Distinguishing Concepts: Lexicons of Interactive Art and Architecture

Interactive design has come about as a result of the intermingling of disciplines. As a consequence, the language it uses has become blurred - borrowed or stolen with little restraint from elsewhere. Though particular terms have become ubiquitous, the original concepts that lie behind them have been lost. This means that all too frequently they are no longer knowingly used. Usman Haque sorts the wheat from the chaff and brings clarity to bear on the vocabulary and thinking behind interactivity. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The World's Biggest Sculptor: The Architecture of Massimiliano Fuksas

At the start of the new millennium, Massimiliano Fuksas was one of the most significant Italian architects working outside his home country. His reputation in Italy and abroad, however, was taken to a further level by his completion of the New Milan Trade Fair. Stefano Casciani, an ex-student of Fuksas, provides an insightful and intriguing account of his ‘old’ professor: a robust and seemingly contradictory figure who is capable of great voluminous expression and delicacy. Casciani also finds constancy in his unrelenting energy, freshness and wit. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ein “Overall‐Konzept” für die Querschnittstragfähigkeit im elasto‐plastischen Bereich

Es wird die bereits für andere Tragfähigkeitsprobleme von Bauteilen (Knicken, Beulen) entwickelte “Overall‐Methode” auf die Berechnung der Querschnittstragfähigkeit von Stahlprofilen angewendet. Dies führt zu einer neuen Berechnungsmethode, die den gesamten elasto‐plastischen Bereich ohne die Notwendigkeit einer Klasseneinteilung umfasst. Basierend auf zahlreichen Versuchen und Querschnittsberechnungen mittels geometrisch, materiell nichtlinearer Analysen mit Imperfektionen werden (analog den Knicklinien) Bemessungskurven für die Abminderungsfaktoren vorgeschlagen, die für bestimmte Querschnittstypen wie I‐beziehungsweise H‐Profile oder Rechteck‐Hohlprofile, einen einheitlichen Verlauf im elasto‐plastischen Bereich aufweisen. An overall concept for the cross‐section resistance in the elasto‐plastic range. The “overall method” which has been developed for other load carrying problems of steel members (e.g. lateral member buckling or buckling of shells) is applied to the calculation of the cross‐section resistance of steel members. This leads to a new procedure that covers the whole elasto‐plastic range without the need of cross‐section classification. Based on numerous experimental tests and numerical calculations (GMNIA) design curves for the reduction factors of I‐ and H‐shaped sections and RHS‐sections are proposed that show a consistent transition in the elasto‐plastic range.     

Numerical methods for the design of cylindrical steel shells with unreinforced or reinforced cutouts

The effectiveness of the numerical methods GMNIA and MNA/LBA proposed in EN1993-1.6 for the design of steel shells is studied for cylindrical steel shells with an unreinforced or reinforced rectangular cutout chamfered elliptically at the four ends and for the corresponding shells without cutout. Moreover, another design method proposed in the literature and denoted here as MNA/GNA, which is based on a modified slenderness, is also evaluated. GMNIA is considered as the most reliable analysis type, provided that a judicious choice of shape and amplitude of initial imperfections is made. Thus, GMNIA results are used as basis for comparison, except for shells without cutout where the EN1993-1.6 normative strengths could serve the same purpose as well. For shells without cutout it is found that the modified slenderness gives similar results to the corresponding results of the conventional slenderness definition. In the case of unreinforced cutout the modified slenderness gives better results, thus the use of MNA/GNA is recommended. However, in the case of reinforced cutout the GMNIA results are approximated better by employing the conventional slenderness, thus MNA/LBA is more appropriate.