FRIDAY 21ST FEBRUARY 2003

TALKING ECO-TECHNOLOGY

Ben Morris: Vector Special Projects

Morris explained that Vector Special Projects is an architectural consultancy that specialises in constructing buildings or parts of buildings using inflated “cushions” made from ethylene tetrafluorethylene, a plastic with some interesting material characteristics. He said: “We needed materials which don’t rot. When you inflate the material and twist it into something else, you have to start thinking about loads.”

Morris showed how Vector had developed a transparent version of the material, and one that could be printed on. He highlighted how, when using the material to form a canopy over the Chelsea Hospital, the company had to prove that it could use solar power to remove smoke from the building if there was a fire.

He said: “When there’s a fire, it just makes a hole in the material, so smoke can escape. One thing about materials like this which are very light and strong is that you can build a skeleton using just cables.” He showed work Vector has done creating experimental buildings looking at the effects of sunlight on surface pollutants, and showed one building wrapped in cushions of the material which had been printed on two layers. When the sun shone, the material would darken, and it would become transparent when outside light levels were low. He added that Vector is beginning to look at putting photovoltaic cells onto the material.

He finished with details of Vectors work using the material at Magna and the phenomenal Eden Project building, saying that: “The Eden Project is one of the few buildings in which the weight of the air inside it is higher than the weight of the structure.”