Architectural survey of historical buildings:The orders of classical architecture in the Baptistery of Florence

The survey of historic buildings is very important for architectural conservation.An integral survey allows perpetuating the building historical memory,deciphering it for future generations,and recovering it in case of accidental loss.The Baptistery of Florence survey was done with four measuring methods:the"direct"one,which employs traditional measuring tools;the"indirect"one,which expedites the dimension-gathering process with more preci-sion;and the"photogrammetric"one,which uses snapshots to facilitate the representation process with computers.An innovative measuring concept,known here as the"recovery sur-vey",synthetizes graphical reality so that irregularities-due to the project materialization and deterioration over time-disappear;therefore,retrieving the building original design.Col-umns with their bases,shafts and capitals,as well as entablatures with their architraves,friezes and cornices were under study.The three Greek orders(Doric,Ionic and Corinthian)together with the two roman orders(Tuscan and Composite)unveiled the classical architecture significance.These constituents,which reoccur inside and outside the baptistery,were measured as part of these holistic survey and recovery process,to achieve the objective of this research study:the recording of this world historical building through an integral survey and rilievo to decode its significance and symbolism.     

疗愈性街景元素识别与评价研究

The street is a type of important urban public space with multiple social values, one of which is the restorative potential. Based on the “beingaway,” “extent,” “fascination,” and “compatibility” constructs of restorative environments proposed by the Attention Recovery Theory, this study elaborated the significance of restorativeness provided by street environments to people living in high-density cities. It used the traditional restorativeness scale with mobile eye trackers to explore the restorative experience provided by an urban street, and identified the specific streetscape elements related to restorativeness and the degree of their influences. The results show that “greenery,” “people,” and “cars” perform significant influences, and different streetscape elements have different degrees of influences on the 4 constructs of the restorative environment. For example, for the“being-away,” “extent,” and “fascination” constructs, the influence of “greenery” is the most important, while “people” plays the core role in “compatibility.” The findings can help professionals develop targeted design strategies to improve diverse street environments for a better restorativeness.     

In-Between Waters /Intercepting Wetness: Inventing Rain in the Mining Landscape of Shanxi Province,China

Under the background of imposing engineered structures, including reservoirs and inter-basin water transfer infrastructures, being applied to solve drought caused by coal mining in Shanxi Province of China and floods caused by mineral mining in Western Ghats of India, the author reviews the intrinsic reason of water problems and recommends a water management solution that is design on “rain before floods” and “fields of wetness before flows of water.” Most magnificent engineered infrastructures are designed upon an idea of separating water from its milieu, thus becoming contained flows in pipes, channels, and reservoirs to solve water problems. To compensate for the shortage of existing water infrastructures, the author suggests gathering a regional-level landscape capacity for building “wetness” of resilience when facing problems of “water” in extremities. This is a radical shift compared with a problem-solving approach, as engineering does, to one that is grounded in landscape and uncovers opportunities. The landscape research and design project introduced in this article aims to provide an alternative future for Shanxi Province, China, which seems arid and is challenged by monodevelopment mode. The research and design within the project are across four nested scales. A landscape infrastructure of intercepting wetness is taken as an underlying thread which initiates intertwined ecological, programmatic, temporal and material trajectories. On the other hand, the project demonstrates research, representation, design, and planning can actually inform one another, and the design remains open and adaptive to its changing environments.     

A systematic assessment of architectural approaches for solving the housing problem in Iraq

Iraq experiences housing shortage of around1–1.5 million units with low production rate. Managing this challenge requires integrated efforts across a number of fields. One way for ward is to develop an integral and appropriate architectural solution. In Iraq,it remains unknown which of the possible architectural approaches is adequate to address its housing challenges while considering occupants' preferences. Aiming at helping in forming a solution, this study critically assesses the possible building patterns and construction approaches, whichrep resent the main architectural solutions' framework. To achieve this aim, an extensive literature review was conducted that explores possible alternatives and housing requirements. Alternatives were assessed by comparing and contrasting their adequacy in satisfying Iraqis' preferences and the housing sector requirements. The assessment included conducting two surveys: a public Iraqis survey and an experts survey. The former was used to determine Iraqis' residential priorities and the latter to evaluate the adequacy of the defined alternatives in satisfying a set of housing requirements. A total number of 410 Iraqis participated in the first survey and fourteen Iraqi experts in the second. Based on the results, this paper suggests mass construction of multifamily courtyard residential buildings as a solution and discusses future research efforts.     

