the jabs again at the same time and risk sending my immune system crazy.

No, neither of these options were an option, so to speak. I was intent on finding some public space in the Cité Déscarts where we could play. The only large open space that isn’t fenced off is that in front of Les Ponts, a couple of acres that would have been perfect for football had it not been landscaped with long parallel ripples half a metre or so in height that would have made it difficult to play. I might even go so far as to suggesting that it had been landscaped in this way to stop us from playing.

Still, unflapped by another apparent barrier, we used our keen engineering eyes to survey the plot and found that between two of the ridges there was just about enough space if we played partially on the grass and partially on the helipad at one end of the field. With laptop cases for goal posts we were all set.

Apart from Michi who I think has had some pretty top-notch football experience, we were all tired after about ten minutes, (such are the barriers to exercise in

France!) but we played for an hour or so. And no one was really keeping score – it was great just to have been able to play.








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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Ha ha! All true. And does 'no one was keeping score' in fact mean 'my team lost'?...

No seriously, I remember on my year abroad having to go and touch my toes and have my blood pressure tested by an official in a back office of the local Mairie just to allow me to sign up for yoga. For which I got extra marks for my diploma in political science. We'll just have to start going running together

(maybe...).]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Ahahahahah! Sport in ENPC is always a funny subject. I was part of the Bureau des Sports 2 years ago, and you can't imagine the trouble we have with school administration to let people use the pitch. I'm not surprised to see that nothing really changed.

Concerning the landscaped area in front of the school, it was a former wellknown gypsies'spot. Loads of caravan and school never goes along well (as everybody knows), the local authority decided to landscaped it to make it impossible to settle a camp (or to play football sadly).]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>How to be dam safe</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/how-to-be-damsafe/</link>



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Glen Canyon Dam, as featured in the popular film «Superman»

When designing, building and operating a dam, there are a few steps that ought to be followed in order to avoid large loss of life. Here are a few that I picked up at my first lecture in a series with the title that I have badly translated as

"Conception of risky structures":

1) Pay your workers well. The most dangerous period during the lifetime of a dam spans its construction, the filling of the reservoir and the first year of full service. Going on strike over pay during the construction is dangerous because the dam might not be ready for the winter's flood waters and subsequently may get washed away.

2) When checking for cracks in the bedrock on to which the dam is to be founded, looking at 50 metre intervals is not good enough. A dam in Wako,

Texas collapsed when a section of the bedrock between two cracks about 49 metres apart gave way.

3) If cracks have been found in the ground, it is unwise to leave them unfilled just because your client refused to give you any extra money to pay for this unforseen cost. To do so has led to death and destruction.

4) If you are satisfied with the conclusions of your ground survey that there are no cracks in the ground under your dam, don't then move your dam a few metres downstream to make your lake a bit bigger without doing a new survey. Doh.

5) If when building, say, a 280m high dam in Italy, you notice that the mountain into which your dam has been founded has started moving(!) at a rate of several centimetres a day, don't just carry on filling the dam and hope for the best. (In this case though the dam didn't collapse, the mountain on one side of the lake gave way and a terrific landslide almost filled the lake that had been created, generating an enormous wave which swept over the dam and destroyed villages down-stream)

6) Finally, if your dam once built is not a profitable venture, don't succumb to the temptation to sell it to a group of anglers. They may use it for stocking fish. This in itself is no problem. The problems arise in the rainy season when they may lose a significant portion of their fish down the overflow pipe. To prevent this loss, they may put a gauze over the pipe to keep the fish in, but which will also unwittingly get blocked with the leaves and branches which usually accompany storm waters, forcing the flood waters over the top, destroying the dam and killing 2000 people in the town below.

These six tips are from real examples of fatal dam failures.

When designing a dam, don't just be safe, be dam safe.

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Rose leaning over the Hoover Dam during our visit in March

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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I still think you should have said something about lies, and dam lies, when quoting your statistics :D

I feel very privileged to have seen where you are learning about dams, bridges and whatnots with my own two eyes, and can attest to the niceness of the ENPC cafeteria and cafe, mentioned in a previous post. Rosy xx]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Déja vu?</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/10/23/deja-vu/</link>



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Although I have now been living in Paris for five or so weeks, I only had my first full week of lectures last week. We had to give some indication of the courses that we wanted to take back in April. Ever since then I had been vaguely apprehensive about the classes I would be taking - a mixture really between the fear that they would be too hard mathematically and the fear that I just wouldn't understand a word of what was being said. Well after one week of full lectures I am happy with the selection so far. In "Conception of Dangerous Strucutres"

(there is Ronseal element to some of these course titles http://www2.ronseal.co.uk/) we will be spending the first three weeks looking at designing dams. Then we will move on to nuclear power stations and finally oil platforms. Lots of juicy danger for us to get our risk assessing teeth into.

"Bridge Conception" is a tour de force of every time of bridge you could think of, each week given by an expert. Heaven!

The core desgin options - steel and concrete - were not nearly as baffling in

French as I had expected. It did however help that we had covered some of this material before at Imperial. The twist here is that we are learning EuroCode instead of fuddy duddy old British Standards, whatever they are. Finally, the one that I feared was going to be the most mathematical, entitled Parasismic Studies, has recently had its maths content reduced after some complaints. Now if this all sounds like a walk in the park then let us not forget that all of the above is in

French, as will be my exams. So, all things considered, a little déja vu is no bad thing.








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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[buy cialis online]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://ordercialisc.blisshost.net/excerpt=news</wp: comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[<strong>buy cialis online</strong>

]]></wp:comment_content>


<wp:comment_type>trackback</wp:comment_type>



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<title>Photography Course</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/10/26/photographycourse/</link>



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Last week I got wind of a course at ENPC in photography. After a little research I found out that it is actually an advanced course for people learning English, the content of which happens to be photography. Since the course takes place during one of my free slots, I tried this week to sneak along. I asked the teacher whether, given my level of English, I could sit at the back and listen. He happily accepted me onto the course but rather than sit at the back and listen he wants to speak up as afterall two native English speakers are better for the class than just one.

The first class I went to was on James Natchwey. We wathced a documentary on how he works and I have to say I was stunned. Have a look at his website to see what I mean: www.jamesnatchwey.com

There is a class blog where we can give each other tips on technique as well as use it to display our photos. I have put a link to this in my blog roll. Most

excitingly, the college has a dark room so I will be developping some of my own photos in the not to distant future.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Public service broadcast: http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/ Is this what you meant Oli? ...The course sounds great - what fun stuff you do! Let's make more movies :) Oh and check out the London Film Festival podcasts - Stephen's been making them!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Oliver

Broadbent]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>lonelyandboring@mac.com</wp:comment_author

_email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com</wp:comment_auth or_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[thanks for sorting the link rosy. I really must find out how to incoorporate links into the text. I have just watched my first video cast, or three in fact, today. I went to the Magnum photos website www.magnumphotos.com/ and downloaded some interesting video documentaries there. I will check out the London Film festival ones now...]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>The International Tunnel of Tangiers</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/10/27/the-international-tunnelof-tangiers/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[This afternoon's lecture on earthquake engineering was a struggle. The mountains of photocopies that we were given didn't really match up with what the lecturer was saying, which had the effect of further lowering Friday afternoon lecture attentiveness. I was however paying attention when the expert before us showed us a map of Europe showing the magnitudes and location of the major earthquakes that have hit the

Mediterannean region. The largest seismic event shown I seem to remember wiped Lisbon off the map in during the 1700s. A line of seismic events can be drawn from the mid Atlantic, through the Straits of Gibraltar, joining the dots all the way to Naples, neatly following the southern edge of the Eurasain tectonic plate. When there is an erathquake Eurasia and Africa move relative to one another along this fault line.

So why am I giving you this geography lesson? Well I have just read in the ICE newsletter that a company has made a bid to build a tunnel under the Straits of

Gibraltar

(http://www.ice.org.uk/knowledge/spec_news.asp?ARTICLE_ID=1622). At

44km it will be longer than the Channel Tunnel. What's more, the depth of the tunnel ( the Channel Tunnel is relatively shallow at only 50 odd metres below sealevel ) and the fact that the tunnel will have to pass through several different types of soil make the project barely feasible.

But there is no mention of what steps are going to be taken to make the tunnel earthquake proof. What is going to happen when the bit of the tunnel in the

Eurasian plate moves one metre up down left or right relative to the African plate? As far as I am aware, tunnels aren't like buses; they don't come in 'bendy'.

(http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-centre/image-gallery/gallery.asp)

Finally I would like to know what the tunnel is going to be called. I think that the

Gibraltar Strait Tunnel - or even the Gibraltar Bendy Tunnel (geddit?) is unfeasible because it contains the word Gibraltar and so I am sure it will kick of a squabble between the British and Spanish governments. The Algerceras tunnel is a no go because no one outside of Spain will be able to pronounce Algerceras.

Which leaves the only other option. The International Tunnel of Tangiers. It is catchy and whats more, it reclaims Tagniers' former standing as an international city. Unfortunately I don't think my name is going to stick as it I think it will be a long time before a tunnel linking 'North' and 'South' is named after a place in

Africa.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Julien]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>tanantj@hotmail.com</wp:comment_author_email

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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hey,

I am an exchange student at Imperial and I come from ENPC. Maybe you're the one who wrote a little text in the Livic.

In fact, I've heard about you from my friend Pierre M. So it's interesting to see how fate runs.

Hope everything well for you there. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just struggling with the Reinforced Concrete course with the fantastic Mr. Vollum and his scattered speech and his clumsy slideshow...

A plus]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Thought about this the other day when I heard about this: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2067792,00.html

Funny how it doesn't say much about the tunnel, even though the epicentre was in the sea just off the coast from Folkestone...]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Balkans by rail: Paris to Vienna</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/11/07/balkans-by-rail-paris-tovienna/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Sunday 29th October

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The Gard de l'Est is my favourite of Paris' railway stations because of the desitnations on its departure boards: Strasbourg, Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt,

Munich, Vienna... and even, with a change of trains at the border, Moscow. This evening I left Paris on the first leg of another trans-European journey: to

Romaina and back by train. It was five o'clock by the time we pulled out of the station on the Orient Express from Paris to Vienna.

<img width="405" src="https://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/11/leaving-paris.jpg" alt="leaving-paris.jpg" height="295" />

The first few hours of travel were quiet and I dosed off as we pushed on east.

Around 10pm we crossed the Rhine and continued into Germany. I tried to find the man with the trolley so that I could buy a sandwich. The conductor pointed to the cabin door on which I should knock. Just before I did knock, between the drawn curtains I saw a hand slide up a bestockinged leg, accompanied by shrieks of laughter. When I did knock on the door, the laughter became muffled and after some delay the door openned to reveal a sheepish looking man and woman sitting on either side of the compartment with the food trolley between them. I felt guilty for disturbing them especially since none of the food was vegetarian so

I couldn't buy anything anyway.

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Back in the carriage a baby had been crying for some time, clearly not impressed by its mother's best efforts to amuse it for the past hour. I retreated to the vestibule with the girl in the adjacent seat to gain some respite and to play a bit of guitar. No sooner had we started singing a song from the backpacker's cannon of standards (surely a Beatles number. No tell a lie it was Mamas and Papas) did the mother and baby come out as well, followed by a little girl. The children where thrust into our care and their mother went into the toilet. I carried on playing guitar and the crying stopped. Evidently relieved, the mother took back her kids and returned to the carriage. Suzanne got off the train at Karlsruhe sometime in the middle of the night. When I returned to my seat, the cease-fire between mother and child seemed to be holding and I was able to go to sleep.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Balkans by rail: Vienna to Budapest</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/11/08/balkans-by-rail-viennato-budapest/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Monday 30th October

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I must have slept well in my reclining seat as I completely slept through Munich and Saltzburg, although I had been aware of many different people having sat

beside me during the night. When I awoke the train - still the Orient Express - was pulling out of Linz. When I had gone to sleep I had been surrounded by people with coats pulled up over their heads to help them sleep but by the time we left Linz these had all been replaced by smart Austrian commuters tapping away at their laptops. It was all rather disconcerting. Between Munich and

Vienna the train snakes along the foothills of the Alps, a beautiful site to wake up to. Leafy suburbs appeared and then Vienna rolled into view, looking pristine in the morning sunshine. With an hour and a half to kill I stretched my legs in the vicinity of the station. The first thing that stuck me was how cold the air was and

I was cold wearing both of the coats that I was travelling with. Only they day before I had been in Paris wearing a t-shirt!


Wien Westbahnhoff is a bright and airy mordernist station with large windows that bathe the quitely ciruclating masses in morning sunlight. All around me seem very relaxed, almost noislessly moving from platform to platform. Time for a coffee and to stock up on provisions and then it was straight onto my next train, the 10am "Avala" to Belgrade.

In contrast to the western side of Vienna the landscape to the Danube Valley to the east is wide and flat. Between the capital and the border I saw hundreds of windturbines slowly turning over in the breeze. At the border with Hungary I caught sight of the river and on the opposite bank, Slovakia. On the Hungarian side of the border, the river continues eastward for about an hour afterwhich, then it makes a sharp right and heads south to the capital. By 1 o'clock we've arrived at Budapest Keleti station.

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<title>Budapest to Belgrade</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/11/09/budapest-tobelgrade/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Monday 30th continued


When it comes to rail travel in Eastern Europe, Budapest is a hub, which is why this is the third time I have arrived in Budapest by train. I had tried to pick a train time that would have allowed me to have a cheap as chips massage at the thermal baths but it didn't work out in the end. Budapest also seems to be where fast western european trains stop and slow eastern european trains start. Still on the "Avala", I appeared to be the only passenger coming from Vienna who stayed on the train. I was accompanied to the border by a lady with enormous reusable tesco bags that seemed to take up half our cabin.

The train trundled south at a sometimes painfully slow pace. The line is only single track so numerous times we had to wait in sidings to let a terribly important train carrying logs go the other way. The platforms also seem to stop in Budapest: anyone getting off the train had to make an heroic leap down to the ground, luggage being caught by loved ones below. I passed time until the border in the luxurious and ludicrously overstaffed restaurant car. I was the only customer and as I drank my coffee, the head waiter, his assistant and the chef sat down to a three course meal on the table next to me.


I think that is in Asne Seierstad's book "With Their Backs to the World" (that same author wrote "The Bookseler of Kabul") that one the people featured quips that there must be more border guards patrolling the frontiers within the former

Yugoslavia than in the rest of Europe combined. Becoming now almost a frequent traveller in these parts, I must be becoming familiar to many of them, although admittedly they are more likely to recognise me in my pyjamas as I always seem to cross the border in the middle of the night. These midnight border crossings come with a pang of fear that I am going to be kicked off the train for not having the right visa, despite that little access-all-areas purple book that I keep in my back pocket. Indeed last summer when we were travelling from

Belgrade to Greece some Canadians were kicked off the train in the middle of the night at the crossing because they didn't have the write paperwork.

This time however I was crossing in the middle of the afternoon and the whole experience was a whole lot less worrysome although the border guard did question me for some time on my reasons for going to Belgrade. Safely into

Serbia, I transferred to the cabin of an elderly lady where I had spotted that there was a socket from which I could charge my camera. My Serbo-Croat is not that hot and she didn't speak any English. Nevertheless we were able to communicate to some extent. I found out that she was called Elizabeth and was from Bosnia but was now living in Novi-Sad (of excellent music festival fame). I think she understood that I was an engineer. And when I told her I was going to Romania she started waving her hands above her head in alarm. It's amazing how far you can get without words. (I later foound out that my Serbian is even worse than I thought: upon verification with higher authorities that evening, it appears that I had told Elizabeth that my name was English and I had asked her if she spoke

Oliver. Oh well, at least I tried)

We said our goodbyes at Novi Sad, by which time it had already grown dark.

There are not many lights in that part of the Serbian countryside and there was nothing but blackness outside my window. Whereas up until Novi Sad, I had always had fellow passengers and hence, somehow, their company, I felt quite alone on that last bumpy hour of the journey. Finally the train rattled its way across the Danube and slowly made its way into Belgrade station. There to meet me on the platform with warm embraces were Ana and Barbara. It had been almost a year since we first met on the IACES exchange to Ljubljana. After a year of promises to come and see them I had finally arrived in their home city, quite exhausted after twenty-eight hours of travel, but with still enough energy for some celebratory beers. Geeverli! (Ana, please advise on the correct spelling!)

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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nick]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>nickhallsworth@hotmail.com</wp:comment_auth or_email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://www.myspace.com/nickisafunkydude</wp:co mment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[hi, just wondering how much the train might cost from budapest to the place of music festival fame. i like your blog. nick]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I had a massage in the Gellert Spa on the civsoc trip the other weekend. The purveyor was a large, imposing and obese character with overly big hands and no mercy. It was an "experience", and certainly not the gentle and pleasant rub which the rest of the complex's

atmosphere led me to expect. Nevertheless, 25 minutes for £10 was money well spent, even if there was a little squirming about! The spa itself was top notch.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi Nick,

I can't remember off the top of my head how much the train costs from Budapest to Novi Sud. My ticket was booked all the way from Paris to Belgrade (which seems quite amazing really). Unfortunately I lost my diary with all my notes in but fortunately I still have the one that I wrote when I took the same route last summer to get to Greece. I will have a little look and post another comment here if I have any luck.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi Andy,

I went to the Gellert Spa on my most recent trip to Budapest in November, but I did not have the time to get a massage in. ON previous visits I have always been

to the Szechenyi baths in Pest. There is something about their grandeur and their decor that makes the place a little unreal. I also felt it was a bit more family oriented and a bit less seedy. And the massages there are top notch. It's got to hurt a bit otherwise it is not doing any good, but the no mercy approach scares me a little. Playing games is fine with tourists as long as it doesn't involve messing with my spinal chord!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Mat]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>parkerbmx@googlemail.com</wp:comment_autho r_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi, i was just wandering if you could send me the name and link of the site that u booked the ticket from budapest to belgrade from ,thanks loads, mat]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi mat,

If I remember rightly, this is the website: http://www.vienna-hydrofoil.hotels-inbudapest-hungary.com/

Order the cappuccino and it will come with 100s and 1000s on top - at least it did last summer!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Nostradamus]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>maja@gmail.com</wp:comment_author_email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://www.upoznavanjesazenama.com/</wp:comm ent_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Sorry for off topic, but 2012 is close, is this really matter?]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Belgrade</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/11/11/belgrade/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Tuesday 31st

I first went to Belgrade in this summer enroute to Greece with Mary so I already knew bearings in the city. After a very agreeable lie in I met Ana and Barbara for the start of a more comprehensive tour. We started in their favourite and super trendy coffe shop "Greenet". We then made our way over to a street on which each of them, as part of a group project on their architectural course, had a house to redevelop. The street has some buildings which are derelict and some which

are still inhabitted. The principal question was whether or not to keep any parts of the old buildings or to start afresh.

We continued through the neighbourhood. Belgrade has some beautiful old buildings, some of which are in desparate need of repair. It also has some quite oppressive concrete architecture in a greyey-brown darker than I have seen anywhere else. Down some more side streets and up to the Orthodox Church, the largest (or 2nd largest??) Orthodox church in Sebia. It is still under construction but we were able to stroll inside beneath its souring arches. It looks beautiful from the outside, but what is incredible is the sheer volume contained beneath it's concrete vaults. Huge slabs of marble lay to the sides waiting to be bolted onto the walls. High above us, workers were busy in the dome above our heads.

It was only then that I realised we had happily strolled into the middle of a building site with materials being moved around thirty metres above us and we had no hard hats. Still, if a lump of marble falls on you from that height, there is not a lot a hard hat is going to do...

We traversed back across town and back across the main shopping area to a much older part of town. Enroute we passed the site of another project site for the faculty of architecture. This time it was a busy junction with trams cars and people intersecting in a very tight spot. The project had been to untangle as best as possible the mess. From what Ana and Barbara said, there are a great many architectural contests in the city which must make Belgrade a great place to study architecture. Unfortunately only a handful of them are built as there is just not the money.

Ana had picked out a cosy restaurant for lunch. Ever since arriving in Vienna I had been a bit on the chilly side. I really hadn't reckonned upon it being this cold, a symptom I suppose of the apparently mild autumn we have been having in

Paris. As we ate we were accompanied by a traditional Serbian band comprising a clarinet, accordeon, guitar and double bass. The band would improvise on one tune, and then all of a sudden the accordeon player would change tune and a few moments later, the rest of the band would catch on.

I was left to my own devices while Ana and Barbara went to a design workshop. I spent some time rethinking my itinerary for the rest of the week. I had been due to take the train the next day to the Romanians mountains where I intended to do some hiking, but I was feeling more and more apprehensive about this plan. I was concerned about turning up in northern Romania and finding all the hostels shut. I was also a little nervous about the train connections I would have to make, including one change in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere with a

two hour wait in between. With all this mind I had another trawl through the timetables and another plan came to mind. It was thus that I decided to go to

Bucarest (not orginially on my itinerary) and to go via Sofia. The plan had the advantage that I wouldn't have to worry about accomodation as I would be sleeping on night trains (ultra cheap in this region). There was also the added bonus that I could spend an extra half a day in Belgrade.

That evening we undertook a tour Belgrades night spots including a very cool cocktail bar hidden down an alley, up a stair case and behind a very plain looking door that you had to buzz to open before making your way into the brightly lit lounge. While Ana and I were up for a party, I think the rest of Belgrade went to sleep early that evening but that didn't stop us having a great night chatting until the rather small hours.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Tracy]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>tracyharrington@hotmail.com</wp:comment_aut hor_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Will be in Paris over the weekend would be good to hear about it first hand? You around

Sunday?]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Belgrade - day 2</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/11/16/belgrade-day-2/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Wednesday 1st November

Having decided upon taking a detour via Bulgaria, I embarked upon finding out some basics about the country before my train that evening. My first port of call was the Architecture faculty where I met Barabara who was able to get me on line. An hour of searching yielded a map of Sofia city centre, a vocabulary list, an article about Bulgaria's president (who if I remember correctly is the only democratically elected European head of state who has also been the king of the same countrt) and a key piece of advice from Barbara: in Bulgaria one nods to say "no" and shakes the head from side to side to say "yes". This latter point proved a bit of a challenge for the old neuro-linguistic programing.


Later that afternoon we met Ana, and after some divine tasting cakes (that ensured I wouldn't be eating again for at least two days) we scoured that capital for an English language guide to Bulgaria. The main shopping street's many book shops are well stocked with lonely planets to anywhere you could think of - the

Azores, Vietnam, Jamaica, Vancouver Island - everywhere it seemed except

Bulgaria. It seemed extraordinary that I couldn't find any information about the country next door! On the one hand, the prospect of going somewhere off the not-so lonely planet beaten path (as it appearded to me from Serbia) was quite exciting. On the other, it did leave me wondering why so few people, judged purely on the relative number of books detailing the deligts of other local capitals, seem to head next door.

My tireless and ever-resourceful guides took me on a tour of the disused dock area down by the river Salva just before it joins the Danube. The dockside buildings are in the process of being converted into super-trendy galleries and a bar. We had drinks on an almost floating bar - that is to say, it wasn't floating but on dry land, but from its windows one might think one is afloat- the nearby real floating bar having been booked out for a private function. To help us believe that our bar was in fact floating, we drank coffee laced with booze. It worked.

<img width="405" src="https://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/11/22.jpg" alt="22.jpg" height="295" />

By early evening, the cold dry spell had given way to rain. I tried to buy my train tickets to Sofia down at the train station, only none of my cards wanted to work.

Ana was able to lend me the cash, but I was suddenly worried that I would arrive in Bulgaria with not a euro cent. I tried to do the sums in my head. With the 100€ in my pocket, I might just have been able to buy tickets to take me as far as

Budapest from where I already had tickets home booked, as long as I only ate apples along the way. It didn't bode well.

Luckily however, just when my worst fiscal nightmares had flashed before me, a cash machine finally decided to be nice and give me the dough. Stocked with food for the journey it was time to wait on the dark and dingey platform for the train to take me away. I was sad to be leaving Belgrade. I had had such a great time with my friends and I was in no mood to continue on my own. Ana and I plotted when we would see each other next. When we first met in Ljubljana the year before, it hardly seemed possible that we would meet again, such is the distance from the UK to Serbia. But with two visits to Belgrade since then already in the travel log, the city doesn't feel that far away. Roll on our next encounter, Paris in the spring...]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Belgrade to Sofia</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/11/23/belgrade-to-sofia/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Wednesday 1st Novemeber - Thursday 2nd

November

Half an hour later than expected the Belgrade Sofia express night train creaked its way out of the station in the pouring rain. Out of the window I could see signalmen in their signal boxes crowding round televisions to watch the football.

To save a bit of cash I had opted for a six-person sleeping compartment

(compartments tend to come in twos, threes or sixes, with privacy varying inversely proportionately to beds). As luck would have it however, I had the entire six-person compartment to myself. I took pleasure in using all the little kitsch features in my moving hotel room for the night: the little hooks, reading lights, built in radio and light switches everywhere. Bizarrely I had to ask the attendant for permission to change bed even though I was the only one in the cabin.

I awoke at 4am to bright headlights shining into my cabin from both sides. I had forgotten to close my curtains, and dazzled by the lights, I scrambled to close the curtains without compromising my modesty. Anticipating that we had arrived at the frontier I lay there for some time, maybe half an hour, waiting for the border guards to come into the cabin to check my passport. Being quite drowsy it took me a while to notice the dull metallic clicking sound coming from outside. Finally

I got up to find out what was going on. It transpired that my carriage was in fact stopped midway across a level crossing - hence the lights shining in from both sides. The train had hit a car which I could now see shunted over to one side of the road. The clicking sound was the sound of the alarm to warn people that train was coming.

I was able to ascertain that the while hurt, the driver of the car had not been killed. It was a rather unsettling spectacle. My mobile hotel room had unexpectedly arrived in their high street. I felt like an invader; a morbid tourist.

There was little else to do except go back to sleep.

When I woke again it was eight and we still hadn’t crossed the border. The train cut its way through steep-sided valleys and as we climbed the rain that been falling since we left Belgrade turned to sleet. We arrived at Dimitrovgrad, the last stop before the border, six hours later than expected. There was little to distinguish this station from a goods yard save for the fact that most of the

passengers on board got off here. Shuffling along the ground between the highsided goods trains, the alighting travellers struggled with heavy suitcases in the sleet, which was now turning to snow – the sinister side of this spectacle didn’t escape me.

With the border guards happy, the train left an hour later towards the frontier.

On the road that followed the tracks, a traffic jam of lorries stretched for what must have been several kilometres leading up to the customs point. Sights such as this demonstrate just how much easier trade must be within the Schengen zone. Finally we left the mountains of Serbia and made headway into the brownish high plains of Bulgaria, the rhythm of the rattle of the train on the tracks have changed when we changed country.

Apart from the odd isolated village and an enormous open mine, there was little to see in that barren landscape until the train started to approach Sofia. I could see the city appear on the horizon. First there were tower blocks, but before we reached these, the train went past fields just filled with rubbish. These fields gave way to ramshackle houses typically made up of a solid core supporting lean-tos and tarpaulins. The sight was quite unlike anything else I have seen in

Europe. We went past train sidings where carriages stood with trees growing out of them. The train slowed and on either side I could see people walking along the tracks in the direction of the train. Seven hours later than expected, I arrived in

Sofia]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Sofia</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/12/04/sofia/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Thursday 2nd November

Regular readers of this blog may be either frustrated that I have not posted any entries recently. Or thy may think I got lost in Sofia and have never come back.

But no no, all is well, and I've just been a bit busy. You know how it is...

So back to Sofia...

When I got off the train I was not really prepared for the crowd of people around the door all offering me help. Most were wearing badges that bore their photo and the words "Official Information". Very convincing. Thinking that I could do without their help I bounded off down the subway into the quite overbearing and immense communist era station complex. Its enormous hall is decorated along its length on one side by a twisted steel fresco depicting eagles and stars and all sorts of Soviet fun. Accidently going to the wrong ticket counter (I was immediately buying my ticket to leave - not because I had already written off

Sofia but because I was only meant to be staying one night there and I didn't want to miss the train that evening) I was clearly identified as a lost tourist and was pounced upon.

Fair enough, I was a bit lost, and my new-found friend insisted on walking me to the international tickets booth, then to the currency exchange place when it turned out the ticket booth didn't take plastic, then to his mate when it turned out that his mate offered a significantly better exchange rate than the official one, then underground to the locker room where I was shown a locker to put my stuff in, guarded by another of his mates. And then I was asked to give them money for their assistance. Aware that we were alone in this underground space, I didn't really feel like I had much choice, but it is true that they had helped me find the things I needed in half the time it would otherwise have taken me. I agreed to give them some money but only upstairs as I needed some change (when I needed a one bulgarian monitary unit piece for the locker and only had a fiver, they had taken my fiver, given me the one and pocketed the difference!)

With so little time and no guide book, I reckoned upon doing little more than wander around the town centre and warming myself with regular doses of food

and coffee. The centre is a twenty minute from the station along a bleak suburban boulevard. When the mobile phone shops gave way to important looking buildings with flags atop, I was reassured that at least I was heading in the right direction. Feeling the cold, I dipped into a shopping centre for lack of any other shelter. Though Bulgaria is not quite yet in the E.U., the western chains of shops are already well installed, from Miss Sixty through to Timberland and

Zara, all of which was quite depressing to see especially when the products are being sold at Parisian prices despite the poverty I had seen coming into town. I quickly left.

Giving up the main streets, I found a friendly and, best of all, warm looking bar selling food. I was feeling low on account of the weather, the hassle at the station and maybe because of a touch of loneliness - nothing however that a beer and an enormous pizza for 1.50€ couldn't fix. Recharged and re-inspired, I set off again into the snow that was falling thick but not yet settling. I walked through the beautiful houses of the embassy district, I resisted the temptation to buy an accordion from a man in the street, and sat for a while in the serene confines of the basilica.

In a leafy neighborhood bordering the centre I found a shop selling scarfs. Using my best Bulgarian (a language which is closely related to Serbo- Croat) I was able to ask for a scarf that matched my orange shoe laces. The shopkeepers were surprised to hear that it was colder in Sofia than it had been in Belgrade. That scarf however made all the difference, I was toasting!

When I did venture to take my camera out, it was in front of the beautiful state theatre. I was immediately pounced upon by a man who said he had seen me a few blocks back and had been following me to see if I could sell him any currency. It took my some time to shake him off. As night started to fall, I went back to the station, all the time paranoid that my friends from that morning had kindly taken my backpack off of my hands.

Of course, when I got to my locker, all my worldly goods were where I had left them. I later encountered the only tourists that I would see in Bulgaria: a group of Americans and Canadians who hadn't even planned to come to Sofia. They had been on a night train from Istanbul to Zagreb and had been turfed off at the

Macedonian border because they didn't have the right visas. They had had to spend the night in a prison cell before being put on a train to Bulgaria where they were allowed without a visa.

My last act in as a tourist in Sofia was to buy a bottle of water, to understand the price as it was said to me in Bulgarian, and to manage to use up the last of the tiny coins rattling around in my pocket.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Sofia to Bucarest</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/12/06/sofia-to-bucarest/</link>

<pubDate>Wed, 06 Dec 2006 07:19:24 +0000</pubDate>


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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Thursday 2nd November - Friday 3rd November

The platform at Sofia station from which my train was due to leave was lit only by the dingy light coming from the carriages. Onboard I was greeted by a big friendly sleeping car attendant. I had stumped up the few extra euros to pay for a bed in a three bunk compartment and to my delight it seemed I would have all three bunks to myself. My accommodation for the night was more deluxe than the previous night's, coming with more kitsch features such as the fold out basin in the corner and a full length wardrobe. It was a real luxury to be able to hang out my clothes albeit for a few hours.

As I ate my dinner of Serbian bread and tomato paste accompanied with

Bulgarian pickles from a jar, I tried to make some sense of my day. I think that the hassle at the station in the morning had set me off on a bad foot and then nothing else that I saw or experienced really cheered me up. A few hours in a place is not enough to form any valid opinion - I would need to stay much longer

there to do so. Unfortunately, my experience is unlikely to inspire me to choose to go back to Bulgaria in a hurry when there are so many other places that I want to visit.

At around midnight the train reached the border. This time there were five different groups of officials who came into my cabin. One, quite young looking official just came in and stared at me for what seemed like an eternity before I said to him "I have nothing to declare" and then he went away apparently satisfied. I was left wondering what all these people will do when Romania and

Bulgaria are both members of the E.U. and these borders become completely open.

I woke up half an hour before the train was due to arrive at Bucarest Gara de

Nord. Outside the was nothing but blackness. There was not a light to be seen in the Romanian countryside. I dozed off for a bit and awoke with a jolt at the station. I couldn't afford to miss my stop, much as I wanted to stay onboard to the train's final destination: Moscow!]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Rose]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>rose.foley@hotmail.co.uk</wp:comment_author_e mail>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Oliver Broadbent! How are you? The journey sounds fantastic. If you've time, send me an email. I'm hearing about

France all the time in Rwanda...do you hear about here? Speak soon x]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Happy New Year</title>




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<content:encoded><![CDATA[hello readers I would like to apologise for the lack of posts of late. This blog was meant to be about engineering and my life in Paris.

Well, it seems that I have been rather too successful at engineering myself a life in Paris to have the time to write it all down. But all that will change as New Year and its concomitant resolutions beckon. In the mean time, joyeuse fête!

Eiffelover <img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/dsc02172.jpg" alt="dsc02172.jpg" width="295" height="410" />]]></content:encoded>















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<title>Making New Contacts</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/01/11/making-newcontacts/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Today I developped the film that I shot while in the south of France over Christmas. It is magical watching the images appear out of nothing in the developping fluid. I was really happy with this set and I hope to be printing some full sized images tomorrow rather than just a contact sheet.

ENPC paid for the film and for all the developping chemicals, and now that I know who holds the key to the dark room, there is no stopping me...

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<title>Earthquakes exam leaves students shakey</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/01/12/earthquakes-examleaves-students-shakey/</link>

<pubDate>Fri, 12 Jan 2007 13:49:09 +0000</pubDate>


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<content:encoded><![CDATA[We have just had the first of two earthquake engineering exams, and this one was hard! Revision for the exam was doubly

frustrating: firstly because the key topics that we had been told would be on the list had been well hidden among three dense handouts; secondly because of all the twenty topics on the list, only two came up. Still, I am at least pleased that I didn't waste too much time revising last night as none of the subjects that I would have studied came up anyway. This may be a reactionary comment admittedly, but I seriously advise anyone thinking of coming here next year to think twice about studying this subject.

This exam has been preventing me thinking about the rest of the term and now that it is over things are looking more rosy! Next week Dan and I will be sitting the History of Construction exam at the architecture school. I don't think I have ever looked forward to an exam more: we will be asked to draw and annotate sketches of buildings ranging from the pyramids to the Milleau Viaduct. I do this kind of thing on holiday!

More exams like this please, and less involving a calculator.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Too right things are looking rosy! I look rosy every day. And when you move back to the hood you can look at rosy any time you want to - just knock on the door! :D

I know just how you feel revising for something impossibly huge - I keep trying to think of what kind of leftfield questions my examiners will ask, and deciding which papers I ought to read in preparation for said leftfield remarks. Bof. If they put me on the spot, I'll just wish that the ground would open and swallow me up.

Bon chance for next week :) xx x x x xx x x]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Well, I now have Egpyt and Greece covered.

Did you know, that to correct the distortion that the human eye, being round, creates, the Athenians built the Parthenon on a curved base with all the columns leaning in slightly towards the middle: the result is that everything looks more

"perfect". Consequently, none of the blocks used on the Parthenon are cuboids; they are in fact parallelepipeds! Certainly a testament to the geometry skills...]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Andrew Kosinski]]></wp:comment_author>






<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[hey

I'm currently doing a Bommer coursework on earthquakes in for next Monday so

I'm quaked up to the eyeballs. As you would expect with Bommer, it's ruddy

hard! Glad to see that I'm not the only one, and it would be interesting to see if we are studying similar things!

Andy]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I seem to remember be advised by your good lecturer not to take the course that I am doing - something about the wrong approach. Since I only know the approach that I have studied here in France I would be interested to know what it is that you do in the UK. My course goes a little something like this...

