Adventures in engineering

The dark is rising

The ubiquity of computers is both a good and bad thing, as I dare say many commentators have already noticed and written about. What's particularly noticeable in my line of work is how their presence and constant use has changed the architecture of the buildings in which we work. All engineering firms have to issue drawings, whether these show details of drainage, steelwork, retaining walls or flood risk areas. In the past, these drawings were made by hand: now, they're (nearly) all prepared using CAD software or some other similar program.

So, in previous years, buildings with large windows and good lighting were important for the draughtsmen. Now, we shield the large windows with blinds so that we don't get glare reflecting from our computer screens. Our new building is being constructed with smaller and fewer windows. Architects may like to design glass-sided, transparent buildings, but the almost habitual use of computers for most office jobs means that these windows nearly always have blinds.

posted by Tamburlaine @ 12:27 pm