Concept cathedral and “squaring the circle”: Interpreting the Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris as a standing hymn

Semiotics is used in the sphere of visual arts as a tool that helps reading the message included in a certain work. Gothic architecture, as an outcome of the rich cultural context of medieval tradition, where metaphysics, numbers and geometry were indispensable tools to symbolically manifest cosmological and theological concepts, is suggested as a good example for testing this approach in the field of architecture. In this paper, a semiotic reading for one of the most distinguished works of this era; i.e., the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, is introduced as a model for this methodology. Among many message included in the building, such as the functional or the technical messages, this is a trial to introduce a reading, i.e., an interpretation, of what could be called “a hidden spiritual message”. The paper comes to a conclusion that the Gothic cathedral, as represented in Notre Dame de Paris, might be perceived as an externalization of a standing hymn that was meant to send continuous appeals of protection to Heaven.     

Design in THE Age of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is playing an everincreasing role in our lives, but what impacts might it have on the design professions? Will it introduce a new style? Or will it just help to improve the design process? Or will it have a completely different impact? This article attempts to offer an overview of the potential of Artificial Intelligence, defining the different forms of Artificial Intelligence, and illustrating its argument with the work of three designers. It argues that Artificial Intelligence will not generate a new style. However, it will have a radical input on the process of designing. It is also likely to force us to call into question many accepted beliefs within the design community. Certain traditional terms, such as the concept of a “design” and the very notion of “designing,” are likely to be replaced by a new lexicon that includes terms such as “searching” and “outcomes.” But, more importantly, the whole myth of the “artistic genius” is likely to be also called into question. What Artificial Intelligence tells us, as the paper concludes, is not how “artificial” Artificial Intelligence is, but rather how misguided our own understanding of human intelligence has been.     

Public Perceptions of High-rise Building Emergency Evacuation Preparedness

In light of the events of September 11, 2001, a concern in the fire safety community is that the public attitudes toward emergency evacuation procedures and preparedness may have changed and that current assumptions about occupant behavior may no longer be valid. In 2006, a survey of high-rise building occupants was conducted to explore their knowledge of high-rise building safety and emergency evacuation procedures and their attitudes and perceptions about high-rise safety and emergency evacuation procedures. Some 244 residential building occupants in Chicago, New York City and San Francisco and 228 commercial building occupants in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Philadelphia were surveyed. The study revealed that the events of September 11, 2001 have heightened occupants concerns about safety in high-rise buildings. Eight in ten commercial building respondents participated in a fire drill in the last year, compared to 18% of residential building respondents. Among both survey respondents, the most frequent top-of-mind suggestion to building management to improve safety was “more fire drills.” Almost all occupants know where the fire exits are. And, keeping with conventional wisdom, most occupants believe using elevators is unsafe during a fire, however, 28% also believe that going to the roof is a possible alternative to using the stairs. These findings support the need for continued public education about emergency evacuations procedures in high-rise buildings.

Transferring architectural management into practice: A taxonomy framework

This research aimed to develop a unique framework to help architects understand and apply architectural management (AM) in their practices. A comprehensive literature review identified several components belonging to different specialist fields. A pragmatic methodology for developing the framework was adopted by combining the methodology of Japareen for building conceptual frameworks with the Concept Mapping and Qualitative Met-Synthesis techniques. The resulting framework underwent a series of testing stages aimed at refining the framework further. The testing process targeted two groups (researchers and professionals) by adopting a mixed method approach, which included a facilitated workshop, interviews, and a questionnaire survey. The feedback from the testing phase was used to create the final AM Taxonomy Framework (AMTF), and served as an original and practical guide for practitioners, further extending their understanding of AM. Further validation and refinement are planned in the long term by applying the framework to selected architectural practices.     

Use of gestalt in wayfinding design and analysis of wayfinding process

The authors brought forward the definition of “Gestalt space” and indicated this kind of space can be easily cognized. Three experiments showed that “classification” and “grouping” are the human strategies to solve wayfinding problems. “Similarity” and “Legibility” of the space are advantageous to help people to complete wayfinding tasks. The designer should provide the essential “Legibility” in Gestalt space, by using some techniques such as “break” and “accession” to settle the wayfinding problem.     

The evolution of Liang Sicheng’s construction of Chinese architectural traditions in his drawings (1920s–1930s)

This article investigates one of the earliest attempts to systematically construct a building tradition and incorporate it into modern Chinese architectural design. These efforts were put forth by Liang Sicheng (1901–1972), one of the most distinguished Chinese architects and architectural historians, in the 1920s and 1930s in China, informed by the strong collective intention to honour the Chinese past. This article provides a historical and critical reflection on this collective intention that is still shared nowadays by architects and architectural theorists. This article examines in depth the evolution of the different ways Liang used the building past and constructed the Chinese architectural traditions in different crucial stages of his architectural career in the 1920s and 1930s. It uses architectural drawing as both the research subject and the research method. Three of Liang’s representative drawings from these crucial professional stages are juxtaposed and investigated to reveal this evolution using the iconography and iconology method.     

