LondonWetlandCentre

Sustainability Project

This is the outside of the Headley Hide

This is the view from the outside of the Headley Hide, on the left handside of the image you can the path to and from the main courtyard area. The gates on the extreme left of the image are the service gates used by the staff at the Centre.

This style of signage for the hide is consistent across the Centre for all the hides, it is carved into the wood, and then the raised area is painted in white.

The roof of the hide has chicken wire type netting all over it to cover the soil and grass and other plants. This was done to increase the habitat available to the wildlife at the Centre.

These images were taken from the inside of the Headley Hide looking out on to the main lake.

Here re some images of the roof inside the hide to show the construction of the hide. The sheets of wood are shuttering ply this makes it cheaper to build as it is hard wearing and weathes well, however it does make the hide look very dull.

These images show the view from inside the hide looking outside, but they show the overall shape of the windows. The thin long shape of the windows is used in all the hides, this shape is very good for allowing birdersto pan with their optical devices.

The end wall on the shorter side of the hide is the most exciting part, visually of the entire hide.

The three images here show just how bland and dull the the inside of the hide is currently.

To help individuals that don’t know much about birds or need to brush up on their knowledge, these boards are fixed to the walls, they are informative but rather lacking in interest.

The parts of the London Wetland Centre is split up into sections and each section loosely represents a country/continent/ region, then birds that would come from each place are contained in each section, along with this there are small accents and ephemera from the area to give each a little flavour of its namesake.

There are two main graphic styles that the London Wetland Centre use. One is the examples on this page which show a typeface carved into the wood which is painted green and the raised letterforms are painted in white. This is used on all the outside signage especially the wayfinding signage such as the section definers and direction markers along with this the warnings or instruction signs.

The other visual style used is the one mainly used in the main courtyard area, the typeface remains the same and the style of a long canvas with the type in white is constant.

In this phase as you can see, our group found various conlicts at the Centre and illustrated these in the presentation. We then came up with an overall design direction which was movement, from this we would work from the brief and this concept to influence phase one and phase two of the project.

On one of our visits we purchased disposable cameras and then attempted to ask various visitors, particularly ones with children if they minded taking photographs of the WWT London. This allowed us to get a user’s perspective of the centre. Using disposable cameras allowed us to let the participants enjoy their visit at their own speed, and take photographs without worrying about being too precious with how many shots they took. We were pleasantly surprised, firstly that the visitors accepted the challenge and took photographs and actually remembered to hand them in.When we had the photographs developed the images gave us an insight into how they see the centre. They appear to like the various sculptures dotted around, whilst the children thoroughly enjoyed the playground and being able to touch the various exhibits on show.There is only one main playground so perhaps we can create another or develop a piece of furniture that can have dual use?The children are very visually driven so a communication system that has a strong visual factor, could be created.

The site is leased from Thames Water, London's main public water supplier.The WWT London is operated as a visitor attraction with about 170,000 visitors per year. Income is from admission fees, WWT membership subscriptions and secondary spend in the restaurant and shop. There is a thriving and growing functions business. The centre operates at a profit which, as a charity, is wholly ploughed back into the centre and into WWT generally.Founded/openedSir Peter Scott, founder of the WWT, always wanted a centre in London. In contrast to other, rural WWT centres, a London site would bring wildlife to the people rather than vice versa, connect the urban populace to nature, and have enormous potential for reaching all audiences from politicians to the public.

In 1989 a site was found in Barnes, southwest London. Four Victorian reservoirs had become redundant with the building of an underground ring main to transport water around the city. WWT entered into a partnership with the reservoir owners, Thames Water, a public water company.Ten hectares (22 acres) of the site was sold off to the housing developer, Berkeley Homes, who became a third component of the partnership which now encompassed an environmental charity, public utility company and private developer. £11 million from the housing development profits were used to convert the reservoirs into a mosaic of created wetlands. A further £5 million was fundraised from corporates, individuals and grant-giving bodies.The centre was opened to the public in 2000 by Sir David Attenborough.

