Design Signals: The Role of Software Architecture and Paradigms in Design Thinking and Practice

Does the ontology of design software influence built form? Panagiotis Michalatos , lecturer in architectural technology at Harvard Graduate School of Design and a principal research engineer at Autodesk, Inc, here looks at how the move from drawing typologies to digital modelling since the mid-1990s has affected architectural aesthetics. He goes on to examine two more recent developments that may announce a further paradigm shift: granular tracking of design input, and data organisation practices in biomedics which, transferred to architecture, could allow for a more spatio-temporal approach.     

Animating Architecture: Coupling High-Definition Sensing with High-Definition Actuation

Ruairi Glynn , lecturer on interactive architecture at the Bartlett School ofArchitecture, University College London (UCL), puts the pressing question: ‘What does a world of hyper-connective, high-definition sensing offer architectural design?’ Despite the pervasiveness of ubiquitous computing – the Internet of Things (IoT) – and students' ability to speculate, build and test responsive lifesize installations, could practice itself be in danger of getting left behind?     

上下吐根哈特

阅读密斯建筑作品的平面图,常常会产生“单层密斯”或“标准层密斯”的印象。然而建于1930年的吐根哈特住宅却是一个显著的例外。本文以吐根哈特住宅为切入点,通过对它的两个差异很大的上下层平面的分析和研究,试图揭示密斯对于建筑上、下层关系处理的变化过程。这种分析也展示了密斯在其早期建筑思想走向成熟的过程中,对于“空间”、“功能”、“地形”等建筑基本问题理解的演化。它们同时显示了吐根哈特住宅作为密斯建筑生涯中“承上启下”关节点的历史地位。     

阿尔多·凡·艾克 1 的构型原则

本文通过荷兰建筑师阿尔多·凡·艾克所提出的建筑构型原则,分析了结构主义建筑理论产生的背景、基本主张以及实践方法。     

Nanoscale vibration characterization of multi-layered graphene sheets embedded in an elastic medium

Detailed studies on the nanoscale vibration characteristics of multi-layered graphene sheets (MLGSs) that are embedded in an elastic medium are carried out using continuum-based modelling and Generalized Differential Quadrature (GDQ) method. Natural frequencies and their associated vibration modes of practical interest of single-layered and triple-layered graphene sheets, as well as general MLGSs that are embedded in an elastic medium are established. Numerical simulations are conducted to examine the effects of van der Waals (vdW) interactions, which are present as bonding forces between the layers, on nanoscale vibration natural frequencies and their mode shapes. The results show that for a general MLGSs embedded in an elastic medium, vibration modes can in general be classified into three families - lower classical synchronized modes which are independent of van der Waals forces and are somewhat sensitive to the surrounding elastic medium, middle van der Waals enhanced modes which are largely determined by the presence of van der Waals interactions and are hence less sensitive to the changes of the surrounding elastic medium, and higher mixed modes which are combinations of classical synchronized modes and van der Waals enhanced modes. Detailed characterizations of these modes from their derived mode shapes have been achieved for the typical case of an embedded triple-layered GSs, as well as general embedded MLGSs. Effects of Winkler modulus K_W, the shear layer modulus G_b, different boundary conditions, aspect ratio β and the number L of graphene layers on nanoscale vibration properties have been examined in detail. The results presented in this paper, for the first time, provide accurate and wholesome studies and characterizations on the interesting nanoscale vibration properties of multi-layered graphene sheets embedded in an elastic medium and the results obtained will certainly be useful to those who are concerned with the dynamics of embedded graphene sheets which are increasingly being deployed for various innovative engineering applications such as nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS).     

Approximating the ITS-90 Temperature Scale with Industrial Platinum Resistance Thermometers

Platinum resistance thermometers (PRTs) are widely used for accurate temperature measurements in industrial process control as well as in testing and calibration laboratories. Industrial-type PRTs (IPRTs) are available with platinum wires of different purity and can attain measurement accuracy at the level of few tens of millikelvin in a broad temperature range from −196 °C to 550 °C and above. For such IPRTs, the most-used interpolation model (resistance versus temperature) is based on the Callendar–Van Dusen (CVD) equation, which is also recognized in several industrial standards including IEC 60751 and the corresponding national standards. In recent years, several studies have shown that systematic differences exist between the ITS-90 temperature (T ₉₀) and the temperature calculated by the CVD function. When the CVD equation is used to fit experimental data, the difference can be as large as several tens of millikelvin, even near a calibration point, i.e., of the same order of magnitude as the experimental uncertainty routinely achieved in laboratory calibrations. In order to overcome the above limitations, many interpolation models were proposed. The aim of this work is to assess the use of ITS-90 defining equations in precision laboratory calibrations of IPRTs in the temperature range from  −196 °C to 420 °C. Twenty IPRTs with W(100) ranging from 1.384 to 1.392 were calibrated by comparison against a standard PRT, and the experimental data were processed using several interpolation schemes based on ITS-90 deviation functions with different degrees of freedom. The overall results showed that any ITS-90-based scheme performs better than the CVD equation, suggesting that it be applied to a broad spectrum of industrial and laboratory applications.