VERBAL DRAWINGS: MAPPING LANDSCAPE IDEAS

Verbal drawings, as a particular drawing category of drawings, are discussed in this paper about its history, qualities, and what kind of role they could play in the design communication of contemporary landscape architecture. The definition of verbal drawings arises from the observation and reading of Rupestrian art and its process in making drawings and paintings. Rupestrian art was the first human written communication prior to the emergence of words and spoken communication. For this reason, Rupestrian art drawings and paintings are not just images to be seen; above all, they are texts to be read. They are written drawings using pictograms, ideograms, and psycho-ideograms to compose images with a specific grammar and syntax. These written images have three qualities: a sense of immediacy, a sense of beauty, and a sense of lightness. Representing human activities in particular environments, Rupestrian art drawings are not only the first landscape representations but also the early representations of the act of mapping, opening a connection between the art of cartography and the art of verbal drawings. Using examples, this paper explains the importance of ancient and modern mapping arts in connection with the discourse of contemporary landscape architecture by demonstrating how the senses of immediacy, beauty, and lightness help contemporary verbal drawings compete with the neutral, beautiful, quickly produced and consumed digital representations nowadays. In the end, the text proposes a confrontation between Umberto Eco’s concept of “open work” and verbal drawings — Verbal drawings might be intended more like “open frameworks” than “open works.” It is a concept that considers verbal drawings able to accept new ideas for extending their meanings and significance throughout the design process.     

Development trend of urban design in “digital age”: Pan-dimensionality and individual-ubiquity

The wave of “digital age” featuring digital information is coming. Digital technology is profoundly changing the societal development direction and evolution paths. It also has significant bearing on production modes, social interactions and lifestyles. With regard to urban design, a system of knowledge about the creation and adaptation of material space forms that integrate humanities, art, technology and materials, digital technology has provided it with a brand-new and revolutionary scientific impetus for its evolution. The result of this evolution is “digital urban design paradigm based on human-computer interaction”, i.e., the urban development is moving toward “pan-dimensionality” and “individual ubiquity”. The future of urban design will construct a new approach to urban research and engineering, which is more complex, capable of accommodating and compatible with multiple goals of “instrumental rationality” and “value rationality”. Such a new approach shall be led by the probabilistic theory of “gray scale thinking”, reflecting quaternary synergetic view of “scientific rationality, ecological rationality, cultural rationality and technical rationality” to realize the cognitive progress of “engineering for the benefit of mankind”.     

“Landscape Prompts” Awaiting Attendance: Uncovering the Persistent Factors That Shape the Drowned Lands

The Black Dirt Region in the State of New York has been well-known for the unique taste of its onions, which is attributed to the organic matter that weighs over 80% in the soil. In recent years, however, the rigid economic pattern restrains the development of this area. In the meantime, local agricultural production is more and more vulnerable to flooding. When this region is labeled as “highly productive of crops,” the persistent factors that have been shaping the black-dirt landscape are omitted. The other name of the place, “the Drowned Lands,” may better capture its entangled relationship with water. In this article, hydrogeological dynamics and human desire are regarded as the factors that sustain landscape continuity and stability. Based on the research on historical sedimentation in the Drowned Lands, this article attempts to delineate a local scenario of covert landscape evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum. The proposal initiates a composite pathway of ecological functions and touristic values in the agricultural region. Within a series of “landscape prompts,” a lesser-known tale of local geology and prehistoric culture is told. Through design interventions, alternative possibilities of rural landscape are tested, embedded meaning of the agricultural land becomes tangible, and a more adaptive human–land relationship is restored.     

