TechStyle

Cragside

A highlight of our summer was staying  in a cottage on Lord Armstrong's Cragside estate in Northumberland. Tucked away in the rugged hillside above Rothbury, Cragside brings together landscaped pine trees with Victorian technology.

The house was the first in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity and Amstrong installed many innovative machines to help his staff with the domestic chores. Cragside boasts the first hydraulic lift, used by Armstrong's domestic staff to carry coal and heavy pans between floors, a hydraulic spit, a Turkish steam room for the men, and was one of the earliest installations of Joseph Swan's  'incandescent lamp'.

Armstrong's money initally came from the invention of a hydraulic crane, and then from the foundation of the Elswick Works in the West End of Newcastle. Later he developed the breech-loading gun and moved into armament production and shipbuilding. The firm merged withJoseph Whitworth & Co, later becoming Vickers Armstrong.

Science Show

Last night I went to Theatre of Science at the Soho Theatre for a display of Simon Singh and Richard Wiseman's showmanship. A small and intimate affair, the show took us through optical illusions, contortionists, theremin playing and electrical games.  It was great fun, and even included a scientific proof of why the Teletubbies are Evil:

Teletubbies = Time x Money

Time = Money

Teletubbies = Money x Money = Money²

Money = √Evil

Teletubbies = Evil

There could have been a bit more explanation at times, but the whole thing felt like a rather wonderful Victorian display in someone's living room. With the passing of one million volts between two tesla coils it reminded me of a short course we developed on Fathom with Iwan Rhys Morus on Electricity Shows which looked at electricity's cultural role  as something exotic and spectacular in Victorian society.

European Design

I came across the European Design Show a day too early. I had come to see WEEE man, but he'd gone on tour that morning, so I had a sunny afternoon to kill and ended up at the Design Museum. I thought I'd be interested in the web design, computer games, graphics and ceramics, but was amazed when I was more taken aback by the array of cloud and jellyfish lights that made me want to just relax in a squishy sofa and admire the view.

Then there was the blacker than black black ink from the ever inventive National Physical Laboratory. Supposedly 25 times blacker than black paint its called Super Black. Yes, black is the new black. They have come a long way since the days of the Pilot Ace computer!

Not so surprising though that I was mainly taken in by 'The technology story', with products and processes from the Belgium company Materialise. They have developed software that applys the stereolithography and sintering processes invented in the 1980s to make prototypes for the automotive and aerospace industries, to the production of everyday plastic objects. Mass production or simple craft?