Einstein: I’ve completely solved the problem!

Besso: Uh, what are you talking about?

Einstein: Close your eyes. Pretend you’re overlooking a train track. Imagine a train racing past faster than any train you have ever seen. Now, I want you to imagine as the train is flying past, two lightning bolts crashing beyond the tracks at the same time one hundred metres apart.

Lightning strikes

Besso: So, what?

Einstein: Patience.

Now, imagine that you are standing in the middle of the train during the exact same scenario, would the lightning bolts be simultaneous?

Besso: Of course

Einstein: Not if light moves at one speed. Close your eyes.

Besso: Albert, this is ridiculous...

Einstein: Put yourself back on the moving train and really think about it. Do it, Michele!

 Michele closes his eyes and imagines himself on the moving train.

 Einstein: Now watch the lightning bolts!

 Lightning strikes once and then a second time.

 Were they simultaneous to you?

 Michele is perplexed and looks at Albert in astonishment.

Besso: No!

Einstein: Because you were moving towards one and away from the other. To me, standing still, they were simultaneous. How could the two of us experience the same event differently?

Besso: We couldn’t. Ponders for a moment. Unless…

Einstein: It’s not Maxwell who gets it between the eyes, it’s Newtown.

Besso: What are you saying?

Einstein: Time is not absolute! I’m writing the paper Michele, I dare them to ignore it!

Einstein then sent his findings, “On the electrodynamics of moving bodies,” to the Prussian Academy of Physics. Planck, impressed by this paper, sends his esteemed colleague, Max Laue to the patent office that Einstein was working in.

 Laue: Herr Einstein, my name is Max Laue, I am here at the behest of Professor Max Planck.

 Albert and Michele get off their seats, look at each other and are flabbergasted!

 Besso: Max Planck, the father of Prussian physics?!

Laue: He greatly admires your work, Herr Einstein. You’ve achieved more in one year than most scientists do in a lifetime… however did you accomplish it?

Albert looks down for a moment and then at Laue

Einstein: Curiosity, I suppose.

Laue: We would like to have you further your career. Tell me, are you working on anything else?

Einstein: Well, yes. In fact, I have realised that the relativity principle; combined with the Maxwell equations requires that mass be a direct measure of the energy contained in a body.

Laue: I’m not sure I follow…

Einstein: LIGHT CARRIES MASS.

Laue chuckles

Laue: But… that’s impossible.

Einstein: Perhaps. For all I know, the good Lord might be laughing at the whole matter. I believe this theory could be tested using elements whose energy is highly unstable. Madame Curie’s radium, for example…

Laue looks at the famous equation and is astounded. With wide eyes and gaping mouth, he peers down at the paper and then up at Einstein.

Laue: Herr Einstein… it’s… it’s… genius. [1]

And at that, the famous equation E=m2 was born.

Decades later, one of the biggest breakthroughs in scientific discoveries had occurred. In what would be considered a momentous; and arguably, devastating time in human and scientific history - the impossible was done and the atom was split - paving the way for the creation of the deadliest weapons to ever grace our beautiful earth. WWII was at its crux and the nuclear arms race had begun. A famous letter from Einstein was written, urging the US government to take action before Hitler, or even the Soviets, to develop this perceived weapon, pushed the US at the forefront of this mission; and with a considerable group of scientists, they began work on what would be known as, The Manhattan Project. Labouring over several years, on the morning of 16 July, 1945, at approx. 5:30 am, in the desert of New Mexico - the Trinity test - a code name given for the detonation of a nuclear device saw the successful explosion of the first ever atomic bomb. The program was a success, indeed, and the scientists achieved that which was considered the unachievable. The chase was on; and they had apparently won it. And on that eventful morning everything had changed.

Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan project and a physicists credited as being one of the Fathers of the atomic bomb, recalls the moments following the accomplishment of the Trinity test in a 1965 television broadcast - quoting the Bhagavad-Gita, he said, "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty, and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."

