Driving an Ecological Agenda with Project-Led Research

Here Hugh Whitehead, Irene Gallou, Harsh Thapar, Giovanni Betti and Salmaan Craig of the Specialist Modelling Group (SMG) at Foster + Partners directly address the underlying premise behind the issue. They argue the case for the architect as generalist or ‘centralised controller’, coordinating an often specialised and diverse collaborative design team. As an in-house consultancy within Foster + Partners, SMS provides expertise in complex geometry, computer programming, parametric design and rapid prototyping and environmental simulation, aiming to provided directed specialist support whenever required. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Grand Work of Fiction: The Detail as Narrative

A practising architect and Professor at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, Edward Ford is the leading expert on the architectural detail and the author of three seminal books on the subject. Here Ford explains that, though the decision ‘to abstract or to articulate’ architecture ‘may be largely subconscious’, it is never ‘arbitrary’. For ‘in the well-designed building, it is done in the service of the creation of a larger narrative, a unity of vision’.     

Looking and Drawing

Peter Cook is the doyen of the architectural drawing world. He enthuses and champions the graphic in architectural schools across the globe, while producing extraordinary images within his own London-based practice. Here he offers us the rare chance to look over his shoulder at CRAB studio, proffering some rare tips and insights; he shares his graphic predilections and recounts the evolution of some of his most recent drawings.     

基于霍夫变换的图像运动模糊角度识别法的改进

运动模糊图像的复原主要依赖于对运动模糊参数的估计。针对R.Lokhande等人提出的基于霍夫变换的运动模糊角度估计法进行改进,通过增加预处理步骤,并利用霍夫变换得到更多合适直线,然后取加权均值得到最后估计角度值。实验表明,改进方法能得到比原方法更精确的角度值,并且更加稳定。     

‘Van Dyck in Action’: Dressing Charles I for the Victorian Stage

Abstract

In 1872, the then relatively unproven young actor, Henry Irving, took to the stage of London’s Lyceum theatre to play the part of Charles I in a new play by William Gorman Wills. The play’s phenomenal popularity was Irving’s first major triumph as a tragedian, but what few historians have explored was that his success was largely predicated, not just upon his acting ability, but on the visual aspects of his performance, particularly his appearance as Charles I, and his costumes, which were characterized by his biographer Bram Stoker as akin to watching ‘Van Dyck in action’. This notion, that Irving was the incarnation of Charles I as painted by Van Dyck, came to dominate the visual and verbal rhetoric of the production. However, looking in detail at images of the king, and of Irving’s costumes, this article breaks down this myth, and questions the validity of such a metaphor, arguing that Irving was not so much portraying Van Dyck’s king as a Victorian idea of how Charles should appear, which chimed perfectly with the expectations of his audiences, and ensured his success.     

CONTINUUM: A Self-Engineering Creature-Culture

An interdisciplinary design research collaborative led by Alisa Andrasek, CONTINUUM emerged from a series of design research seminars at Columbia University's graduate school of architecture. Working collaboratively with Robert Aish, Andresek's workshops explored the potential of the new Bentley Systems' GenerativeComponents design software, which at the time was in beta testing. CONTINUUM was formed to extend the possibilities of such collaborations and has expanded its network, occupying an interesting and unique territory of intersecting interests between academia, corporate practice and the companies that create design tools. Traditionally understood as antagonistic, commercial and progressive interests and intentions find common ground in their shared need for research into advanced design software that will enable the retooling of architectural practice. Here, Pia Ednie-Brown, with illustrations by Alisa Andrasek, examines the unique ways in which CONTINUUM enfolds diverse professional and academic practices. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Irving Emanuel Alexander (1922-2007).

Presents an obituary for Irving Emanuel Alexander. Irving Emanuel Alexander had an original mind and an integrity of character that made him sui generis. It is thus fitting that he played a major role in advancing the idiographic study of lives. On January 3, 2007, Irving died of cardiac arrest while attending a Duke basketball game. His wise and gentle spirit will be sorely missed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mathematical Ensemble: Molteni Arc Table

Jethro Hon is an architect working in the Specialist Modelling Group (SMG) at Foster + Partners, specialising in computational methods with a particular focus on the optimisation of complex geometries, fabrication and building performance. Here he describes how a table designed for Italian furniture-manufacturer Molteni, inspired by tensile fabric structures, was generated through the group's experimentation with simulation software.