The WWT London is a unique blend of conservation centre and visitor attraction incorporating elements of nature reserve, zoo and botanic garden exhibits, museums and interactive science centres, and sustainable gardens.Most of the 44 hectare (105 acre) site is a mosaic of created UK wetlands including open water, reedbed, grazing marsh, ponds and pools, wet woodland, a wader scrape and riverside flooded meadow.Visitors enter the centre into the Peter Scott Visitor Centre and courtyard that includes a Theatre running a short film about wetlands and the work of WWT, a Discovery Centre with immersive habitat sets and interactives exploring the values and functions of wetlands, an Art Gallery, and a large glass-fronted Observatory designed as an airport terminal.There are two main walks around the centre.One, ‘World Wetlands’, leads visitors through 14 outdoor naturalistic habitat sets featuring global wetland types from frozen Siberian tundra to tropical southeast Asian swamp forests. Each fabricated habitat contains representative captive wildfowl and hidden signs of life. A North American Beaver trappers cabin contains exhibits about to wetland products worldwide. The ‘World Wetlands’ walk culminates in a walk through created UK ponds and pools with wild wetland biodiversity.A second walk , ‘Waterlife’ takes visitors through several UK wetland types and a number of designed wildlife and sustainable gardens. There is a ‘Pond Zone’ - a thatched roundhouse, that highlights basic ecology, and a ‘Wetland Living’ cottage featuring UK wetland products and livelihoods.A number of single, two and three-storey hides (blinds) throughout the site bring visitors closer to nature and are interpreted accordingly.A wetland-themed immersive playground (Explore) opened in summer 2006.The WWT London had 166 wild bird species visit in 2002 including nationally important numbers of wintering dabbling ducks like Gadwall and Shoveler. There are also substantial numbers of dragon and damelflies (19 spp. of which 14 breed), butterflies and moths (respectively 24 and c. 350 spp.), bats (the centre is one of the top 5% of London sites for feeding bats with six spp. recorded) and Water Voles (following a successful captive breeding and release programme). case studies’.A network of sluices allows water levels to be manipulated. Levels may be lowered, for example, to expose mud for waders (shorebirds) to probe in for food, or elevated to, say, flood grazing meadows in winter for migratory dabbling ducks.

History of the London Wetland Centre and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

Reeds are perennial grasses which are classically distinguished by having hollow stems and broad leaves. These grasses typically grow in wetlands, and they can be found throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the world, with some reed types growing in colder environments. Humans have been utilizing reeds for a variety of tasks from roofing to papermaking for centuries.

Many people use the term to refer to grasses in the genera Phragmites, Arundo, Glyceria, and Phalaris. The term is also used to discuss sedges such as papyrus, and it is sometimes used in reference to cattails as well. All plants which are called “reeds” share the traits listed above, with some being interchangeable for various human uses, while others have very specific uses. Papyrus, for example, has historically been utilized in papermaking.

Reeds like to grow in moist soil, marshes, and shallow waters. As reeds grow and colonize an area, they will form a reed bed. Reed beds create shelter and habitat for a number of animal species, and they also slowly change the environment. The longer a reed bed lives, the more organic material it builds up, until ultimately the reeds find themselves growing on dry soil. Reed beds are often used in artificially constructed wetlands, and they are also useful for drawing toxins out of contaminated soil, as they can be used to sequester toxins and then removed.

Many birders like to visit areas with extensive reed beds, because several bird species are commonly found in association with reeds. Conservationists like to encourage the development of reed beds for the same reason. Reed beds also help to prevent flooding and the loss of soil in areas where marshlands have been disrupted by human activity.

The common reed is probably the most famous and widely distributed reed. Common reeds have been used in roof thatching for centuries, and it has also been used to make baskets and woven reed mats. Common reeds can also be trimmed and fired to make crude charcoal pencils or pen nibs, and they can be pulped to make a coarse form of paper, as well.

The reed which lends its name to the reeds in musical instruments is Arundo donax, the giant reed. It is native to the Mediterranean, although it has since spread to other regions of the world, thanks to human cultivation. As the name implies, this reed can grow to be quite large, and it is also famous for its incredibly rapid growth.

Some uses for reeds

“A manifesto for eco-pluralistic design (designs that tread lightly on the planet)”:

1. Design to satisfy real needs rather than transient, fashionable or market-driven needs.2. Design to minimalize the ecological footprint of the product, i.e., reduce resource consumption, including energy and water.3. Design to harness solar income (sun, wind, water or sea power) rather than use non-renewable natural capital such as fossil fuels.4. Design to enable separation of components of the product/material/service at the end of life in order to encourage recycling or reuse of materials and/or components.5. Design to exclude the use of substances toxic or hazarodous to human and other forms of life at all stages of the product’s lifecycle.6. Design to engender maximum benefits to the intended audience and to educate the client and the user and thereby create a more equable future.7. Design to use locally available materials and resources wherever possible (thinking globally but acting locally.)8. Design to exclude innovation lethargy by re-examining original assumptions behind existing concepts and products.9. Design to dematerialize products into services wherever feasible.10. Design to maximize a product’s benefits to communities.11. Design to encourage modularity in design to permit sequential purchases, as needs require and funds permit, to faciliatate repair/reuse and to improve functionality.12. Design to foster debate and challenge the status quo surrounding existing products.13. Publish eco-pluralistic designs in the public domain for everyone’s benefit, especially those designs that commerce will not manufacture.14. Design to create more sustainable products for a more sustainable future.

Alastair Fuad-Luke

Sustainable Design

Sustainable design describes a design philosophy that values the natural environment as an integral factor in creating new products or modifying old ones. The term often refers to the movement in the architecture and engineering industries toward buildings that incorporate the local environment and take advantage of natural resources such as sunlight, wind patterns, and geographic location to minimize the impact of building on the local, regional, and global environment. Sustainable building designs consider larger settlement and industrial developments patterns and attempt to make them healthier, less wasteful, and with fewer impacts on the natural environment through site choice, building design, choice of building materials, and building operations. Sustainable designs try to maximize overall efficiency with surrounding resources, such as transportation, as well as energy efficiency, habitat preservation and restoration, natural and renewable energy sources, water conservation, recycled, local, and non-toxic materials, and healthy and productive interiors.