We started with a section entitled sismic studies. This part of the course mainly dealt with panoply of different ways of measuring an earthquake, the way that the waves propagate and the effect of topology (including sediment beds) have on the severity of the quake.

The second part of the course has mainly had us making comparisons between the old French PS92 code and the new Eurocode 8. The approach is principally to look at the class of structure (how risky it is, eg bus shleter: low, nuclear power station: high) and the seismic zone (the severity of earthquakes in the location of the building). With the these two bits of information you choose a spectrum. You then need to choose the frequency of the building that you are going to design for. In order to do this, you need to determine of the building is regular (restrictions on elevation and on plan). If it is then you can use the simplified method of determining the period of the building (using simple weights and sticks, à la Rama last year). Otherwise you have to do a three dimensional model.

We also looked at something called Capacity Design, which mainly seems to mean designing buildings so that collapse in a safe way.

Does any of this sound familiar.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Meet Mr Alphand</title>




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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/alphand.jpg" alt="alphand.jpg" />

When Haussmann was busy tearing down and rebuilding large swathes of Paris, he wasn't doing it all by himself. His chief engineer was this fellow, M

Alphand. In this portrait by Alfred Roll, he is standing on the building site of the

Petit Palais in 1888. Appropriately, it is now hanging in pride of place in the Petit

Palais. As far as our history of art lecturer is aware, it is in the only portrait of an engineer in Paris.

The Petit Palais is an interesting place, although not as immediately so from a structural point of view as its glass-domed big brother opposite, the <a href="http://www.grandpalais.fr/" title="Grand Palais" target="_blank">Grand

Palais</a>. This mock classical building has frescoes on its ceiling that, first time round, failed to draw my attention. On a second lap however, I was invited to take a closer look at these paintings. Sure, there were the cherubs floating around, but the clouds in which they were flying were not in fact clouds, but smoke rising from factories in one corner, and a steam train in the other. Progress!]]></content:encoded>

















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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[kykcari]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>epaqzulkiga@ccadjatenok.com</wp:comment_aut hor_email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://virgins.webng.com/virgins-getting-theircherry-popped.html</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[<a href="http://virgins.webng.com/virginmobile-wild-card.html" rel="nofollow">virgin mobile wild card</a>]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>The end of architecture school</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/01/17/the-end-of-architectureschool/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/dan-present-eamlv.jpg" alt="Dan presents the architecture school" />

Today I sat the final exam for what has probably been the most enjoyable course that I have studied during the last four years, the ambitiously titled "History of

Construction". The course took place not at Les Ponts, but at the neighbouring architecture school <a href="http://www.marnelavallee.archi.fr/" target="_blank">EAMLV</a>

The lecturer expertly lead us through building sites from Egypt to Millau and described building materials as diverse as granite and linoleum. But what got me really excited about the course was being in a room full of real live architects.

All those asymmetrical haircuts, those interesting glasses. From the outset I fully expected to see my own haircut lose its symmetry and that my sight should deteriorate sufficiently for me to make a purchase at the opticians. I imagined myself sitting among the trendies, smoking cigarettes with my new friends

(smoking is clearly an initiation rite).

In the end, it didn't quite work out like that. On the plus side, the lectures were excellent and really quite inspiring: it constantly reminded me of all that stuff about why I went into engineering. I have to say that unlike my other exams here, this one wasn't such a hit and miss affair. But lets look at the bad side... I left the architecture school for the last time looking less trendy than I did at the outset (I got dressed in the dark this morning), my eyesight is just as good as it was before, and I haven't managed to give up "not smoking". As for new architect friends, well there was this one guy who I was chummy with, who used to say hi and stuff, but when it came to saying goodbye, both of us knew there was no need to exchange emails. All I could muster when shaking his hand was a feeble "on se revoit sur un chantier un jour" (see you one day on a building site).

Disaster.]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>the-end-of-architecture-school</wp:post_name>








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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Oh come on Oli, don't be coy, your barnet is a cut above the rest and you've got the photos to prove it ;)

Living with a sculptor, a composer, a film producer, a graphic designer and an architect, only one of them (you guessed it), to my knowledge, has tried to wear a bicycle helmet in a swimming pool...does that come under the heading of trendy and with-it? Hee hee...]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Suzanne]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>dszalla@tampabay.rr.com</wp:comment_author_ email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://szilverwolf.com</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I just found your site and hope to continue reading it. If you are interested in architecture and engineering history please se our podcast show called "Aspire" on szilverwolf.com. We are from the US and talk about whatever we think about regarding engineering and architecture history and are hoping to find like minded people who are really interested in the subject and will listen etc.

I work in construction managment with a civil engineering degree and my husband is an architect. I don't think we are very cool though, we don't smoke or have cool haircuts at least.

Good luck on exams!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hello Suzanne - I am glad that you have found this site. I am interested in the cross-over between architecture and engineering (I have heard one French architect refer to it as the

«architectonique»). It is there that I find the designs that interest me the most.

Haircuts and eye wear are, despite the rhetoric, are not all that important to me - and especially not smoking. I brought them up to draw attention to the difference in image between the professions of architecture and engineering.

Why is it that the stereotype of an architecture student is one of a trendy with-it individual and that of an engineer (much to my chagrin) isn't? I think in part it is because of a difference in appreciation of aesthetics and also how to create something new and exciting out of existing materials, in this case, a new look from a wardrobe of clothes.

What's most important is how effectively does a design solution solve a problem, and not how good it looks (having said that, I often think that good looks are inherent in a good design solution). The ability to dress differently reflects an ability to think differently and it is the latter that is more important.

I look forward to hearing one of your podcasts. If you are interested, you can see a short film I made in French about a new bridge in Paris, La Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir on my website: www.web.mac.com/oliverbroadbent]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[You bring up such an interesting topic!

I will be happy to watch your video and I would like to mention your comment and your blog in my next show if you would not mind it. I think that it is very interesting that in the past architects and engineers have often played the same roles. Today we are very compartment driven and tasks are divided up to the extreme.

I will be in Paris in a few months, besides the Eiffle Tower and the Sewer System, what would be your top three engineering "must see" sites!

Best Regards!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Your comment and subject has me thinking about one thing that I find very funny. Here in the United States we have many large home item stores like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target. Many of these stores make design deals with very famous people. They all have some sort of “design line” by a celebrity. I will not say which store it is or what the person’s name is

but I have a story about this. One of these stores hired a very famous architect to design many things that are for sale in the store. I noticed that my husband, who is an architect, will buy many of these items even if he doesn’t know who designed it. He thinks that they look very beautiful and elegant. One day I needed a new floor mop, dust pan, and a toilet plunger. He brought home a very elegant set of these cleaning tools from the store and they were designed by this famous architect. I will agree that the “looked” good. They looked high tech even but much to my dismay they were not high tech in anyway and the mop broke the first day I used it, the plunger broke in the first week, and the dust pan even broke in a few weeks (Doug was even shocked that a dust pan can break!). These items were poorly designed and poorly made. The only thing good about them was that they looked very interesting. I laugh about it all of the time now! I now tell Doug to please not bring home anything designed by an architect but to look instead for something designed by an engineer!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Blog from beyond the grave</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/blog-from-beyond-thegrave/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[ <img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/180px-telford.jpg" alt="Thomas Telford" />

The Institution of Civil Engineers, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birthThomas Telford, has launched a <a href="http://www.thomastelford250.org./blog/" title="Thomas Telford Blog" target="_blank">blog</a> in the name of that great Scottish engineer. The blog will contain extracts from diary entries and letters by Telford, the ICE's first president. I have to confess that though Telford is credited with thousands of structures, a great number of which remain standing, I do not know enough about him. I hope that this blog will help me fill some gaps!]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[(it's Institution not

Institute!)]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[thanks for that Andy - I put that one in for you!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Film uploaded to my new website</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/12/film-uploaded-to-mynew-website/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/gherkin-eye.jpg" alt="gherkin-eye.jpg" height="295" width="405" />

Check out my new <a href="http://web.mac.com/oliverbroadbent" title="Oliver

Broadbent's website" target="_blank">website</a> where I have posted a couple of movie clips. The first is a documentary that readers of this blog may remember I made back at the start of my semester at ENPC. I had been asked to give a presentation as part of a language class on any topic that of relevance to engineering. Weary of Power Point, I decided instead to make a short film that I then presented to the class. Those who have studied under the French system will spot the strategic use of ‘articulateurs’. I would only like to add that I hope my French has improved somewhat since those heady first weeks of term.

The other clip I made using some panoramic photos that I took at the top of the

‘Gherkin’ in 2004. I found a programme that would string them all together. I then used imovie to make the photo pan and uploaded that mpeg to the web.

This process was a bit laborious. Can anyone advise me if it would have been quicker to create a photocast instead?]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Eiffelover]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/wobbl ing-la-passerelle-simone-de-beauvoir/</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] was invited on Wednesday to go and help wobble the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir (previous posts here and here).

The wobbling was being sollicted in order to conduct ongoing tests on the bridge’s [...]]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>American bridges number 1</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/15/american-bridgesnumber-1/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[There's one thing that they do particularly well at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées (School of bridges and roads), and that is teaching how to build bridges and roads. I had my last lecture today in a course called construction métallique. It has been one of the hardest courses I have taken here but has also been one of the most enjoyable. As well as covering all the theory of how metal structures 'work' we have also looked at a range of specific examples, including the Stade de France, the pyramid at the Louvre and the Milau Viaduct. Today's final class was given by an expert on metallic bridge construction and he had the following to say about America's brutal motorway bridge design.

In France they keep it simple: put two metal beams across and then fill the gap between the two beams with a concrete deck. I say simple because it is very easy to work out how strong each beam needs to be, and that, after all, is what we engineers are paid for, right? In the USA however, things are not quite so straight forward. Famously low budgets for construction have lead to the use of lower quality materials and so there is a greater chance these bridge beams could fail. Each state has it's own set of rules (which must make for nightmares when trying to build an interstate highway) but in all states, they are so worried

about the strength of their beams that instead of allowing just two, they require five.

When I was living in the States, I noticed how brutal the motorway architecture could be. And now I think I know why. It is very difficult to make five enormous steel beams under a bridge look elegant. There is also no architectural budget, so all you get is the bare minimum. This five beam system also makes it very difficult for the engineer to work out what is going on. For reasons that I won't go into here, when you have five beams under a bridge, it is complicated to calculate which is supporting the car and which is sitting there looking ugly. The ultimate irony is that if they spent a little more on materials, they would of higher quality and so they could use much less.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/bridge-anecdote.jpg" alt="bridge-anecdote.jpg" height="295" width="405" />

A 'brutal' New Jersey bridge across an esturary close to New

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<title>Too hot in Paris</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/17/too-hot-in-paris/</link>

<pubDate>Sat, 17 Feb 2007 21:13:50 +0000</pubDate>


<guid isPermaLink="false">http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/17/toohot-in-paris/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="float:right;margin-left:10px;marginbottom:10px;">

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/83739092@N00/393336992/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/139/393336992_2f1c764c4b_m.jpg" alt="" style="border:solid 2px #000000;" /></a>

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<span style="font-size:.9em;margin-top:0;">

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/83739092@N00/393336992/">Austrian windfarm</a>

<br />

Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/83739092@N00/">eiffelover</a>.

</span>

</div>

It has been a gloriously warm day today in Paris. Too warm in fact. I wish more countries would follow Austria's example and plant more wind turbine seeds so that they too can have fields full of wind turbines and we can stop this place that we live in getting any hotter!

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<title>Le vide grenier de l'onzième</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/le-vide-grenier-duonzieme/</link>

<pubDate>Sun, 18 Feb 2007 22:24:16 +0000</pubDate>


<guid isPermaLink="false">http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/levide-grenier-du-onzieme/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[We were recently asked in one of our French classes to write an article about a business in the style of short piece for a newspaper. The brief included nine words, some more obscure than others, that

had to be included somewhere in the text. So for those who want to read a little story about a local bric-a-brac store look no further than below (the aforementioned nine words are in bold)

<em>Le vide grenier de l'onzième</em>

Il s’agit d’un magasin parisien qui existe depuis quarante ans dans ce quartier assez bobo. Sa vitrine est encadrée de bois très travaillé, avec des fleurs et des gargouilles gravées sur les deux côtés : un véritable <strong>bijou</strong> d’architecture. Derrière on trouve tout un bric-à-brac <strong>bizarre</strong> en provenance de quelques centaines de greniers anonymes, vidés grâce à cette entreprise.

La famille Tatattic habite à cet endroit depuis la fin du XIXe siècle : l’arrière grand-père Tatattic fut <strong>bachi bouzouk</strong> pendant la guerre de

Crimée. Il traversa ensuite l’Europe pendant vingt ans avec sa carriole en tant que marchand de produits turcs. Il accumula un stock précieux, et quand il arriva

à Paris, il vendit la totalité pour acheter un terrain de deux cents

<strong>mètres</strong> carrés à côté de la Rue de Charonne. À cette époque, on était en pleine campagne, bien avant que la ville de Paris soit agrandie.

Pendant les années soixante et le réaménagement de la ville, l’arrière petit-fils

Patrick Tatattic vendit le terrain et fit construire un grand immeuble avec un magasin au rez-de-chaussée. Il trouva <strong>l’amour</strong> avec une jolie danseuse qui s’appelait Kati. Elle fit le clown et le fit rire. Ils se découvrirent en plus une passion commune, les vide-greniers. Après trois semaines, ils se marièrent et commencèrent à explorer les greniers du quartier…

Quarante ans plus tard, ils travaillent toujours ensemble. Derrière le comptoir, c’est Patrick Tatattic, toujours <strong>chic</strong> avec son complet marron, qui vous accueille. C’est lui qui s’occupe de l’argent et du prix final. Pourtant, il ne connaît l’emplacement d’aucun de ses produits. Pour trouver quelque chose de précis, il faut s’adresser à sa femme.

Kati Tatattic n’est plus aussi belle que dans les années soixante, peut-être à cause de ces quarante ans passés cachée dans leur entrepôt (elle applique plusieurs couches de maquillage et sa peau fait un peu <strong>abricot</strong> fané).

Elle est devenue vieille, comme les trésors que cette femme, sans enfants, surveille sept jours sur sept : c’est passionnant. Bien qu’elle ait quitté la scène depuis son mariage, elle danse toujours avec son mari. Si on regarde par la fenêtre quand il n’y a pas de clients à l’intérieur (c’est souvent le cas) on peut voir les deux en train de <strong>valser</strong> dans les couloirs.

C’est vrai que le stock est d’une qualité extraordinaire. On demande comment ces marchands peuvent sélectionner les meilleures pièces de chaque grenier au milieu de friperies, de valises et de la poussière qui n’intéressent personne. Leur secret: on dit dans le coin que Madame et Monsieur Tatattic ont un

<strong>passe-partout</strong> pour tous les greniers de Paris, et qu’ils viennent en pleine nuit pour voler les objets de valeur avant que les propriétaires, qui dorment en dessous, puissent les vendre à un prix supérieur.

Attention, peut-être sont-ils déjà venus danser chez vous.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>The Metropolisians</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/themetropolisians/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="405" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/metropolisiens.jpg" alt="metropolisiens.jpg" height="295" />

My mate Ronan is in a band called the Metropolisians. A month or so ago they won their heat in a battle of the bands contest for which the ultimate prize is a gig at the Elysée de Montmartre (Paris' Astoria for the Londonners amongst you) and a record deal. With their brit-pop charm, stomping rhythms and oodles of charisma, they brought the house down with their second round performance last Friday night.

Appropriately for this second stage the competition was harder to beat, but not in terms of quality but rather the number of people clapping. Bands are rated on the basis of how many raised hands a man at the front can count at the end of each set. There were some pretty ropey high school bands and it looked at one point that one of these bands might have won, having brought half the high school with them for support. But in the end, it was the Metropolisians who got the last laugh with 189 votes to 99 for the band in second place.

Check out their <a target="_blank" href="http://www.myspace.com/themetropolisians" title="The

Metropolisians">website </a>and if you hear "winkle-pickers" in one of the lyrics, it's thanks to your friendly engineering correspondant in

Paris.]]></content:encoded>







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<category domain="category" nicename="music-and-dance"><![CDATA[Music and dance]]></category>

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<wp:comment_author_IP>195.221.194.140

72.232.131.22</wp:comment_author_IP>



<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Thanks for that one M, I am not sure why it wasn't working but I seem to have fixed it

Eif]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Chris]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>christinelobb@gmail.com</wp:comment_author_e mail>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[You forgot to mention the man who appeared to be playing his nose into the mic! I'll always remember him.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[That's funny, because I don't...sorry!

Thinking about it though, there would have been no justice if the Metropolisians hadn't won that evening: they were just streets ahead. I still have nightmares

when I think about the motley crew that came on after them...]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Chris]]></wp:comment_author>






<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[You don't remember him? He was the lead singer of the motley crew!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[christinelobb]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://letstalkaboutart.wordpress.com/</wp:comme nt_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[i]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hey, wish I'd been there! But I can't get the website link to work...

M x]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Womb with a view</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/21/womb-with-aview/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="295" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/womb-with-a-view.jpg" alt="womb-with-a-view.jpg" height="405" />

Paris is slowly encircling itself in <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tramway.paris.fr/">tramways</a>. The latest tramway to open, connecting the disparate ends of several metro lines is the T3, which skirts inner Paris' southern border. As part of the project, the RATP commissioned a series of art installations on or in the vicinity of the route. So it was with travel card in hand that I went, albeit a little too late, one Saturday afternoon, to see what I could see, so to speak.

The trip became somewhat of an art-hunt for all I had to help me was a cutting from a newspaper giving some approximate locations, and a metro map.

Unfortunately, I was not able to experience the murmuring benches as the park they were in had shut. And I simply couldn't find the installation called "Mirage"

(even though Mary swears blind that she did). One of the best installations, in my opinion, was realised using just light. Where the tramway passes under the TGV lines coming out of Montparnasse, the bridge's beams and columns are lit up in orange and blue at night time reclaiming an otherwise threatening space (and showing off the beautiful metalwork on the columns which must have been lost in darkness even during the day).

The tour finished with a sculpture on the middle of the bridge. This installation is by <a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Calle">Sophie Calle</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gehry">Frank Gehry </a>(with <a target="_blank" href="www.rfr.fr">RFR</a> as engineers) and consists of a twisted metal alcove or shelter with a telephone inside. According to a sign inside, only Sophie Calle has the number and she occasionally calls the number and to talk with whoever maybe passing by. The sculpture is a a shelter from the wind, a womb high up over the river, isolated, yet connected. If you have a few hours to spare in the south of Paris, I recommend taking the time to take the tram.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>The end of bridges and the beginning of projects</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/28/the-end-of-bridges-andthe-beginning-of-projects/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[After seven and a half years, I had my final exam as an undergraduate last Friday. As final exams go, it counted for a minute part of my degree – a far cry from my chemistry finals five years ago. Assessment at

ENPC is continuous with marked courseworks and the occasional test. The

“Conceptions Parasismiques” exam last week was only significant because it was

my last engagement at the Ecole des Ponts, for tomorrow, I start my placement in a French company.

At this point it would be helpful to mention how I would be finishing my degree if I were back in the UK. In their final year, students at Imperial are expected to take on a full course-load of lectures and tutorials and at the same time, to conduct independent research that is to be written up at the end of the year, somehow in the middle of revising for final exams. In contrast, the system at Les

Ponts, which I might add is a system which seems to be typical among other

European engineering courses that I have heard about, requires that its students undertake a “projet de fin d’études”. Rather than being conducted in parallel with studies at the university, the PFE takes place in a company or a laboratory. In either case, the student is offered a placement during which they can undertake research at the same time as being involved with the day-to-day work of that enterprise. The placement is also paid, albeit at minimum wage level. Final year students are close to being qualified and so should know their stuff. This system offers them the chance to experience the work environment and also offers cheap labour to the companies involved.

Getting a placement is something of a magic art, and the following words are intended for the eight or so Imperial students coming to ENPC next year. What is not entirely clear with the PFE is whether it is the students who should be approaching companies with ideas for a project or whether students should be contacting the companies and asking them what they have on offer. One thing is for certain: if you tell an engineering company in France that you are from the

Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées and you are looking for a PFE, they know what you are talking about.

In order to get my first experience of the professional world, and of speaking

French proper like, I went to an event back in November called the Forum Trium, a careers fair where engineering companies and financial firms battle it out to solicit the interest of students from one of a number of grandes écoles in Paris. I turned up with the worst CV in the world, officially, and proceeded to distribute copies of it evenly across the hall. Most employers were looking for people interested graduate jobs, but my name was noted nonetheless.

I left the event no closer to finding a project. Term plodded on and the PFE slipped down my list of priorities until just before Christmas, when I found that a fair chunk of my French friends had found placements, and what’s more, they were going to be working on topics that not only interested me, but were with companies I would have dearly liked to have had a place with. I was no closer,

however, to understanding how this application process should work. By the time term started in the New Year, I had landed on the idea of investigating the ways in which the carbon footprint of a building can be measured (more about this in the future). The project would have taken place at the local building research institute near Les Ponts. The whole project was conceived over a series of coffees with a couple of members of staff from the department. I was all set to accept when I received a phone call from a director of Setec TPI who invited me to an interview. It seemed that one of my awful CVs from the Forum Trium had made it onto his desk. He was looking for an English speaking engineering to join a team working in collaboration with an American architect on a new skyscraper at La Défense. Unshaven, I turned up that afternoon for the interview and was offered the place. In the space of a week I had gone from having nothing to having a choice of placements.

In the end I chose Setec. My project there will be an investigation into the role of skyscraper floor design in the overall stability of the building, both during construction and in service. But I didn’t choose this placement for the topic; rather I chose it for the experience of working in a French engineering office environment, and the opportunity to work on one of Paris’ most prestigious projects. If the last four months of study have been good for my French, I am hoping that this placement is going to do wonders.

In conclusion then, what would I recommend to next year’s students when it comes to looking for a placement? Well, I would definitely advise going to the

Forum Trium and introducing yourself to as many companies as you can. Since I accepted my offer at Setec I have been offered two more placements (including one with SNCF that would have given me free TGV travel for the rest of the year!!) and both of these directly from the Forum. My other piece of advice is not to be scared to approach companies yourself and say, what project could you offer me. They expect to get calls from people like you, so you may as well get in where you want to before everyone else does. The chances are that the early you get involved, the more likely you are to get to choose a project that really interests you.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Good luck Oli! I'm sure you'll be awesome xxx

What's the french for skyscraper?]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[very interesting post indeed. very detached from imperial final year projects (bore) and good luck mate!!!!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Final Year Project </title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/final-yearproject/</link>

<pubDate>Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:52:46 +0000</pubDate>


<guid isPermaLink="false">http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/final-yearproject/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="MsoNormal">Last Friday I handed in my last piece of course work at ENPC. Despite having started my placement two weeks ago, last week I was still finishing off work for Ponts. With all that finished (and after a refreshing weekend of skiing in the Alps), I am now able to give my project my full attention.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal"></p>

<p class="MsoNormal">I have decided to use this blog to help me chart my progress through the next four months (actually it is now just three and a half!). With my project as ill-defined as it is, I hope that entries in my blog will help me keep track of what I am achieving as well as recording the decisions that

I will make along the way.</p>


<p class="MsoNormal">I say that the project is ill-defined but I only have one point of reference, that being the project that was the fourth year of my chemistry degree. Back then, I was given a specific research topic and I spent the first weeks reading around the subject and planning experiments for the future. Though that was for a chemistry degree, I think it is not an unreasonable comparison as it seems to be a similar point of departure as that for people I know doing their final year project at Imperial.</p>


<p class="MsoNormal">With no real point of reference, it is difficult to know what to do. This much I do know from my supervisors at work who themselves undertook similar projects when they were at les Ponts: in the first few weeks, I will be involved in the projects that the team that I part of are working on. The company has several tall tower projects on the go. One possibility is that my project will be a broad survey of the different aspects of tall building design, taken from my experience of working on these different projects. Another is that

I will investigate a specific aspect of the design of one or several of these buildings and that this investigation will form the basis of my project. It is therefore difficult to know, for example, whether the cost estimation of a skyscraper that I carried out this afternoon will be a component of my report or not.</p>


<p class="MsoNormal">Hence it is all the more important for me to write up what I am doing along the way. Watch this space…</p>]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Bending beams and counting the cost</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/13/bending-beams-andcounting-the-cost/</link>

<pubDate>Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:15:48 +0000</pubDate>


<guid isPermaLink="false">http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/13/bendingbeams-and-counting-the-cost/</guid>



<p class="MsoNormal"><span>During these first few weeks of my placement I have been carrying out some fairly entry-level calculations on a forty-five storey tower.<span> </span>These follow on nicely from courses in concrete and steel design that I took during my first term at ENPC.<span> </span>However, while these courses were based on the new Eurocode regulations (currently being adopted in the U.K. and in France), the company I am working for is in a transition period during which it is using the new code for some projects and the old French code for others.<span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span>During the first few days I therefore had to get my head round these older regulations that I had never seen before.<span>

</span>In particular I was getting hung up on the issue of how much a beam should bend in service.<span> </span>While a bending beam may not necessarily break, it may cause temporary walls to crack and finishes to become

damaged: hence the limits on how far a beam can deflect in everyday use.<span>

</span>Both codes have similar limits for this deflection; the only difference is in how you calculate the deflection.<span> </span>The Eurocode is a lot more flexible (read vague) on how to perform this sort calculation than the French code.<span> </span>I spent a long time going into the detail of how to apply the

French code and got quite confused.<span> </span>Everyone that I asked had their own way of doing it but no one seemed to have a definitive answer (this was not helped by the fact that those who do know are rushed off their feet).<span> </span>In the end, I found that these technicalities accounted for minor differences and I was able to move on.<span> </span>I remain unsatisfied however with my methodology. </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Once a methodology is established, calculations can be automated with Excel.<span> </span>Everyone has their own Excel sheets to speed things up.<span> </span>Or at least that is the idea.<span>

</span>When the sheet is up and running, it is very easy to rattle off calculations, but getting it to work is the difficult part and I sometimes wonder whether the time taken verifying the code doesn’t add up to more than it would have taken to do the calculations by hand.<span> </span>It is also very difficult to follow your working in Excel, and even harder to follow someone else’s.<span> </span>The biggest challenge is making these automated calculations readable to others.<span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span>As well as the program for dimensioning beams, I am now on the second version of a program that will work out an approximate cost for this tower.<span> </span>Something that started relatively simply has spiralled out of control, hence the second version.<span> </span>I hope to be able to report progress tomorrow!</span></p>]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nigel]]></wp:comment_author>






<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[as you probably know .... when you are knocking together a new computer program its obvious at the time what everything means and how it works. Writing in BASIC it was always recommended to add REM (reminder) statements so that it still makes sense to others, and even yourself when you've totally forgotten how that piece of code works! In excel you can add "NOTES" to some of the cells

... great blog!!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Yes I find adding notes is very useful.

However, I find that one of the problems with Excel is that the variables in the formulae are referred to by their cell coordinates and not by their variable name, as it would be say in Matlab or Fortran. So for example, I see a formula that says

B58*puissance(elements!$C$12;2)*2*arcsin(90) and it is only when I go to all the headings of all the columns that I realise that this is just the forlula for the volume of a cylinder V = h*pi*r²

I think that Excel is a really great programme that and I am certain that i don't come anywhere near using its full power; rather I spend lots of time writing sheets that it is less suited to. Unfortunately, that is how things work around here.

Incidentally, when I was at Expedition last summer, I was talking to Ed about the limitations of using Excel for this sort of thing and that there must be a better way. I think it is Matlab.

I will be posting more on this subject later.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Two tips for Excel:

Get the icon list entitled "Formula auditing" - it enables you to trace precedents and dependents in formulae very easily (graphically using arrows!). This can be a really useful tool.

Also, say you're in cell B7 and it's a value for, say, "x". Where it says B7 in the top left hand corner, type "x" in instead. From now on, you can type "x" in any formulae, and Excel knows to use the value in B7. Clever, huh! (You're going to love that one.)

Look forward to your Livic article. Also, great bloggage.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Thanks for the advice on Excel Andy. I already had the auditting trick in hand, but the second trick about changing the cell name to, say, a variable name, is a really useful trick. I have just shown a couple of colleagues and a wave of "oh, I see!!" (but in French) is refracting its way amongst the office partitions. Life saver!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>"The late worm avoids the bird" and other stories...</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/the-late-worm-avoidsthe-bird-and-other-stories/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/thelate-worm-avoids-the-bird-and-other-stories/</guid>



<p class="MsoNormal"><span>I have my cousin Ralph (of Stringfever fame - see link to the left, under music) to thank for that piece of advice, which makes me laugh each time I think of it.<span> </span>Were I a worm, I would quite likely have been eaten by birds of prey at the market this morning.<span> </span>I was there before eight so that I could get some shopping in before breakfast (this is the sort of behaviour that my </span><span>Marston Street</span><span> house mates might associate with me when I was sitting finals). <span>

</span>It was such a beautiful morning and, well, I like the market. It’s better however, when all the sellers are actually at their stalls rather than in the café.<span> </span><span> </span>The bio-lady (who has not been treated with any chemical fertilizers) had evidently nipped off for one, and the lady who sells bags of chicory and apples ideal for juicing, opposite, probably went with her.<span> </span>In that spot, the only person left was a man selling bras, who sheepishly refused to take any money on behalf of his neighbour for a bag of her produce.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span>And now from before breakfast time, to lunchtime, which is an event here at work.<span> </span>At

</span><span>noon</span><span>, people start milling around the office talking about going down to the canteen (a quick survey of the people in my team confirms rather unscientifically what I have been told, that people here for breakfast have a coffee and a dried biscuity thing at most, so they must be starving by </span><span>noon</span><span>).<span> </span>A big group made up of anyone from the director to the draghtsmen (though interestingly not the secretaries) go down in the lift to the underbelly of the building that is the canteen.<span> </span>This vast underground space has a buffet down one side then rows upon rows of tables and benches.<span> </span>The food is very good if you are into meat, and while not cheap, it is still subsidised by the company.<span> </span>And then everyone eats together.<span>

</span>Slowly.<span> </span>Several courses are taken, even if one might only consist of an apple or yoghurt.<span> </span>Only when everyone on the table has had their final spoon of Yoplait does anyone get up. <span>

</span>The trays go off on the conveyor belt where they get taken to invisible people who magically clear them and make them nice for the next engineer.<span> </span>En masse, we leave one windowless room for another, this time with a coffee counter at one end.<span> </span>Espressos are gulped down at breathtaking speed.<span> </span>Quick as a flash we are back up in the elevators and at our desks without ever having the inconvenience of seeing sunlight or talking to anyone who doesn’t have a diploma from Les Ponts (insert other grand ecole name here if you like).<span> </span>That’s efficiency for you.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Speaking of efficiency, two separate personnel departments are now in a race to see who can get me a social security number first.<span> </span>I still have not been paid for my teaching work at the

</span><span>University</span><span> of

</span><span>Marne</span><span> la Vallée.<span> </span>I am sure I mentioned this at the time, but just to recap, the university wouldn’t give me a contract without a social security number, and the social security wouldn’t give me a number without a contract.<span> </span>Someone had to give in, and rightly so it was the university.<span> </span>That was back in

November.<span> </span>Now in March and my new job, I need a social security number so that I can get paid at work. <span> </span>Here, they gave me a contract straightaway and are now applying for the number.<span>

</span>Given that the university are still faffing around, it looks likely that my new job will get me the number and that I will then give that number to my old employees who should then be able to pay me.<span> </span>That’s inefficiency for you.<span> </span>And before anyone thinks I am having a go at French bureaucracy, I am not.<span> </span>It’s just the university being rubbish.<span> </span></span></p>]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[It's so lovely reading about your market and being able to picture all the exact stalls and people you are describing, the walk there and back and the cafes all the stall owners have disappeared off too! I hope you get paid soon!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Zen and the art of building maintenance</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/16/zen-and-the-art-ofbuilding-maintenance/</link>



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/>

<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span></span></p>

I am in the throws of reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by

Robert Persig. <span> </span>In my view it is a philosophical book that challenges the reader to find beauty in technology, in maths and in reason.

<span> </span>I am no book reviewer, so I will only add that Persig uses the motorcycle as an analogy for different ways of thinking.<span> </span>In particular, he talks about the idea of an ‘intellectual knife’: the tool with which we slice up a problem into its components before we set about resolving it.<span> </span>So each evening on the metro, I have been reading about different ways a motorcycle can be divided up in order to explain its different functions, and it has struck me how similar this exercise is to what I am doing at work in order to calculate the cost of the cost of a skyscraper.<span> </span>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>One way to add up the cost is to start at the top left-hand corner, and work your way down to the bottom right-hand corner, counting up all the lumps of concrete and steel along the way.<span>

</span>This method would be ideal for a bungalow but not for a high-rise as for starters it fails to take into the repetition in the structure.<span> </span>So the first use of the knife is to cut the building up into repeating chunks.<span>

</span>Now in the case of this building, like the Gherkin, this building is curvy, so no two floors are identical.<span> </span>The knife is therefore used to cut the building up into chunks whose dimensions are broadly similar, so that mean values for these chunks can be used.<span> </span></span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Am I boring you yet?<span> </span>Then look at the photo.<span> </span>I put it in to spruce up what on the surface might otherwise be an apparently boring entry.<span> </span>It’s the view from my office (prizes for anyone who can spot the Eiffel tower).<span>

</span>Refreshed?<span> </span>Right, lets carry on…</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>So we have our broadly similar chunks of building: can’t we start counting?<span> </span>Well yes, but if you want to automate the process you have to put into Excel.<span> </span>I do want to automate it because this project is constantly changing and I want to quickly be able to modify the calculation.<span> </span>This is really where the headaches begin.<span> </span>So often have I marched into writing an Excel

spreadsheet only to find that when I am waste-deep in it, it becomes very complicated, difficult to verify and impossible for anyone else to follow.<span>

</span>This happened to me last week on this same project.<span> </span>I spent the weekend thinking that there must be a better way.<span>

</span>Before I started again I set out the main things I wanted to achieve when doing the calculation again.<span> </span>It has to be easy to enter the data, easy to modify the data, easy to verify the results and easy for somebody else to follow. <span> </span></span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>If there are any readers left, I want to illustrate the problems that these objectives can cause.<span> </span>I won’t go into how I solved them because whereas the objectives are general and can be applied to the automation of other engineering problems, the solution is specific, of less ‘interest’ to others, and I have that recorded in the form of the spreadsheet itself.<span> </span></span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Starting with entering the data, it is very well to count up all the similar columns but how can you be certain that they have all been counted.<span> </span>One answer is to create a big grid with all the stories, to cut and paste in all the similar elements and then to count them all up.<span> </span>Whilst this approach starts off very pleasing to look at, (I think this approach uses Excel well) it quickly becomes unwieldy.<span>

</span>In order to simplify things, it is necessary to only put in the absolute minimum of information, putting the rest of the information perhaps on another sheet.<span> </span>The risk here is that the sheet quickly becomes difficult for someone else to follow.<span> </span>The other problem with hiding information elsewhere is that it also becomes difficult to modify quickly.<span>

</span></span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>One might conclude that ease of modification is at the cost of simplicity.<span> </span>However with careful application of the intellectual knife, I don’t necessarily think that this is so.<span>

</span>Experience of this sort of calculation, something that I don’t have much of, would give an idea of which variables are more likely to vary and so which ones should be easier to change.<span> </span>For example it may be that the thickness of the core walls are much less likely to change than the thickness of the floor.<span> </span></span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Moving on from the depths of dullness and back towards a level of interest that might only correspond to vaguely dull, the one thing I haven’t talked about is how to check you got the right answer, because

after all, that’s all that matters.<span> </span>Verifying my procedure and checking that it gives me a reasonable answer has taken me so long (most of the week in fact) that I wonder if using a computer has saved me any time

(<strong>remember citizens that that is what computers are for…</strong>).<span> </span>Trying to unravel what a string of cell names in a formula actually means is the bane of my nascent working life!<span>

</span>It doesn’t help that I have no sense of what the answer should be.<span>

</span></span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>That all changed yesterday when I spent the afternoon looking at the final cost add-up of another building designed by this company.<span> </span>By looking at what the price of the foundations was as a percentage of the total cost, say, I instantly had a ball park figure to head for.<span> </span>I then used this rubric to look for where my answers were way off par.<span> </span>Sure enough, where there were discrepancies, there were mistakes.</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>It makes me wonder why bother doing any of this calculation afresh.<span> </span>The two match up so well that surely one could take the price of the first, modify for inflation, add a bit, and be done.<span> </span></span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>To conclude, after a week of work on this calculation, I am happy with the result.<span> </span>I have gone into some detail about what I have done because for one thing, a great deal of reflection would quickly have been forgotten as soon as I move onto the next thing.<span>

</span>I fear the hours that can be spent in front of computer screen with nothing to show for it.<span> </span>I hope that at the very least I will be able to apply what I have learnt here to the next problem, and more ambitiously that the fruits of my labour will be a rethink of the way that these problems are tackled, which strikes me, albeit as a novice, as inefficient.<span>

</span></span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>It seems entirely appropriate that ‘Zen and the

Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ has inspired me to think in depth about what I am doing.<span> </span>It is unfortunate for me however that motorcycles sound a lot more sexy than volumes of concrete and Excel spreadsheets.<span>

</span>Thanks for reading.</span></p>

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<category domain="category" nicename="effective-living"><![CDATA[Effective living]]></category>



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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Or in other words, buildings and motorcycles are like cake, right? And the gherkin is to the tour Montparnasse as the religieuse is to the eclair? But mainly, Eiffel Tower?!?

