Introducing the Guest Editor Programme

[edit] A brief note from the current editor

Dear readers and writers

Over the next few months we will be running a guest editor programme to find out more from, and about, our readers and supporters. The guest editor slot will include a short interview profile of the invited editor, news from the web that they want to select and a new article as well as selecting the features for our Friday newsletter.

To kick start this process as editor, I thought l would tell you a bit more about myself, than previously, more about my background, interests and experiences, when I first started using Designing Buildings, my likes and dislikes and hopes for development.

So here goes.

Dan Rigamonti, Designing Buildings Editor

[edit] Working and studying

• Can you tell us about your background, activities and interest in buildings?

I started my working life, in relation to construction, as an exhibition stand contractor and photographer, dealing with large format graphics. After volunteering for a charity building houses in the South of England, I was lucky enough to purchase a small two-up-two-down house on my junior salary, and it became my first self-build renovation project. This project encouraged me to go to university, as a slightly more mature student and study architecture in Brighton and then Oxford, whilst working part-time for the exhibition industry.

I found a one year placement in a hand drawing office, working on mainly listed buildings, education and community projects in Brighton. As this neared its end, I discovered an opportunity to study abroad in Helsinki, Finland for a year. I was awarded a fees grant to stay one extra year to study timber construction, again working part-time, this time renovating log buildings. On returning to the UK to finish my diploma, I wanted to learn more about UK timber construction and was lucky enough to work part-time as a green oak framer during my final year of architecture studies, which had a focus on energy efficient buildings.

[edit] From practice to research to resources

• Do you think there are specific areas of knowledge that are lacking across the industry?

After I qualified, I was lucky enough to work for and with some well-known sustainable design practices for during 7 years in London, as well as short spell working directly in construction. Historically the mainstreaming of sustainable design and its urgency from many angles, would be the one area that was lacking in the industry, though it has been gradually changing the change is often too slow. Due to circumstances and having worked on site a few days a week during the entirety of my full-time studies, I was also fairly aware of the gap between trade and profession, little of my site experience was formally considered as relevant to my professional training in architecture. Education in the profession has been under considerable review, more or less since the introduction of fees, resulting in some cases in increased flexibility, which is positive, however the gap between trade and profession, in my view often persists as a barrier to progress.

My last position had moved slightly out of traditional architecture practice into a small research group for an international architecture and surveying firm, working in partnership with universities. Our focus was on post occupancy evaluation (POE), embodied carbon calculations, construction details, climate adaptation and general sustainability support for international projects. In particular POE, a well established theme in University by then, was not common place in practice, in fact it was only through various initiatives that I believe the industry started to be more honest about performance, but clearly at the time there risks associated with doing this.

It was only through a critical mass of professionals and practices looking deeper, that it has become more accepted, though it is often still not standard practice. In the meantime embodied carbon 15 years ago this just wasn't on the agenda, which is different now, but again not a requirement as such. I always felt that even though there were many flagship projects, it was raising the bar of the average project that mattered most, the bread and butter work of practices.

• How did you first discover DB, how did you use it and since when? Do you have an account, have you ever posted an article and if not what stops you?

It was during this time I discovered Designing Buildings and used it regularly, particularly for project management, contract information and general definitions research. To my shame I didn’t post any articles, perhaps because I wasn’t sure of what or how to write, but ironically it would actually have been a useful platform to disseminate our work across the practice offices and industry. In most cases our research results were in the public domain anyway, but key lessons and short messages were often hidden within the long pdfs. Today I spend most of my time on the site.

• Do you think there is value in sharing knowledge across disciplines and institutions? And what are the main barriers to sharing and applying knowledge?

During this time my role was to help bring research knowledge and resources closer to the day to day work of an international architectural practice, something that was of increasing necessity. In the process I had become a member of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining / Institute for Wood Science, as a Chartered Environmentalist, a Registered CIBSE Low Carbon Consultant, a qualified site supervisor for basic timber construction and finally a certified Passiv Haus designer. Sometimes the more specialised someone is the harder it is for them to connect their focus to the wider picture, I see an ever increasing role for institutions to support their members in the provision of key resources, but also act as a conduit between disciplines and other institutes. This seems to be happening more and more which is positive.

[edit] Across different scales and disciplines

After moving to Berlin, continuing design projects and briefly returning to small scale timber construction projects, I worked in third party academic research for 4 years, focussing on urban scale sustainability projects across Europe. I then moved into independent design research, with further projects involving production and facilitation.

Prior to joining Designing Buildings I spent 6 months living in and working in The Gambia with my family, testing and developing sand free block products for a development charity who had introduced compressed earth blocks to the country some ten years earlier. My interest in materials, environmental performance and construction continues and was further reinforced through the development of a series of lectures to support a zero-carbon design and construction course for a London university.

Today my interest remains not only in the 'stuff' of buildings, but their associated processes, from environmental, economic and social to mechanical, geological and physiological. In practice as well as research it is often the case that knowledge is there, but it needs to make a leap across disciplines to be useful and practically applied. Facilitation is about finding the means to help this happen. In practice, time to find specific understanding for issues is short, in an industry that is besieged by new definitions, targets, and technologies. The sharing of knowledge and where to find it freely is, it seems to me, ever more vital. I see this as a key aspect of Designing Buildings, to act as a repository and conduit between disciplines and knowledge basis.

[edit] Current role as Editor

In my role as editor, I have tried to focus on areas I know most about whilst expanding these to fill gaps that we see users are looking for. On the one hand I find sometimes we are trying to cover so much ground that we get lost within the trees, whilst on the other I enjoy coming across well written articles, that pick up aspects that had previously not been covered. I enjoy the mix of different themes that sometimes juxtapose one another, and enjoy reading about specialisms, sharing knowledge in bite sized, understandable chunks.

As a writer I enjoy longer articles with shorter related definition pieces that fit together like themed puzzle, I enjoy both contemporary and historical contexts that help inform current practice. I find it a key aspect of the site to share articles from a broad range of cross-discipline institutions, that gives greater awareness across the industry. Finally I enjoy communicating, encouraging and supporting individuals who have informative and useful knowledge to share, as every little helps in building the bigger picture. I would like to see the site rationalise and expand its materials and products knowledge base, as I know many product manufacturers have in depth knowledge and see it as easy way to both inform the industry in specific areas whilst also increasing exposure for their products.

I hope you will support our initiative, by keeping up contributions to our site and I look forward to meeting with and passing over my role to invited guests over the next few months. We continue to welcome your contributions and use of the site, as well as being happy to hear suggestions for articles needed, or better still making a start on one yourself.

--editor

[edit] Find out more

• Watch our 55 sec YouTube video.
• For information about using the site see our Help page.
• For guidance about the writing style see our quick style guide.
• For terms of use see our terms and conditions.
• You can contact us by clicking on the 'submit comment' link at the bottom of the page or by emailing [email protected].