Fast cars and fashion might go hand in hand, but what do a pop song and the Rubik's Cube have in common? All have been sources of inspiration for our city's architects and designers. Creative minds often come up with ideas that are triggered by the ordinary, it seems.
For architect Johnny Kember, director of architecture at KplusK Associates, it was James Bond's Aston Martin. He explains how the firm was in the process of designing a large living pavilion at the top of a cliff face as part of an extensive private residence in Ungasan, Bali.
'We wanted to create a simple yet effective means to naturally ventilate the environment by using the constant onshore breeze that the cliff face creates,' Kember says. 'That weekend I had visited the Chater Garden classic car show in Hong Kong, and marvelled at the beauty of the Aston Martin DB4 on show there. [This car was made famous in the Bond films, and the convertible version was Charlie Croker's car in the seminal The Italian Job starring Michael Caine].
'On the side of the car is a beautiful detail of the air vents, which draw hot air away from the engine as the car is in motion and, from this inspiration, we carved deep slots into the two sides of the pavilion that are linked to dampers.'
The air vents in the Bali house work in this way: as the onshore breeze hits the front facade of the building, air currents accelerate over the top and sides creating eddies, in turn creating negative wind pressure, or suction. This is called the Bernoulli effect. Long ventilation chambers set high on both sides of the building can be opened and closed electrically using simple dampers: the occupants simply flick a switch to suck the hot air out of the top of the living pavilion.
Kember found this to be a thoroughly eco-friendly way of creating effective air conditioning. 'And pretty cool, to boot,' he adds.