Definition from ecomii

When I began to design the bench I considered the attributes that I thought it should have. These were use a material that is and was recyclable (preferably something produced by the London Wetland Centre, this was to reduce the environmental impact due to transportation), it should also be comfortable and enjoyable to for the end user, it should be visually exciting so as to encourage use by visitors to the Centre. I also think it would be interesting if it could provide a habitat for wildlife, depending on the materials used. The bench should also require minimal effort to maintain, both in terms of man hours and energy required.

Focussing brief for bench design

Rubber is one of the hardest-wearing flooring materials available and can be used in a huge variety of settings, in both indoor and outdoor situations. It is slip-resistant, making it ideal for indoor wet areas, surfaces prone to spills or outdoor areas that are exposed to wet weather – even when wet, it provides excellent traction and it also has superior drainage properties when used outdoors.Rubber is anti-static and absorbs noise, providing fantastic sound insulation and vibration reduction. What’s more, rubber is also resistant to fading and to burns, such as cigarette burns. It’s durability also means that rubber as a flooring solution is a sound investment value as it can withstand damage from dropped weights, scuffs from shoes, even scratches from sharp objects and stay new-looking for many years.

Rubber tiles provide another benefit – ease of installation. And when it comes to cleaning, there are few flooring materials as easy as rubber to maintain – simply use a broom, damp sponge, mop or vacuum cleaner if indoors – or a water hose, leaf blower or broom if outdoors.

The industrial chic of rubber provides any space with a clean and contemporary finish. And with its soft cushioning underfoot and its shock absorption properties, it provides a good anti-fatigue surface for workers who are on their feet all day.

Eco-Friendly Rubber Floors

Rubber in general is considered a low environmental impact building material – however, if you’re particularly keen on an eco-friendly rubber floor, be careful about the type of rubber you choose. Some companies supply rubber which is synthetic and made from the by-products of crude oils and these should be avoided if you’re looking for a more environmentally-friendly option. Some companies offer rubber that is sourced from trees (i.e.. natural virgin rubber) and provided that it is responsibly harvested, in a sustainable manner, then this can be a good option.Recycled rubber is the best option if you’re looking for an eco-friendly flooring solution – not only does it obviously have lower environmental impact than virgin or synthetic rubber but it is actually cheaper and more durable as well. Rubber tiles which can be installed without adhesive rank especially high in the eco-friendly stakes. These can be designed to interlock so that they have a “seamless” appearance – and often can be customised to specific sizes, as well as easily trimmed if necessary. This also means that these tiles can be recycled for re-use again in another application, reducing waste and disposal problems. Remember, rubber flooring is 100% recyclable, compared to vinyl (petroleum-based) products.

The Benefits of Rubber

In our Phase Two presentation we had two proposals for the new hide, one proposal for a communication system and one proposal for an object. The Interior Design stu-dents presented 3D render images with photographs and imagery to support their choices in design for their new hides. The basis of the designs both stemmed from the idea of movement, but were interpreted differently. The communication proposal, put forth the idea of making the Centre more interesting for children and bringing the birds and experiences to life more through three varying ideas based on the same theme: cardboard glasses, the glasses would have different lenses, 3D, split image, and mirror (where you could alter the field of vision using the mirrors that you could look through).

The product proposal presented the idea of making a bench from reeds that was both sustainable and inter-esting for adults and children alike. In the previous and following images you can see the presentation and the individual proposals

To illustrate in 3D the concept of the reed bench I constructed a series of straws varying in length to show how the reeds would be cut to various heights to give a sense of dynamism. Although it was successful in many ways it lacked a sense of realism so hence the construction of the more finished idea in oasis and broom bristles!

Here are images showing the construction and completion of the model of the bench it was successful in giving a far more realistic idea (than the drinking straws model) of how the concept would work.

Preparatory sketches for WWT Experience and Modules storyboards

To give an example of what the reeds would like and how they would function. We purchased a bundle we then cut the bundle in half. We then took both halves and bundled them back together. Once we had used steel wire to fasten them tightly together. We proceeded to use a bandsaw to get each reed to the required length. To then simulate usage we used a wooden mallet to splay out the tips of the reeds.We then asked some fellow students to test the reeds and give us some brief feedback on the bundle. They both commented that said that the reeds were quite comfortable and also stable.

Prototyping of the WWT Experience 3D Glasses

We enlisted the help of a few of my friends children to participate in trying on the glasses (at first all of them). Two of them then walked past the screens with videos of ducks, wearing the 3D glasses. They were very interested in the ducks on the screens and loved wearing the glasses. There were probably ten different children asking to try them on, so I think the prototyping was extremely successful.

We also have some video showing the children wearing the glasses whilst looking at the ducks.

Here are some 3D renderings of how the modules look next to one another in various environments.