After the test, a sleuth of moral deliberations went on about whether to use this new deadly weapon. Truman, the then US president was given the final ruling and his decision was… to drop the bomb! And so - it was to be - on the morning of August 6, 1945, that is exactly what the US military did. That fateful day, the world witnessed for the first time ever in human history, the devastating effects of the first-ever nuclear blast; obliterating the civilian city of Hiroshima, killing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying the entire urban-scape from the epicentre onwards. Sixteen hours after the bombing, the White House released a statement by President Harry S. Truman, who was en-route from the Potsdam Conference aboard the U.S.S. Augusta. "It is an atomic bomb," Truman announced, "harnessing . . . the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East." A few days later on August 9, 1945, Nagasaki would experience the same fate as their neighbouring city, actualising the terrible and the devastating power of E=mc2.

The 20th century saw one of the deadliest and destructive periods. Millions of lives were lost. Millions were left devastated due to displacement and many suffered psychological and physical trauma. And when WWII ended, the remnants of everything that had occurred still lingered in the form of a cold war. Nuclear energy had been discovered - and at that - the realisation that we held within our grasp, the immense power to eliminate entire populations and their cities in the flash of a light, leaving the world and their leaders feeling uneasy. The tension was, and is to some degree, still lingering.

The energy of an atomic blast is like that of the sun. The sun, formed about 4.5 billion years ago - the way all stars are formed, is simply gas in the universe that was clumped by gravity together; and the more gas that is present, the more clumping that occurs. Clumped together so hard, eventually two atoms of hydrogen fused together into helium, producing immense amounts of energy - which started a chain reaction that became the power of our sun. In other words, the sun is nothing more than a giant nuclear explosion that keeps exploding and exploding. The atomic blast and the sun, though very similar in essence, do very different things - whilst the Nuclear bombs that have been developed by human hands were cultivated for the purpose to destroy; the sun, similar in its scientific nature, does the opposite… it creates and gives life.

So, what does all this have to do with Architecture and Design?

Plenty.

This scientific information is predicated on the equation, E=mc2. We are currently at a crossroads when it comes to energy. Our natural resources are depleting at an exponential rate. We are wreaking havoc on the planet and ourselves due to the ill effects of how that energy is being produced and the demand for that energy continues to grow, especially as it relates to how we heat and cool our buildings. E=mc2 explains how we are able to extract vast amounts of energy, and was used, in a way, to cause destruction. We can adopt that very same equation to do something positive, however - we can use the sun, a natural and life giving free resource, to take some pressure off the planet and even the back pocket, whilst also creating buildings that don’t require as much energy to heat and cool spaces.

The sun, as Einstein demonstrates in his famous equation, is basically, in lay persons terms, energy held in mass. The exertion of that mass travels through the speed of light (which is the sun’s rays) and penetrates into the Earth’s atmosphere. That energy is gold if we know how to absorb it into a new mass outsource and then reuse it. We can do this with our buildings, in fact, by using the concept of thermal mass.

So, what is thermal mass?

Thermal mass is the ability of a construction material to absorb, store and release heat. It’s kind of like a battery, and some construction materials work like a battery in storing energy: Think of it as you would the phone you’re probably reading this on. Without being aware of it: we plug our phones into a wall socket, the energy absorbs into the depleting batteries; thus allowing for the phone to use that energy once it has been removed from the socket, powering our phone until that energy has depleted. Some construction materials act in a similar way, but instead of a socket, it’s the sun that does the recharging.