Bah!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Metro Entrance Gare St.Lazare</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/18/metro-entrance-garestlazare/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/roof1.jpg" alt="roof1.jpg" width="405" />

The other morning I found myself in northwestern central Paris around the Gare

St.Lazare. This is not my normal stomping ground, so I took the time to go and have a look at the striking curved-glass metro entrance that was built as for

Paris’ newest metro line, the driverless 14.

The architects and the engineers on the project were <a href="http://www.artecharpentier.com/" title="Arte Charpentier" target="_blank">Arte

Charpentier</a> and <a href="http://www.rfr.fr" title="RFR">RFR</a> respectively.

The glass has a double curvature: that is to say, like a dome or the saddle for a horse, the glass curves in two different directions. The lateral stability of the structure is assured by the fine metal cross-bracing that can be spanning diagonally across the frames. The frames are in stainless steel, a material that, thanks to its many different crystal faces, reflects light from many different aspects.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/entrance2.jpg" alt="entrance2.jpg" width="405" />

Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to have a closer look at how the various elements are joined, which is always the devil in projects such as this where transparency is the goal.

You can see a slideshow of photos of the Gare St.Lazare station entrance from my engineering photo site by clicking <a href="http://www.flickr.com/gp/83739092@N00/B2V2P0" title="Gare

St.Lazare flickr slideshow" target="_blank">here</a>.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/entrance31.jpg" alt="entrance31.jpg" width="405" />]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[lovely photos oli! j'aime le train xxxxx]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Progress...at last</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/20/progressat-last/</link>

<pubDate>Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:06:55 +0000</pubDate>


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<content:encoded><![CDATA[After much rudderlessness, it seems I now have something fairly conretely (haha!) defined subject for my Projet de Fin d'Etudes.

Up until yesterday, I had been increasingly frustrated at my lack of progress. I just seemed to be doing calculations while newer 'stagiaires' were wading deep into reading material for their projects. So this morning, with a little more determination I brought the subject up with the powers that be, and this time it was with success.

It now looks like the bulk of my project will be a study of the floor design for an innovative new tower. As well as dynamics calculations, it will involve plenty of discussion with the architect and the other engineers involved, which suits me. I am happy because, though complicated, it is a well defined subject. I too now have piles of documents to wade knee-deep into.

Despite this sudden change of course, I do not regard the work that I have done so far to have been a waste. If anything it has been a good intorduction to working in the company. The time spent thinking about how best to decompose the problems I have solved will not have been wasted as, and I said this in a recent blog post, that my method should be applicable to a wider range of problems and, if not, at the very least, next time in my career when I have to work out the cost of a building.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Opening of the Cité national de l'architecture et du Patirmoine</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/21/opening-of-the-citedarchitecture-et-du-patirmoine/</link>



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Last night Lorenzo (a fellow engineer from work) and I blagged our way into the opening of the permanent exhibition at the newly refurbished Cité National de l’architecture et du patrimoine, France’s national architecture museum. Neither of us had thought to check if this was and invite only event and indeed, it was.

Luckily, a few charming smiles and a couple invitations made themselves available from the large group loitering outside the front door and then we were in.

The Cité is housed in one of the wings of the Palais de Chaillot, that splendidly curving art deco building opposite the Eiffel Tower on the other side of the Seine.

Unlike any other architecture exhibit that I have visited, this one had not one model of a building. Instead, the main exhibition space, itself a long and wide curving corridor, was filled with fifty odd floor-to-ceiling screens onto which a series of short films were being projected. Every film was about a project, but every film had been shot differently: some showed in speeded-up time a building going up, others showed people flowing in and out, the building through the different seasons. There were images taken from satellites that showed whole areas being redeveloped. My favourite was a series of photos taken from a balcony, of an American city skyline. The photos start in the 60s and go on, lets say one a month until the present. As the images tick pass, the downtown skyscrapers grow like mushrooms after a rainstorm. One by one the pop up out

of a hole in the ground, until eventually, one pops up right in front of the balcony and the view is completely obscured.

It is not just buildings that are showcased. One video was taken from a car driving across the Milau Viaduct. Another, from a helicopter flying over an offshore wind farm.

I think that the exhibition rather successfully shows the dynamic side to buildings. How they change, during their lifecycle, fro, construction, to use, to decay, to demolition and also how people interact with them. None of these aspects are static and so the moving image is an ideal medium for communicating them. My one criticism of the exhibit is that in the dark room where the videos are projected, it is difficult to read the programme that tells you what the projects are. Maybe you are just supposed to know already. I wonder?

The free lemony champagne was worth the effort it was to get through crowds of people in order to see the exhibit. It is hardly surprising that on the opening night I saw a lot of architects and not a lot of architecture. I shall therefore definitely be making another visit before too long.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Very cool photos!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[thank you!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Pounds per square inch?? (project update)</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/21/pounds-per-square-inchproject-update/</link>



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<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Today I started getting into the nitty gritty of how to stop a floor from vibrating. <span> </span>When dimensioning the floor slab of a building, one of the considerations is to check whether the natural frequency of the floor is in the same frequency range as that for footsteps.<span>

</span>If the two frequencies do coincide the latter could resonate with the first causing the floor to shake.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Today I have been looking at an American document that brings together the different ways of estimation this interaction.<span> </span>Most of the results are based on empirical evidence of what seems to work.<span> </span>This lack of rigour is fine with me, and is common in engineering.<span> </span>The thing which has really held me up is the units: all the calculations are in <strong>pounds, feet and inches</strong>!<span> </span>Could there be a more unhelpful system of measurement?<span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Curious about this archaic standard, I started hunting around on Wikipdedia and found a wealth of information on the origins of both systems.<span> </span>Apparently, the only countries still to use imperial units of measurement are the </span><span>USA</span><span>,

</span><span>Liberia</span><span> and

</span><span>Myanmar</span><span>, although, I might add that here in the office my colleagues were surprised to here that in the

</span><span>UK</span><span> we also use the metric system.<span>

</span></span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>I urge anyone who is similarly disposed towards the imperial system, to use <a href="http://www.convertme.com/en/convert/length" target="_blank">this site</a> to help them out.

</span>]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I'm really dreading using imperial measurements on a daily basis :(]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[JB]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>jbroadbent@onetel.com</wp:comment_author_e mail>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I remember someone who once used a calulator to divid by ten, though it was a long time ago!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I remember having a permanent faint inky squiggle on my calculator screen where I used to count the number of zeros for particular numbers! Oli - it looked a bit like a floating

UDL!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Andy, isn't that what the ENG button is for on your calculator??]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I think it was from the days before I learnt standard form!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Livic at three years old</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/livic-at-three-yearsold/</link>



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<span>Livic, the civil engineering newspaper of

</span><span>Imperial</span><span> </span><span>College</span><span>, is now three years old. The fourteenth edition has just been published and I have to say it is the best one yet. With this edition, current editor Andrew Kosinski’s last one of the year, it is clear that it is really starting to achieve the things that I always hoped it would.</span>

<span>Inspired by the student newspapers that I had seen in the States, I stood in 2004 for the CivSoc post of Livic editor. At the time, the paper was but a biannual sheet of A3 paper stuck on the department wall, nothing more. (The name Livic comes from Civil spelled backwards - a previous incarnation had apparently been called 'Concrete' - catchy huh?) My hope was to turn Livic into a regular student newspaper much like those that I had seen abroad. Kosinski has been onboard since the beginning, realising on paper what had previously only been an idea.</span>

<span>I had several goals in mind when starting out. The first was to encourage student writing. It had struck me that there were precious few creative outlets at

Imperial and so I hoped to add at least one to that impovrished list. The second was to encourage staff contributions, and in doing so, improve communication within the department. I had the impression at the time that there was little awareness of the research that went on in the department, and I thought that

Livic could help. Finally, a slick looking paper with a broad readership, it was hoped, would attract advertising from industry which might at the very least have paid for printing, and more ambitiously, go a little way towards boosting

CivSoc’s budget.</span>

<span>In that first year, we made some progress towards reaching those goals.

For starters, some forty students contributed articles on a wide range of subjects.

What was difficult was trying to get reporters to write articles that went into any depth. I seem to remember there being some staff writing, but calls for articles often went unheard, or weren't followed up. We did manage to break a couple of important departmental news stories (the Creative Resign article being one memorable example), but these were by no means exclusives.</span>

<span>By comparison, the Livic of today has come a long way. The articles are much more in depth and they cover a wide range of topics. An important story about the future of the course is on the front page and inside there are staff contributions as well a revealing interview with a lecturer. All in all it is cracking read!<span> </span>It is also interesting to see how the layout has changed with time.<span> </span>It keeps getting slicker. I am certain the Arup were more than happy to place an advert I such a classy publication.<span>

</span></span>

<span>When I was editor, sure I had ideas, but I didn't have the first clue about how to realise them on paper. Luckily there was Kosinski who did. Both the subsequent editors, Alex Morris last year and Kosinski this year, have not only had the ideas but have also had the skills necessary to assemble the paper on the screen. And I think it is these two skills combined with a desire to say something and knowing how to say it, that are now pre-requisites of a Livic editor, a role which three years ago was somewhat of a joke position on the committee.</span>

<span>And so what of the future? As of next year, the first three editors will all have left the department. There is always the fear that one day Livic will fizzle out for lack of enthusiasm, and it does take enthusiasm to get something like this out of the door. But with fourteen issues in the bag, Livic has now got momentum. Elections have just been held for the post of next year's editor. I wish him or her luck and I look forward to seeing Livic's continuing evolution.</span>

<span>Access Livic online <a href="http://live.cgcu.net/editions/livic/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span>]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Happy Birthday Livic – Seven Years

Old! | Eiffelover]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/happy

-birthday-livic-seven-years-old/</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] of us involved with getting Livic started had a big vision for the departmental rag. The last time I posted about Livic was in 2007 when the paper had reached its fourteenth edition. Back then things were going strong [...]]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Blog surfing - a make-over for engineers</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/blog-surfing-a-makeover-for-engineers/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Interesting comment on <a href="http://geekbuffet.wordpress.com/2007/03/20/a-makeover-forengineering/" target="_blank">Geek Buffet</a> about a make-over for engineers

in the States. I have tried to add a British and French take on things.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Tube Challenge - Project update: wobbly floors</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/26/tube-challenge-projectupdate-wobbly-floors/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Tube Challenge

I always dreamed of doing this when I was a lonely and boring teenager. <a href="http://www.tubechallenge.com/" target="_blank">All the tube stations in one day</a>. Thanks to <a href="marystevens.wordpress.com" target="_blank">Mary</a> for sending me this link from <a href="http://blog.jonworth.eu/" target="_blank">Jon’s blog</a>. I will add this to the reasons to move back to London list, a list that I hope will soften the blow of leaving Paris in the autumn.

Project update

This is just the briefest of project updates. Things have been super busy recently in the office. Most of last week was spent researching how different types of floor structure vibrate when people walk across them. Unfortunately, the classical mechanical methods that we have been taught are not very useful for the design of office buildings as the calculations quickly become unwieldy and unreliable. Instead, the literature in this area gives empirically derived formulas for checking for excessive vibrations. The problem with these quite specific

methods is that it is difficult to see how applicable they are across the board to other types of flooring. In the next few days I will be talking to the manufacturers of various different flooring systems to find out which is best suited to the building that I am working on. They will provide their own methods for checking for vibrations, but it would be nice if I didn’t have to rely on them to provide the method with which I will be testing their theory!

I have also been a little more involved with preparing material for meetings with the architects for whom, being American, it is useful to prepare stuff in English.

All of a sudden, from languishing on the sidelines, I have been thrust into the middle of it all. That's fine with me!]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Project update - meeting the architect and virtual handshakes + one for those who moan about London Underground</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/project-update-meetingthe-architect-and-virtual-handshakes-one-for-those-who-moan-about-londonunderground/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[At the beginning of the week, the architects for the project that I am working on flew into town for an intensive week of

meetings. Most of yesterday was spent shuttling back and forth between our offices and La Défense for meetings about the building's structure. For me it was a great chance to get to know the project team before the video conferencing kicks off in ernest (despite Margaret Atwood's <a href="http://www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/2006/03/margaret_atwo od.html" target="_blank">invention</a> that allows her to do book signings wherever she wants in the world from the comfort of her own home, it is still not possible to shake hands over the internet). For the moment there are still a number of questions to answer about the building's facade but once those are answered there will be a rush to design the floor which, for the moment, is where my project is going to be focused. I therefore have the sense that we are in the calm before the storm.

During a coffee break, I tried to strike up a non-engineering/architecture conversation with the architects. Struggling fora topic, I suddenly remembered that my favourite US online radio station, <a href="http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb">KCRW</a>, is broadcast from the same town as their headquarters. They listen to my favourite show in their office on the otherside of the world, every morning. Doesn't the internet make the world small?

In other news, old calculations that I had made on the cost of another tower have come back to haunt me. It is not that they were wrong, it is just that I was suddenly required to present my results without any notice. I was therefore glad that I had left a decent paper trail so that I could quickly see how I came to the result two weeks ago. This is basically thanks to my new strategy: to date absolutely everything, to put the date in the name and print it in the header and to include a table of modifications for each time I use a calculation sheet. This may all seem obvious now but it wasn't when I started off. I have since been asked to carry out a cost calculation on the tower that is the focus of my project.

Since cost will be an important part of the choice of floor design, I will be able to tie the overall cost calculation into my project. And now that I have the method sorted, it hopefully shouldn't take too long to calculate. The only trouble is... none of the floors are identical...

+ one for those who moan about London Underground - <a href="http://anonymous1percent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">spare a thought</a> for those who ride the L in Chicago - from a new blog find: <a href="http://anonymous1percent.blogspot.com/2006/08/mission-statementanonymous-1-is.html#links">Anonymous 1%</a>]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Berlin Wall lost in translation - can anyone help?</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/berlin-wall-lost-intranslation-can-anyone-help/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[I am correcting a document that has been translated from French into English and I have hit upon a term that keeps cropping up, and I simply don't know what it is in English.

In French the term is 'Paroi Berlinoise'. I always see it translated as 'Berlin Wall'.

In my (admittedly limited) experience as an engineer, I have never heard of a

'Berlin Wall' unless it is a type of reinforced concrete structure with graffiti on one side that typically has a design life of, say, forty years.

I don't think this is what this document is talking about. Can anyone help? (It maybe useful to know that 'paroi' is a word tpyically associated with perimeter foundation walls; for example, a 'paroi moulée' translates as diaphragm wall)]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Gemma Rees]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>gcr03@ic.ac.uk</wp:comment_author_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I think you'll find this very helpful.. http://www.agglo-nice.fr/operation_genie_civil.htm

See point 2 and the diagram, basically it's a temporary supportiong wall!!

Bet you knew I'd come in handy one day... ;) xxx]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[A temporary retaining wall! Of course.

Thanks so much for that gem, Gemma!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Wobbling la Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/wobbling-la-passerellesimone-de-beauvoir/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69

NA8E11IDM]

I was invited on Wednesday to go and help wobble the Passerelle Simone de

Beauvoir (previous posts <a href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/02/12/film-uploaded-to-my-newwebsite/">here</a> and <a href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2006/10/09/freedom-of-speech-forthe-mute-cookie-doog-first-movie-in-the-can/">here</a>). The wobbling was being sollicted in order to conduct ongoing tests on the bridge's dampers. The tests were being conducted by the <a href="http://www.cstb.fr/">CSTB</a>

(France's centre for building science, where I almost ended up doing my projet de fin d'études).

Bridges such as this one, and infamously, London's Millenium Bridge, are susceptible to wobbling caused by the excitation of one of the bridge's natural frequencies by the pedestrians who use it. As well as forcing the bridge deck up

and down with their footsteps, pedestrians also exert a sideways force as they alternatively plant their left and right feet on the deck. This sideways movement is of a similar frequency to the transverse vibrational mode of lightweight bridges such as this one and the Millenium Bridge. When a bridge does start to shake noticeably, there is a tendency to 'lock-in' whereby pedestrians synchronise their steps with the vibration in order to stabilise themselves, but in doing so, give more energy to the vibration. The first time that this lock-in phenomenon was observed was at the opening of the Millenium Bridge.

This sort of vibration is unlikely to cause any damage to the bridge itself but it does make the people onboard feel quite uncomfortable. It is therefore an issue of serviceability. In order to reduce its effects, such bridges are installed with tuned dampers designed specifically to damp out these effects. And in order to check if these dampers are working or not, it takes a group of fifty or so enthusiasts (usually engineers) to jump up and down to see just how much they can get the thing to wobble. I tell you, we got some funny looks from passers by...]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Ugly Duckling / Le Vilain Petit Canard</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/02/ugly-duckling/</link>



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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Baby Lumpia]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>baby.lumpia@yahoo.com.ph</wp:comment_autho r_email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[awww..hehe...

:)]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Gergiev and the LSO at the Salle Playel for a spot of Stravinski and

Ravel</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/02/gergiev-and-the-lso-atthe-salle-playel-for-a-spot-of-stravinski-and-ravel/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/playel1.jpg" alt="playel1.jpg" width="405" />

<span>Last night I was lucky enough to get tickets to see the </span><a href="http://lso.co.uk/home/"><span>LSO</span></a><span> perform at the

Salle Playel. The auditorium was reopened back in September after being fully refurbished. The art deco styling of the fixtures and fittings is evident throughout, even including the overhead lighting gantries. </span>

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/val1.jpg" alt="val1.jpg" width="405" />

<span>The programme, conducted by </span><a href="http://www.deccaclassics.com/artists/gergiev/" target="_blank"><span>Valery Gergiev</span></a><span>, included Debussy's

<em>La Mer</em> and <em>Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune </em>as well

Stravinsky’s <em>Rite of Spring</em>: the charismatic Gergiev bringing new energy to these repetoire pieces. From the front row, it is difficult to hear the full sound of the orchestra, but instead you get the expression on the faces of the violinists as well as the sound and sweat of Gergiev conducting. This is what I mean when I say I went to <em>see</em> the LSO play. The Stravinsky was earth-shattering, played with unstoppable momentum right until the penultimate note which Gergiev left hanging what felt like an age before the final bang. </span>








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<title>TGV in 354mph record attempt - 1pm</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/03/tgv-in-354mph-recordattempt-1pm/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[As part of the preparations for the eagerly anticipated TGV Est-Européen, which will operate from June 10th between Paris and Strasbourg, the SNCF are hoping to break their previous high-speed train record. As might be expected, in France this is a media event. I heard it mentioned twice on the breakfast time news and it will be broadcast live on the lunchtime news. Read more <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2048816,00.html?gusrc=rss& amp;feed=12" target="_blank">here</a>...

Also, I spotted this on the arrivals board last night at the Gard de Lyon. Anyone waiting for a friend on the 19h06 train might be waiting a long time...

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/nevers.jpg" alt="nevers.jpg" width="405" />]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Nevers, tu vois, c’est la ville du monde, et même c’est la chose du monde à laquelle, la nuit, je rêve le plus. En même temps que c’est la chose du monde à laquelle je pense le moins.

Any ideas?...]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Proust: "Du côté de chez Swann" by any chance??]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[nope]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Comment c'était la folie à Nevers

?]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Is that a question or a suggestion? Surely you have some tres cultives readers out there?]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Alright - it's from 'Hiroshima mon amour' by Marguerite Duras.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hiroshima mon amour was mentioned in the quote online that I found, but I thought the author had gone on to talk about another town... silly me]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Trainspotting: TGV at 578 kmph</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/04/trainspotting-tgv-at-578kmph/</link>

<pubDate>Wed, 04 Apr 2007 11:33:01 +0000</pubDate>


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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Choose life, choose reducing your carbon footprint, choose highspeed train travel instead of flying

Thank you SNCF, for making trainspotting cool, at least for a day. Yesterday, a especially modified train with bigger wheels and go-faster stripes set a new train speed record of 578 kmph. The only thing that is faster on rails is the Maglev train, which doesn't even touch the rails, and at that, only goes a few kilometres per hour faster.

It is fair to ask whether this record attempt was worth the 30 million Euro price tag. Travelling along France's more minor train routes, there the decay and tattiness to be seen that is indicative of the large sums of money that have been diverted into the TGV programme. That said, France's highspeed network is a great asset: where there are highspeed lines, flying simply takes longer. The development of the highspeed network has also pumped large sums of money into structures research, especially in the domain of bridge design. This record is in part another stage of that research process. The data recorded from sensors on the trains, tracks and bridges will help improve the understanding of these components under the intense vibrations that a train travelling at these sorts of speed can generate.

There is no doubt however that a significant reason for spending so much money on this attempt is the hard sell. France wants to export highspeed technology to

South Korea and even to the United States. It is just possible that a train that travels at over 300mph is enough to make even the US, where internal flights rule the day, sit up and take notice.

Check out this trainspottingtastic coverage from France2:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8skXT5NQzCg]]]></content:enco ded>







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<title>Flying the TGV from Paris to Strasbourg</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/05/flying-the-tgv-from-paristo-strasbourg/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[It's not just about the trains. It's about the track, the gentle curves, the tunnels, the soaring bridges... click this <a href="http://www.linternaute.com/video/actualite/tgv-est-parisstrasbourg-en-5-minutes/">link</a> to fly the route of the TGV Est Européen from Paris to Strabourg in 5 minutes, stopping at all the major bridges along the way, naturally...]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Cooking with Concrete</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/?page_id=495</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[The inspiration for Cooking with Concrete came last summer I spent a few days down in the concrete laboratory at Imperial

College filming videos of concrete being pushed and pulled apart as part of a project to create video resources for the <a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/index.php?mid=2&cid=22&am p;sid=222">materials section of Expedition Workshed</a>. Spending a few days playing around with the stuff I realised just what versatile cooking ingredient concrete is.

<h1>A simple recipe for reinforced concrete (as featured at <a href="http://scienceshowoff.org/">Science Showoff</a> )</h1>

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/eiffelover-simple-rcrecipe.pdf">Download the recipe sheet here</a>

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/eiffelover-simple-rcrecipe-copy.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-499" title="eiffelover - simple RC recipe copy" alt="" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/eiffelover-simple-rcrecipe-copy.jpg" width="584" height="825" /></a>]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Cooking with Concrete at Science Showoff 5

| Eiffelover]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/cwc_a t_ss5/</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] Main menu Skip to primary content Skip to secondary content HomeAboutCooking with Concrete

[...]]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:meta_value>a:4:{s:4:"time";s:15:"1328736962.6166";s:7:"message";s:28:"A kismet cleared this comment";s:5:"event";s:9:"checkham";s:4:"user";s:0:"";}</wp:meta_value>

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<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Roll up roll up engineering communicators…time for more Science Showoff |

Eiffelover]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/rollup-roll-up-engineering-communicators-time-for-more-scienceshowoff/</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] Main menu Skip to primary content Skip to secondary content HomeAboutCooking with ConcreteShowreel






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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Science Showoff at the Imperial Festival,

11th May 2012 – LINE UP ANNOUNCED! | Science

Showoff]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://scienceshowoff.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/ science_showoff_at_the_imperial_festival/</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] Oliver Broadbent: I will be dazzling the

Imperial crowd with more ‘Cooking with Concrete’ – this time a weeknight meal, ready in 9 minutes. http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/cooking-with-concrete/






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<title>Showreel</title>

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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h1>The Millennium Bridge</h1>

I spent a freezing cold morning with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/TheNickwatson">Nick Watson </a>down at the Millennium Bridge filming this short promo. I was so cold after two hours or filming that he had to thaw me out using gallons of tea in the cafe at the Tate.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJoCc3OyCwA]

<h1>Low Carb at the Big Rig</h1>

In 2010 <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/projects/view/lowcarb/">Think Up was commissioned</a> to design an event to encourage people not in employment education or training to consider a career in installation of low-carbon construction technologies. Having originally developed the concept

of the Big Rig, I was then charged with turning a sketch on a scrap of paper into a two-day event. With so much going on at once it seemed like madness to put together a film about the event at the same time, but I am so glad that we did.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/10952092]]]></content:encoded>







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<title>A quick guide to civil engineering teaching resources in the UK</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/?p=703</link>

<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[Doing some web research earlier today, I idly asked Google to search in the UK for 'civil engineering teaching resources'. I was surprised to see that the second on the list was this blog*. While I post on the subject of engineering education in general, I don't think I have written anything that anyone searching for civil engineering teaching resources would necessarily find useful. So I thought perhaps I should.

Of course from the outset I must declare my hand. During my day job at Think Up

I design engineering teaching resources, and so naturally I am biased towards these. But these tools that we've worked on are only a small part of the picture, and in developing these resources, I've learned quite a lot about what else is out there.

As I find more, I'll try to add them to this list.

<strong>How engineering fits into the bigger picture</strong>

The various institutions etc, the role of Tomorrow's engineers etc

<strong>Teaching resources for schools</strong>

<strong>Teaching resources for universities</strong>

<strong>Careers advice</strong>

*The top hit was a regional page from the <a class="zem_slink" title="Institution of Civil Engineers" href="http://www.ice.org.uk" rel="homepage" target="_blank">Institution of Civil Engineers</a>' website (why their education home page doesn't rank higher I don't know). Also, since I have written this post, this blog seems to have gone down the rankings of search results. Was it something I said?















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<title>Big Dig</title>

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<title>library_2</title>

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<title>trivial pursuit</title>

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<title>20130226-080638.jpg</title>

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<title>Euston ticket office roof</title>

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<title>Euston ticket hall ceiling</title>

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<title>Trvavelling on Eurostart with a baby</title>

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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Travelling on Eurostar with a baby]]></content:encoded>

<excerpt:encoded><![CDATA[Travelling on Eurostar with a baby]]></excerpt:encoded>






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<title>East Coast Train to Edinburgh</title>




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<title>Low Carbon Skills Awareness Challenge at the Big Rig</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/the-return-of-lowcarb/low-carbon-skills-awareness-challenge-at-the-big-rig/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Installation of solar-thermal water heaters on the

Big Rig]]></content:encoded>

<excerpt:encoded><![CDATA[Installation of solar-thermal water heaters on the

Big Rig]]></excerpt:encoded>






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<wp:meta_value><![CDATA[Installation of solar-thermal water heaters on the

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<title>Breakfast bar</title>




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<title>New high chair</title>






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<title>Garden work</title>






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<title>Over land and sea to Belfast</title>






<content:encoded><![CDATA[This week I went to Belfast to deliver the latest in a series of seminars on teaching sustainability. Natura]]></content:encoded>















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<title>060201_les_arcs01</title>

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<title>The strangeness of keeping-in-touch days</title>






<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Since mid-April I have been on parental leave, having taken on the role of primary carer for our daughter, and I will continue to be so for some time. Something that contributes significantly to the quality of the time that I am spending with our little girl is my confidence in the great team of people back at my workplace who are covering for me while I am away. </p><p> </p><p>allows me not to multi task. Then returning to work is a starnge parallel universe. different lanuguage - different realities collapse. not sure which 'me' i prefer.</p>]]></content:encoded>















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<title>Notes on improvisation, via Boris Vian</title>






<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I've been thinking about what goes on in the head of people who are social dancing. It has only recently struck me the parallels between dancing of this sort and jazz improvisation. This from Boris

Vian:</p><p> </p>]]></content:encoded>















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<title>Birds of a feather mourn together</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/06/birds-of-a-feathermourn-together/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[I noticed this dead pigeon at the bottom of the

Rue de Faubourg St Denis. It was surrounded by several other pigeons who were just staring at it. Then, one by one, they all tried, albeit unsuccesfully, to fly off with their dead friend in their clutches. This seen went on for about five minutes, until birdfood again seemed more interesting than mourning. I wish I had started filming earlier

<code>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMiwfNfgy8s]</code>]]>

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<wp:comment_author_email>a@a.com</wp:comment_author_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I wish you had finished filming earlier.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Ok fair comment Andy, especially given that from this angle you can't see the tears in the pigeons' eyes...]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Pigeon sympathy now out of fashion</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/07/pigeon-sympathy-nowout-of-fashion/</link>

<pubDate>Sat, 07 Apr 2007 19:45:09 +0000</pubDate>


<guid isPermaLink="false">http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/07/pigeonsympathy-now-out-of-fashion/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[It is possible that in my previous post I may have shown some sympathy toward pigeonkind. Well, all that is over with, as this afternoon, one of their number disposed of their digestive load on my head

(unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on which way you look at it, I wasn't wearing my hat). I hope they all get bird flu.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[doctabelle]]></wp:comment_author>






<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[saw this and thought of you ;) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6583217.stm]]></wp:comment_content

>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Lorenzo]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>lorenzo_ponzo@hotmail.com</wp:comment_auth or_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Salut Oliver, j'étais en train de refléchir tranquillement en terrasse quand je me suis rappelé que ce soir nous avons un rendez-vous rock. Alors, m'en diras-tu plus? Je te rappelle mon numéro de téléphone portable que j'apporte avec moi en terrasse:

06 84 89 54 08.

À bientôt, alors.

Lorenzo]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Presidentials</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/23/presidentials/</link>



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<p class="MsoNormal"><span>There has been an obvious lack of posts on this site for some time now. I would like to be able to say that the reason for this is the amount of time I have spent following the build up to yesterday's first round presidential election, but then that would not be entirely true. With the media hype, maybe you would think it was impossible not to be aware of the daily twists and turns of the presidential polemic. In fact, over the last couple of weeks, this has not been the case for me partly, I think, for the following reasons.</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Firstly, the equal coverage of each candidate, enforced on the media by law, had a strangely distorting effect.<span> </span>For example, in the mornings when I was most likely to listen to the radio, I had all the information I needed about where the most minor

of candidates had taken their soap boxes, but add this up over twelve candidates and it made for a lot of noise and not a lot of perspective.<span> </span>Also, in order for it to be equal, it was difficult to comment about one candidate’s policies without having to list the other twelve’s.<span> </span>I think that this equal coverage has many merits.<span> </span>It gives the smaller candidates a platform, and without which I am sure the success of Olivier Bescanenot (almost

1.8 million votes in the first round), an exciting voice for the future, would be diminished.</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>The second phenomenon is that at work no one talks about the elections, or if they do, they only talk about who they are not going to vote for.<span> </span>Interestingly, more than one developer has pointed out the terrible consequences for the construction of large-scale projects if Sarko doesn’t get in.<span> </span>A little short-sighted perhaps if they actually want find anyone to build their projects…<span> </span>Outside work, it is a similar story.<span> </span>North-eastern

</span><span>Paris</span><span> is not exactly a stronghold of the right.<span> </span>In the bars where I hang out there is little chance of finding a Sarko supporter.<span> </span>That said, until the eve of the first round, I was yet to encounter anyone who was really behind Ségolène

(interestingly, Ségolène gets corrected to semolina on my computer).<span> </span>There was still fear of a repeat of 2002 when the left was divided, leaving a rightwing and an ultra rightwing candidate to choose from in the second round.<span> </span>And so, despite their dislike, or in some cases loathing of her, she was quite likely to get their vote, and no wanted to talk about it because the choice was rather depressing.</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Last night, in a vegetarian thai restaurant (with a tantalizing menu that deserves more attention from me) a friend rushed in who had just returned from the polling station where she had been helping with the count.<span> </span>More than 50% of the 11<sup>th</sup> Arrondissement had voted Sego.<span> </span>Apart from the three guys I met at party on the eve of the election - the first Sego ‘militants’ I had encountered in a social context

– I am sure that plenty of those votes were cast with gritted teeth.</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>And so onto the second round… Which way will centrist bronze medallist Bayrou’s 18% share of the vote go?<span> </span>Will enough transfer to the Sego camp for her to pull through?<span> </span>One thing is for sure: any shame at voting Sego - the tactical vote to some – has past with the first round.<span> </span>I am sure that those in the quartier that gritted their teeth in the first round can unclench their jaws in the second.<span> </span>There is no-longer a choice to make,

and in anycase they won’t be voting <em>for</em> Ségolène, they will be

<em>not</em> voting for Sarko…</span></p>]]></content:encoded>







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<title>God's architect: Saint Antonio Gaudi?</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/gods-architect-saintantonio-gaudi/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Thanks for <a href="marystevens.wordpress.com" target="_blank">Mary</a> for finding <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2481007.ece">this article</a> about the camapaign to confer sainthood upon architect Antonio

Gaudi, creator of my favourite building site in the world: La Sacrada Familia in

Barcelona. I say building site because the colossal cathedral is not due to be finished for another twenty to forty years.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/p_61_la-sagradafamilia-barcelon.jpg" alt="p_61_la-sagrada-familia-barcelon.jpg" />

<span>It is well known for its UNESCO protected facades, but it is the columns that flank the impossibly tall and narrow nave, sculpted like impossibly slender trees that are astonishing. All imagined and engineered without finite element analysis or any other modern day computer wizardry. The grounds for Gaudi's beatification are his pious lifestyle and his divine inspiration (attempts at finding a "miracle" to confirm his saintliness - a prerequisite on the saint application

form - have resulted in some pretty hilarious and far-fetched tales. See the article for more). I have no doubt that Gaudi lead a pious life and there is no doubt that having a new saint on the block will help with the construction of this cathedral: every drop of concrete has been paid for by private donations and gate fees so a few extra pilgrims would do no harm. It would be a shame however to confuse mastery of the mechanics of materials for divine inspiration.

A wander around the crypt at the at the Sagrada Familia demonstrates some of

Gaudi's technical mastery through his models (details of which deserve a post of their own). </span>

<span>The same could be said of other ‘devinely inspired’ engineers and architects: Christopher Wren for </span><span>St Paul</span><span>’s,

Michelangelo for St Peter’s, Imohotep and his step pyramid

(</span><span>Egypt</span><span>’s first).<span> </span>They may have prayed a lot but they are also all great engineers!</span>

<span>Finally, I wonder about the wisdom of granting sainthood to an architect/engineer.<span> </span>The bible is not exactly full of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel" target="_blank">praises</a> for worldly construction afterall…</span>

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/250pxconfusion_of_tongues.png" alt="250px-confusion_of_tongues.png" />

Engraving <em>The Confusion of Tongues</em> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Dor%C3%A9" title="Gustave

Doré">Gustave Doré</a>]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Geoff]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>waywelive@gmail.com</wp:comment_author_em ail>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://thewaywelive.wordpress.com/</wp:comment

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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[i agree with you about the most impressive delicate beauty of this building. unfortunately, i just read today that spain is considering burying a bullet train tunnel within 2 meters of the cathedral's foundations. naturally there is very serious concern that this tunnel may actually lead to cracked foundations and, consequently, collapse. you can read the article here: http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2065589,00.html]]></wp:comme nt_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Before commenting on the foundations, I was alarmed to read in the guardian article that was linked in your comment, the remarks made by the architect who has been heading up the construction of the catherdral for forty years. I quote "I am astounded by this brutality. This is an attack on culture of the highest order, something one would only expect of a third-world country" !!!!! I hope that his remarks have been taken out of context because if not they are astonishingly biggotted.