书写历史与瞬间：从《发现独乐寺》的写作谈起

2013年5期的《建筑学报》发表了天津大学建筑史研究者丁垚老师的＂发现独乐寺＂一文。该文围绕着关野贞与梁思成等人＂发现＂独乐寺这个辽代建筑的过程,编织起一段颇具场景感的中建研究史来。文本以对谈的方式。再度回放了一次该文的思考、积累、打磨和写作的过程,并针对建筑史的意义以及书写命题。给出了作者的回应。     

Fostering Urban Digital Integrated Systems: The Case of Carrè Laval,Canada

City governments are embracing digital technologies to improve hard and soft urban systems, so as to create and improve urban experiences, foster an entrepreneurial city, as well as devise novel services that can improve the livability of citizens and boost the local economy. Unlike traditional infrastructure and urban systems, which tend to be natural monopolies, data-driven digital platforms can engage multiple stakeholders simultaneously. This article, introducing the notion of hybrid urban digital integrated systems, proposes a methodology aims at the integration of digital and physical elements in urban environments. We based our discussion on the work developed by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Senseable City Lab, which focused on the integration of the digital-technology-based solutions in Carré Laval of the city of Laval, Canada. As the result of the workshop, six projects have been developed by students, namely, “Activating Surface,” “Infinite memories,” “Fora,” “iTable,” “MinecARft,” and “Foodprint.”These designs aim at promoting civic engagement as intrinsic elements of the re-appropriation and redesign of this severely underutilized site. The human-centered designs rooted in specific context will help digital technologies embedded in the city and increase the attractiveness of the city to local and new stakeholders.     

Post-occupancy evaluation of a restored industrial building:A contemporary art and design gallery in Mexico

This paper presents the results obtained from a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) study conducted in an old fabric building called “La Violeta”. This structure has been recently converted into a contemporary art gallery. La Violeta is located in Puebla City, Mexico. The building dates from the beginning of the 19th century; it was built and used as a textile factory until the first decades of the 20th century. This POE study aims to assess the new use of the building from the users' point of view. Methodology involves historical research of the building, analysis of the conversion strategy, walk through investigation, and a user survey .Questions regarding the re-utilization strategy used in the building and its current use are included in the survey, such as “How do people perceive the space regarding its functionality, accessibility, and comfort?” Although the re-utilization process destroyed several historic elements, the re-use of old industrial spaces that otherwise would be obsolete and disused seems pertinent. Developing small renovation projects as part of an integral and wider project seems feasible. Users perceive the building as comfortable but not properly advertised as an art gallery, and its location is difficult to find.     

Simulation of a building and its HVAC system with an equation solver: Application to benchmarking

The today-availability of powerful engineering equation solvers is opening very new possibilities in technical component modelling and in system simulation. The simulation models, the “user guide” and the “reference guide” are all included in a same file. Reliable “reference” and “simplified” models are currently available for the building zone and for most (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) HVAC components. Focus is given here on “simplified” models and on a simulation tool, called “Benchmark”. This tool should help an auditor to make the best use of the limited information usually available about actual fuel and electricity consumptions and to get a very first evaluation of the actual performances of a given HVAC system. An example of such use is presented. Another simulation tools and more information about the modelling of HVAC components will be presented in a further paper.     

Geotechnical Solutions for Construction of the “Business Center” in Moscow

An example of a complex geotechnical solution is cited for the construction of buildings housing the Business Center in Moscow, which includes the analysis, design, and construction of a trench enclosure for the building complex, including an architectural monument with an underground level, and a newly constructed building with from two to three underground levels, as well as the church of Saint Peter and Paul on Yauze, which abuts the buildings under construction.     

Temperature distribution in the noncombustibility furnace

The authors maintain that an ISO-recommended combustibility test for building materials contains weaknesses that may result in a material being classified “combustible” by one laboratory and “noncombustible” by another. They offer solutions to the short-comings of the test.     

儿童友好型社区营造中的参与者社会网络构建与分析 —以湖南省长沙市育才第三小学"娃娃农园"营造实践为例

Introducing the case of the Kids’ Gardens in Yucai No. 3 Primary School in Changsha City, Hunan Province, this study established sociograms upon the contact-frequency-based network with UCINET to systematically analyze the characteristics of different participants in the process of the childfriendly community building and the varying pattern of all social relations, aiming at addressing problems emerging in public participation and multi-stakeholder collaboration in Chinese mainland. It was found that by bonding stakeholders including citizens, the government and party organizations, universities, and public institutions and enterprises, this practice encouraged the school — as a community — to leverage its internal resources. The school finally overcame the organizational inertia and achieved independent operation and growth during the process of community building. The study also demonstrated that the social network of participants was developed and defined with both independent and dependent modes from an overall perspective, of which the former characterized for its dominant internal ties and a dense tree-like hierarchical management structure might be more efficient. From a participant perspective, the brokerage roles in key nodes were critical to the community building. Finally, spatial design strategies, including enhancing the spatial affordance to serve diverse activities, space zoning and allocation, offering “half-done” spaces, and phased development, were provided for similar community building practice.