麻豆社

Hanif Kara is a British structural engineer who was born in Uganda, teaches at Harvard and helps to realise the visions of some of the world's leading architects. Hanif talks about the trend for upside-down buildings, discusses pioneering projects in London and Baghdad and tells us why inverted buildings are so suited to today's over-crowded cities.聽

Fez Faanana is a cabaret artist and compere of the all-male Australian burlesque and circus ensemble, Briefs. From aerial acrobatics to drag acts, Fez tells us how the show turns people and their expectations upside down as he traces the subversive roots of cabaret back through the centuries.聽聽

Dr Kirsty Park is a Reader in Conservation Studies at the University of Stirling in Scotland and an expert on bats. She explains why and how bats hang upside down and why bat species around the world are under threat.聽聽

Structural Engineer Hanif Kara believes that if we could find a way of adapting the human body to sleep vertically, we would eliminate a lot of the world鈥檚 pressing problems. A single adult takes about 7m2 of bedroom space to be comfortable, so 70 adults could stand shoulder to shoulder in the same volume. If we halve this number to increase comfort, then 35 adults could sleep in a space that sleeps one today. This 35 fold reduction in footprint means less building, less cooling and less heating, even if all other areas of the home such as corridors and kitchens remain the same.聽 We would need strapping in to our new vertical beds though, as in deep sleep our muscles turn to jelly!聽

(Photo credit: Shan Pillay)