I had also read about the foundations and it is alarming but the protest may just be reactionary. The article makes it sound like the train will be passing two meters from the walls of the cathedral whereas later on in the article, it is stated that the tunnel itself will be ten metres from the foundations. I am by no means an expert on tunnels but I can think of numerous examples where tunnels have been constructed in recent years to no adverse effect. The jubilee line extension in London for example passes right next to Big Ben's tower. In this instance, high pressure grout injection was used to shore up the ground around the tower and to this day it seems to be doing alright. This isn't to say that such a scheme isn't difficult; it demands detailed modelling, testing and monitoring once in place, but it is possible.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Can't get enough of Calatrava, Hertzog and De Meuron</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/cant-get-enough-ofcalatrava-hertzog-and-de-meuron/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/cant-getenough-of-calatrava-hertzog-and-de-meuron/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[Two articles on <a href="http://thewaywelive.wordpress.com/">the way we live</a> caught my attention...

Since my final year project is well and truly rooted in the domain of tall buildings, I was interested by Calatrava's <a href="http://thewaywelive.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/the-chicagospire/">Chicago spire</a> and because, quite simply, they build beautiful buildings, cast an eye over <a href="http://thewaywelive.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/herzog-and-demeurons-beijing/">Hertzog and de Meuron's work in

Beijing</a>]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Fischli and Weiss at the Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/26/fischli-and-weiss-at-themusee-dart-moderne-de-la-ville-de-paris/</link>



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<p align="center"> </p>

<p align="center"><img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/11_le-droit-chemin-

350.jpg" alt="11_le-droit-chemin-350.jpg" /></p>

<p align="left"> </p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Last night I went to the brilliant and rather amusing Fischli and Weiss exhibition “<a href="http://www.paris.fr/portail/Culture/Portal.lut?page_id=6450&docu ment_type_id=2&document_id=26463&portlet_id=15515">Flowers and Questions</a>” at the Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris. To say rather amusing is somewhat of an understatement: I spent so much time smiling, if not laughing out loud, that if ever I left one of the exhibition rooms without the corners of my mouth turned up, I was inclined to feel it was a bit boring.<span>

</span>In fact I think this happened only once.</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>This pair of artists play on our perceptions of materials and our sense of scale.<span> </span>One room was filled with jet black objects all apparently made from different materials: a tree trunk, a stone facia for a fireplace, a cutlery rack, a leather pouf.<span> </span>They were all in fact cast in rubber.<span> </span>More unbelievably, in another room which

appeared to be an artists work shop filled with tools, rotting food, furniture, cargo pallets, razor blades, cigarette packets etc etc, I was stupefied to find out that every single object had been cast in plastic and then painstakingly painted.<span> </span>We were permitted to pick up a plank of “wood”.<span>

</span>It was in fact a plank of plastic that seemed to float up with no effort.<span> </span>This illusionary game played with materials made apparently everyday objects unusually tactile.</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>In front of two video projections is where I spent most of my time.<span> </span>One was the ultimate childhood dream.<span>

</span>It showed footage of one of those chain reaction sequences that kids dream of but apparently only grown ups get to build.<span> </span>Something falls over, it tips something else, a bowling ball rolls down a spiral etc.<span>

</span>Only in this system, it wasn’t a ball that was kept moving, but a flame.<span> </span>Paraffin flows, and catches fire, balloons burst fireworks rocket up tubes and set off detonators, fire extinguisher foam dissolves blocks of sugar cube that support a vat of chemicals on the point of tipping over and so on and so on.</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>From the sublime to the ridiculous in the second video.<span> </span>A nature video but with our two heroes in a panda and mouse suit living out their animal existence.</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>In fact, I loved it so much that I am going to go back.</span></p>


<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Showing in </span><span>Paris</span><span> until 13<sup>th</sup> May.</span></p>








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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[It was on while I was in Paris - I said to you that I had seen it in London, remember? It's funny because we watched The Way

Things Go (the chain reaction film) on my Foundation course and it really influenced my thought process. Then, on the MA, I was thinking about my work now and I remembered about theses guys who I never heard of again since

Foundation so I re-discovered them and wrote about them alot in my essays.

Then suddenly just as my course finished, the big retrospective came on at the

Tate and suddenly everyone was talking about them again. A bit annoying really as I saw them as 'my' artists! Also do you remember the Honda advert with the chain reaction? Well the makers stole the idea from their film. argh.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I am sorry - I forgot that you had been. But you can forgive me for thinking that you hadn't given the number of abortive

attempts you made! So I was wondering if the Honda ad was taken from this installation. The ad is nothing on this though. there is just something about how everything is so used and dirty ugly that makes the whole thing so attractive.

Where as in the advert, all the pieces are precision milled; the viewer is hardly surprised that system works. In the exhibition, it seems impossible that such a hotch-potch arrangement of objects can pull off such precise movements. I think that the ad goes with the tag "maker of dreams" but my dream isn't a car, it is of a garage full of chemicals and scraps of metal that I can manipulate and mess up as

I please.

When you went, do you remember laughing?]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Pre-'fab' wooden house in Hackney</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/pre-fab-wooden-housein-hackney/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times

New Roman';"></span>Over the last few days <a href="http://thewaywelive.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/adjaye-prefab/">the way we live</a>, <a href="http://architechnophilia.blogspot.com/">architechnophilia</a>, and <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/">inhabit</a> have all been covering a new pre-fab wooden house in Hackney designed by David Adjaye. Pre-fab does exactly what is says on the tin. It is PREfabricated and it allows the construction of some FABulous buildings in less time than it takes concrete to set. I remember seeing a documentary about a pair of artists who dreamt of building their own house for their retirement. In the end chose to have a house designed by a

German team who specialise in pre-fab metal structures. The house arrived in pieces on a flat bed lorry and within a matter of days, a team of five or so had ratchetted the whole thing together in a latter of days (if any readers remember seeing this programme and know who they were I would be much obliged if they could share the knowledge!).

There are quite a number of <a href="http://maps.google.fr/maps?f=q&hl=fr&q=hackney&layer=

&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=16&ll=51.541878,-

0.063536&spn=0.005885,0.014591&t=k&iwloc=addr">streets in

Hackney</a> with grand old Victorian semi-detached houses set back from the road, especially around London Fields and Victoria Park. Every so often however there is a house missing, presumably victims of stray second world war bombs in this area of East London. And quite often these gaps are filled with new and exciting architecture. I haven't seen Adjaye's house for myself, but I can well imagine it filling such a void. ps If anyone reading happens to be going to Hackney this weekend (I'm sure one of you will be) and happens to be passing, could they get me a picture so that I don't have to steal somebody else's... thanks]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Sorry - I did indeed find myself in that neck of the woods but I forgot - and I didn't have my camera with me. I suggest you commision someone next weekend.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Anne]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>annesoutry@mac.com</wp:comment_author_emai l>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I think that the documentary you saw about the pre-fab house was from a programme called Grand Designs. Not sure if it's

BBC or ITV but there is a current series on at the moment so I will try to find out. xx]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Jamie]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>jamie@tropic.org.uk</wp:comment_author_email

>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I saw the documenary too. Pretty amazing stuff. I think the company was <a href="http://www.jwresidential.com/" rel="nofollow">this one</a>. J.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Reducing electricity consumption in homes to become as addictive as checking your blogstats?</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/04/29/reducing-electricityhomes-consumption-in-homes-to-become-as-addictive-as-checking-yourblogstats/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/blogstats1.jpg" alt="blogstats1.jpg" />

The UK government has recently passed new legislation requiring electricity suppliers to fit free real time electricity price monitors in homes in a plan to massively reduce electricity consommation in homes. With Britain committed to reducing its carbon emissions to 60% of 1990 levels by 2050, I am certain that this measure will go at least some way to seeing how much electricity they are wasting. Who knows, checking your consumption metre might become just as addictive as checking your blog stats (addicts, you know who you are!). Read more on the ICE <a href="http://www.ice.org.uk/knowledge/spec_news.asp?ARTICLE_ID=1856">w ebsite</a>.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Of course if you want to monitor the meter daily and work it out against EDF/GDF's unit price nothing's stopping you... x]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Not really a comment on this but why's there no search function on your sidebar? I wanted to find an old article you'd written and I had to go back to Google to search...]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Things to do in Paris ⋕1: Go to Lyon</title>


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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<span>This Monday I did "le pont", which is when French employers give their staff an extra day off between the weekend and a bank holiday, in this case, on a Tuesday. But rather than have a lie in I put myself on the 06h50 train to </span><span>Lyon</span><span> for a day in a city that I have wanted to visit for many years.

</span><span>France</span><span>'s first TGV line was built between Paris and Lyon linking </span><span>France</span><span>'s two largest centres of population in just under two hours.</span>

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/lyon-stexupery0003.jpg" alt="lyon-st-exupery0003.jpg" width="405" />

<span>I had two sites of design interest on my wish list. The first is the aweinspiring Calatrava -designed TGV station at St.Exupery,

</span><span>Lyon</span><span>'s airport. Trains running directly to the centre of </span><span>Lyon</span><span> do not in fact stop here as St

Exupery is on the branch that bypasses the city and heads down to the Med; in order to get there I had to catch a train to Marseille and remember not to fall asleep. The station was conceived to fulfil three roles: as a show piece to mark the opening of the newly built TGV line to the Med, as an entrance to the airport and thirdly as a symbolic gateway to the Rhone-Alps region. </span>


<span>When I stepped off the train at 8h30, I was virtually the only person there and it felt I had the entire station in all its magnificence to myself. I took photos of the magnificent train concourse and of the arching atrium over the ticket hall, but it was only by sketching different views of the building that I was able to decompose the anthropomorphic structure and understand its underlying logic.

In the end I spent the rest of the morning there and I hope you will see why from the photos that I will post over the next week.</span>


<span>I arrived in the centre of town about 13h00 with no map and no plan. I found a FNAC and bought a guide, and then made it my first task to walk up the very steep hill just next to the town centre and get an overview of the city.

</span><span>Lyon</span><span> is built on the confluence of Soane and the

</span><span>Rhone</span><span> rivers. The city centre is on the long spit of land known as the presque-ile which reaches out to where the two rivers eventually join. From the top I was able to see all this and beyond.</span>

<span>Then it back downhill and up again in the district called Croix Rousse. In this area was based </span><span>Lyon</span><span>'s formerly booming silk weaving industry. The district is full of secret passages that link streets and buildings up and down the hillside. Unfortunately there was too little time to discover any and if ever I go back, a return to this fascinating area will at the top of my list.</span>

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/lyon-opera.jpg" alt="lyon-opera.jpg" width="405" />

<span>Back in the centre, I positioned myself in a café in front of the Opéra de

Lyon which had its extension designed by Jean Nouvelle. Unfortunately the building was closed for the bank holiday which was a shame as I would have liked to have taken a tour of the new rehearsal spaces at the top from which, the view is apparently amazing.</span>

<span>Late afternoon was spent drinking coffee with a friend in the town by the town hall, followed by a tour of the campus of the Ecole Normal Supérieure. The tranquil wilderness of the glade in the middle of architect Henri Gaudin's plan for the school makes for such a pleasant respite from the hustle and bustle of the city beyond its walls.</span>

<span>As evening drew in, there was just enough time for a beer on a floating bar before the thunderstorms rolled in, forcing me to take shelter in a pizzeria opposite the central station. </span>

<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman';"></span>I really enjoyed my visit to Lyon. It is a city that seems charged with youthful energy and it is in the middle of a region of France that I would really like to get to know better. My visit was rathe quick, but it will serve as a good taster for when I go back, for I am sure that I will do.

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</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New

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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Emilien]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>delochee@eleves.enpc.fr</wp:comment_author_e mail>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hey Oliver

It s Emilien, the french guy you met on the footbridge in Bercy while doing some streching for dynamic test. I m now in Tokyo with a god damn good research job of beam design and optimization.

Hope you also had a nice ride in Lyon, especially on this very "historical skateboarding spot" in front of the Opera!!! I love Lyon, l'hotel de ville,la croix rousse et le beau temps qu il y fait toute l annee. Hope you man do not hate Paris people too much and havesome gret fun out of work.

Cheer

Emilien]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Metro entrance - TGV promotion on stilts</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/05/04/metro-entrance-tgvpromotion-on-stilts/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Going home from work is always such a pleasure when it's such a beautiful day...

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On my way home through Gare de Lyon I saw three stilt walkers dancing avantgarde style to music played by a live saxophonist. They were all wearing green and white clothes, the colours of the new TGV est eurpoéen. I really wish I could have been at the marketing meeting when they came up with this idea.

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<title>Finishing my course - travelling to Iran by train</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/07/31/finishing-my-coursetravelling-to-iran-by-train/</link>

<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:15:12 +0000</pubDate>


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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Since my last post, I have been rather busy! The lack of posts on this blog since then can be attributed in part to the large amount of work my final year project has required in order to get it finished. The project has changed direction many times along the way and even the end point of the project had not been set until my final week at the company where I had my placement. But as of Friday it has all been wrapped up.

But it hasn't all been work. In between we have managed visits to Brittany's gale-force wind-lashed coast, Bratislava and Alsace as well as to marriages in the

UK and Madrid.

And now the summer beckons. My plan is to travel with a friend from Paris to

Iran and back by train. The route takes me from Paris via Strasbourg to Zurich and then overnight to Zagreb and then Belgrade. The next leg from Belgrade through Macedonia brings me to northern Greece on the second day. After a couple of days rest, the overnight train takes me to Istanbul where I will be meeting Dan for our onward journey across the Bosporous and into Asia. The direct train from Istanbul to Tehran takes three days. After two days crossing

Turkey, the train reaches lake Van in the east of the country where we must board a boat across to the other shore where we pick up the train again down to the Iranian capital.

Once in Iran, we will spend three weeks visiting the major cities of Tehran,

Isphahan, Shiraz, Yazd and Mashad before heading back along the Caspian Sea coast back into Turkey and back along the Black Sea coast to Istanbul and back through Europe.

So many people have asked me why Iran? The trip itself is the end product of an itinerary that looked very different at the beginning of the year. But my interest

in Iran is manyfold. All I have read about the country tells me that it is a beautiful place with some unmissable places to visit. Iranian friends I have told about the visit are at pains to emphasise just how well we will be welcomed. And yet, this impression of the country is a far cry from that held by those who rely on western media for any ideas about the country. This difference in points of view is one of the reasons that I want to go to Iran and experience the country and its hospitality myself.

And why go by train? Well, apart from the enormous carbon footprint associated with flying, I find it hard to imagine going by any other means. The journey from

Europe to Iran by land is one that dates back to the silk route. Travelling by land is a way of feeling physically connected to a land that in the press feels far away. Ok, so six days of travel is not exactly close, but these trains do go slowly! And I am looking forward to seeing how the landscape, climate, architecture, people and language change along the way. Flying can't give you that.

I am also lucky that I have the time to make such a journey. The website <a href="http://www.seat61.com">seat61</a> and Thomas Cook international rail timetable are in part responsible for my choosing this route. It also turns out that I am taking the same route as that described in Paul Theroux's Great

Railway Bazaar in which he describes his journey to and from Singapore by train. He made his journey in the 1970s. Since then, a lot has changed along his route, and I look forward to comparing notes.

I will be writing up my journey on this website upon my return, and will be publishing it on this blog.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I've got my tickets to zurich! 31st arriving

3pm. so i'll be there to meet you off your train :) hope it's going well oli! x x x]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Moet et Chandon vs Mercier</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/10/09/moet-et-chandon-vsmercier/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="400" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/p1010738.jpg" alt="p1010738.jpg" />

This weekend I took a visit to Eperney in Champagne where I found many of the caves that produce that region's local tipple. I went on a tour of two champagne houses, Moët et Chandon and Mercier. During a visit to the first, we were assured of Moët's credentials with stories of the fonder's patronage by Napoleon I along with other impressive customers. We were led down into the wine caves, 25m underground and some 31km of them dug by hand into the chalk beneath the beautiful buildings above. Tipsy after a dégustation hosted by black clad experts, we were lead upstairs to the boutique where, surrounded by posters of the uber-

glamourous drinking Moet, we were subliminally persuaded to buy champagne in bottles with unpronounceable names.

<img width="400" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/p1010723.jpg" alt="p1010723.jpg" />

Then it was up the road to Mercier's altogether less stuffy-looking building. If Mr

Moët was the Wright brothers of champagne (in an incredible 2 for 1 offer) - making champagne in the early days, then Mr Mercier was the Richard Branson, joining the scene much later in the second half of the 19th century, but making waves for himself much later using clever marketing. He commissioned the

Lumière brothers to make was to be the world's first commercial. In another act of embracing new technology, he invited the willing and the curious at the Great

Exhibition of 1889 to taste his brew while floating high over Paris in a tethered hot air balloon. But it was to be his 200,000 bottle barrel that stole the show.

This enormous construction which took over ten years to build (and presumably to fill!). It was dragged to Paris by 28 oxen, requiring five bridges along the route to be strengthened and the purchase and demolition of several houses in order to make way. At the show, Mercier's enormous barrel was a huge success, and he would have one the first place medal had it not been for a certain Mr Eiffel and his tower.

<img width="400" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/p1010730.jpg" alt="p1010730.jpg" />

Mercier has long been pushing up grape vines but his cellars still have that technological flare: whereas the Moët tout guide was keen to point out the painstakingly laborious process of turning the bottles of fermenting champagne by hand, on display at Mercier's was the cunning robot that did all this turning automatically; and rather than walking the galleries we were driven round in a lazer guided train. Now to my monochrome palette, the champagne at both houses tastes pretty similar (I'm no expert and I certainly couldn't afford the bottles where the difference in taste starts to become noticeable) but Mercier's trail blazing approach and embrace of modern technology caught my attention far more than Moët's 'natural ascendancy' approach. And besides, who can beat a laser-guided train?]]></content:encoded>







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<title>It's not just architects who make great buildings</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/its-not-just-architectswho-make-great-buildings/</link>

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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/article3.jpg" alt="article3.jpg" width="395" />Over the last couple of weeks the Guardian has been publishing their Great Modern Buildings pullout. In each issue, there are photos, blue prints and articles about the structure of the day. The articles go into some depth about the architects, but the engineers seem to have been forgotten. In the case of the Pompidou centre, who's design has as much to do with the structural engineer Peter Rice as it does to do with the architects Renzo

Piano and Richard Rogers, the omission of the engineer was the subject of a <a

href="http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/architecture/story/0,,2194681,00.html" target="_blank">column</a> today in the Guardian co-authored Rice's son

Kieran who is President of <a href="http://www.rfr.fr" target="_blank">RFR</a>, the company that the late Rice senior cofounded.

I think it is great that the Guardian is championning some great pieces of design in these daily supliments. I only wish that they would also champion the designers.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[juric]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>dsaz001@hotmail.com</wp:comment_author_ema il>

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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I agree with you, engineers also play a key role. They deserve more recognition for their work.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>With reference to the Edith Piaf song</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/with-reference-to-theedith-piaf-song/</link>

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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Tom]]></wp:comment_author>

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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Rien!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Iran diaries* - the omelette hall of fame</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/iran-diaries-theomelette-hall-of-fame/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="390" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/istanbul.jpg" alt="Istanbul"

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Every omelette* has a story to tell. The first omelette was in Istanbul. It was on a

Wednesday morning, having just arrived by train by a round about route from

Paris. I was due to be meeting Dan outside the Agia Sofia mosque at some point in the afternoon, but didn't feel like sightseeing in between, so I installed myself in front of a tiny street-corner cafe and killed three hours explaining to the owner that I was vegetarian using freshly garnered phrases in Turkish.

<img width="390" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/nadiri.jpg" alt="nadiri.jpg"

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Omelette number two was rustled up in Coffee Nadiri. After spending our first night in Tehran in a soulless 4 star hotel, we relocated to a much more friendly place down the road, hotel Nadiri. During afternoons and evenings, the tea room underneath is humming with young people. It is a pleasant respite from Tehran's bustling streets. But if you are looking for a dose of coffee before noon then is to the sister establishment Coffee Nadiri in an alley around the corner that you must go. It is in this small tiled room that we first saw an omelette cooking technique that we would see all over Iran. Omelette was apparently the only foodstuff on Coffee Nadiri's menu, and the smart khaki-trousered proprietor had all the components and tools laid out before him. Arriving at opening time, as we did, we got to see the chef/manager's entire routine. After sweeping out the tiled floors and feeding the budgie, the delicious corrugated bread is delivered. The tea samovars are prepared (Dan will surely write his own post about the tea routine), tomatoes are diced and onions are chopped and the cooking starts. Into an aluminum pan goes butter, the eggs and the tomatoes. The pan is tossed about using a spanner and then when the concoction is just ready, the hot pan is put on a tray with a hunk of delicious bread. Simple but very tasty.

<img width="390" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/gorgon.jpg" alt="gorgon.jpg" />

Omelette number three was out East. We had arrived in Gorgon and felt a long way off the tourist track. We had found the town's bazaar and over the road a tiny cafe with a spiral staircase up to a balcony overlooking the market. By now we had our Persian ordering phrases down to a T, so to speak, and a tomato

'kuku' was sent up to us. Here, the same delicious corrugated bread, but this time accompanied by some raw onion. Eating the onion was a mistake - I didn't speak to a girl for almost a week!

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/katys.jpg" alt="katys.jpg" height="230" />

Omelette number four was part of a wonderful spread cooked up for us by Katy's mother. We had met Katy and her family on the train down from Istanbul and they had invited us to spend several days with them in their home city Shahrud.

We took them up on the offer, and Katy's mum had plenty of time to cook up an unending supply of vegetarian food to expand our stomachs. The omelette in this spead is vegetable flavoured and situated over to the left. In the middle is a leeky rice dish. It is cooked in a butter-lined pan in the oven so that the outside forms a tasty crust. The whole lot is turned over when served up. Bottom left is a soft flat bread. It appears that when we crossed the mountains between Gorgon and

Shahrud, the corrugated bread got left behind. Just off to the right is my favourite iranian dish, kashka bademjum. Bademjum is aubergine, and kashka appears to be untranslatable but available in Iranian shops in London I am told. Also of note is the bowl of green leaves at the top, made up entirely of fresh herbs. And in the jug at the top right, doukh, a sour yoghurt drink. We stayed with Katy for three days, and each mealtime, a spread of these proportions was unveiled. Quite incredible!

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/dads-hotel.jpg" alt="dads-hotel.jpg" height="280" />

Omelette number four in this hall of fame was found in a posh hotel in Yazd. I say found because it took us a long time to track one down. We had been up early touring this extraordinary desert town's streets before the tourist hoards hit and were suddenly hit by a burning hunger. But none of the restaurants we found would sell us anything vegetarian. We were directed down the street to a breakfast place that looked like it would never arrive. In the end we gave up and walked into the brand new and completely empty Hotel Dad. We asked the receptionist if an omelette could be prepared for us even though we weren't guests. They were only to happy to pamper us and direct us to this enormous and empty dining room. There we sat for half an hour ( I am sure that they were waiting for the eggs to be laid ) while at least five different waiters brought out drinks and bits of cutlery one by one. Eventually, our food arrived, but rather than the queen of omelets that we had been expecting, a fired egg in tomato sauce arrived. I would say I was a little disappointed not to score an omelette but it was the tastiest fried egg in tomato sauce that I have ever had.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/budapest.jpg" alt="budapest.jpg" height="280" />

Omelette number five signalled our return to Europe. I had tried to return to the cafe in Istanbul where I had spent three hours ordering my meal last time. This time I tried to speed things up by showing the man a picture on my camera of the omelette that he had cooked me four weeks before, but he just didn't get it and kept trying to take a photo of me instead. So it was that we had arrived in

Budapest after two days of train through Bulgaria and Romania and were pretty desperate for an egg fix. Budapest being the train hub that it is, I had past through the city several times on my travels and without a map, I have always been able to find my way through the back streets to this luxurious breakfast place. That morning was no exception, and in travel-grimey clothes we sat amongst the well groomed and ate an omelette that must have cost more than all the omelettes we had in Iran combined.

<img width="390" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/zurich.jpg" alt="zurich.jpg"

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Omelette number six was a rather sad affair. Not only was it on the last day of our trip, in Zurich, it was also rubbish. Just look at the bread! Give me Coffee

Nadiri any day of the week!

*Being a vegetarian traveller in Iran is not impossible but it is not either.

Omelette was about the best source of protein we could lay our hands on. Hence the obsession.

*posts about will also appear on the blog <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sangducoeur.org/tehran_taxi/" title="Tehran Taxi">Tehran

Taxi</a> which we will soon have underway]]></content:encoded>







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<category domain="post_tag" nicename="omelette"><![CDATA[omelette]]></category>


<category domain="post_tag" nicename="travel"><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>

<category domain="post_tag" nicename="travel-diary"><![CDATA[travel diary]]></category>

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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Hasan Zarei]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>i_nightowl@yahoo.com</wp:comment_author_em ail>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://hoteldadint.com</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[this is hasan, the present manager of public relations in Hotel Dad. we grabbed a handfull some of experience by reading this diary. we are happy with the fact that finally our omellete came to be the best he had ever had!!!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[architechnophilia]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>mad.architect@gmail.com</wp:comment_author_e mail>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://architechnophilia.blogspot.com</wp:commen t_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[What a culinary adventure, and now you have my hungry for omelletes - worse there isn't anywhere to get that except home :(]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Au revoir Waterloo</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/11/18/au-revoirwaterloo/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/waterloo-sunset.jpg" alt="waterloo-sunset.jpg" width="405" />

Last Tuesday evening I bid farewell to Waterloo International, the last day that

Eurostar will serve this station before it transfers to St Pancras 'in the (other) heart of London'. Before I even arrived I had fears that the Eurostar staff had packed up and gone as all the signs directing travelers from the Underground up to the terminal had already been whited out. How wrong I was. I arrived on the main station concourse to the sound of live music and the sight of dazzling lights.

In the sunken entrance level to the Eurostar terminal, a stage had been set up and a band were playing, none too aptly, "Waterloo Sunset".

I am happy to admit that I am a station spotter and have long been. It is cooler than being a train spotter as you get to talk about architecture, your subject doesn't move so you don't have to stand their waiting for it, there are plenty of food shops so no packed lunches required, and you can wear any clothes you like. This last advantage makes the station spotter hard to spot. I have blended in all these years and have simply thought that I was alone in my pursuit, unaware that other station spotters were all around me. That is until that evening when they showed their true colours and, in droves, they headed down to Waterloo

International to wish it farewell.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/projection.jpg" alt="projection.jpg" width="395" />

The police had crowd control measures in place to stop people pushing into the sunken entrance area. If your name wasn't on the list (read, if you didn't have a ticket) you weren't getting in. By the time I got in, the show was wrapping up, leaving only video footage of the new station projected onto the wall. It felt like mass train station hysteria; one woman had a tear in her eye. Staff stood around

beaming, journalists were interviewing. With all the publicity for the new St.

Pancras terminal, international train travel has recaptured the public's imagination. But from this train station 81,891,738 travelers over the last thirteen years have already trained it, internationally. And so one can understand people being sad to see it go.

But go where exactly? It is all very well to wish a station farewell but it is not going anywhere. What are they going to do with it? Scuttle it? The plan as I understand it is to make the platforms available for comunter trains to use. But what of the long arrival and departure concourses? When I was twelve or so, I saw an architectural model of the terminal with it's snake-like blue roof. It is hard to believe that this structure will now lie largely obsolete.

The party was over on the other side of security (the real bouncers). The place has felt tatty for a while now. I can't imagine the maintenance budget has been kept up in recent months. Shops lay half empty of stock which was annoying as I badly wanted an adaptor. There were girls handing out free cake. Just like at the end of a party.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/hauptbahnhoff.jpg" alt="hauptbahnhoff.jpg" width="405" />

The squashed arch roof of the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin

I rode the escalator up to the platforms beneath their wonderful blue roof. This

<a href="http://www.grimshawarchitects.com/grimshaw/launcher.html?in_projectid=">Grimshaw</a> structure arches over the three platforms. Like that of the Hauptbahnhof (photo above) in Berlin the curving roof is made from a squashed arch which means that the roof in both Waterloo and at the Hauptbahnhof can cover the tracks without having to rise to high. By contrast the un-squashed arch of St Pancras' roof soars high above the cityscape. Squashing the arch induces bending in the structure. In both cases the structure follows the exact form of the bending moment diagram giving a very pure structural aesthetic. At the Hauptbahnhof the arch is fourpinned and symmetric. At Waterloo, the designers chopped a third off this symmetric arch, giving it its asymmetric shape.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/final-departure.jpg" alt="final-departure.jpg" width="405" />

With the fanfare far behind, I boarded the train and as we pulled out was reminded that it was not the station that was the problem but the line. As the train bumps through Vauxhall, the carriages bottom-out their suspension. We creaked round a sharp left turn and then screeched through Brixton, presumably deafening those on the platform. By Herne Hill, the train slowed further to skateboard speed. However, after forty minutes of this bumping and grinding, a reminder of what the new route will bring, as the the Eurostar joins the alreadyopen section of high speed track and accelerates towards France.

And so Waterloo must close. I am sure that station spotters such as myself will get over it soon enough. The start of services to St Pancras, for example, might offer a suitable distraction. With this opening I am certain that a whole new generation of station spotters will be inspired into being]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Shame you're not here on Sunday. 5 and a half hours round London's stations and a quote from a French Romantic poet to start you off: http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1031]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Hello St.Pancras</title>

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For all the publicity in London about the opening of the new Eurostar terminal at

St Pancras, passengers leaving Paris on its inaugural day wouldn’t have been any the wiser. The lack of Parisian interest in the new London terminal was underlined by the ticket prices: while it would have cost me over £100 to book a place on a train leaving St.Pancras that day, the cost of a ticket in the other direction was just £29! I can forgive the lack of excitement from that end of the line however. When it comes to high speed train networks, France’s is in its late twenties whilst Britain’s is still teething.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/concourse-shot.jpg" alt="concourse-shot.jpg" width="395" />

Until yesterday, once the tunnel had been crossed and England reached, passengers were treated to a short stretch of tantalizing high-speed rail (the first part of the new link has been in use for some time now) before the trains slowed to a dismal trundle on the old line. Well, no more. Unfortunately it was dark so I did not get to see all that pristine Kent countryside that had seen routes for the line changed so many times. Before I knew it, a tunnel under the Thames, then we appeared to be over-ground and then back under again. We popped up for air again at what I guess was the building site for Stratford International before tunneling our way under North London. I remember five years ago a friend of mine living in Highbury had complained of rumbling under his basement flat for a period of about a week or so. He found out, from the council I believe, that those noises had been the tunnel digging machines digging those very tunnels that I was zooming through significantly faster.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/kissing-shot.jpg" alt="kissing-shot.jpg" width="395" />

The train popped of the ground one last time and we were cruising into the magnificently lit train station. Words do not do justice to what an amazing site

the new station is. Passengers off the train for the first time on these platforms walked in eerie gob-smacked silence. The train shed, with its arches of ‘heritage

Barlow blue’ which soar over the tracks to support 18 000 panes of self cleaning glass, makes for quite a destination. Indeed there were plenty of people there who had just come for the opening. At the end of the platforms they posed for photos beneath the 9m tall sculpture of a couple kissing. Europe’s longest champagne bar was not long enough to accommodate the masses who came to toast the new station.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/longest-champagnebar.jpg" alt="longest-champagne-bar.jpg" width="395" />

I was grabbed for an interview by BBC Radio London who were broadcasting live from the concourse. I think I ticked a few of their boxes: not only had I just stepped off a train from Paris, but I was an enthusing engineer (and, as a bonus, someone whose father had arranged the medley of French songs played that afternoon by the LSO Brass section as part of the opening celebrations). On air, I was asked about how long it must have taken to paint the roof, a question to which I had no answer but assured them that it must take less time than that for the Forth Rail Bridge.

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/ensemble.jpg" alt="ensemble.jpg" width="395" />

For me, St Pancras represents the first completed major engineering project university colleagues of mine have been involved with during their summer placements. St Pancras celebrates the engineering of a bygone era, is a fine example of how old can become new, and puts international rail travel back into the national consciousness. Not a bad start!

<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/family-shot.jpg" alt="family-shot.jpg" width="395" />]]></content:encoded>







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<category domain="post_tag" nicename="architecture"><![CDATA[Architecture]]></category>

<category domain="post_tag" nicename="engineering"><![CDATA[Engineering]]></category>





<category domain="post_tag" nicename="st-pancras"><![CDATA[st pancras]]></category>

<category domain="post_tag" nicename="train-travel"><![CDATA[train travel]]></category>


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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[On the same note: http://blog.jonworth.eu/the-0805-to-st-pancrasinternational/]]></wp:comment_content>





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_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Rosy - in reference to painting the Forth

Rail Bridge, I went to a recruitment talk several years ago by Network Rail and one of the experts there talked about developing a new paint for the bridge that would last for ten years. He also said that at the moment, it only takes them about four months to paint the whole thing. This needs to be verified of course before death can be put to the popular myth!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[That reminds me that when I was in San

Francisco, someone told me that the Golden Gate Bridge has full time painters.

Once they have painted the whole thing, they have to start all over again at the beginning!]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Nigel]]></wp:comment_author>






<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I think that the "film" music referred to was

Fanfare to A Common Man, by Aaron Copland. .. made famous by its use in the

USA Olympics.]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Pascale]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>pascalev@aol.com</wp:comment_author_email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://www.pasc.co.uk</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[what music was played during the opening.

In particular a piece of film music that I recognised but can't place.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<item>

<title>A few quotes about cities</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/a-few-quotes-aboutcities/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I am currently preparing a presentation about the density of cities and in particular, how housing should be organised. Here are a some snippets gathered here for my research...

From Rogers’ '<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cities-Small-Planet-Reith-

Lectures/dp/0571179932/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1

202724033&sr=8-1"><font color="#000000">Cities for a Small

Planet</font></a>'

(Rogers and Gumuchdjian, 1997, Faber)

“To being our position-fixing aboard our Spacesip Earth wemust first acknowledge that the abundance of immediately consumable, obviously disarable or utterly essential resources have been sufficient until now to allow us to carry on despite our ignorance. Being eventually exhaustible and spoilable, they have been adequate only up to this critical moment. This cushion-for-error of humanity’s survival and growth up to now was apparently provided just as a bird inside of the egg is provided with liquid nutriment to develop it to a certain point” Buckminster Fuller, Operation Manual for Planet Earth (Pg1/1)

”We will leave this city not less but greater, etter and more beautiful than it was left to us” - Athenian oath pledged by new citizens (Pg

1/16)]]></content:encoded>







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<item>

<title>Richard Rogers Exhibition - Pompidou centre</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/richard-rogersexhibition-pompidou-centre/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[The Richard Rogers exhibition at the Pompidou centre is now over. I went once and meant to go back as there was so much to take in (and I seem to get exhibition fatigue after about an hour and a half) but alas I didn't get the chance.

Highlights were the 1:2 scale bright pink models of one of the Heathrow T5 connections, the exquisite 3d-printed model of the Barcelona Bullring and the original competition drawings for the Pompidou - how apt to see them in the finished building.

A few belated few pickies then:-

<img width="405" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/07-12ob-rogers-exhibit-antwerp.jpg" alt="Antwerp Law Courts" />

Antwerp Law Courts

<img width="405" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/07-12ob-rogers-exhibit-barcelona-2.jpg" alt="3D Print of Barcelona Bullring" />

3D Print of Barcelona Bullring

<img width="405" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/07-12ob-rogers-exhibit-1.jpg" alt="Credits" />

Credits]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Daniel


<wp:comment_author_email>sedgeleybroadbent@gmail.com</wp:comment_aut hor_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=ZFsA-

BViEKA&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

&border=1]]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Christine]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://www.christinelobb.co.uk</wp:comment_auth or_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I wish I'd seen this exhibition!]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Simon]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>simon@simplyretro.com</wp:comment_author_e mail>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://www.simplyretro.com</wp:comment_author_ url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[You still have a chance to re-visit the exhibition. An updated 2009 version is currently on display at Barcelona's

CaixaForum. And now it is sporting a very sexy looking prototype carbon fibre beam...

