On Tuesday 1st November 2016 we at Grey’s of London attended the AIA/RIBA keynote lecture 2016. The lecture was led by Thomas Pfeifer, a world renowned architect whose buildings have been celebrated all over America.
All posts by Sarah King
Copper Cladding
Copper cladding is a very popular construction material in the UK. Why?
Well we ate Grey’s of London have been thinking a lot about this question, and here are the answers!
Polished Concrete
Polished Concrete
Polished concrete flooring is amazing. Why? For many reasons. It is considered a low maintenance, durable, cost effective option.
The concrete is treated with a chemical densifier, it is then ground with progressively finer grinder tools, The grinder tool becomes more and more fine as the process goes on. Almost like sanding wood to ensure a smooth and shiny finish. Stains and dyes are often applied to enhance the polished concrete as well as other options: scoring, creating radial lines, grids, bands, borders and other designs.
Continue reading
Yellow Balau Exotic Hardwood Installation and treatment
In an earlier post we discussed the pros of the Yellow Balau exotic hardwood. However, If you have not yet read the article please see here: http://greysoflondon.co.uk/yellow-balau-exotic-hard-wood/
How do we maintain it’s brilliance? How do we ensure longevity, beauty, and an overall permanent structure?
The key is in the installation of the wood. After fully installing the wood, it has to be left without treatment of oils, varnishes or sanding for a week or so, in order to guarantee that all of the natural oils and resins can settle in the grains of the wood so that it is able to reach its optimum time for treatment to take place and guarantee a perfectly flawless finish at the end.
Yellow Balau Exotic Hard wood
Yellow Balau is an exotic hardwood originating from Indonesia and Malaysia. It has become extremely popular in the UK for building garden furniture and decking. There are several reasons for this.
Installing a Yellow Balau decking or terrace is not easy, the wood is extremely hard and tightly grained which makes it heavy and not easy to manipulate, this may be a slight draw back when considering using it. However, this is one of the main draws of this particular timber. It is so solid, heavy and tightly grained, which means that it is incredibly hard wearing and durable. It will not be installed one day and then a year later have worn down, been weathered, or become rotten.
Continue reading
Projects that could change the face of London
- Norman Foster: The cycling utopia above London: World famous architect Norman Foster, (Responsible for the design of the North Greenwich interchange, is now taking his architecture to cyclists. He hopes to build a cycling network built above London’s railway networks. It will contain 200 points of entry dotted all around the city and will hold 220km of designated cycle lanes. His idea behind this is that it will increase the quality of life for people living in the capital, it will encourage a more healthy and active lifestyle, it will prevent people from quitting cycling due to the dangers on the road, it is more economically sensible to build this than to add additional roads to the city, and it is a more efficient use of space.