Heavy weight materials, such as concrete and brick have high thermal mass properties and lightweight materials, such as wood and some external claddings, typically have lower thermal mass properties. The way this could be incorporated within a building would be during wintertime. The energy of the sun penetrate the space and absorbed into a concrete slab like our battery. The energy from the sun would recharge the mass throughout the day until the sun sets. Once the sun leaves and stops giving that mass its energy, the slab will then, like our battery, begin to release that heat within the dwelling; allowing for free and natural heating of that space, thus reducing the need for mechanical heating. Similarly, since a concrete slab is naturally cool, if no heat is being absorbed, the space can remain cool during the summer periods and through cross ventilation, redirect unwanted warmth away from a room. This is what is often referred to as passive house. It’s referred to this because the building “passively” does what it needs to do by virtue of the specification of materials and design of the overall building.

It's important to note: when incorporating the principle of thermal mass, the material mass is exposed to sun on a winter’s day - however, in summer time, it should be shaded, otherwise the space then becomes a thermal liability. In other words, the idea is that we don’t want the material to absorb the heat from the sun during the hotter periods and then release it at night, making a space unbearable to live and sleep in. The way to navigate around the different seasons, and the way in which thermal mass works optimally, is by a smart and a well-thought out design outlook. Some of the considerations would be to ensure the building is orientated properly, apertures are placed in positions that take into account the suns paths and angles during the winter and summer periods; and the space has enough cross ventilation to circulate warm air away during the summer time.

Glenn Murcutt masters the concept of passive house perfectly in his genius work, The Magney House built in 1984.

“Murcutt used a combination of heavy north facing glazing with operable external shading elements, as well as a reverse brick veneer (RVB) walling system to control the heat load and internal temperature for Magney House.

The northern and eastern facades of the long pavilion structure are entirely glazed and sit under a high eave. This layout encourages winter sunlight to penetrate the interior living spaces and warm the internal thermal mass. Conversely, in the summertime, the operable aluminium venetian blinds on the exterior block the light from entering and allow the insulated concrete floor and RVB walls to keep the interiors cool.

The all-important RVB wall is situated on the southern façade and consists of a three layered system. Beginning from the outside-in (and much like a lot of his other projects), Murcutt chose corrugated aluminium from Alucobond to make up Magney House’s external skin. Next a small cavity zone was formed with 37mm battens and filled with Insulwool 75 insulation. The final layer of the system is the painted single brick interior skin—the thermal mass.

Thermal mass for Magney House inside; an insulated concrete slab and reverse brick veneer wall act as a thermal battery for the home’s interiors.

Internal thermal mass works to even out the temperatures within Magney House. Murcutt knew that this works best when you insulate it from the outside.” [2]

Murcutt demonstrates, in his work, the success of a well-thought out design and he harnesses simple solutions to develop spaces that are comfortable to inhabit, whilst also addressing the energy problem and reducing the need to consume energy unnecessarily.

He has been described as the Architect who captures the sun.

When the first bomb was dropped, Truman announced that “the force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed...” That force was used as power for destruction. The similar principles brought about in 1945 can be applied to a philosophy that looses the power of the sun in a very positive way today. Although it might seem like such a miniscule solution to such a big problem, we can use the power of the sun, as Murcutt has done in this master work, and endeavour to apply similar propositions in the way in which we design and construct future buildings.

As Einstein once said, “The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an “existing one.”

We can use the power of E=mc2 in the same way that shaped the course of history perniciously; or we can alter its connotation, and use it to solve the current energy debacle that we are currently contending with. As humans, we have an amazing capacity for so much innovation and good. Let’s use this equation to make manifest that which we are truly capable of, and as designers, let’s aim to try and capture the life giving effects of the sun in our buildings, as the Master Murcutt does.

The Magney House, Bingie Point, Moruya, New South Wales, Australia : 1982-84

Images by Anthony Browell

Original Glenn Murcutt drawing courtesy of The State Library of New South Wales.

[1]. Dialogue extract from the BBC series, Genius, Einstein

[2] Nathan Johnson, ArchitectureandDesign.com

Disclaimer: The material and advice given on this blog has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for full consulting advice. Always consult with a professional for more accurate information that especially tailors individual circumstantial needs.