<a href="http://www.richardrogers.co.uk/render.aspx?siteID=1&navIDs=1,6,

12,1568" rel="nofollow">Richard Rogers @ CaixaForum

2009</a>]]></wp:comment_content>





</wp:comment>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[online stock trading advice]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>riley4bjr@gmail.com</wp:comment_author_email

>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://community.bsu.edu/members/Online_Stock_T rading.asp</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hey, I found your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, anyway cool blog, I bookmarked you. :)

I'm Out! :)]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Other mobile structures in London this summer</title>






<content:encoded><![CDATA[The <a href="http://www.upprojects.com/portavilion/annika_eriksson.htm" target="_blank">Smallest Cinema in the World</a> will be a mobile structure. It will be towed to different locations in Regent’s Park throughout the summer.

This is possible because the base of the cinema, hidden behind those beautiful shells, is a trailer.

I want to compile a list of other mobile or demountable structures that will be in

London this summer. I will start the ball rolling with:

<a href="http://www.tonkinliu.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tonkin Liu</a>’s <a href="http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/dailynews/2008/04/tonkin_li u_cultivates_flower_pavilion_for_london_festival_of_architecture.html" target="_blank">signature pavilion</a> for this year’s London Festival of

Architecture.

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/tonkinliuliverpool_resized

_250_tcm23-1207461.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-203" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/tonkinliuliverpool_resized_

250_tcm23-1207461.jpg" alt="" width="405" /></a>]]></content:encoded>

















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<item>

<title>Do Schools Kill Creativity?</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/do-schools-killcreativity/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66">This videocast

</a>by Sir Ken Robinson is from the TED series.]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>do-schools-kill-creativity</wp:post_name>







<category domain="category" nicename="education-andteaching"><![CDATA[Education and teaching]]></category>

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<item>

<title>The Smallest Cinema in the World</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/the-smallest-cinema-inthe-world/</link>

<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:28:08 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/2_smaller.jpg?w=300" alt="Opening of the Smallest Cinema in the World" width="395" /> it.

The Smallest Cinema in the World is now open. The Cinema, conceived by artist

Annika Eriksson as a venue for films that she is making about Regent's Park, was designed by a team from Hopkins Architects and Expedition Engineering. The

Cinema is mobile so that visitors will have to penetrate deep into the park to find

<a href="http://www.expedition.uk.com/blog/?p=182">Expedition's Blog about the Cinema</a>

<a href="http://www.expedition.uk.com">Expedition Engineering</a>

<a href="http://www.hopkins.co.uk/">Hopkins

Architects</a>]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Cool, maybe this is where we should meet?]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[ps can you change my website to my new one please...www.christinelobb.co.uk and I don't have that blog anymore!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<item>

<title>Joint Best Loser</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/joint-best-loser/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align:center;"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-217" title="NCE Grad of the year cover" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/08-12-12-nce-olicover.jpg?w=212" alt="NCE Grad of the year cover" width="420" /></p>

Apparently it was too close to call. The judges deliberated for three hours as to which of the six shortlisted finalists should be given the prestigious title of NCE

Graduate of the Year 2008. In the end, the very deserving winner was Emma

Kent and Eiffelover was relegated to joint runner up: i.e. Joint Best Loser - which has all the advantages of being a finalist without the obligations of being the winner. So congratulations to the winner, thanks to the NCE, and thank you to the judges, who, through their choice, allowed me to retain my anonymity when shopping in the supermarket.]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>joint-best-loser</wp:post_name>








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<title>A beautiful website</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/a-beautifulwebsite/</link>

<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:26:19 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline;" href="http://soytuaire.labuat.com/">http://soytuaire.labuat.com/</a>]]></con tent:encoded>







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<title>In the can</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/in-the-can/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[In the can: the Useful Simple Trust launch film. I don't quite remember how I got briefed to make this film. It probably went something along the lines of:

"the launch should have a cinema off to the side- maybe the Smallest Cinema in the World. And we should get Oli to make a film to go in it about things that are

Useful and Simple"

Over the year I have been involved with making a film about Think Up Mondays.

It turns out that making fly-on-the-wall documentaries is difficult- it's hard to get people to say the right thing! It's also difficult to get high quality images from the poor camera that we've been using. And it's not cost effective to edit at work. So we got a producer-director in to develop the concept for a number of films with the intention that he will help to a greater or lesser extent produce them. It was about this time that the above conversation was had about making a film for the launch of the trust.

And so last Monday I met Caius to choose locations: Primrose Hill, the Regent's

Canal by Camden Lock, Chalk Farm Tube and in the print room at Thomas

Matthews.

On Tuesday we filmed the majority of the small clips where people talk about useful or simple things. For the shoot we had both Caius and a cameraman, Mike.

It was really interesting to see how the two of them composed shots, as well as how they lit them. Some people just reeled off their lines smoothly- others needed quite a few takes. I really enjoyed writing their lines with them. It's much better to see how something sounds when someone says it rather than trying to judge the words on paper. With the clocks having gone back the weekend before, we ran out of light surprisingly quickly. We filmed the last few people in the print studio. By the end of the day we'd got nine people in film.

On Wednesday we filmed Ed's commentary, which originally didn't feature in the film. It's only when I realised that there would be no formal announcement at the launch that the need to put some explanation into the film became apparent. Whils at the time this felt like quite a shift in the film's feel, it also gave the film a raison d'être. In the end the extra day we booked to film Ed was invaluable for assembling enough footage for the film.

Ed is an old hand at TV filming and he has worked with Caius before and so it was interesting to see the two work together to develop a dialogue and then film

it: the greatest contribution in terms of camera time captured in the shortest time. Ed effectively got his lines right first time, but Caius always seem to ask for a second take- just for luck. With hindsight, these second takes were always more relaxed and usually used in the final edit rather than the first take.

Persuading Alex to film a take holding a worm was not as challenging as I thought it might be. Clement's take was TV gold- by far the best bit of the film.

The low-light of the filming was having to traipse out to Chiswick to hire the turntable used in the filming of the useful simple objects but the results were worth it.

And so to today when I joined Caius at the editing suite where he has been working with an editor to cut the film. I received a rough cut after one day of editing which I was nervous to watch. I showed it to Chris today and the list of changes was enormous. I didn't know how we would get them all done. And the most challenging of all was to find a new sound track. Conscience that I only had an hour to trawl the whole of music for a tune I was relieved when Chris came up trumps with a sort of Calypso jazz guitar number. Compared with the twelve bar blues we had before, it gives the whole thing a lift.

See the finished article on the news part of usefulsimple.co.uk]]></content:encoded>







<wp:post_name>in-the-can</wp:post_name>








<category domain="post_tag" nicename="useful_simple_trustfilms"><![CDATA[Useful_simple_trust films]]></category>

<wp:comment>


<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[john]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>kendall.johnathan@yahoo.com</wp:comment_aut hor_email>





<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Well indeed its been one hell of a job but i think its quite challenging enough which makes the best out of you and hence you can rediscover your self.Filming requires a huge amount of patience and time,but if both has been used smartly it will produce some great results.

<a href="http://johnpimental.blogspot.com/2010/09/bebo-kebo-camden-newage-cosmopolitan.html" rel="nofollow">bebo kobo</a>]]></wp:comment_content>





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<item>

<title>Frank Auerbach: London Building Sites 1952-1962</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/frank-auerbach-londonbuilding-sites-1952-1962/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/courtauld.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-231" title="Cranes of the Courtauld" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/courtauld.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="315" /></a>

This afternoon <a href="http://10tentacles.wordpress.com/">M</a> took me as part of my Christmas present to the Courtauld Gallery to see the exhibition '<a href="http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/2009/auerbach/index.s

html">Frank Auerbach: London Building Sites 1952-1962</a>. Quite how I have managed to live in London and work in the built-environment sector all these years without ever having taken a look at the Courtauld I just don't know.

This collection of Auerbach's work explores the striking and immense construction sites to be found in post-war London. But unlike the clean-cut lines of the modern architecture that rose from the sites, Auerbach's work is all about the excavations. This is an artist that is painting the world of the civil engineer:

the deep excavations for the Shell Building on the Southbank, the basement for the John Lewis headquarters on Oxford Street, the girders of One New Change adjacent to St Paul's.

Auerbach layers the paint on in spades - up to an inch thick in some works. This is the result of repeatedly reapplying the paint and reworking each piece. The result is a rich texture that evokes the physicality of the building site. The walls ooze and seem almost to weep water; you can almost smell the unearthed depths. The images have been rendered and rerendered so many times on the same canvas that the original image is almost completely obscured and is only identifiable by reference to the preparatory sketches that accompany some of the works. But as a friend put it, you can get so much more out of the paintings but reflecting on the sensations they evoke rather than trying to pick out any particular detail. The reworking of the paint makes a striking resemblance to the movement of materials on site.

"Through his labours with paint, Auerback vividly translated the chasms of mud, shored-up earth and equipment into works which express the creation and distruction inherent in London's post-war building sites" - exhibition introduction

'Building site near St. Paul's: winter' situates the observer inside the construction site of One New Change, a building which has since been redemolished and is currently being rebuilt again. Unlike many images of the cathedral painted during the war in which the dome is seen to rise above the flames of the Blitz, in this painting St Paul's cowers away in the corner submitting to this new architecture.

'Shell Building Site: from the Festival Hall' is one of set of works peering into the excavations for London's first skyscraper. What's struck me about these paintings is that while these are images of the construction of London's modern era buildings, the viewer could be looking at a site centuries earlier - medieval even.

Probably most inspirational however was the collection of quick hand sketch studies of the sites that feature in some of the works. The lines are very simple but very powerful. Over the last two years I have been on a couple of building drawing classes, and have sketched many buildings: sketches that are about a finished product. But these works are much more about the process than the

result. 50 years later another gaping hole has opened up on Oxford Street, a building demolished by developers rather than bombs. I find myself reaching for my sketchbook...]]></content:encoded>







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<title>An ode to my bookmark</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/an-ode-to-mybookmark/</link>

<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:58:48 +0000</pubDate>


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<content:encoded><![CDATA[It slipped away from between the pages as I pushed my way down Oxford Street. It was a present, given to me by my house mate Rose. At that time in 2002 we were house mates while teaching in the

States. Rose had been on a trip to Atlanta and brought me back the long oval almost fish-like metal bookmark. Along its body was inscribed, "nothing was ever achieved without enthusiasm", which I took as a compliment rather than a criticism.

In those early days of multicoloured security alerts I was held for half an hour at

Newark airport while the security staff debated whether or not it could be a terrorising implement.

It has parted the pages of many books, and has been lost and found many a time.

But this time I fear it is gone forever. Goodbye old friend. I hope you are picked up and used by someone else and are not swept up to an early grave.








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<title>Touring the Capital with ICE President Paul Jowitt</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/touring-the-capital-withice-president-paul-jowitt/</link>



<guid isPermaLink="false">http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/touringthe-capital-with-ice-president-paul-jowitt/</guid>


<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/viewtube1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-236" title="viewtube" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/viewtube1.jpg" alt="" width="364" height="488" /></a>

Article written for the ICE London's newsletter in my capacity as Chair of the

London Graduates and Students.

Touring the Capital with ICE President Paul Jowitt

ICE President Paul Jowitt's visit to the London Region.

At the beginning of March I was invited to tour the Capital with <a href="http://www.ice.org.uk/homepage/index.asp" target="_blank">ICE</a>

President <a href="http://www.ice.org.uk/about_ice/aboutice_pauljowitt.asp">Paul

Jowitt</a>. The day long tour was his formal visit to the London Region. I always find the President's visit to the London Region a funny thing because the

President inevitably spends a large portion of his time in the area anyway; nevertheless the President's visit is intended to be the time at which he or she is formally given a tour of the London Region to hear about the work that this region of the ICE has been up to, as well as to find out about the engineering projects taking shape at the moment. The story of the day was two-fold: great engineering works, and great work being carried out by the ICE London Region volunteers and staff.

The day started with a tour of the Olympic Site. We met at the <a href="http://theviewtube.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=fro ntpage&Itemid=1">View Tube</a>, the Olympic Park's luminous visitor centre from where all the main stadia can be seen whilst munching on the most up-market breakfast butty (read ciabatta) in town. Touring the site in a bus, our tour guides went to great lengths to tell the story of the engineering that we couldn't see: the park's extensive infrastructure and enabling works, which were up for an award at the evening's <a href="http://www.icelondon.org.uk/news_events/events_view.asp?eventid=9273">ICE Merit

Awards</a>.

A sprint across town took us to the BBC for lunchtime where we met a group teenagers taking part in an ICE/BBC/Collaboration. The group had been filming interviews with members of the public about Crossrail. We joined them while they were making edits to their films in the BBC's edit suite designed specifically for school groups. All were amazed by just how the students came alive on camera. One participant didn't realise that he had managed to coller former

Controller of BBC One Alan Yentob into doing an interview. That same student

said to me later that it had been the best day of his life. Full credit then to Susan

Clements at the ICE who had put this event together.

After lunch in the notorious <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/plasticbag/538655/">BBC canteen</a>

(do people still make jokes about it? If they do, I don't see why: it was at least as upmarket as the view tube), another sprint took us back to ICE Headquarters for the President's meeting with representatives from the ICE London's Graduate and Students Committee. The session, organised by G&S Vice Chair Kiran

Gowda, focused international development, one of the President's special interest topics for the year, and the role that graduates and students can take in development. The session was a discussion between experts from the field including representatives from <a href="http://www.ewb-uk.org/">Engineers

Without Borders</a> and <a href="http://practicalaction.org/">Practical

Action</a>, and graduates and students who had secured their place by writing in beforehand with questions that they would like to ask.

The finale to the day was the ICE London Merit Awards, held at the <a href="http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/">London Transport Museum</a>. The museum made for an exciting venue. This high-profile event celebrated the best of the capital's recent engineering. Of course the <a href="http://www.shardlondonbridge.com/">Shards</a> and the Olympic

Parks of the line-up did very well - impressive engineering that deserves celebrating - but I was especially glad to see the work of council engineers being celebrated. The judges gave a special award to a small group of local authority engineers who had improved the pedestrian spaces in Woolwich town centre - as important, if not more so, than than structural gymnastics of sky scrapers.

All in all a fascinating, enjoyable and thoroughly exhausting day. A big thank you to Miranda and her team for putting together such a great programme of events.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Social capital - Reading Bowling Alone No.1</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/social-capital-readingbowling-alone-no-1/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[The concept of Social Capital came up during my research for Expedition Think Up Mondays. It was in the midst of a conversation about values. The individuals in that group quickly identified that they each bring the value of their personal networks to the group. On a rainy Monday a week later in Islington Central Library I explored this theme, and quickly came upon the notion of Social Capital, and Robert Putman's highly regarded book

'Bowling Alone - the Collapse and Revival of American Community'. The book explores the theories relating to social capital, its rise, decline and possible resurrection in America.<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/bowling-alone.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-241" title="Bowling alone" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/bowling-alone.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="315" /></a>

The Expedition Think Up Monday programme is long finished, but understanding and growing social capital seems to be at the core of what I am doing with Think Up, the Useful Simple Trust and through my volunteer role at the Institution of Civil Engineers. I have decided therefore to read Putman's book and log my notes here, with the hope that rearranged, with some retained and some discarded, they can help with the formulation of a vision for how these organisations could work.

<strong>Bowling Alone - Chapter 1 Thinking about Social Change in America - notes</strong>

Putman notes a general trend that up until the mid-sixties there was an ever increasing involvement of citizens in civic life, be it in sports and social clubs, benevolent societies or in public office; since then however, there has been a considerable decline.

"In recent years social scientists have framed concerns about the changing character of American society in terms of the concept of "social capital". By analogy with notions of physical capital and human capital - tools and training that enhance individual productivity - the core idea of social capital theory is that social networks have value. Just as a screwdriver (physical capital) or a college education (human capital) can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so too social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups."

Some social capital results in personal benefit, as in when any reciprocity is specific - I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine"; more valuable to society however is generalized reciprocity: "I'll do this for you without expecting anything specific back from you in the confident expectation that someone else will do something for me down the road.

On reciprocity, "'If you don't go to somebody's funeral, they won't go to yours.' -

Yogi Berra"

Frequent interaction among a society of individuals tends to cause more generalised reciprocity. [pg 21]

Your social capital comes in many different shapes and sizes - eg sunay schools, family, internet chat groups.

The external effects of social capital are not always good. Terrorist groups depend on social capital.

'Therefore it is important to ask how the positive consequences of social capital - mutual support, cooperation, trust, institutional effectiveness - can be maximised and the negative manifestations - sectarianism, ethnocentrism, corruption - minimized. Towards this end many different form of social capital have been distinguished.' Pg 22

There is a distinction between bridging capital and bonding capital.

<strong>Bridging (Inclusive) capital</strong>

Outward looking and encompassing people across diverse social cleavages. Eg. civil rights movement, youth service groups.

Good for establishing specific reciprocity and mobilizing solidarity.

A socialogical superglue

Good for getting ahead

<strong>Bonding (exclusive) capital</strong>

By choice of necessity, inward looking and tend to reinforce exlcusive identities and homogeneous groups. Eg Ethnic fraternal organisations, country clubs.

Better for linking external assets for information diffusion.

A socialogical WD40

Good for getting by

Many people bond in some dimensions (class, race) and bridge in others.

Putman's maxim for evidence in his book is similar to the jounralist's two source rule: never report anything unless two independent sources confirm it.

The last page of the chapter reveals the inspiration for the books name: two people from quite different socio-economic backgrounds come into contact with one-another through a bowling team. The aquaintance leads to the younger of the two offering to give his kidney to the older of the two who has been on a waiting list for three years.

<strong>Comments</strong>

<strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">The Useful Simple Trust exists to blaze a trail in the integrated, intelligent and humane provision of the human environment. Freed from the traditional contraints of serving the aquisition of financial capital, the beneficiaries should be look at (and already are, although not necessarily framed in these terms) look at what social capital they have between them, and look to unlock and stimulate the social capital. One idea for

Think Up in this instance is to run an event that helps everyone realise our collective social capital, and explore what good we can do with it, and examine how we can grow it.</span></strong>

At first sight, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an organisation that consolidates bonding capital but that wants to create bridging capital. This very concise observation I feel help me shape my input into the ICE London Region's strategic direction.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Belly dancing, Charleston and keepy-uppies

– civic participation in action «



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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] morning I was delving further into

Bowling Alone (more notes to follow); by this evening I found myself performing at the Charity Gala, Oak View [...]]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Belly dancing, Charleston and keepy-uppies - civic participation in action</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/belly-dancing-charlestonand-keepy-uppies-civic-participation-in-action/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3go oD14xRh4&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1]

This morning I was delving further into <a href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/social-capital-readingbowling-alone-no-1/">Bowling Alone </a>(more notes to follow); by this evening I found myself performing at the Charity Gala, Oak View School - part of the <a href="http://www.loughtonfestival.org.uk/Events.html">Loughton

Festival</a>, and the sort of charity event that this book both celebrates and of which it reports the decline.

I had long had this evening's dancing gig in my diary but I hadn't really found out anything about it until I arrived. We cobbled together our routine in the car park

- which provoked a few stares) and then went in for the show. I was quite astounded by how eclectic the mix was. We were preceeded by a belly dancing troupe, a folk group who sang about dismembered limbs, and a mandolin player

(that we didn't see because we were busy rehearsing our moves). Ours was the

Charleston routine that we have used to tread the boards of a fair few Essex venues now; nevertheless I am glad we got that car park rehearsal in - it paid off.

But the show stopper was the guy after us who did endless keepy-uppies to music. It's amazing what hidden talents people have. The world is a better place for them!

I won't know what Joseph Putman says about how to reverse the decline in social and charitable events until I get to the final section of his book; I would like to think that belly dancing, Charleston and keepy-uppies have a role to play.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Hamlet at the National Theatre - what an epic!</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/hamlet-at-the-nationaltheatre-what-an-epic/</link>

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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Today I saw Hamlet for the first time. The production that <a href="http://10tentacles.wordpress.com/">M</a> and I went to was at the <a href="http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/59866/productions/hamlet.html">Na tional Theatre</a>. Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised, but what an epic play it is! There's murder, deceit, revenge, love, pirates, Denmark and swash-buckling sword fights. I particularly enjoyed the way that this modern production turned the King of Denmark's speeches into press conferences complete with press advisors and secret service guards. I also liked the mic hidden in the Bible - nice touch.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>New Year's Day - Gauguin: Maker of Myth</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/01/02/new-years-day-gauginmaker-of-myth/</link>



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<a href="http://10tentacles.wordpress.com/">M</a> and I have been meaning to go and see the '<a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gauguin/">Gauguin: maker of Myth</a>' exhibition at the <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/">Tate

Modern</a> for some time. The reviews have been great, the main criticism the huge crowds. With the exhibition due to finish soon these crowds were only likely to get worse. On New Year's Eve I remembered I previous NYE when we were on a skiing holiday. Fresh snow had fallen during the night and so we had set our alarm clocks painfully early on New Year's Day to make the most of the virgin snow. We were the first people on the slopes and it was magical - well worth the effort. Inspired by this halcyon vision, I booked us in for a 10am slot at the Gauguin on New Year's Day. It was only slightly painful and well worth it.

The exhibition is arranged around a number of themes, such as treatment of women, or religion; and not in chronological order. For me the effect was to focus my attention not on the painting and sculpture but on the man himself - something which I imagine Gauguin would have been pleased with.

I was moved and fascinated by a great number of the paintings- particularly in the way that the colours seem to sizzle; and in the way that some of these paintings seem to open the door to artists such as Matisse.

But what really surprised me was the remorseless pursuit of his own agenda.

Nothing (including a wife and five kids) would stop him pursuing the romantic primitive ideal that he seems to have got a flavour for at the colonial exhibitions that he visited in Paris, which eventually took him to Tahiti. And when he got there and found it not as primitive as he had hoped, he just painted what he had wanted it to look like, and spread syphilis in the process- classy.

A very interesting exhibition and morning out. By lunchtime a Bloody Mary and a delicious veggie breakfast at <a href="http://www.billswebsite.co.uk/">Bill</a>'s offset the creeping return of the New Year's hangover. <a href="http://www.nigelslater.com/tv.asp">Toast</a> and curry for dinner: not a bad start to the year.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Compressing my 'cello</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/compressing-mycello/</link>

<pubDate>Mon, 30 May 2011 21:56:47 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[Yesterday I compressed my 'cello

<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/img_1258.jpg"><img

class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-260" title="Tuning peg" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/img_1258.jpg?w=225" alt="" width="406" /></a></p>

- that is, I turned the tuning pegs, winding up the slack in the strings and gradually started to increase their tension. At first the strings wouldn't make any noise; and then gradually, as the tension increased, they became audible. At the same time, the wood in the main body of the 'cello started to creak and groan, and I have to confess I became a little scared.

I started playing the 'cello when I was five and gave up at sixteen, finding the guitar a much more exciting prospect. During those eleven years of playing, I had given little thought to the forces that the instrument must withstand. Since then I have completed an engineering degree, and so now when I look at the fragile wooden structure I find it surprising that it should be able to resist the forces that the strings place on it.

I remember being told that as instruments in the violin family age they improve because the effect of the tensioned strings is to compress the structure. The strings are stretched from the tuning pegs, over the bridge and loop over the bottom edge and around the sound peg, effectively squeezing the whole box together. This is in contract to a classical guitar, in which the strings stretch from the tuning pegs but stop at the bridge. When guitar strings are tightened, rather than squeezing the box together, the effect is to pull up on the bridge, effectively pulling the front off the sound box. Guitars are therefore said to decrease in quality with age.

I learned the hard way about the physics of guitars at age fifteen when I decided to replace the nylon strings on my mother's acoustic guitar with steel strings to create a brighter, more jangley sound. Unfortunately the only sound I got was a cracking noise just before I ripped the bridge off of the front of the instrument.

So with that experience in mind, and some engineering under my belt, I was getting increasingly nervous as I upped the tension on my dusted-off 'cello. The other reason why I was nervous was that until recently this 'cello had been a collapsed bag of bits in the corner of a basement. The instrument has belonged to my Aunt. Many years ago it got consigned to the cellar, forgotten about, squashed and ultimately broken. About five years ago, it was dug out and my <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/nigelviolin">Dad</a> kindly had it restored for me.

My end of the bargain was that I would do a little practice now and then. The instrument was reassembled by the late Geoff Crease, the instrument mender

that had supplied my first 1/8th-size 'cello from when I was five. His parting words to me were that though fixed it remained very fragile. That was five years ago. Almost immediately the fingerboard fell off and I lost it, only it to find it again six months ago hiding in the back of the 'cello case. It has since been stuck back on, and so it was yesterday following a trip with my Dad that I decided to give it ago.

With all that in mind that I found it excruciating to tune the strings up those final few semitones: the strings driving the back of the finger board down on to the instruments shoulders, which in turn put the thin front and back into compression. With every turn of the screw I expected to hear that cracking noise, followed by the implosion of my fragile instrument. And so it was with great relief that the A string reached 440Hz, and I could begin playing - well, scraping.

Since then I have managed two half-our practice sessions. My aim is to get good enough this summer to audition in September for the <a href="http://the-angelorchestra.co.uk/tao/Welcome.html">Angel Orchestra</a>, which <a href="http://10tentacles.wordpress.com/">M</a> plays in. Whilst tuning up for me was excruciating, I am sure it will be even more so for my neighbours who will have to hear me preparing for that audition. Does anyone have a practice mute?]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Great to hear you've got your 'cello out again!!!!

I can imagine it's interesting to think about the physics of the instrument something I rarely do.

I hope you didn't manage A+440hz as I'm sure that is a violin A and you would have surely snapped the string!!!

See you soon! x]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Thanks! Good point about the 440Hz.

Maybe that was why the instrument was groaning! Well, so far I have tuned it up each day and the whole thing hasn't imploded, so I will assume it is strong enough after all.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[<a href="http://nigelviolin@wordpress.com" rel="nofollow">nigelviolin</a> says that the most important thing for me to do at this stage is to a little practice every day, which is advice that so far I have been able to follow. He also suggested I start playing scales from the top the string and go down, so that I don't scared of playing at the top.

He also very kindly responded to my request for a practice mute. I am sure the neighbours will be pleased.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Excited about resource scarcity</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/excited-about-resourcescarcity/</link>

<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:53:08 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[I just found myself getting quite excited about resource scarcity. Not the fact of depleting the earth's resources, but that the subject is relevant to three things that I can claim to know something about: engineering, chemistry and explaining science.

<img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-273" title="IMG_1277" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/img_1277.jpg?w=224" alt="" width="406" />

Yesterday I was doing some background research for a new teaching resource that we are exploring developing at <a href="http://www.thinkup.org" target="_blank">Think Up</a> related to resource scarcity and material choice.

The resource could become part of <a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org" target="_blank">Workshed</a>. The starting point for my work Michael

Ashby's book "Material and the Environment, Eco-informed Material Choice"

All the time I was reading I was thinking how interesting it would be to create ways of explaining some of these complex and multidisciplinary issues in an engaging way - from the maths required to understand the economics of resource scarcity, through to understanding how to optimise the design for the whole life of the product.

Here are some choice facts that struck me from the first chapter:

- in 1930 it was estimated that the world would exhaust its stock of copper in thirty years; in 2008, the remaining reserves of copper will still estimated to be exhausted in thirty years.

- the global annual consumption of steel is greater than that of all other metals combined

- the weight of wood used annually in construction is greater than the weight of steel

- the weight of concrete consumed in construction annually exceeds the weight of all other construction materials combined.

The book then goes into detail about the economics of resource depletion and processes for assessing the environmental impact of one material over another during the design process.

Watch is space for teaching resources of this flavour.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Showreal - Millennium Bridge Micro Documetary</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/showreal-millenniumbridge-micro-documetary/</link>

<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:33:17 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[Early this year I was filmed presenting a short clip about the Millennium Bridge by a TV production company developing a concept for a new engineering show. We did the shoot on a freezing January lunchtime. Producer/Director <a href="http://www.nickwatsonproduction.com/videos/" target="_blank">Nick

Watson</a> has just posted the clip on YouTube. Thanks Nick! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJoCc3OyCwA]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Looking back from the future: Useful Simple Trust's first decade, as told in the year 2020</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/looking-back-from-thefuture-useful-simple-trusts-first-decade-as-told-in-the-year-2020/</link>

<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:32:35 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[As part of the <a href="http://usefulsimple.co.uk">Useful Simple Trust</a> Away Day in June

2011, eight Trustees and Directors were each asked to compose and present a five-minute piece giving an overview of the Useful Simple Trust in the year 2020.

These pieces, in various formats, from a virtual 3D Skype teleconference to an epistemological exchange were presented to the audience from within a hanging shroud of black material - an opaque tent representing a barrier between the future and the present. Below is an approximate transcription of what I said.

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/photo.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-287" title="photo" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/photo.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="410" /></a>

"Hello, can everyone see me? Looks like it. Good. This 3D Skyping system is incredible: it feels like we are in a room together when in fact we are all of us is in different parts of the world. So, greetings to the team of consultants working on the 2020 Qatar Olympics. Hello to the team working at the UN's floating HQ for climate change mitigation strategy, currently moored somewhere over

Norfolk. And of course, hello to the team of engineers in Belgium working on the infrastructure reconstruction programme following the recent civil war out there. I will begin.

"I have been asked to say a few words to characterise the way the Trust works, and describe the key moves that we made over the last decade to get us to where we are now.

"I would say that the environment in which we work is firstly characterised by extensive and complex overlapping networks of personal and professional contacts. We use these networks to learn, to share information, to collaborate on work and to market our services. We make far more use of our personal social capital than we ever did before, and our communication using these networks is completely decentralised.

"The second characteristic relates to where we add value. Information is cheap, and with the development of automated Google research projects, there is a phenomenal amount of data available at our finger tips. At the same time, much of the process work that we used to carry out in the UK is now carried out for a fraction of the price abroad. Our skill as an organisation has therefore become the assimilation of information and the creative design of strategic solutions to problems, on which we must then collaborate with other partners internationally to deliver.

"Thirdly I would like to characterise how we work as individuals within the organisation. Seeking to avoid specifics, I describe the staff as being made up of

'omni-workers', apprentice 'omni-workers' and mentors. The omni-workers have the key trinity of skills: assimilation, creative problem solving and business sense. Plying the avenues of their complex personal networks, these members of staff work as individuals, collaborate with other organisations, or collaborate with other omni-workers wherever the work may be. They are accompanied by apprentices who are learning their trade, and they are guided by mentors who offer up their own experience by way of training.

"To conclude a description of the working landscape, I will describe where it is we work. The short answer is wherever the work needs to be done. We are a highly decentralised interconnected workforce but with robust links to centralised online resources and administrative functions that support us.

" I will now describe the five decisions that the Trust made that were key to getting us to where we are now:

1. We recognised long ago that specialism would increasingly become a liability, and that the asset would be the skill of information assimilation and collaboration with others.

2. We also recognised the immense social capital of the organisation, and the power of an individual's personal and professional networks to share information, to collaborate on projects and to promote our activity.

3. We decided to identify a number of key societal challenges that we would seek to collaborate on and work towards solving in our projects - thus developing a polemic for the organisation.

4. We recognised the need to raise the level of overall business strategy awareness of the organisation, and set up an internal business school to do so.

5. We packed up our bags and left Morley House, our former HQ in Oxford Circus, and we followed the work.

"As for any regrets over the last decade? I would have to admit to at least three: working far too hard in those early years - not recognising the need to prioritise; not identifying the key societal challenges that would be the focus of our work; and only taking one sabbatical in the last ten years and not two.

"Thank you very much"]]></content:encoded>







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<title>A rockabilly festival and a 2CV convention - an extraordinary night out in rural France</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/a-rockabilly-festival-anda-2cv-convention-an-extraordinary-night-out-in-rural-france/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/img_1648.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-296" title="IMG_1648" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/img_1648.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="313" /></a>At some point in the future I would like to spend some time living in the area of rural South West France where the French side of my family is from. The idea is especially appealing when on holiday in that part of the world. But I often wonder, what would day-to-day life be like?

During our recent stay at my grandmother's house, we went out on a Saturday night. As I drove down the dark and empty Route Nationale, I thought, is this what a big weekend night out might feel like, somewhat downbeat about the prospect.

Our first stop was a community centre situated above our local river beach. We had seen advertised that there would be a night of live swing music. The roads en route had been empty, and the town centre equally so, so we were surprised to find the venue packed with groups of people of all ages eating piles of moulles frites around long tables. The band came on - a manouche ensemble - and they played a lively set, although my flip flops and the empty dance floor made me disinclined to want to bust out any moves.

On the way in we'd seen there was a campsite and we went to check it out. At the entrance were parked two 2CVs; another was parked in the car park. Unusual - almost like a 2CV convention I thought. Exactly like a 2CV convention it turns out: every car in the camping site was a 2CV. They came in all models and colours, with modifications, some in classic colours. Large groups of people sat around gas lights, or the full beams from the cars, eating and drinking together.

2CV drivers seem to be happy people!

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Coming home we thought we'd check out the next village where we'd heard there was a weekend-long rockabilly festival. Not expecting to find much (I am ashamed to say - who am I to be sceptical?) we could barely enter the village for the lines of cars parked down either side of the busy Route Nationale - some even parked down the middle. We came upon the school field and found hundreds of people gathered wearing rockabilly finery, lit by the sideways glare of flood lights and the lamps of dozens and dozens of Harley Davidsons parked up in rows. In the big tent that rockabilly band was jumpin', the crowds were dancing, and we dived in, flip-flops and all.

At the exit there was a souvenir stand selling posters and tins of the local confit de canard.

Every time I return to this part of France I find more and more things going on, and only partly I think, because I wasn't looking hard enough before! And while there would be obvious differences between a night out there and just hoping on the Victoria line, there is plenty to do, and perhaps even more opportunities to make your own fun.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA['Community centre' is a bit harsh. It's a really lovely riverside bar and restaurant with a huge terrace and a fine view of the Lot (no doubt supported with a little bit of help from the commune).]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Oliver Broadbent]]></wp:comment_author>

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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Fair dos. But it's not a commercial space - its a communal thing. That's what I am getting at.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Ideas on the theme of 'fun-for-free'</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/ideas-on-the-theme-offun-for-free/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[<strong>Hold your own mini-Olympics</strong>

<strong></strong>We did this last weekend down at my grandmother's house.

We had had plans to go to the local river where there is a lovely beach but the grey skies put paid to that. Then from somewhere the idea sprung to mind of the five of us staying in and holding a track-and-field tournament.

We assembled the props: a parasol stand for a javelin; a boule for a shot put; an old plate for the discus; some beach bats for tennis; a rope between two trees for volleyball; and fruit packing cases for the dressage. My grandmother was the judge.

Poles were thrown; shots were put; a plate was smashed; points were won; tempers were lost - and found again with administration of tea; and medals were presented.

Next up - our own winter Olympics?

<em><a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/img_1755.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-303" title="IMG_1755" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/img_1755.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="313" /></a>(The discus that got away - two others were not so lucky)</em>

<strong>Learn to tight-rope walk</strong>

With a few props, practicing circus skills seems like something you can do pretty much anywhere. Here the prop was the rope that we had used for the volleyball net in our mini-Olympics. Pulled tight between two trees at about two feet off the ground, it was hardly death-defying, especially when, under my own weight, the rope stretched, lowering me to ground-level. I fear a lot more practice (using

stiffer rope) will be required before I become a funambuliste.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Using the Flipped Classroom model with Expedition Workshed</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/using-the-flippedclassroom-model-with-expedition-workshed/</link>

<pubDate>Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:40:20 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[It's been one of those days where everything comes together. I have spent the day working on Expedition Workshed site, in particular a new blog aimed helping us have a better dialogue with the teachers who are using the resource in their teaching (I will post a link to the blog when it is ready in a couple of days). At the same time, I have been contributing to discussions related to a new paper that we will be publishing that sets out a model for understanding how structural engineers learn.

And now this evening I have been reading this interesting blog post

(http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/the-flippedclassroom-model-a-full-picture/#entry)about the Flipped Classroom model for teaching, in which material usually delivered during the lecturers and in class is instead delivered via online resources, freeing up classroom time for problem solving, group work, debating, creating and communicating. The post has some overlap with the paper that we are working on, and has got my cognitives whirling away thinking about how Workshed can be used to deliver the at home content.

The post sets out a cycle of learning with four stages:

1. Experimental engagement through hands-on activities, games etc

2. Concept exploration through content-rich website, pod-casts, online chats etc

3. Meaning making through reflective blogging, podcasts

4. Demonstration and application through creative personalised projects and presentations.

So here's my idea (and hopefully before too long I will be able to try it out). I would like to create a lesson plan for s series of activities that teach school children about construction materials and the fabric of their school.

The first stage would be a series of games and discovery activities using the fabric of the school is a stimulus. Learners could for example try to make a model of their school building out of paper, and see what they need to do to make it stronger.

In stage two they would go away and find out about materials and basic structural forms using the resources on Workshed.

In stage three would answer quiz questions about materials and simple structural forms using the interactive tools on Workshed.

In stage four, they would come back to the classroom and work in groups to develop their own design for a new school building, creating a poster or a model, and presenting their proposal to their classmates.

Whilst I have developed teacher packs before based around the design-and-build methodology, this post on Flipped Classrooms has motivated me to think about how the design-and-build can be more thoroughly split out and developed. I look forward to giving it a go.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Half a million pounds to save Roald Dahl's hut?</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/half-a-million-pounds-tosave-roald-dahls-hut/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[This morning the Today programme ran with the headline "£1/2Million to save Roald Dahl's writing hut". I woke up thinking 'how can that be'?



Possible scope of works:

Legal fees including planning consent, party wall agreement (if hut leans against neighbour's fence) and the blue plaque commission

Treatment for wood worm, rising damp and termites

Underpinning to counter subsidence

Stripping out of original timber superstructure and replacement with green oak structure

CAT5 wiring

Measures to bring hut up to Code for Sustainable Homes Level Six including:

External insulation

Draft proofing

Heat exchange

Biomass boiler

Solar-thermal water heater

Pogen Pohl minibar

Arm chair reupholstering

Making good

Why not ditch the hut and build an extension?]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Resisting Ikea - preparing for Monday's sustainability conference</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/resisting-ikea-preparingfor-mondays-sustainability-conference/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I spent most of last weekend preparing for a sustainability conference that we ran on Monday (post about that event appearing shortly). I know from experience that the last few days of organising any event like this always involve a mad dash to the shops, and this time was no different.

[slideshow]



But the theme of this conference was how to teach civil engineering students about sustainability, and an important part of the day was to show lecturers how very simple props can be used to provoke an emotional as well as a cognitive response to issues such as resource scarcity. For example, we planned to suspend a piece of paper over a bucket containing ten litres of water - the volume used to make a single sheet. So given the circumstances, my original plan, which involved hiring a Streetvan and driving to Ikea to buy the necessary props, seemed ludicrous.

The advantage, of course, of heading straight to that purveyor of curiously named Swedish flat-pack goods is convenience. My first thought was that I simply didn't have the time to shop around for alternative sources, but a quick search online showed that most of what I needed was available fairly locally.

The forty mugs and three tea pots that I needed I found in bright colours at the Reject Pot Shop on Chalk Farm Road, an emporium of reject crockery. The bookcase came from a warehouse in Tottenham packed to the roof beams with second-hand office furniture - I know where to go next time. Driving home I found all the other bits of construction material that I needed lying on the street. We borrowed other pieces of furniture from a local colleague,

which meant I got to drop round and see their snazzy solar-thermal water heaters on their roof.

Shopping for other bits took us up Blackstock Road and then on to the Transition

Finsbury '<a href="http://now-here-this.timeout.com/2011/09/16/well-oiledfestival-brings-community-spirit-to-finsbury-park/">Well Oiled</a>' festival in

Finsbury Park. There I ran into Astrid, someone I know from swing dancing who has set up a business making strudels from Dalston apples. She agreed to make enough strudel for our conference, which meant that on Sunday evening I was cycling up Kingsland Road with three strudels precariously balanced on pannier rack. (Her business is called Waffle Kafaffle - but when I tried searching for it online all I got was waffle falafel which is less appealing).

In the end, while few of the delegates will have known what efforts we went to to source the materials for the conference in a responsible way, I had a really enjoyable weekend scooting round looking for this stuff. Sure it took longer this way - but not that much longer - and I have found out about some great places to buy second-hand stuff, and a source for delicious strudel.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Notes on 'The Art of Doing Nothing' by Tom Hodgkinson</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/notes-on-the-art-ofdoing-nothing-by-tom-hodgkinson/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[This post is for the Front Row gang (you know who you are). Since we were talking about the concept of Fun for Free at the last

Front Row session, here is a rough-and-ready summary of the essay where I first heard of the concept, 'The Art of Doing Nothing' by Tom Hodgkinson. The essay appears in a book called 'Do Good Lives Have to Cost the Earth', edited by

Andrew Simms and Joe Smith.



'Don't just do something, sit there', is the phrase which summarises the way of life that Hodgkinson is suggesting, his observation being that the growth-centred

economic system that we are part of depends on people doing stuff and spending money. Even the green movement is great for big business because it creates the opportunity for industry to make more stuff, he argues. At the start of the essay,

Hodgkinson describes the good life as: one of 'parties and dancing and beer and wine'; one that 'tends to improve the common interest' - one that is green. He argues that you can achieve this sort of 'good life' by doing a whole lot less, and taking your time over it. He suggests there are two barriers to this way of life: the fear that a life with massively reduced consumption would be dull; and the fear of not having enough money.

These two fears however seem to take care of each other, cancelling each other out. Consuming less means you need less disposable income, so you can spend less time at work, and spend more time doing things creatively. And of course you need to be more creative to do things on a tighter budget. You spend less when you are not running around. Your quality of life can be richer rather than poorer. Hodgkinson acknowledges of course that you need money for rent and food, but elsewhere huge savings can by making your own fun. He goes on to explain how at a time of financial crisis, he and his partner decided they didn't need to spend money to have fun: they could make their own. They gave themselves two sweeteners: they allowed themselves to spend money on childcare and alcohol. And thus begins the hunt for fun for free.

He goes on to suggest ways in which he enjoys fun for free: going to Notting Hill

Carnival; baking bread; putting a piano in the kitchen and inviting friends round for a party; and overdosing on seasonal fruit and veg. The more you think about it, the more you realise there is to do. And decommoditised fun can meet all the requirements of the good life: it's sociable, stimulating, accessible, non-wasteful, bountiful, healthy...

In summary then: make your own fun; lead a richer life for less money; and do the environment a favour while your at it. I am certainly taken by the idea.

Follow my posts under the category fun-for-free to see how I'm getting with my experiments (category link coming soon).<br /><br /><a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/20110930-

191038.jpg"><img src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/20110930-191038.jpg" alt="20110930-191038.jpg" class="alignnone size-full"

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<title>Good laughs at Science Showoff</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/good-laughs-at-scienceshowoff/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I went down to <a href="http://www.scienceshowoff.org/">Science Showoff</a> last night at the

<a href="http://www.thewilmingtonarms.co.uk/">Wilmington arms</a>, 'an open mic night for all communicators of science'. The spectrum of material covered was rather large: from shining infra red light through the skulls of babies, to the biochemistry of baking; from the sad world of lonely neutrinos to the history of the space shuttle programme as told through a mash up of archive footage.



I learned that putting a small tray of water in the over when baking bread can cause the bread to have a better crust. This is because the water turns to steam

in the oven. Since steam is a better conductor of heat than air, the outside of the bread cooks more quickly - hence the better crust. How's about that then?

There's due to be a repeat event in November.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Time Travel at the Beach</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/time-travel-at-thebeach/</link>



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<content:encoded><![CDATA[I am sitting at the Kit Kat Cafe, perched on the dune at the back of Camber Sands, a vast stretch of sandy beach in East Sussex.

The beach is full of people enjoying the warm Autumn sun. In the distance there are kite surfers, and along the shoreline riders are galloping their horses in the shallow water.



Behind the dune is Pottins, my retro home for the weekend. I am here for the second year running with a group of friends for Rhythm Riot, a rock'n'roll dance weekender. For three nights bands and DJs will play from mid-afternoon to 5am.

All day, people walk around in vintage clothes, drive vintage cars, dance to vintage music, eat vintage food (go to the vintage dentist?) and watch vintage TV.

The dancing is great, but during the long daylight hours it is a bit much, so I have escaped to the beach to catch up on some reading for work.

My roommates have nicknamed me The Doctor for the way I have been wearing my mac with its collar up-turned, which is appropriate, because I just caught myself thinking of time travel, and how the beach will have looked, and will look at different times.

Starting with the 1820s, I am slowly making my way through Vanity Fair at the moment. The character Rawdon Crawley, largely ignored by his wife Becky, now spends his time galloping around the Sussex countryside. It is easy to imagine him being one of those riders galloping along the shore.

Now from the nineteenth century to the 1950s. With all the rockabillies who have escaped from Rhythm Riot it hard not imagine that I am on a holiday in the

50s. The family cowering behind the wind break are my grandparents in their

20s; those toddlers could be my parents - although it would be weird if they knew each other at that age.

And now to the year 2100. The Guardian reports today news of the IPCC's Special

Report on Extreme Weather, which brings stark warnings on extreme weather events that are likely to become more common in the event of on-going climate change. Even on a calm day the sea in the distance is fairly rough. It is easy to imagine a storm surge tearing up the beach and washing the Kit Kat cafe away.

Looking up from my screen, I see escaped rockabillies who have also chosen to escape Pontins for a bit of a breather. It is hard not to imagine that I too]]></content:encoded>







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<title>The Rise and Fall of Civil Engineering - courtesy Google's amazing ngram viewer</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/the-rise-and-fall-of-civilengineering-courtesy-googles-amazing-ngram-viewer/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I read an astonishing article this afternoon titled

'<a href="http://www.librarian.net/wp-content/uploads/sciencegooglelabs.pdf">Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized

Books</a>', published early last year in the journal Science. Based on Google's effort to <a href="http://www.google.com/googlebooks/library.html">digitise all books in all languages</a>, researchers have carried out computational analysis on a corpus of over 5 million books - approximately 4% of all books ever published - to give access to vast amounts of data on word use.

The availability of this data allows researchers to observe cultural trends and then subject them to quantitative investigation - the study of '<a href="http://www.culturomics.org/">culturomics</a>'. The paper illustrates fascinating changes in language size and use, and shows how the data is used to draw more socio-cultural conclusions.

Best of all, Google has a nifty tool for presenting the data called the <a href="http://books.google.com/ngrams">ngram viewer</a>, which has allowed me to do a little culturomics of my own for the field of engineering.



In the early noughties the civil engineering <a href="http://www.nce.co.uk/civil-engineering-degrees-see-further-decline-instudent-numbers/798513.article">profession in the UK has been concerned</a> about decreasing numbers of UCAS applicants for civil engineering courses. I wanted to know how the printed word had treated civil engineers since the term was coined at the start of the Eighteenth Century.

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/ngram-civil-eng-

1700to2000.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-466" title="ngram civil engineer 1700 to 2000" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/ngram-civil-eng-

1700to2000.jpg" alt="" width="584" height="214" /></a>

Looks like we reached our professional zenith during the First World War, and, like trench ladder, the term civil engineer has been in decline ever since. I wondered then if the trend is mirrored by our built environment cousins, the architects. The results are below.

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/ngram-civil-eng-arch-

1700to2000.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-468" title="ngram civil eng arch 1700to2000" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/ngram-civil-eng-arch-


Sounds depressingly familiar, but it looks like the architects have done a good PR job (a good 200 years before the term PR had been invented!)

<h2>Other people who have written about this</h2>

<h6>Related articles</h6>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://schoollibrarybeyondsurvival.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/cultural

-study-takes-a-grand-leap-with-google-books-ngram-viewer/">Cultural Study

Takes a Grand Leap with Google Books Ngram

Viewer</a> (schoollibrarybeyondsurvival.wordpress.com)</li>

<li><a href="http://bpistone.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/googlebooks-ngram-viewer/">Google Books Ngram

Viewer</a> (bpistone.wordpress.com)</li>

</ul>

<h2>Miscellaneous investigation by me</h2>

<h3>Concrete, Steel, Timber, Iron, Glass</h3>

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/conc-steel-iron-wood-

1800-2000.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-474" title="conc steel iron wood 1800-2000" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/conc-steel-iron-wood-

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<h3>The course of the word recycle</h3>

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Spot the second world war and the oil crisis?

<h3>Rise of the vegetarians</h3>

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<h3>Civil Engineer/ Estate Agent/ Violinist/ Civil Servant</h3>

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...my profession of choice is not as highly spoken of as the professions in the previous generation in my family.

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<title>Videos for a Sunday afternoon - the magic of human space flight</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/videos-for-a-sundayafternoon-the-magic-of-human-space-flight/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I have recently been reminded how human spaceflight can capture the imagination. This weekend I have been setting up

Twitter lists (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/eiffelover_/engineering-in-thepress">here</a>, for starters) to help me find engineering teaching resources - and stumbled upon this low-light video footage of the earth's surface taken from the International Space Station. If there ever was anything to get young people into science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), then space travel must be it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDEmtWLwMOM]

Seeing this reminded of a really moving compilation of space shuttle footage that did the rounds in July, and which the editor Charlotte Stoddart showed at the first <a href="http://scienceshowoff.org/">Science Showoff back in

October</a>. If you haven't seen it before, sit back and enjoy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II7QBLt36xo&feature=playe r_embedded]

I really like <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2011/jul/21/space-shuttlesunited-video-tribute">this quote from the Guardian article about this footage:</a>

<em>Nasa, an organisation that has put men on the moon, kept their video archive on VHS. One of my editors described this as "humankind's greatest achievement recorded on the world's lousiest format". </em>]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Cooking with Concrete at Science Showoff 5</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/cwc_at_ss5/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[Thanks to everyone who came down to <a href="http://scienceshowoff.org/">Science Showoff 5</a> to see my first attempt at Cooking with Concrete on stage. I think I was able to convince the audience that, like pastry or dough, concrete is indeed a versatile cooking ingredient. In a little under nine minutes we went through the my grandmother's

C35 concrete recipe, handed down to her by her grandmother. Unfortunately as concrete takes 28 days to reach testing strength we didn't have time to test the sample there and then, but we did have a look at the samples that we tested rather spectacularly in the lab back in August at Imperial.

I have uploaded the recipe to the new <a title="Cooking with Concrete" href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/cooking-with-concrete/">cooking with concrete section of this blog</a> - available for a short time only.

I'll be jointing the Science Showoff gang for the <a href="http://www.brightonscience.com/2011/category/scienceshowoff/">Brighton Science Festival</a> next week doing more 'hardcore' cooking. Next time I might even be able to bag some video footage.

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<title>The Future of Construction, Surveying...and rock'n'roll?</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/the-future-ofconstruction-surveying-and-rocknroll/</link>

<pubDate>Sat, 17 Mar 2012 08:21:14 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[The flying robots that Vijay Kumar and his team have built are breathtaking. In this TED talk, he explains how the flying machines work, shows how they can fly in formation to construct simple structures, perform astonishing acrobatics, and explore and map out empty buildings autonomously. Obviously it doesn't take much to think of more sinister uses of this technology, but another more positive application, shown at the end, shows a considerable amount of imagination...it is worth watching this to the end which is laugh-out-loud funny.

[ted id=1376]








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<title>Mapping stories - the journey of a Euro note</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/mapping-stories-thejourney-of-a-euro-note/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I like the idea of using maps to tell stories. I particularly like the idea or using a map to show an emerging story. A couple of years ago I had the idea of creating a personal Journey Planner map for the Tube, showing the bits of the Underground network that I had used in a year. The map would grow the more journeys I went on. This sort of map would of course be useless for planning journeys to new places - though I could just point my nose in the direction of the gaps and be sure to go somewhere new.

Leagues ahead of my uninitiated idea is a campaign I saw yesterday in the

Guardian in<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/17/rebranding-the-euro"> an article about ad agencies' suggestions for rebranding the Euro</a>. The proposal from ServicePlan in Munich is to track the journey of Euro notes through the Euro zone. <a href="https://www.connecting-euro.org">See concept website here</a>. Individuals would take part by scanning euro note serial codes using their phone, uploading the code to a database along with their geolocation and a photo, and over time see where else this same note travelled.

Over time a picture could emerge of currency travelling across the breadth of the

Euro promoting some sort of shared identity.

I like the idea, but as I type I realise I don't quite understand how each note's onward journey is tracked. If it relies on other people registering the same note, then that is one serious ad campaign that would be needed to get enough people

involved...and even then the story would get cut short as soon as someone the note in a suitcase under their bed!]]></content:encoded>







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<title>The Big Rig at 3 years old</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/the-big-rig-at-3-yearsold/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[This is the third March in a row that I have facilitated a low-carbon skills competition at the Big Rig, which makes the Big Rig

3 years old.

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/img_2367.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-532" title="IMG_2367" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/img_2367.jpg" alt="" width="584" height="436" /></a>



The <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/projects/view/the-bigrig/">Big Rig</a> was one of Think Up's first commissions, back in late 2009, and the first project that I saw from conception, through detailed design, and to facilitation, and even going on to make a short video about it (see link below).

The brief was to create a two-day event for people not in employment, education or training designed to raise their awareness of the growing training and employment opportunities in the low-carbon construction technology sector.

Our previous experience developing the Constructionarium had shown that transformative learning experiences can be effective in encouraging students to consider careers in construction. In those days we characterised these events as having a number of critical ingredients: excitement, reality, jeopardy and handson work. We used the same approach in developing a response to this brief.

Our idea was to create a two-day intensive learning event in which participants would be given a tricky design-and-build challenge that involved construction using low-carbon technologies (solar PVs, solar-thermal water heaters etc).

Working in teams, the participants would have the chance to experience working with a range of these technologies; and alongside the hands-on activities, participants would meet people currently employed in the associated trades and representatives from local colleges who could provide training in the installation of these technologies. The intention was that over the course of these activities, a participant's perspective may change with regards to the utility of these

technologies, and the role that they could envisage for themselves in future installing them.

The brief we settled on was to challenge participants to build a low-carbon shower, fed by rainwater and powered by the sun. The idea was that they should be given all the necessary components, but that they should design the system themselves. The event would be a competition between two teams. The team with the hottest water at the end of two days would be the winners. To host this sort of hands-on learning we decided to create our own specially designed venue, called the Big Rig. The idea was to create a robust three-storey outdoor classroom in which participants could connect together all manner of pipes and electrical systems in 3D. This arrangement meant that participants could arrange their components in all manner of configurations. It also brought a sense of scale to the event, a factor we believed to be important in creating an exciting and memorable experience.

The first event of this kind was called '<a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/projects/view/low-carb/">Low Carb at the Big Rig</a>'. It took place in March 2010 at the <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=national+construction+college+newha m&hl=en&client=safari&sqi=2&hq=national+construction+c ollege&hnear=London+Borough+of+Newham,+United+Kingdom&t=h

&z=13">National Construction College, Newham</a>, and was attended by

40 participants. <a href="http://vimeo.com/10952092">Click here for a video</a> about the first event, and read more about <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/projects/view/low-carb/">Low Carb on the Think Up website</a>. The first event was perceived to be a success by the commissioning organisation, a range of observers, and participants interviewed at the start and end of the project. Regrettably, no longer term learner evaluation process took place, partly because we were not able to have direct contact with the participants following the activities onsite. Nevertheless, we have been fortunate to be able to develop the Big

Rig concept further for other clients.

In October 2010, the Big Rig appeared at the trade show Interbuild, in this instance as a <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/projects/view/theretrofit-rig/">venue for show-casing low-carbon technologies</a>. In January

2011, the Big Rig took centre stage at the opening of a new construction centre in

Walthamstow. This time the event was modified to allow it to be held indoors: bicycle generators replaced solar PVs and homemade bio-mass boilers replaced the solar-thermal panels. Here the participants were school children studying for the Construction and the Built Environment Diploma. In March 2011, the Big Rig moved to the <a href="http://www2.cnwl.ac.uk/">College of North West

London</a> where it was one of the highlights of their Industry Day, designed to promote courses at the college. In this instance, the low-carbon shower challenge was run as a series of one-day heats held over the week leading up to a final competition between the two best teams. This time the Big Rig hosted a whole range of different groups of learners: school children, plumbing and electrical apprentices and professional tradespeople.

Last week, the <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/news/view/2012low-carbon-skills-awareness-competition-at-the-big-rig/">Big Rig returned to the College of North West London </a>for a repeat of last year's event. See my next post for observations on the most recent event.

So what's next for the Big Rig? Last week, watching people working away at their solar-powered contraptions, I was reminded just how an exciting learning format this is. Building on what we have, I think this format would be well suited to really exciting science experiments. I imagine a travelling version that could be taken to schools and used to inspire school children about science. And that's just the start: there's a whole host of 'Scrapheap Challenge' style events that it could be used for. The sky's the limit...that and funding.








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<title>Dan Lepard, my first loaf, and the value of fail-safe instructions</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/dan-lepard-my-first-loafand-the-value-of-fail-safe-instructions/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[My highlight of the Guardian Festival yesterday was Dan Lepard, regular baking columnist for the Saturday Guardian. In a packed room he gave five golden rules for successful bread baking. Listening intently, having never baked a loaf myself before, his directions seemed so clear and his approach so straightforward that I just wanted to go home and bake.

In this instance I think I probably fall into that category of learner who knows so little about baking that I needed clear steps to build my confidence, and it serves as a good reminder of how important it is to prepare a clear message when working with learners who lack confidence. As soon as members of the audience, clearly with more advanced 'kneads' (ha ha), chimed in with their clever questions about complicated stuff, I tried not to listen, so as not to lose that clarity of thought the presenter had given me.

And so I present my first loaves. May they be the first of many...<br /><br /><a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/20120325-









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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Nice start dude! You are definitely right to filter all the noise out of focussing on getting the basics right. Just looking at the structure of the dough that is bursting out of those cuts, you obviously managed to do just that. Let's not dwell on the shape though.... :o)

Rx]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Thanks mate. Er yeah, the shape needs a bit of work. Another four loaves on Tuesday I reckon. And of course while Dan

Lepard's talk yesterday led to this pique of enthusiasm, I was mightily impressed by your baking efforts in Switzerland last year.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[David Whitehouse, Editor, Short &

Sweet by Dan Lepard]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>david@danlepard.com</wp:comment_author_ema il>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://www.danlepard.com</wp:comment_author_u rl>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Oliver, congratulations on making the leap into baking your own bread. At this stage, you're right ot keep it simple and filter out the "white noise": get the basic recipe, the flavour, the degree to which you let the dough rise, and the baking time right, then go for the refinements. With a little guidance and the assurance that experience brings, you'll soon be on top of

things like shaping. When the time is right (if I might be permitted a quick bit of promotion), you might find some of Dan's books helpful, in providing you with advice and step-by-step photos of the shaping process - The Handmade Loaf and the latest (soft cover) edition of Baking With Passion would both give you some help there. Short & Sweet probably has the most "accessible" recipes, but not the step-by-step photos.

But most of all, well done!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Roll up roll up engineering communicators...time for more Science

Showoff</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/roll-up-roll-upengineering-communicators-time-for-more-science-showoff/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[...it's <a href="http://www.scienceshowoff.org/">Science Showoff</a> time (well it will be next Tuesday). That magnificent monthly occasion when enthusiasts from all walks of science tread the boards in an entertaining manner in a pub, a nice pub in fact. There's live demos, banjo-playing quantum mechanicians and people with witty things to share with you across the spectrum from biology to astrophysics. There's a good cause and a general feeling of bonhomie.

What's missing? Engineers. There's loads of stuff that engineers could talk about that this science-hungry audience would lap up. I had a go with <a href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/cooking-with-concrete/">cooking with concrete</a> and a Forth Bridge demo, and now it's my job to try to get more engineers to do the same. So if you think you it's up your street then come on down on Tuesday to get the measure of the place.

The next one after that will be on the 5th June, when you could have a go yourself. Go on...]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Notes from Hazel Hill/Slow Learning for teaching sustainability</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/notes-from-hazelhillslow-learning-for-teaching-sustainability/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I recently returned from a conservation weekend at Hazel Hill wood, the sixth such weekend in which I have participated, and a visit that prompted some more thoughts on ways we can teach sustainability in universities.

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/20120401-

154142.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/20120401-154142.jpg" alt="20120401-154142.jpg" /></a>

 The wood is a nature sanctury and is maintained by teams of volunteers to who congregate over a weekend to plant, uproot, tend, meand and sing songs aronud the camp fire.Being a relatively experienced hand at the wood,

I am starting to benefit from seeing how the site has changed over time (more about that in a minute). It also means that I can be left to look after a number of the weekend's projects now that I have a better idea of how things work.

Particularly satisfying this weekend was helping to set up a greywater system that uses the water which drains from the wood-fired hot tub to supply the irrigation system in the tree nursery. We also spent a morning watering over eighty saplings that stand to suffer from the predicted drought conditions this summer. A handful of these trees were self-germinating saplings that we had protected last year. It was great to see them surviving. In the evening we visited the bee hives. Two years ago there were two colonies on site; now there are nineteen. The bee keeper never fails to keep us enthralled with the intricacies of how bee colonies behave. Incredible.

<h2>Slow Learning</h2>

Watering trees gives you lots of time to think, and I caught myself thinking about how much I have come to understand about Hazel Hill wood since I first visited three years ago. On any single visit, you can learn a whole range of things about the flora and fauna, techniques for looking after trees etc. But a whole new dimension opens up over a period of regular visits: you can see how plants develop; you start to develop an appreciation of the timescales over which woodlands develop; you can see the impact of actions that you have taken on previous visits. On a single visit, you may learn the name of a particular species of tree; over a number of years you can see how that tree spreads its seeds, how these shoot up, and crowd out other species (I'm talking here about sycamores).

Above and beyond the simple fact of observation, I feel somehow affected by this knowledge; that it will change the way I feel towards that environment, and others.

I think you could call this process 'Slow Learning', and I think it is particularly appropriate for learning about ecosystems. And of course it sounds very similar to the philosophy of permaculture. But in general I think it can be characterised by patient observation of a long period of time. It is about observing change; but more significantly I think it is about somehow feeling that change on an

emotional level (otherwise, you could simply read about the changes that happen, say in a woodland environment-but it wouldn't have the same impact).

I recently researched and wrote a report for universities with suggestions for how sustainability education for undergraduate engineers could be improved

(published in a couple of weeks). And whilst I talked about the importance of getting involved with community projects (local conservation initiatives, for example), the reason was to get people involved with other community stakeholders. My experiences this weekend suggest an added benefit of regular involvement in a conservation project is this process of Slow Learning that I have described here - participants get the chance to not only see change, but experience it, which in turn may positively influence the way they behave with respect to their environment.]]></content:encoded>







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<category domain="post_tag" nicename="greywaterharvesting"><![CDATA[greywater harvesting]]></category>

<category domain="post_tag" nicename="teachingsustainability"><![CDATA[teaching sustainability]]></category>


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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Slow learning |

Kennelmanageme]]></wp:comment_author>


<wp:comment_author_url>http://kennelmanageme.shikshik.org/2012/04/04/s low-learning/</wp:comment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] Notes from Hazel Hill/Slow Learning for teaching sustainability … [...]]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[The Big Dig |



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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] weekends, and it seems to have worked well for us: in the end we were seven in total (see this previous post from Hazel






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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I think that what you posted was actually very reasonable.

But, what about this? what if you added a little information?

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I mean Notes from Hazel Hill/Slow Learning for teaching sustainability | Eiffelover is a little plain.

You might glance at Yahoo's front page and see how they create news headlines to grab people to click. You might try adding a video or a related picture or two to grab people excited about everything've got to say.

Just my opinion, it would make your blog a little livelier.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Notes from Migrations at the Tate Britain</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/notes-from-migrationsat-the-tate-britain/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[Notes on a few things that caught my engineer's eye at the Migrations exhibition at the Tate Britain today.

'Quickly Away Thanks to Pneumatic Doors' and 'Soon in the Train by Escalator', both by László Maholy-Nagy, 1937 are two eye-catching information posters that explain how new technologies will work to improve passenger journeys. The posters are clear, without being patronising. It makes me wonder why we don't do the same now to explain the engineering that is being employed to build the latest additions to the Tube. Right now in London, we have one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the capital underway, Crossrail, and yet the project feels hidden rather than celebrated. More public civil engineering information posters please - I am sure they would be avidly read by young and old.

 I saw for the first time work by Rasheed Araeen, a civil engineercome-sculptor particularly interested in working with industrial materials. (I particularly liked his sketches of sculptures done on BP calculation paper). It struck me that sculpture is a great way to learn about materials, their properties and how to work with them. I will definitely find out more about Araeen's work.

'Mr Collins from the ARP', Peter Peri, 193? - this larger than life bust is made from concrete. Peri chose the material because it is a cheap, durable and colourful medium for public sculpture. Close up the sculpture looks like dense foam, but it is also strangely untactile. Makes me think of that Parisisn pioneer of

landscape gardening <a href="http://wp.me/s1t3u-88">Monsieur Alphand</a>, chief engineer to Hausmann and creator of the artificial logs sculpted from concrete that line the pathways at the Buttes de Chaumon Park.

Cloud Canyons No. 3 - An ensemble of bubble machines, by David Madalla. This sculpture consists of a series of perpex tubes up which bubbles are pushed, emerging to form towers that collapse under their own weight, dripping to the ground to be collected and repumped back to the top. It looked quite a lot like my fourth year chemistry project!]]></content:encoded>







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<title>The Return of Scientific Curiosity and Creativity/Ideas for an Outdoor

Classroom</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/the-return-of-scientificcuriosity-and-creativityideas-for-an-outdoor-classroom/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[This post is about rediscovering a childhood fascination for how things work, and the thoughts it has provoked about creating learning environments that harness that fascination for the purposes of education. http://youtu.be/hEzWOOVbU2k

 When I was a kid I was fascinated by how things work: I used to spend hours drawing contraptions, making inventions or just asking difficult questions. It was based on real stuff - observations; and was limited by the materials I had to hand, my skills with tools, or the size of the piece of paper I was drawing on. You could call this a mixture of scientific curiosity, inventiveness and creativity. Whatever it was, by the time I had reached my late teens and was studying chemistry at university it was gone. By then I was fascinated by theories - molecular orbitals, quantum mechanics, and much later, maths - and I deliberately veered away from any subjects that involved practical application. Experiments were to be avoided at all costs, and anything related to material science, putting some of that theory into something resembling practice,

I had a real distaste for. I found them difficult and somehow un-pure.

When I decided to study civil engineering, it was certainly a move back towards doing something more 'real world'. But again, in that learning environment, I majored on theory, not on practice and I suspect it was because practice looked uninteresting, complicated or undervalued (the route to good marks, a powerful motivator, didn't go via the workshop).

Now I find that scientific curiosity returning, in particular in relation to materials

- how they are produced, how they are used, how they behave. I think this has in part been motivated by my work developing the online materials laboratory on the Workshed website. I have also found reading the 'Lunar Men' (<a

href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/sep/01/historybooks.higheredu

cation">Observer Review</a>; <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lunar-

Men-Friends-1730-1810/dp/0571216102">Amazon</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Society_of_Birmingham">Lunar

Society on Wikipedia</a>) , in which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_Darwin">Erasmus Darwin</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah_Wedgwood">Josiah Wedgwood</a>,

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watt">James Watt</a> and their pioneering circle of eighteenth century friends were fascinated by 'natural philosophy': the study of rocks, soils, flowers; chemistry and physics; and harnessing those discoveries to delve lop manufacturing.

I ask myself where did that curiosity and creativity go? Ken Robinson gave an<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U"> excellent talk at the

RSA</a> about how children are creative before they go to school, and spend the next thirteen years having it educated out of them. I find his observation aligns with my experience. But while he talks about creativity, what about scientific curiosity?

The other day, while comparing with M our experiences of doing scientific experiments at school, I suggested that what we were being taught was how to carry out specific experiments to illustrate certain points. Sure, we were taught how to create our own experiments, but for me this was in the context of an assessed practical lesson. The motivation for learning was extrinsic rather than intrinsic.

In his book <a href="http://www.danpink.com/drive">Drive, Daniel Pink</a> defines three essential requirements for intrinsic motivation: autonomy, mastery and purpose. Taking the theme of using the built environment as a giant classroom (a theme which I feel is emerging in my recent blog posts and work) it is interesting to think how each of these pre-requisites can be met in order to encourage intrinsically motivated scientific curiosity.

Let's start with autonomy. It seems natural to me that curiosity and experimentation is a natural extension of play, an activity that children get on with autonomously. And yet the formal way in which we teach science is disconnected from the informal play environment. If we could create a supercharged toy box, or play environment that allowed children to go beyond the limits of their regular toys, then perhaps perhaps self-motivated play would advance blur into experimentation with science and technology. I think the important thing here is to provide the right conditions for self-motivated

discovery. While there already exist many science-based toys, I imagine is important is to help build the cognitive framework that will allow children to discover things for themselves using any toy.

Moving on to mastery, lots of play is about mastery - mastery at computer games for example. Mastery takes time, and requires conditions which challenge.

Children might therefore benefit from a space in which they can keep coming back to play or to conduct their experiments, and in which they are challenged, perhaps by educators or mentors, to keeping trying harder.

Finally, purpose. On first reflection, it seems odd to associate a child's play with some greater purpose. On the other hand, I believe children can have a clear idea of what is 'right' and 'wrong'. The key must surely be to link play with a greater good that children might recognise. So for example, play at an ecology centre or community farm might very easily be linked with animal welfare, or the quality of the local environment.

I believe these pre-requisites could be met by creating some sort of communitybased learning environment - a cross between an after-school club and an ecology centre - and providing a loose but supportive system of supervision, which, combined, create the conditions to motivate scientific enquiry at an early age, laying the foundations for more formal scientific education and work later on.

These are loosely formed ideas, but I wanted to get them down as they form the basis of my thinking at the moment, and I see a stack of posts stacking up in future that I want to relate back to the points I have made in this post. I am only at the beginning of starting to research these ideas, and I am sure that when I delve deeper I will find many examples of these ideas already in practice. I will make it my business to find out more. All comments gratefully received!]]></content:encoded>







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<category domain="post_tag" nicename="erasmusdarwin"><![CDATA[Erasmus Darwin]]></category>

<category domain="post_tag" nicename="james-watt"><![CDATA[James

Watt]]></category>

<category domain="post_tag" nicename="josiah-wedgwood"><![CDATA[Josiah

Wedgwood]]></category>

<category domain="post_tag" nicename="ken-robinson"><![CDATA[Ken

Robinson]]></category>

<category domain="post_tag" nicename="motivation"><![CDATA[Motivation]]></category>


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<title>World tour of structural form at Cafe Scientifique</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/world-tour-of-structuralform-at-cafe-scientifique/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[A big thank you to the lovely audience at Cafe

Scientifique Brighton who welcomed me this evening for my talk, A World Tour of Structural Form. I felt very welcome indeed.

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The aim of the talk was to share a number of basic structural engineering principles and to demonstrate how these can be used to explain how buildings stand up. The talk was illustrated with structures from around the world. I promised no maths and no equations. I stuck to my promise, and judging from the audience responses to my questions, I think this method worked!

As I said on stage the talk was based on a workshop we developed at

Think Up for the Expedition Workshed website. If anyone is interested in downloading the slides or using the workshop then go to <a href="www.expeditionworkshed.org">www.expeditionworkshed.org</a> and click on Staffroom/Undergraduate and you will see the World Tour there. (<a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/index.php?mid=6&cid=62&am p;pid=442">This link will take you straight to the right page</a>)

I was asked a question about onion-shaped domes: are they self restraining? To which I didn't know the answer and promised I would find out more. When I do

I'll post the answer here.

<h2>More about the World Tour of Structural Form Workshop</h2>

The idea behind the world tour workshop is to encourage students to use an understanding of the real world to help them learn how to design. The workshop asks students to study a number of famous structures and to ask how they stand up. By the end of the exercise participants can deduce that structures (both at a global at an elemental scale) can be loosely categorised into compression struts, beams, arches and tensile elements. The intention is that having this basic understanding can help students analyse and better interpret what they see around them.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi Simon,

Really great to hear that you enjoyed the talk and liked the approach, which, as you say, I hope would bring more people into engineering in the first place, and then encourage them to stay there. Mind you, I am almost equally enthusiastic about film making and wine making...the world needs that too!

Oliver]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Bonjour!

Thanks so much for your talk last night. It was so interesting, and I totally support your paradigm for educating people about engineering. Maybe if my

BEng had been taught in this, practical way I may have a) found it more interesting, and b) worked in engineering ever, instead of which I work in film production and wine-making :D

Salut!

Simon (in English: Simon [god I'm hilarious])]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Talking structures with sculpture students at the University of Brighton. «]]></wp:comment_author>


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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] of Brighton. I was invited by Tom

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<title>A few photos from National Walk to Work Week</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/05/20/a-few-photos-fromnational-walk-to-work-week/</link>





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Last Friday, inspired by <a href="http://www.livingstreets.org.uk/walk-withus/events/walk-to-work-week">National Walk to Work week</a> I walked to work, first to the Hub in King's Cross, and then on to Oxford Circus. Here's a few photos I took on the way to King's Cross. I took a similar route on foot to that which I normally take on my bike, but being on foot I was much more inclined to stop and look at things en route. Highlights included trying out a <a href="http://www.monkey-do.net/content/arundel-square-treehouse">new tree house climbing frame in Arundel Square</a> and a precocious cat.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[If you liked the Arundel square tree house then please email Benjamin Dixon at planning@islington.gov.uk Ref.P121330 to support a Plnning Application for its retention. See http://www.monkeydo.net/content/arundel-square-treehouse for the full story.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Train + bike: the easy way to get to a festival</title>

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<content:encoded><![CDATA[

<div>Last year for<a href="http://www.cloudcuckooland.org/"> Cloud Cuckoo

Land</a> and this year for <a href="http://www.shambalafestival.org/">Shambala</a>, I've taken the train most of the way, and covered the final leg by bike. Often the most difficult bit of festival transport is the bit near the site itself, as country lanes groan under the weight of traffic they were never designed for. Even public transport, where available, struggles as it competes with cars.</div>

<div></div>

<div>Travelling by bike means you can get in and out of the festival gates quickly and leave the crowds behind. I think it improves your festival experience, as you are already in tune with the outdoors when you get to site. It also encourages you to bring less paraphernalia from home.</div>

<div></div>

<div>So, my top tips for getting to a festival by train and bike are:</div>

<div>

<ol>

<li>Check if the festival has any organised rides planned. They may have a meet at a certain station. It's a great way to meet other festival goers.</li>

<li>If you have a smart phone, buy a handlebar holster (£15) and download the amazing free app <a href="http://www.cyclestreets.net/mobile/">Bike Hub</a>. It's a sat nav for your bicycle that has cycle path as well as road data. As long as you know the postcode of where you are going, it is brilliant, freeing you up to reach any destination</li>

<li>Some train companies will let you reserve a place on a particular train, but it is not always easy. If you can get one early enough so that it is affordable, buy an open return ticket, so that if there is no space on the first train that comes for your bike, you can take the next one.</li>

</ol>

<li>Remember to smile at the people in the traffic jams!</li>

<h2>Train and bike, from London to Shambala</h2>

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I took the train in the morning from St Pancras to Market Harborough. There's a

Halfords right by the train station if you need any spare parts (as I did). Then it's straight down a disused railway line which takes you most of the way to the site.

Along the way there's Oxenden Tunnel (pictured), a disused train tunnel, which is fine to cycle down as long as you have a good light  (check out this <a href="http://www.greatoxendontunnel.co.uk/welcome.html">great site about the Oxenden Tunnel</a> - what a gem). It all adds to the sense of adventure.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Love the idea of emerging from a tunnel to the festival. Worth checking that there is secure bike parking too before you set off. (Next year can we come too?)]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Good times at Shambala |



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<title>Good times at Shambala </title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/good-times-atshambala/</link>






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<div>I think I often say this when I come back from a music festival, but

Shambala is one of the best festivals I've been to. It could be the post-festival giddiness that makes me say this; or that festivals are getting better. (Or even it could be that I'm getting better at choosing what to go to. Unfortunately this can't be true as I was invited by someone else to help with swing dance teaching.) In any case, I was only at Shambala for 24 hours, so it must be doing something right. A few highlights:

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<div><strong><a href="http://diplomatsofsound.org/portfolio-view/joedriscoll-and-sekou-kouyate/">Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate</a> at Chai

Whalers</strong></div>

<div>Sekou Kouyate is an astonishing Kora player, and this pair put on what was for me the best show of the festival.</div>

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<div><strong>Teaching swing dancing at the Idler Academy

Tent</strong></div>

<div>I love getting the chance to do pop up swing dancing classes. No one is expecting them, so there's no pressure, and the vibe is always great. I'm a big fan of Tom Hodgkinson and the Idler, and so I quickly gravitated towards the <a href="http://idler.co.uk/academy/">Idler Academy</a> tent. Fifteen minutes later, we'd agreed to put <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brace-

Yourself/129274723827717">Brace Yourself</a> on the bill for a beginners

Charleston class. What was initially expected to last half an hour went on for two, with people coming and going and learning routines. Plans were hatched to do more dancing with the Idler Academy - watch this space.</div>

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<div><strong>Simon Foster - it is rocket science</strong></div>

<div>I've seen Simon do a nine minute version of his show '<a href="http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/natur alsciences/physics/physicsoutreach/eventssummary/event_25-7-2012-14-35-

20">It is Rocket Science</a>' a couple of times as Science Showoff, so it was great to see the full-length version at the <a href="http://guerillascience.co.uk/">Guerilla Science</a> tent, making gun powder and explaining how firing electrons out of one's rear can propel one forward in space.</div>

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<div><strong>Arriving and leaving by bike</strong></div>

<div>It's the future - <a href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/train-bike-the-easy-wayto-get-to-a-festival/">see previous post</a>.</div>

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<div><strong>Catching up with the gang from Cloud Cuckoo

Land</strong></div>

<div>Chris and the crew from <a href="http://www.upcycle.org.uk/">Upcycle</a> were doing their free shop. Thanks for the sunglasses.</div>

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<div><strong>Haloumi</strong></div>

<div>I had the most amazing haloumi sandwich on Sunday. It contained acres of the stuff.</div>

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<div><strong>The Vibe</strong></div>

<div>Shambala is doing a good job of running a uncommercialised sponsorshipfree festival that's pushing a positive sustainable agenda. The whole thing felt great. I'd love to come back.</div>]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi ho Oliver!

Thanks so much for coming by our tent and giving a dancing lesson. It was the highlight of my festival. Can you email me asap as I am writing a piece about it for the Independent and need to check some facts with you.

Ta ra. I am on th@idler.co.uk]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Thoughts on developing a social media strategy for an educational resource</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/thoughts-on-developinga-social-media-strategy-for-an-educational-resource/</link>





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Over the last few weeks at Think Up we have been getting our <a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/index.php">Workshed</a> site (an open educational resource) ready for the start of the new university academic year. Part of this process has been putting in place our social media strategy for the year ahead. Over dinner with a friend last week I realise that this is easier said than done, especially as it is based on working with a number of social media tools over the last few years. To come at it cold can potentially be daunting, and potentially frustratingly slow.

This post therefore is to share with my friend and people in his position our approach to developing a social media strategy for an educational resource. It is by no means definitive or authoritative, and it is a work in progress. Where things do or don't work I will be happy to report them. I am also aware that people reading this post will be much more experienced in developing social media strategies. If that is you, and you see great big holes in what we are doing, then please tell me. Ultimately, the Workshed site that we are promoting is designed to improve the way people learn about engineering, and is free to use.

Anything that can be done to meet its aims can only be a good thing.

<div>

<h2>A bit of background</h2>

The Expedition Workshed website is now entering its third year in operation.

The aim of the site is to make the world's best engineering teaching resources available to all. The project was started by <a href="http://www.expedition.uk.com/main.php">Expedition Engineering</a>, and is developed and operated by <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/index/">Think Up</a>, Expedition's sister education company in the <a href="http://www.usefulsimple.co.uk/#/about/whos-on-board">Useful Simple

Trust</a>. Highlights of the site include:

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<ul>

<li>The interactive <a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/index.php?mid=2&cid=21&am p;sid=211">Push Me Pull Me</a> tools which allow students to play with structures and to develop an intuitive understanding of structural behaviour without having to solve a single equation;</li>

<li>The <a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/index.php?mid=2&cid=22&am p;sid=222">Materials</a> section, an online laboratory that allows students to watch over and over again stunning videos of experiments on materials that they would otherwise rarely get the chance to see;</li>

<li>The <a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/index.php?mid=2&cid=24&am p;sid=242">People</a> and <a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/index.php?mid=2&cid=23">Pr ojects</a> section, giving access to archive footage to help students develop their knowledge of important engineers and their achievements.</li>

</ul>

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<h2>The aim of the social media strategy</h2>

The site is free, and full of really useful things; the challenge is to spread the word about it. The engineering education sector does not have a single place where people go to get their news. It does not have a single place for online educational resources that people know to go to (that's what we are trying to create!).

<h2>Matching audiences and social media channels.</h2>

There are two quite district audiences for the site: students and academic staff - both use social media differently. For students, Facebook is the obvious way to get in touch. Twitter seems to be popular among student organisations, which in turn are a good channel for a wider student audience. The academic community seems to be reachable through a mixture of LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs.

And of course for both audiences there's the more old fashioned channels.

Posters for student common rooms; and mailing lists.

<h2>Be useful and not just a broadcast operation</h2>

I think that the biggest difference between using social media and previously

'regular' forms of promotion is that social media is a conversation. The normal rules of conversation follow. Be boring: no one will talk to you. Only talk about yourself; people will quickly stop talking to you. et cetera. Be helpful: people will come back to you. Enquire about other people: they will will gladly tell you how they are getting on.

A couple of people that I have spoken to have been disappointed to find that you can't just sit on the right key words and wait for people to come to you. It's got to be more active than that. Our strategy is therefore based around finding people to have conversations with.

For the academic community, this is about having a conversation about challenges that they face in their teaching, and looking for ways that the tools on

Workshed, or elsewhere, can help. We look for opportunities to run workshops with universities, and use these as the opportunity to strike up conversations.

One of the reasons for setting the blog was to help hold these conversations in public.

For the student community, we are keen to start conversations with student societies. There may be ways that we can help them meet their aims. For example, I was delighted to have recently been contacted by CivSoc, the student society that I used to run at Imperial College. I hope that through our network we can help them find contributions for their student newspaper Livic. Spreading the word about the Workshed website will be a byproduct.

<h2>Enthusiastic champions</h2>

We don't have to be the people leading the conversation. Our aim is to get to a position where enthusiastic champions can be driving the conversation

themselves. To do this you have to get the conditions right. A big inspiration here is the way lindy hop dance group Swing Patrol enthuses a group of volunteers to spread the word about swing dancing in London. The key here seems to be finding the people who already like what you are doing and saying 'thank you'.

We already have a group of academic staff enthusiastic about the Workshed site.

Later this month we are holding a free <a href="http://workshedblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/announcing-theexpedition-workshed-developers-conference-21st-september-

2012/">Workshed Developer conference</a>, the primary aim of which is to say thank you for all their enthusiasm and support.

We are also trying to make it as easy as possible for enthusiasts to champion the site. We have started making promotional material freely available through the blog. In our mailing list, we will suggest easy ways that people can help spread the word - they may not be aware of the things that they can easily do to help spread the word. For example, they may not be aware that it is immensely helpful to get other people to post things to your Facebook page - something anyone can easily do.

<h2>Co-development</h2>

If we can encourage other people to generate high-quality content for the site, then I think we will have created a sustainable entity. Social media offers a double whammy here: it can help facilitate people helping each other developing content; and it can people get recognition for the work that they have done, thus potentially motivating them to develop more content. However, this process is not automatic. An important part of our social media strategy is therefore to keep pointing out ways they can use social media when developing their own content for Workshed.

<h2>Miscellany</h2>

This post is already much longer than I expected, and risks becoming un-useful if it gets much longer. There's lots more I could add about what sorts of things we are posting to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Expedition-

Workshed/191548177602039">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/eworkshed">Twitter</a>, or how we are planning on using <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/ExpeditionWorkshed/videos">YouTube<

/a> or <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4240704&trk=hb_side_g">Lin kedIn</a>. But perhaps I'll save that for another post when we have a couple of months of operations under our belt.]]></content:encoded>







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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Back in 2004, I and fellow civil engineering student Andy Kosinski got together to create a new student newspaper for the civil engineering department at Imperial College. It was called Livic ('civil' backwards).

All of us involved with getting Livic started had a big vision for the departmental rag. The last time <a href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/livicat-three-years-old/">I posted about Livic</a> was in 2007 when the paper had reached its fourteenth edition. Back then things were going strong for Livic under Andy's editorship.

Until recently, I hadn't really heard much more about Livic. And then, two weeks ago, this year's newly elected Livic editor Hamish MacKenzie got in touch to do an interview. I was really chuffed, and, on reflection, happily surprised to hear that it is still going - surprised because as with lots of student societies, people come and go; initiatives wax and wane. It is not a given that things like Livic will survive. That it has survived is a credit to all the people that have steered the ship in the intervening time.

Hamish's getting in touch is timely. I recently started looking around for other engineering-related blogs to follow, and I have found very few. I am reminded that there are few engineers writing about engineering - something that I believe would help significantly to raise the profile of the profession. And here is an initiative that does exactly that.

Given its unusualness and its fragility (all it would take is for no editor to stand for election one year and the whole thing could be forgotten) I therefore feel the need to offer my support, and to invite other Livic alums to do the same. Since I graduated I have certainly learned a few things about how universities, professional institutions and engineering companies work, and I hope that I and others could use this knowledge to help support and grow Livic, whether it's by finding sponsorship, suggesting stories, or writing columns about life in the workplace.

Hamish and I have already talked about me contributing a regular column about

Workshed. It has also crossed my mind that an online archive of old copies would be a useful thing. If you are reading this post because your a Livic alum and I've pinged to you, maybe there's ways that you would be willing to lend a hand.

Hamish - I hope this is useful...]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi Andy! I had forgotten about Live! It seems that CGCU has forgotten about Live as well. Still, for the moment this is a good record of 2007 to 2008 articles. (I particularly like 'Where's Wadee' piece!).

Do you have any print or electronic copies of the ones you edited in 2006-2007 or were they all online?]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Andy Kosinski]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>akk333@gmail.com</wp:comment_author_email>

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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Good to hear Livic still going strong. I remember arranging for Live!, the newspiece of CGCU, to publish Livic online on their website. The old articles are still up there: http://live.cgcu.net/editions/livic/

Live! itself seems to be lying dormant now, though, so perhaps this couldn't be resurrected.]]></wp:comment_content>





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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Hi Oli! I reckon I have them on CD storage somewhere....

I do know that the librarians at Skempton preserved hard copies for posterity.

My abiding memory strangely is the Pro vs Con debate over Facebook (when it had first launched) that we backpaged one time. What a snapshot in time!!

"Straight Outta Skempton"]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Catastrophe with 24 bit sound - showing at UCL on Wednesday 12th

September</title>


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<content:encoded><![CDATA[I heard a preview of the new sound effects on

Catastrophe last week and they left me grinning. -

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<title>Speaking with Pictures - Peter Ayres at Big Draw Big Make at the

V&A</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/speaking-with-picturespeter-ayres-at-big-draw-big-make-at-the-va/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_33881.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-707" title="IMG_3388" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_33881.jpg" alt="" width="584" height="436" /></a>

This afternoon M and I dropped in to the V&A to see what was happening at

Big Draw, Big Make. The first talk that caught our eye was Speaking with

Pictures, by Peter Ayres from Hetherwick Studio.



He was presenting in a small space to the side of Cornelia's Parker's installation

'Breathless' (pictured above). Peter showed how sketches can be used to communicate ideas during the design process, illustrating his talk with sketches from Hetherwick Studio's East Beach Café project. He also showed sketches from their Teeside Power Station project. (I had forgotten about this project, but it is timely to have been reminded of it as I think it fit nicely into the set of <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/news/view/energy-teachingresources-for-schools-a-new-commission/">energy-generation learning resources</a> we are working on at Think Up.). As much as his sketches from the office, I enjoyed see the others that he had made to illustrate all sorts of ideas, from fancy dress costumes to how to overtake in Sri Lanka.

I would call myself a devotee to the church of sketching (I helped out a Big Draw event three years ago at St Pancras station). When I talk to undergraduate engineers about design, I often emphasise the importance of thinking through ideas with a sketch (we have a whole <a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/index.php?mid=2&cid=25&am p;pid=215">section on sketching</a> on our Workshed site). And at <a href="http://www.usefulsimple.co.uk">Useful Simple</a> we even issued with sketch books rather than lined notebooks. But I have to confess that these days I find myself filling them with notes, timesheet logs and reminders - rather than sketches. Peter's talk reminded me that there is so much pleasure and value in drawing. I promise to sketch more!]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Chapter Two: Parenthood</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/chapter-twoparenthood/</link>





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Last week M and I had a little baby daughter. We are so thrilled to welcome her to the world, and excited about everything that she brings. Baby photos are off-topic for this blog, but this little person is already reshaping my world, so I am sure she will be wriggling her way into my posts in her own way. Watch this space.

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<title>Skyfall, starring Daniel Craig...and Bazalgette's sewerage system</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/skyfall-starring-danielcraig-and-bazalgettes-sewerage-system/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[Being set mostly in London, the latest James

Bond film, Skyfall, takes us an action-packed tour of some the city's great engineering projects: disused Underground tunnels, <a class="zem_slink" title="Joseph Bazalgette" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.530746,-

0.001754&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.530746,-0.001754

(Joseph%20Bazalgette)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Bazalgette</a>'s embankment sewerage system, and even the ancient tunnels under <a class="zem_slink" title="Smithfield, London" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.5186861111,-

0.103422222222&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.5186861111,-

0.103422222222 (Smithfield%2C%20London)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Smithfields</a>, adjacent to the <a class="zem_slink" title="Crossrail" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossrail" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Crossrail</a> site at <a class="zem_slink" title="Farringdon station" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.52,-

0.1053&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.52,-0.1053

(Farringdon%20station)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Farringdon</a>. Even Bond is supposed to be scaling a skyscraper in <a class="zem_slink" title="Shanghai" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=31.2,121.5&spn=0.1,0.1&q=3

1.2,121.5 (Shanghai)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Shanghai</a>, it is in fact The <a class="zem_slink" title="Bishopsgate Tower" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.5145,-

0.0829&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.5145,-0.0829

(Bishopsgate%20Tower)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Bishopsgate Tower</a> (pictured). I was bemused to see that the meticulous plan of the villain seemed to depend on the District line running without delay. Was this meant as a joke?

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bishopsgate1.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-741" title="Bishop's Gate" alt="" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bishops-gate1.jpg" height="438" width="584" /></a>]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Built in Britain</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/built-in-britain/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/paddingtonmural.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-725" title="Paddington mural" alt="" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/paddingtonmural.jpg" height="436" width="584" /></a>Yesterday I watched the first episode of <a class="zem_slink" title="Evan Davis" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Davis" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Evan Davis</a>'s two-part programme <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nd290">Built in Britain</a>. If you like engineering then you'll love this. It is great to see a big-budget BBC feature on civil engineering that both celebrates modern engineering projects in the UK, but also attempts to answer some of the more difficult questions that new infrastructure projects raise. I feel that engineering programmes usually feature the superlatives - biggest, tallest, longest, deepest - and miss the more important issues, like what societal benefit large-scale engineering projects do, or in some cases don't, bring. The example of the A3 tunnel under the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Punch_Bowl">Devil's Punch

Bowl</a> is a great example of how the case can be made for an expensive infrastructure projects (see links below). And the example of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kielder_Water">Kielder dam</a> shows how risky predicting the future is.



I liked Davis's description of the transformative effect of infrastructure: not just the ability to transport goods from A to B; but the capacity to change what people think about the place that they live in - even what they think about themselves. For example, a new railway may suddenly make the population of an inland town perceive that they live closer to the sea.

A refreshing feature was an interview with people who objected thirty years ago to the construction through their neighbourhood of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M25_motorway">M25, London's orbital motorway</a>. Today those protesters admit that they wouldn't want to see the motorway gone. This is a take on nimby protests that is rarely seen.

It is a bit disappointing that the project managers and operators were engineers, but the featured visionary was an architect. Some things don't change.<em>

</em>

See also Evan Davis's article '<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-

19831559">Is Britain Experiencing a Golden Age of Engineering?</a>'

<strong>Links - A3 <a class="zem_slink" title="Hindhead Tunnel" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.1109,-

0.7322&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.1109,-0.7322

(Hindhead%20Tunnel)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Hindhead tunnel</a> (Devils Punchbowl) </strong>

<ul>

<li>See the excellent <a href="http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/roadprojects/a3-hindhead-improvement/">Highways Agency page</a> about this project, which includes project data and diagrams.</li>

<li>Read the <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/local-toyou/london-and-south-east/view-page/item777885/">National Trust page</a> about this project</li>

<li>Watch this video of someone riding through the tunnel on their motorbike!</li>

</ul>

<em>Image - mural at Paddington Station</em>








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<title>An end to 'nailing the start but messing up the finish'</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/an-end-to-nailing-thestart-but-messing-up-the-finish/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I find that when I am memorising any sort of sequence - song lyrics, dance moves, lines for a presentation - I usually over rehearse the beginning and spend hardly any time on the end. This seems to happen whether I am directing the learning myself, or if I am learning as part of a group under someone else's direction. It is frustrating because it feels like a waste of time, and the frustration grows as the rehearsal time starts to run out.

I think this pattern emerges because it is always easier just to go back to the start than to begin a run-through from a mid-point. It also requires confidence to say, ok I am done with that first part now and I don't need to repeat it for a while.

To help resolve this problem I have turned to a revision technique I came up with many years ago to help me memorise vast amounts of information for my chemistry finals. Back then I reckoned that if I learned something and practised recalling it seven times, increasing each time the gap between each practice run, then I could be confident that it would stick.

So for example if I spent fifteen minutes memorising something at the top of the hour, I would attempt to recall it at half-past, then on the hour, then an hour later, then two hours later, then later that afternoon, and then the next morning etc. I would then use the gaps between these repetitions to start learning other material using the same method. Unsurprisingly I needed to create a detailed timetable of what I was supposed to be working on when. But the advantage was that at any time I wasn't over rehearsing one particular part over another. I just looked at the timetable to see what to do next.

This method worked for me back then (although my choice of what material to concentrate on was not necessarily so astute) so I have decided to update it for helping me to structure rehearsals for learning a song or dance routine. To start with I simply want to code the sequence for memory recall.

For this exercise I am assuming that I have a sequence that can be broken down into five manageable chunks, labelled A to E. A manageable chunk is one that can be practised a few times in a five minute period. To work out in what order I should work on each section I apply the following rough rules:

<ol>

<li>Double the length of the gap between repetitions of a particular section every time.</li>

<li>Where there is a clash and two chunks require rehearsing in the same time slot, prioritise the less rehearsed chunk.</li>

<li>When the gaps start to get large between individual practice sessions, group them together for convenience.</li>

</ol>

Applying these rules the sequence for rehearsing this five chunk section goes something like:

<table border="0">

<tbody>

<tr>

<td>Time mark</td>

<td>Chunk</td>

<td>Time mark</td>

<td>Chunk</td>

<td>Time mark</td>

<td>Chunk</td>

<td>Time mark</td>

<td>Chunk</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>1</td>

<td>a</td>

<td>21</td>

<td>c</td>

<td>41</td>

<td></td>

<td>61</td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>2</td>

<td>a</td>

<td>22</td>

<td>e</td>

<td>42</td>

<td></td>

<td>62</td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>3</td>

<td>b</td>

<td>23</td>

<td></td>

<td>43</td>

<td>d</td>

<td>63</td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>4</td>

<td>a</td>

<td>24</td>

<td></td>

<td>44</td>

<td></td>

<td>64</td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>5</td>

<td>b</td>

<td>25</td>

<td></td>

<td>45</td>

<td></td>

<td>65</td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>6</td>

<td>b</td>

<td>26</td>

<td>e</td>

<td>46</td>

<td></td>

<td>66</td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>7</td>

<td>a</td>

<td>27</td>

<td>d</td>

<td>47</td>

<td></td>

<td>67</td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>8</td>

<td>c</td>

<td>28</td>

<td>a</td>

<td>48</td>

<td></td>

<td>68</td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>9</td>

<td>c</td>

<td>29</td>

<td></td>

<td>49</td>

<td></td>

<td>69</td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>10</td>

<td>b</td>

<td>30</td>

<td></td>

<td>50</td>

<td>e</td>

<td>70</td>

<td>c*</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>11</td>

<td>c</td>

<td>31</td>

<td></td>

<td>51</td>

<td></td>

<td>71</td>

<td>d*</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>12</td>

<td>d</td>

<td>32</td>

<td></td>

<td>52</td>

<td></td>

<td>72</td>

<td>e*</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>13</td>

<td>d</td>

<td>33</td>

<td>b</td>

<td>53</td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>14</td>

<td>a</td>

<td>34</td>

<td>e</td>

<td>54</td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>15</td>

<td>d</td>

<td>35</td>

<td>c</td>

<td>55</td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>16</td>

<td>c</td>

<td>36</td>

<td></td>

<td>56</td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>17</td>

<td>b</td>

<td>37</td>

<td></td>

<td>57</td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>18</td>

<td>d</td>

<td>38</td>

<td></td>

<td>58</td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>19</td>

<td>e</td>

<td>39</td>

<td></td>

<td>59</td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>20</td>

<td>e</td>

<td>40</td>

<td></td>

<td>60</td>

<td>a</td>

<td></td>

<td></td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

This procedure could be thought of as a code for learning sequences. Using the same rules, more chunks can be learned, the chunks can be longer or shorter, and the time increments used for the code can be varied. Note that the final few repetitions, marked with an asterisk, I have pushed together for the sake of practicality. I am sure lots more 'smoothing out' could be done to make this procedure more convenient.

<h2>Application in a two-hour dance rehearsal</h2>

The goal may be to learn a minute-long sequence broken down into five twelve second chunks. If you spend three minutes on each twelve second chunk, then you could get as far as rehearsing each of the five parts four times in a way that doesn't prioritise one part over another.

Of course the question is then how should the next rehearsal start? One option would be to repeat the process but changing the order of the chunks. Another way would be to run the sequence once, and then choose to work on the parts that didn't work. Finally, the sequence could be practised in one go, and then new material added using the same technique.

<h2>The basis of an app?</h2>

Presented as I have done here, the above method doesn't come across as very user-friendly. What this really needs is a simple app that can simply call out which section to work on next...another project to add to the someday-maybe list.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Things to do in Berlin: go to the Museum of Things</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/things-to-do-in-berlin-goto-the-museum-of-things/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[On the to do list for my next visit to Berlin (which may not be for some time...*), the Museum of Things. See <a href="http://www.museumderdinge.org/actual_state_of_affairs/">this link</a> from the museum's website on current exhibits (and <a href="http://m.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/sep/17/dangerous-designmuseum-of-things">this</a> from the Guardian). The museum has recently added the <a class="zem_slink" title="Frankfurt kitchen" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_kitchen" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Frankfurt Kitchen</a>, a 1920s prototype of the modern kitchens with which we are familiar today. Reading about the Frankfurt Kitchen reminded me of an exhibition that I went to see on Charlotte Perriand (<a href="http://designmuseum.org/design/charlotte-perriand">Design Museum profile)</a>, who was designing in the 30s the sorts of furniture that you'd recongise in Ikea today. From furniture design and architecture to music, I am always surprised just how old 'modern' is.

*maybe in the meantime I should make the time to go to the <a href="http://designmuseum.org/">Design Museum,

London</a>.]]></content:encoded>







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Museum]]></category>


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<category domain="post_tag" nicename="furniture"><![CDATA[Furniture]]></category>

<category domain="post_tag" nicename="ikea"><![CDATA[Ikea]]></category>

<category domain="post_tag" nicename="london"><![CDATA[London]]></category>

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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[traceygooch]]></wp:comment_author>

<wp:comment_author_email>tracey_gooch@yahoo.co.uk</wp:comment_author_ email>

<wp:comment_author_url>http://donttouchthedinosaurs.wordpress.com</wp:c omment_author_url>




<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I absolutely love this place, if I could run my own museum I would probably just copy it! For some pics of it have a look at my blog post...http://donttouchthedinosaurs.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/140/]]></wp

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<title>A3 Hindhead Tunnel: User notes for the London-to-Portsmouth

Motorist</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/a3-hindhead-tunnel-auser-notes-for-the-london-to-portsmouth-motorist/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hindhead_Tunnel_Open_Day_-

_North_Portal.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="zemanta-img-inserted zemantaimg-configured" title="English: Hindhead Tunnel A3 Open Day 14th May ..." alt="English: Hindhead Tunnel A3 Open Day 14th May ..." src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Hindhead

_Tunnel_Open_Day_-_North_Portal.jpg/300px-Hindhead_Tunnel_Open_Day_-

_North_Portal.jpg" height="200" width="300" /></a> English: Hindhead Tunnel

A3 Open Day 14th May 2011 North Portal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

For many years the London to Portsmouth motorist would often have been delayed in tail-backs where the A3 wound its way up the closely packed contours of the <a class="zem_slink" title="Devil's Punch Bowl" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.11689,-

0.72887&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.11689,-0.72887

(Devil%27s%20Punch%20Bowl)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Devil's Punchbowl</a>, a site of special scientific interest. But not so any more thanks to a twin-bore tunnel which sends the A3 beneath this stunning part of the Surrey landscape.

Here are a few things for the curious motorcar driver to know on as he or she whizzes 65m under the landscape:

<ul>

<li>The tunnels were designed by <a class="zem_slink" title="Mott

MacDonald" href="http://www.mottmac.com" target="_blank"

rel="homepage">Mott MacDonald</a> and the lead contractor for the construction was <a class="zem_slink" title="Balfour Beatty" href="http://www.balfourbeatty.com" target="_blank" rel="homepage">Balfour

Beatty</a>.</li>

<li>Construction time for the tunnels was just over three years and followed by 22 years of planning, consultation and design.</li>

<li>At the northern end, 179 reptiles were trapped and relocated to the other side of the Punchbowl. Clearance of woodland took place over a year to allow local dormice to move out.</li>

<li>The two tunnels are roughly 1.8km long. They were built using a sprayed concrete method. Using this method each tunnel is built in two halves: the top heading (above) and the bench heading (below). The top heading, which supports the ground above the tunnel, is built first. An excavator is used to dig out 0.5m to 2.0m of ground at the face of the tunnel. The sides of this newly excavated section are then sprayed with quick-setting concrete, to stabilise the newly excavated roof and walls. Whereas concrete is usually reinforced with steel bars, this sprayed-on concrete is reinforced with tiny fibres, which can be mixed in with the wet concrete and sprayed in place very quickly. This sprayed concrete is 200 mm thick. The construction of the bench heading follows the construction of the top heading (for more information on this construction technique see NATM in the links section below).</li>

<li>The construction team achieved excavation rates of up to

53m/week.</li>

<li>The traffic rushing through the tunnels keeps them ventilated (this piston effect is also how the <a class="zem_slink" title="London Underground" href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube" target="_blank" rel="homepage">London

Underground</a> is ventilated). When traffic is slow, a set of fans kick in to keep the air moving.</li>

<li>The tunnels are fitted with a radar accident detection system that detects slow or stopped vehicles, pedestrians, and animals and large debris.</li>

<li>The tunnel scheme cost £371m.</li>

<li>The original A3 carriage way through the Devil's Punchbowl has been returned to nature.</li>

</ul>

<h2>Directions for an engineering detour</h2>

If you are already driving down the A3 then no detour is necessary to view the

Hindhead tunnel. By rail the nearest station is <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=haslemere+station&hl=en&sl

l=51.069554,-

0.725907&sspn=0.072379,0.110378&hnear=Haslemere&t=m&a mp;z=16&iwloc=A">Haslemere</a>.

<h2>Related posts on this blog</h2>

<ul>

<li><a title="Built in Britain" href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/built-in-britain/">Built in

Britain</a> (featuring the <a class="zem_slink" title="Hindhead Tunnel" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.1109,-

0.7322&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.1109,-0.7322

(Hindhead%20Tunnel)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Hindhead

Tunnel</a>)</li>

</ul>

<h2>Further reading and references</h2>

<em>Overview</em>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/article/10.1680/cien.12.0000

5;jsessionid=1849k02f8ay0i.z-telford-01">Going under the Devil's Punch Bowl: the story of the A3 Hindhead tunnel</a>, UK, Proceedings of the ICE - Civil

Engineering, Volume 165, Issue 4, 01 November 2012 , pages 162 –170 , ISSN:

0965-089X, E-ISSN: 1751-7672 - this article inspired this post.</li>

<li>Read the <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/local-to-you/london-and-southeast/view-page/item777885/">National Trust page</a> about this project</li>

<li>Watch this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nuKntSzQI0">video</a> of someone riding through the tunnel on their motorbike!</li>

</ul>

<em>Construction information</em>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMFo1fN_Exk">A video</a> explaining the <a class="zem_slink" title="New Austrian Tunnelling method"

href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Austrian_Tunnelling_method" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">New Austrian Tunnelling Method</a>

(NATM)</li>

<li><a href="http://tunneltalk.com/Spray-on-waterproofing-Mar10-

Hindhead-application-UK.php">Technical information on the construction</a> of the tunnel from <a href="http://tunneltalk.com/index.php">Tunnel

Talk</a></li>

<li>See the excellent <a href="http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/road-projects/a3-hindheadimprovement/">Highways Agency page</a> about this project, which includes project data and diagrams.</li>

</ul>

<em>Blogs</em>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://a3tunnel.blogspot.co.uk">A3 Hindhead Tunnel blog</a> - contains some great photo slide shows of the construction. Note that many of the images in the main body of the blog no-longer appear to link to anything, but the slideshows on the left-hand side do work.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.weyriver.co.uk/theriver/places_10_hindheadtunnel.html">T he Devil's Punchbowl and the Hindhead Tunnel</a> - an in-depth article from the Wey Valley website that describes in some detail the various stages in the construction and the local reaction.</li>

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<title>The New River Clissold Park to Finsbury Park</title>

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<title>Talking structures with sculpture students at the University of

Brighton.</title>




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<title>Going full circle on the Overground</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/going-full-circle-on-theoverground/</link>






<img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-778" alt="IMG_3920" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/img_3920.jpg" width="584" height="436" />

I feel like a bit of a wally standing here in the rain at Clapham High Street

Overground station. There are many shorter ways to get me home, which is diametrically across London from here. I could for example slice straight through the middle on the <a class="zem_slink" title="Northern line" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_line" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Northern Line</a>. But I want to take the slow circumferential route simply because for the first time, I can.

When I was a kid, waiting for the train to school, I used to look at the 'London

Conmections*' map and think that there must be a way to join up all those bits of track to make a loop around the capital. Over the last few years, as part of its work to develop the <a class="zem_slink" title="Overground Network" href="http://www.overgroundnetwork.com" target="_blank" rel="homepage">Overground network</a>, <a class="zem_slink" title="Transport for London" href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk" target="_blank" rel="homepage">TfL</a> has been investing in the missing links - the elbows - that make this possible. Today the final one, a section between <a class="zem_slink" title="Surrey Quays railway station" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.49358,-

0.04717&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.49358,-0.04717

(Surrey%20Quays%20railway%20station)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Surrey Quays</a> and <a class="zem_slink" title="Queens

Road Peckham railway station" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.4736,-

0.0573&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.4736,-0.0573

(Queens%20Road%20Peckham%20railway%20station)&t=h"

target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Queens Road Peckham</a>, opened allowing Overground trains to run from <a class="zem_slink" title="Highbury

& Islington station" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.5458,-

0.105&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.5458,-0.105

(Highbury%20%26%20Islington%20station)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Highbury and Islington</a> via the old East London line route round to <a class="zem_slink" title="Clapham Junction railway station" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.4646,-

0.1705&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.4646,-0.1705

(Clapham%20Junction%20railway%20station)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Clapham Junction</a>.

And so today, for the first time, it is possible to orbit London by Overground. I can't say I've been waiting for this moment for years. But I found it hard to pass up the opportunity to do the loop on its inaugural way. I even organised to have lunch with a friend who lives at the circle's southern extremity.

But I have to say no one around me seems that bothered. (Where's the bunting?)

A man got on with a Christmas tree at Hoxton and rode two stops. A carnival of men dressed in animal onezees boarded at Clapham Junction and alighted for

Westfield. But I doubt many of the people around me are going full circle. And of course that is not the point. (Although who can sniff at a 1 hour 45 minute tour of

London's finest post-industrial landscapes for just £2?) The point is that the development of the Overground has changed the shape of London for me and countless other people within its locus.

<div>

London is a city that developed radially, with private rail companies building routes in straight lines out to the countryside to build new suburbs in which to house their passengers. Getting into two was easy - that was the point; but going round the edges has always been difficult. So for example a journey from say

Forest Hill to Hackney - not so far as the crow flies - took well over an hour. On the Overground they are now 20mins apart.Now as I circumvent the centre of town, I am aware of how much closer far away places now are. And for me (and perhaps for the boy I saw at <a class="zem_slink" title="Peckham Rye railway station" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.46989,-

0.06886&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.46989,-0.06886

(Peckham%20Rye%20railway%20station)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Peckham Rye</a> taking a photo of the train I am on) that's the exciting bit: new London connections!

</div>

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<div>*I can't find a version of this map from the 80s, but <a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/london-rail-and-tube-servicesmap.pdf">here</a>'s the current London Connections map on the TfL website</div>]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Just found Diamond Geezer's <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-overgroundorbit.html" rel="nofollow">description of the same journey</a>. It's much better than mine!]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>The Big Dig</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/the-big-dig/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-786" alt="Big Dig" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/big-dig.jpg" width="584" height="436" />

This is not a post about the civil engineering megaproject to put a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig">massive road underground</a> in

Boston. This is a post about spending a very satisfying day with a gang of friends and family 'heaving hoe' in our garden.



We commissioned our friend Amanda Dennis to come up with a design for our garden. As it was, the garden was almost completely paved over, with three lifeless beds and a couple of rampant but fruitless grape vines. Amanda took our rough notions of what we wanted where, and turned them into a beautiful pencil, ink and watercolour design, accompanied by a timetable for action. Number one on the agenda: lift those paving stones and give the soil some love.

Soil is fascinating stuff. It can tell so many stories; it is full of metaphorical meaning; full of things left behind - forgotten about. We dug a test pit a few weeks back and found compacted stony soil over patches of broken brick.

Probably a load of construction waste covered over by a thin layer of soil, and then squashed by paving stones for twenty years.

Amanda's proposed medicine for this sick patient: double dig the beds and single dig the area pegged out for grass. Recognising that this was going to be no easy job, we put out a call for volunteers among friends, family, and also <a href="http://www.timebanking.org/timebanks/highbury-timebank/">Highbury

Timebank</a>, to spend a day digging in return or breakfast, cake, lunch, cake, tea and beer. This is a formula that works well down at Hazel Hill where we work on conservation weekends, and it seems to have worked well for us: in the end

we were seven in total (see <a title="Notes from Hazel Hill/Slow Learning for teaching ;sustainability" href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/notes-from-hazel-hillslowlearning-for-teaching-sustainability/">this previous post</a> from Hazel Hill)

Double-digging is apparently character-building. Now I know why. It starts with digging a trench along the edge of a bed to two spades' depth. Then, you dig another trench adjacent to the first, putting the soil from the second trench into the first, and incorporating any additional materials (sand, grit, compost) as you go. And so on with the third trench. Effectively you are turning the soil over to two spades' depth, breaking it up, incorporating air and nutrients.

Not so easy in our rubble-filled garden. Every trench needed to be worked at with a mattock (a terrifying tool at first wield) and the soil, when it is dug out, needs to have the largest stones removed before going back in. This was hard work, and yet it was immensely satisfying. I think there was a collective sense that we were literally breathing life into the soil, and ultimately into the garden.

I've been recently inspired by Kevin McCloud's series '<a href="http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/kevin-mccloud-goes-offgrid-for-new-c4-series">Man Made Home</a>'. His whole project seems to be one of discovery, learning about materials, about techniques and the environment he inhabits. In one day of digging I've learned a lot about our little patch of ground already. And I have relearned the great pleasure of team work and physical exertion, especially after a week in front of the office. I look forward to inviting everyone back in the summer so that to see where plants are thriving, benefiting from the toil of our winder big dig]]></content:encoded>







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<title>The Architecture of Pasta Shapes</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/the-architecture-of-pastashapes/</link>

<pubDate>Fri, 28 Dec 2012 20:29:10 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[I just spotted this while reading someone else's

Christmas present.

<blockquote>"The more interesting pasta shapes, such as the shell-shaped conchiglie, or the ear-like orecchiette, didn't just happen...Those clever twists and curls and flowing lines are much more drawing board than chopping board.

Although as a sauce hound, I would suggest that Frank Gehry would probably make a better pasta designer than the late Mies van der Ruhe."</blockquote>

- Nigel Slater, The Kitchen Diaries Volume 2.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Dipping into chemical engineering</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/dipping-into-chemicalengineering/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[For someone who has studied both chemistry and engineering, it is somewhat of a surprise that I have had so little exposure to the chemical engineering sector. I did go and meet the admissions tutor for chemical engineering at the University of British Columbia when I was 21, but was put off by the large format pictures of oil rigs. A year later, my fourth year chemistry research project 'Solute Binding by Surfactant Molecules' did have some application to the chemical engineering process of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foam_fractionation">foam fractionation</a>. Other than these flirtations over ten years ago, chemical engineering has been largely off my radar, until this afternoon. 

At <a href="www.thinkup.org">Think Up</a> we are looking at how the practical problem solving-based approach that we have taken to construction education (for example on the <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/projects/view/the-big-rig/">Big

Rig</a> and at the <a href="http://www.constructionarium.co.uk/">Constructionarium</a>) can be applied in other sectors of engineering. With its mix of advanced technical understanding and practical problem-based approach, chemical engineering seems a natural fit. And so today I have been immersing myself in all the reading material I can find from the <a href="http://www.icheme.org/">IChemE website</a>.

What is striking about the careers advice about chemical engineering is the way the profession is described as providing for basic human needs: food, water, fuel, materials, health - this sounds familiar: it's an awful lot like what their engineering cousins say about themselves <a href="http://www.ice.org.uk/About-civil-engineering/What-do-civil-engineersdo">over at the civils.</a> Indeed, I feel like I've just been introduced to someone with whom I immediately find I have a huge amount in common…and can't quite believe it has taken us this long to meet.

<h2>Chemical Engineering careers advice</h2>

The site <a href="http://www.whynotchemeng.com/">whynotchemeng</a> has excellent careers advice for 6th formers interested in studying chemical engineering. My favourite <a href="http://www.whynotchemeng.com/people/steve%20chandler.aspx">quot e</a> is from the student who describes chemical engineering as Wily Wonka style creativity with a dose common sense. Sounds right up my street!]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Chemistry, engineering and Abbey Road studios | Eiffelover]]></wp:comment_author>


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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] courting of the chemical engineering world continued today with a visit to the ChemEng department at Imperial.

Today it got even better, because not [...]]]></wp:comment_content>





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<title>Why did the Toucan cross the road?</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/why-did-the-toucancross-the-road/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I was cycling from Islington to Old Street this afternoon and saw a sign saying 'Cyclists, push button for Toucan crossing'. Odd, as there weren't any Toucans in site.

Joking aside, I realised I had no idea what this unusually named highway device is. So I look up Toucan crossing online to find out what that it is one of a menagerie of animal themed crossing devices. How many of the following have you heard of?

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican_crossing">Pelican crossing</a> - this is the pedestrian crossing that everyone has heard of. It's name apparently comes from PELICON, a shortening of pedestrian light controlled. From which a whole ark of possibilities emerges...

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toucan_crossing">Toucan crossing</a>

- this is one that both pedestrians and cyclists can use, so-called because 'twocan' cross. Clever.

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffin_crossing">Puffin crossing</a> - no, this is not a crossing for children. This is the one that has the pedestrian signal at eye-level above the button. It also includes a pedestrian sensor that checks when pedestrians have finished crossing. Hence the name

<strong>p</strong>edestrian <strong>u</strong>ser-

<strong>f</strong>riendly <strong>in</strong>telligent crossing.

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_crossing">Pegasus crossing</a> - like a Toucan crossing, but this time for horses.

Who knew?!]]></content:encoded>







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<title>In praise of Fred Dibnah and Burt Munro</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/who-needs-anengineering-degree-anyway/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[Most of my work this week has been around designing events that help engineering students develop problem-solving skills.

My opposite number at a meeting today cited <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Dibnah">Fred Dibnah</a>, the famous chimney feller, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Munro">Burt Munro</a>, the pioneering motorcycle land speed record holder, as examples of people who didn't need engineering degrees to solve engineering problems.

It's too close to bed time to start writing about developing problem solving skills at undergraduate level. Instead, the stories of these two engineers make for a far more fascinating read.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Chemistry, engineering and Abbey Road studios</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/chemistry-engineeringand-abbey-road-studios/</link>





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My courting of the chemical engineering world <a href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/dipping-into-chemicalengineering/">continued</a> today with a visit to the ChemEng department at

Imperial. Today it got even better, because not only do chemical engineers get to use engineering and chemistry, but they get to sit in a huge control room that looks like the sound desk at <a class="zem_slink" title="Abbey Road Studios" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.531925,-

0.178352777778&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.531925,-0.178352777778

(Abbey%20Road%20Studios)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Abbey Road studios</a>. Or so it seems.

As you enter the ChemEng department at Imperial you are looking straight into the back of the control room of their brand new carbon capture pilot rig. Banks of controls and screens gracefully float in front of the controller, while behind the glass students tinker with a shiny bit of kit for capturing atmospheric CO2.

That is one state-of-the-art piece of kit. Read more about the facility <a href="http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/energy-andenvironment/news/pilot-plant-tests-carbon-capture-equipment-andmethods/1012380.article">here</a> and <a href="http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/chemicalengineering/discovery">here</a>.

As I left the building I caught myself thinking, wouldn't it be interesting to run a design-and-build event on <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/projects/view/the-big-rig/">the Big

Rig</a> based on a carbon capture machine?]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Pursuing general knowledge - not such a trivial pursuit</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/pursuing-generalknowledge-not-such-a-trivial-pursuit/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/trivial-pursuit.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-981" alt="trivial pursuit" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/trivial-pursuit.jpg" width="584" height="426" /></a></p>

The ability to design arguably sits at the top of <a class="zem_slink" title="Bloom's Taxonomy" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Bloom's taxonomy</a> of learning, requiring as it does decent doses of creativity and evaluation. The foundations therefore of good design must be a broad general knowledge base. This certainly seems true in civil engineering. In order to quickly think up possible solutions to an engineering problem requires knowledge of material properties and behaviour, construction methods, costs, precedents, laws and codes etc.

My own experience as an undergraduate was that I had little of this domain knowledge, and this seems to be line with my observation of the students I have been working with in Edinburgh. There is a strong drive in engineering to improve the quality of design teaching in undergraduate classes (for civil engineering, see the <a href="http://www.jbm.org.uk/">JBM</a>'s <a

href="http://www.jbm.org.uk/uploads/JBM122_AnnexBDesign.pdf">annexe on design in the curriculum</a>; more generally, see the <a href="http://www.raeng.org.uk/">Royal Academy of Engineering</a>'s report

<a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&am p;source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fw ww.raeng.org.uk%2Fnews%2Fpublications%2Flist%2Freports%2FEducating_E ngineers_21st_Century.pdf&ei=Qov4UKSMG6620QWrmYDQCg&usg=A

FQjCNGKkIQpJOcriA3D7h8UHO2T1_6QEg&sig2=BfAG78_8zCVAp67iO_mPl g&bvm=bv.41248874,d.d2k">Educating Engineers for the 21st

Century</a>). How then should we be helping students to develop the levels of engineering general knowledge that enable good design? Over the last few weeks I have been pondering this question, and today put pen to paper as the first step in co-writing a joint bid with the <a href="http://www.cege.ucl.ac.uk/Pages/default.aspx">civil engineering</a> department at <a class="zem_slink" title="University College London" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.5247888889,-

0.133577777778&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.5247888889,-

0.133577777778 (University%20College%20London)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">UCL</a> for their <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/awardsfunding/funding/teaching-innovations-grants">Teaching Innovation grant</a> scheme.

Our proposal will be based along the following lines. Unless students have site experience, there is a good deal of catching up on general engineering knowledge that they could usefully do. But giving people long lists of information to learn is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea (it is, incidentally, my cup of tea, but I'm not proud of the fact). In fact for many it would be very dull.

In this book <a href="http://www.danpink.com/books/drive">Drive</a>, <a href="http://www.danpink.com/">Daniel Pink</a> suggests that if you have an unappealing task for someone to do, then the best thing is to explain to them why it is important, and then let them derive their own means of carrying out the task. And that is the basis of our approach here.

The first element would be a series of role-play scenarios with people from industry to explain to students why developing a corpus of engineering general knowledge is important. The second element is to give students autonomy over what knowledge they want to develop, and what method they want to use. At this second stage we would provide suggestions for content and methods, but the emphasis would be on letting the students lead. As students apply their method, we would ask them to keep track of their progress using a

specially created blog on <a href="http://studentstudio.co.uk">Student

Studio</a>. The third element would for students to set their own criteria for testing, and to measure their own progress against their own goals.

The sorts of learning techniques we have kicked around in preliminary discussions have been the creation of construction site top trumps, or keeping a diary of a local construction site. The whole I envisage that over the course of the initiative that students would develop resources which could be shared through say a Tumblr blog or from the <a href="www.expeditionworkshed.org">Expedition Workshed</a> website.

My recent experience working on the <a href="http://studentstudio.co.uk/news/item/pilot-of-a-new-project-forundergraduate-engineers-on-disaster-relief/">Haiti Student Studio</a> project reminded me just how grade-motivated many students can be. As an extra bonus for this optional course, I am keen to show students how this self-managed learning can help contribute towards their route to professional chartership, counting as it might as <a href="http://www.ice.org.uk/qualificationcareers/ipd">Initial Professional Development</a> (IPD).

The bid goes in tomorrow, so fingers crossed.]]></content:encoded>







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<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Diary of a contact day |



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<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[…] through Workshed. I am particularly excited about this project because it will complement the work I will be doing at UCL as part of their teaching innovation

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<title>Talking Sustainability in Bristol</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/talking-sustainability-inbristol/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I'm just back from the first of six workshops I will be facilitating at universities around the country about how to embed sustainability in undergraduate civil engineering courses. The <a href="http://www.ice.org.uk/">ICE</a> and <a href="http://www.raeng.org.uk/">Royal Academy of Engineering</a> commissioned <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/">Think Up</a> to design and deliver these workshops to disseminate the findings of our<a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/projects/view/embeddingsustainability-in-engineering-teaching/"> sustainability teaching report</a>.<!-more-->

Today's session in Bristol was a great starting point, with representatives from the University of Bristol, University of West of England, University of Portsmouth and University of Wales Newport. Following each session I will write a short summary over on the <a href="http://workshedblog.wordpress.com/category/sustainabilityworkshops/">Workshed blog</a>. Over the course of <a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4606472082">six workshops</a> I think we are going to build up a reasonably comprehensive picture of the way sustainability is being taught, and hopefully, we will be able to help good ideas travel further for everyone's benefit.

If you are interested in signing up to one the workshops, then there are still some places remaining. Check out Think Up's <a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4606472082">Eventbrite</a> page for more information.

Note you can read notes from all of these workshops on the Expedition

Workshed Blog by following this thread: <a href="http://workshedblog.wordpress.com/category/sustainabilityworkshops/">http://workshedblog.wordpress.com/category/sustainabilityworkshops/ </a>]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Thames Cable Car Student Design Workshop</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/thames-cable-carstudent-design-workshop/</link>

<pubDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:27:56 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[Today I have been working on content for a new creative design workshop for civil engineering students based on the Emirates

Airline. The workshop is part of my work with the civil engineering department at the University of Edinburgh.

This is one of several short exercises that we are devising to give student's the chance to rapidly work through a series of design problems. The idea that we want to test is whether students benefit from working through a number of shorter design exercises before being tasked with a big end-of-year project. It stands to reason, but it is nevertheless surprisingly commonplace for students to be set large design projects during their courses without any experience of tackling smaller problems.

What I was finding tricky was how to devise a problem that is interesting without being too tricky. The challenge we are going to set students is to work out the number of towers to carry a cable car across the Thames, and what height the towers should be - and then to do a quick scheme design on one of the towers.

I expect that the biggest difficulty will be dealing with the cables. To help them, we have given students simple equations to give them the horizontal and vertical reactions on either end of a catenary. With these equations, students should at least be able to work out a worst case loading scenario. But we shall see...

If the two-session workshop is a success, we will publish it to the Workshed site.

As Expedition were the structural engineers for the scheme design, we have a lot of great material in-house that we could make available to students and lecturers.

Taking engineering info from real projects and turning it into useful teaching resources is one of the really valuable things I think Think Up achieves. There is so much rich material and experience in industry that students can benefit from and the Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Fellows scheme is a great mechanism for supporting that transfer.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Tips for riding the Caledonian Sleeper on a work trip</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/tips-for-riding-thecaledonian-sleeper-on-a-work-trip/</link>

<pubDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2013 09:08:10 +0000</pubDate>




<content:encoded><![CDATA[This is only the second time I have taken a night train as part of a business trip. As we slip into Edinburgh in the early morning, having left London Euston at midnight, I feel this journey has gone rather well

(my trip by sleeper to Turin for work in 2008 was less successful).

Here are my tips for taking the Caledonian sleeper on a business trip.

- Get to the train early. It is often sitting on the platform some time before departure.

- Settle in to your cabin, and then head straight to the lounge car.

- If you are travelling for work, and want to get some work done, then get a first class single birth room. Otherwise, get a second class birth and park yourself in the lounge car.

- Have a whiskey, if you like the sort of thing. After all, you wouldn't get the chance if you'd gone for the 5.40am train instead.

- Get up as soon as the attendant brings round hot drinks to your cabin. You room mate, if sharing, may still be dozing, so you can get ready in relative privacy, and then head back to the lounge car, which will be completely empty.

Watch Edinburgh role into view, as I am doing now, and charge your mobile phone (there's no sockets in the cabin).

The peculiar thing about riding the sleeper for work is arriving at Euston around midnight dressed and ready to start the next day, while those all around are clamouring to take the last train home feeling worse-for-wear. There is a

romantic-unromantic dissonance to the experience! Kevin Holdsworth seems to agree in his <a href="http://www.thurible.net/20120731/how-to-sleep-on-thesleeper/#comment-22462">blog</a> on the same subject.

When you do arrive in Edinburgh and fancy some time with a coffee before your meeting then Pep & Fodder is a good bet at the top of Waverley Steps, turn right and it's on the other side of the road after 100m (with a sig outside that says 'come in for a coffee, we pay our taxes').]]></content:encoded>







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<title>In Praise of Euston Station</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/in-praise-of-eustonstation/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I know it is not often that you hear people say this, but I do really like Euston station - from an interpreted transport perspective, it is a good example of a well-thought through hub. 

Starting underground, two of the three tube lines are arranged to enable easy transfer from one southbound line to another and vice versa. Access to the main hall is step free, gliding up a succession of three escalators. Arriving by bus is just as easy, with a major bus hub just outside the station. And arriving by taxi (a recent discovery, this) your vehicle descends a steep slope and places you in the bowels of the station, ready to pop up into the station concourse

And what a concourse. I read that the job of a station concourse at a station terminus is to allow the industrial landscape of the railways to meet the urban landscape of the city. At Euston, it does this by providing a modernist airy hall where all the commuters emerging from their various points of entry can come up for air, before scurrying off. Sure, it is not the arching glory of its neighbours in this part of town, but it is worth trying to imagine what the station looked like before the addition of the kiosks which clutter the space. The underlying design is quite simple and elegant. A nod of decoration ca be found in the ticket hall

(pictured).

The train platforms are not a thing of beauty, but they are functional and wide, allowing enough space for vehicle access - presumably a relic from a time when

Car+Train was still a vision. Passengers wait in the main station concourse,

protected from the elements rather than on the platform. The design allows the space above to be used as a postal depot, allowing further integration on a tight site.

Sure, Euston has it faults. It is functional but struggles to compete in the

Marylebone/Euston Road beauty pageant (London Bridge, Cannon Street,

Fenchurch Street, Victoria, can you do any better?), there is no wheelchair access

(ditto). It is not connected to the metropolitan Line (why?). Pedestrian access to the square in front of the station is needlessly restrictive.

It seems sacrilegious among railway enthusiasts to praise the current edifice because it's construction necessitated the demolition of the old Victorian structure in order to make way for longer platforms. But since it looks like the station as we now know it is going to be demolished to make way for High Speed

2, let us at least give credit where credit is due.<br /><br /><a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/20130226-









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<title>Multi-storey learning: the atrium space at Walsall College</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/multi-storey-learningthe-atrium-space-at-walsall-college/</link>





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<title>Facilitating the Global Grand Challenges Student Day</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/facilitating-the-globalgrand-challenges-student-day/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[Today <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/">Think Up</a> facilitated the <a title="Link to the student day page on the Global Grand Challenges blog" href="http://globalgrandchallengessummit.wordpress.com/ggcs-studentday/">Global Grand Challenges Student Day</a> at the <a title="Royal Academy of Engineering" href="http://www.raeng.org.uk/default.htm">Royal Academy of

Engineering</a>. The student day is a prelude to the main <a title="Click to see details of the Global Grand Challenge Summit" href="http://www.raeng.org.uk/international/global_grand_challenges_summit.

htm">Global Grand Challenges Summit </a>which starts tomorrow. Our brief for designing the event was to choreograph a day of activities in which students from engineering universities around the world would come together and

collaborate to develop a solution to six of the Global Grand Challenges. Our response was a programme that sought to unpick the creative process, and to enable students to examine what skills they need to develop to be better designers, all in the context of solving a major societal challenge.

One of the features that I particularly liked about today's session was a set of take-away cards that summarise the creative process for engineers. These are based on the thinking that underpins Think Up's work on creative design. I hope in due course these can be made available online, perhaps from the <a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/">Expedition Workshed</a> website.

A day like today's is intended to be an intense experience for students - and it is intense for the facilitators as well. You never know at a one-off event exactly how a group of students is going to react to the stimuli you provide them with. It's the job of the facilitators to tweak things as we go. Indeed some of the best moments can be the unplanned activities that happen along the way. For us as designers of events themed around creativity and engineering, this is another iteration in an on-going process of understanding how best to teach design to engineering students. We have gathered masses of feedback and this will give us plenty of food for thought for designing the next event. In the meantime I will let the dust settle before posting more thoughts on facilitating design workshops.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Travelling on Eurostar with a baby</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/travelling-on-eurostarwith-a-baby/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[[caption id="attachment_1045" align="alignleft" width="584"]<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/trvavelling-on-eurostartwith-a-baby.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-1045 " alt="Travelling on Eurostar with a baby" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/trvavellingon-eurostart-with-a-baby.jpg" width="584" height="436" /></a> Riding in the buffet car[/caption]

This week we took our 5-month old by Eurostar to Paris. The experience of travelling with a baby is adding a new perspective to my journeys. Long-distance train travel with a baby is by no means impossible. The couple travelling opposite us on the Eurostar last Friday were on their way to <a class="zem_slink" title="Florence" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.7833333333,11.25&spn=0.1,0.

1&q=43.7833333333,11.25 (Florence)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Florence</a> by night train, having recently travelled to

Venice and to <a class="zem_slink" title="Madrid" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.3833333333,-

3.71666666667&spn=0.1,0.1&q=40.3833333333,-3.71666666667

(Madrid)&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Madrid</a> by sleeper with their well-travelled toddler. Most things still feel possible - I just feel I want to know a little more in advance. So this post is for the benefit of other people seeking reassurance about travelling on Eurostar with a baby.

Travelling on Eurostar with a baby is easy. Make sure you book in the family car

(for us it was car number one) so that you are close to the baby change. What you do when you get to Paris is another matter. The metro is inaccessible to prams because of the barriers. The <a class="zem_slink" title="RER" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RER" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">RER</a> on the other hand has more accessible gates, larger trains with more capacity for push chairs. And more scenic than either is the bus, which has lots of room for buggies.

One of my favourite things to do on any long-distance train journey is to stand in the buffet car and watch the world zoom by. It turns out that the rocking motion of this pass time is perfect for sending little ones to sleep. One of my favourite things made better.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>The Return of Low Carb</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/the-return-of-lowcarb/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[[caption id="attachment_1083" align="alignleft" width="584"]<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/lowcarbon-skills-awareness-challenge-at-the-big-rig.jpg"><img class="size-full wpimage-1083" alt="Installation of solar-thermal water heaters on the Big Rig" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/low-carbon-skillsawareness-challenge-at-the-big-rig.jpg" width="584" height="436" /></a>

Installation of solar-thermal water heaters on the Big Rig[/caption]

Yesterday I was at the <a href="http://thebigrig.co.uk/">Big Rig</a> facilitating the annual low-carbon skills challenge at the Big Rig. This is the fourth year in a row that Think Up has run the '<a href="http://thebigrig.co.uk/low-carb">Low

Carb</a>' event. I am very proud that since we came up with the <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/news/view/podium-skills-london-

commissions-think-up-to-design-and-run-low-carb/">Big Rig concept</a>, 100s of students have taken part in Low Carb.

In the event two teams compete to build a low-carbon shower, using rainwater harvesting, solar thermal water heating, photovoltaic power and greywater recycling.

The event is designed to raise participants' awareness of low-carbon technology, and the potential for training and employment in the installation technologies.

However, yesterday I was reminded that for some students, just being given the chance to learn in a highly unusual environment, and being challenged to work in different ways, is a fantastic opportunity in itself.

For example, yesterday a team of level 2 electrical apprentices took on a group of

Year 10 and 11 students. I spent most of my time supporting the latter. Their teacher told me that the team leader was a student who would never normally speak up in class or demonstrate much confidence, and yet at the Big Rig he showed a different side to his character.

Each year we see teams of different ages compete with one another. What separates teams' ability to succeed in the challenge is not their understanding of domestic energy systems, or their ability to wire a plug: it's their ability to form effective working teams. Two years ago, when a team of civil servants took on a team of plumbing apprentices, it was the former that won the day, mainly because of their ability to analyse and solve the problem at hand working in a team.

In future we plan to develop more Big Rig events for schools. We therefore need to think carefully about how best to facilitate team working in this context.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Last day of teaching at Edinburgh</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/last-day-of-teaching-atedinburgh/</link>





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Today I made my last teaching visit to Edinburgh for the term. I will go back once more in the spring time to evaluate the work that I have been involved in, and then will be it for my current tenure as a RAE-sponsored teaching fellow; however, there is scope to extend the funding, and we help to do so for another year. 

In today's session students were half-way through a five-week design project, and were being asked to evaluate each other's work using a multi-constraint analysis (see my <a href="http://workshedblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/multi-constraintanalysis-in-action/">post on the Workshed </a>blog about why I think this is a handy approach).

The stage that these students are at now in their design projects is exactly the same as when I went up to an initial assessment of the design course, and I think that there are signs that the new elements that we brought in to the early part of the design course are having their impact. We'll get a clearer idea when we conduct an evaluation in the springtime.

Part of my work with Martin Gillie and Tim Stratford at Edinburgh has been to create a suite of three design projects that enable students to have several goes at responding to a design brief before being faced with their five-week design course. These briefing packs have been given the 'Expedition Workshed' treatment: illustrated using images from a real project and co-written with a design engineer to add an extra dose of realism and appropriate information.

The first of these briefing packs, based on the Emirates Airline project is now <a title="Thames Cable Car Engineering Design Project" href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/index.php?mid=6&cid=62&am p;pid=10000444">online</a>.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Using construction site notebooks as a teaching tool</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/using-construction-sitenotebooks-as-a-teaching-tool/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[Today the Expedition-Imperial team met to plan their week at this year's Constructionarium.

The learning experience is intense on site at the Constructionarium, with students on their feet all day for five days building their projects. Along the way there is lots of background knowledge they can pick up about construction techniques, but it is easy for these nuggets to get lost in the blur of the overall experience.

My suggestion was that this year we give all students a site notebook in which they can plan their activities, note useful info along the way and write up their daily activities. Of course, giving students a notebook doesn't necessarily mean they'll use it, so perhaps we can guide them by showing extracts from real site engineers' notebooks. These could be shared as a teaching resource on

Workshed.

Earlier this year we bid for some innovation grant funding to develop methods for students to develop their general engineering knowledge. One of the ideas I was interested in exploring was the use of a site diary to develop this knowledge.

This year's Constructionarium looks like a good opportunity to test this approach.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Diary of a contact day</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/diary-of-a-contactday/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[During my parental leave I am doing one 'keeping in touch' day a week. On that day, I deal with important queries on Think Up projects. Since my time in the office is very short, these keeping in touch days are an intense snap shot of lots of the stuff we are working on at the moment. Here are some highlights:

<ul>

<li>I was asked to put together a proposal for using web technology to help engineering students raise their levels of background engineering knowledge. Think <a href="http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0">Codeacademy </a>meets

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Trumps">Top Trumps</a>, available through <a href="http://www.expeditionworkshed.org/">Workshed</a>. I am particularly excited about this project because it will complement the <a href="http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/pursuing-generalknowledge-not-such-a-trivial-pursuit/">work I will be doing at UCL</a> as part of their teaching innovation scheme.</li>

<li>Today we finalised the detailed content of the <a href="http://thebigrig.co.uk/nuclear-island">Nuclear Island Big Rig</a>. All the places on the event have now been allocated. We have been working on this project for over a year - it is fantastic to think that it kicks off on 1st July.</li>

<li>Following on from the sustainability teaching seminars that Think Up has been facilitating this year, I have been invited to speak at the <a href="http://www-eesd13.eng.cam.ac.uk/">Engineering Education for

Sustainable Development </a>conference in September.</li>

<li>We are gearing up to facilitate the next <a href="http://www.constructionarium.co.uk/">Imperial/Expedition

Constructionarium</a> week.</li>

<li>The lovely-sounding people at the <a href="http://litmustestnight.wordpress.com/about/">Litmus Test</a> got in touch to see if I would be the first engineer to perform at their show - I'd be happy to.</li>

</ul>

I've heard that becoming a parent makes you more productive in the office. So far, keeping in touch days prove this to be true.








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<title>Herringbone Wall</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/herringbonewall/</link>





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<title>Babbling about Babel: penning a new routine for Science Showoff</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/babbling-about-babelpenning-a-new-routine-for-science-showoff/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[I've just signed up to do a slot at the final <a href="http://www.scienceshowoff.org/">Science Showoff</a> to be held at the

Wilmington Arms on Tuesday June 4th. I haven't written any new material since

January's Structural Elements song, but the cogs are now whirling. The theme will be how an engineer would go about designing the <a class="zem_slink" title="Tower of Babel" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Tower of Babel</a>. A tall order, indeed.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="788"]<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Valkenborch_babel-tower.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" title="English: Tower of Babel" alt="English: Tower of Babel" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Valkenborch_bab el-tower.jpg" width="788" height="522" /></a> English: Tower of Babel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]








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<title>Archive photos/early attempts at developing/les arcs</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/archive-photosearlyattempts-at-developingles-arcs/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a style="font-style:inherit;line-height:1.625;" href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/060201_les_arcs01.jpg">< img class=" wp-image-1116 alignleft" title="Ski lift, high contrast, les arcs" alt="Ski lift, high contrast, les arcs" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/060201_les_arcs01.jpg?w=

584" width="584" height="435" /></a>

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/060201_les_arcs02.jpg">< img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1117" alt="060201_les_arcs02" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/060201_les_arcs02.jpg" width="584" height="401" /></a>

<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/060201_les_arcs03.jpg">< img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1118" alt="060201_les_arcs03" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/060201_les_arcs03.jpg" width="584" height="396" /></a><a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/060201_les_arcs04.jpg">< img alt="060201_les_arcs04" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/060201_les_arcs04.jpg" width="584" height="408" /></a>

Probably the best module I studied during my year at <a href="http://www.enpc.fr/">ENPC</a> was not engineering-themed - but photography. The module was run as an English language course: the subject of the lessons was photography, and the lessons were in English. Being a native

English speaker I was not able to get any credits for the module, but I gained much more. I still vividly remember the magic of seeing images emerge on pieces of paper submerged in solution. In just a few short hours of teaching I learned somethings that have been much more valuable to me than the hours of lectures

I sat through on other subjects.

These photos were taken on a weekend trip skiing at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Arcs">Les Arcs</a>. Getting from Paris to the Alps by overnight train is easy by the way. The night train leaves from <a

class="zem_slink" title="Gare d'Austerlitz" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_d%27Austerlitz" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Gare d'Austerlitz</a>, and arrives <a class="zem_slink" title="Bourg-Saint-Maurice" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourg-Saint-

Maurice" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Bourg St Maurice</a>, where there is a lift straight up to Les Arcs.]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Negotiating the lifts at Kings Cross</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/negotiating-the-lifts-atkings-cross/</link>





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Pushing a pram, as is my new daily habit, has made me much more aware of the relative accessibility or inaccessibility of London. Today I decided the best option for step-free interchange was to be at Kings Cross, where upon arriving I was presented with the lift schematic shown in this photo. Step-free, no doubt - and that is an achievement in itself - but by no means simple. I had to help two other sets of travellers interpret the map as we processed around the station.

While I may criticise, the Underground is significantly more accessible to buggies than the Paris Metro, where there are simply no prams to be seen.

I am of course fortunate that my access requirements are such that, should it be necessary, I can carry the buggy down the stairs. But pursuing step-free access around London does cause me to try out new routes, and to discover bits of stations that I'd never noticed before (at London Bridge, in particular). Perhaps not very profound, but another example of how parental leave is giving me a new perspective on things!]]></content:encoded>







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<title>Taking inspiration from the Transcontinental Railroad</title>

<link>http://eiffelover.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/taking-inspiration-fromthe-transcontinental-railroad/</link>





<content:encoded><![CDATA[[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="650"]<a href="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/grand-canyonrailway.jpg"><img class=" " id="i-1170" title="Grand Canyon Railway, Williams,

Arizona" alt="Image, Grand Canyon Railway, Williams, Arizona, Sante Fe railway" src="http://eiffelover.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/grand-canyonrailway.jpg?w=650" width="650" height="488" /></a> A train pulls of the Santa

Fe railway at Williams Arizona to join the Grand Canyon Railroad[/caption]

As I tweeted earlier this morning, today at <a href="http://www.thinkup.org">Think Up</a> I have been working on <a href="http://www.thinkup.org/index.php/projects/view/build-camp-a-fourday-design-and-build-course-for-14-to-17-year-old/">Build Camp</a>, a concept for a week-long hands-on learning event designed to encourage young people to take on a career in civil engineering. For some time now we have been proposing an event based around the idea of students designing and building their own railway in a week. Today we were looking at how to create a context for the event around which on-site role play activities can be built. Today's idea was to use the construction of the first american <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad">transcont inental railroad</a> as the context, for reasons explained in the following text,

extracted from some my draft web copy for the soon-to-be-online Build Camp website.

<blockquote>Why the Pacific Railroad?

Learning about the construction of a railway line is an excellent introduction to the world of civil engineering because it embraces so many aspects of the discipline, including: planning and surveying: structural, geotechnical and fluid mechanics; construction management. This event is set in the context of the construction of the Pacific Railroad, the first railway to cross the United States.

The construction of this pioneering railway line was led by a team of engineers operating at the railhead. Engineers were responsible for:

* Surveying and choose a route through the unknown territory ahead.

* Designing cuttings, embankments, bridges, dams, causeways and tunnels as needed;

* Sourcing local construction materials: fill for embankments; timber for sleepers; fuel for machinery;

* Overseeing construction works

* Organising the logistics of moving labour, materials and plant along the singletrack line

* Establishing camps for workers, sourcing food, and paying wages.

These engineers were working in the unknown; it was 2000 miles back to headquarters, and so they had to rely on their own ingenuity and engineering judgement to solve the problems they encountered. By setting the role play for this event in the context of the Pacific Railroad we aim to harness that visionary and pioneering spirit, and demonstrates the potential engineers have to shape the world for the better. We are also providing a baseline against which the advances of modern railway construction can be illustrated.</blockquote>

At present we are hoping to run a pilot of Build Camp in October. Keep an eye out for updates on the <a href="www.thinkup.org">Think Up</a> website for more information.]]></content:encoded>







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