Ecological Planting Imperative: Functional Systems,Not Stylized Ecologies

The ability of landscape architectural projects to mitigate the worst effects of climate change will depend upon designed ecological systems. These systems will be built with plants. Despite the recognition of ecology as an essential driver of landscapes, the professionals of landscape architecture too often lack the knowledge and practical skills to create robust vegetative systems. New approaches and tools are required. This article outlines principles and methods for designing biodiverse plant systems for urban sites. Planting methods that increase species richness, functional diversity, and spatial complexity are emphasized as a way of developing more resilient plantings. Selecting species with similar evolutionary adaptions to stress, disturbance, and competition—as well as creating multi-layered compositions of diverse plant morphologies—allows designers to create compatible, long-lived plant mixes. To balance the increased visual complexity of diverse plant mixes, the article explores design techniques to make plantings more appealing to the public. The strategies explored here are based on the projects, experience, and research of Phyto Studio, a Washington, D.C. based studio. The methods build on work described in the author’s book, Planting in a Post-Wild World, an exploration of how to create designed plant communities.     

基于整体性视角的社区更新：框架、模式与案例 — —以佛山桂华邨社区为例

现行的政府单一主导、政府与开发 商合作的社区更新模式与业主的自主更新需 求产生了矛盾。针对现有研究对社区更新的 系统性缺乏关注的问题，本文从整体视角出 发，通过构建“参与主体—程序设计—法规 政策—资金调配”四维框架，分析现行社区 更新模式与业主自主更新需求产生冲突的内 在机制。在优化现有模式的基础上，提出三 种适应业主自主更新需求的理论模式。桂华 邨业主自主更新失败的实践案例证明了本文 所提出的四维框架的重要性。最后，从政府 视角对我国社区更新机制提出优化建议。     

新产品研发是建陶企业可持续发展的核心

新世纪我国建陶企业在整个国民经济的带动下将进一步发展，入世后经济全球化的市场竞争格局，建陶企业只有走新产口研发之路，严格企业管理，才会在日趋激烈的市场竞争中得以生存和可持续发展。     

台北101层国际金融中心之结构施工技术与其设计考量概述

本文旨在简要说明目前正在施工中之超高层大楼—台北国际金融中心之结构系统、钢结构工程、钢筋混凝土工程基础与深开挖工程等特殊施工技术,并佐以相关之设计考量与施工规划概要,以供工程界做参考。     

城市形象的建筑环境美学设计问题

城市形象是创造富于个性化城市的关键,而建筑环境美学设计水准则是体现城市形象的要素之一。据此,作者从分析中国城市形象的美学误区出发,研究了不同城市建筑品位的形成特点,进而提出塑造好宜人城市美学空间的科学思考。     

Balancing User Priorities for Sustainability versus Security

In these times of global change, many facility emphases are competing for limited resources. Competing factors include, but are not limited to, sustainable design or green buildings; security, hardening or force protection; accessibility; historic preservation; aesthetics; and functionality. Yet, unlimited resources are seldom, if ever, available to fulfill all of these competing requirements in private or public construction. The Georgia Institute of Technology designed a decision matrix to allow owners and planners to balance these competing requirements on a project-by-project basis and to document the rationale.     

Effectiveness of spatial representation in the formation of network communities: experimental study on community organizer

In this paper, we present and discuss Community Organizer, a system designed to support network communities. The main characteristic of Community Organizer is the use of spatial representations for the relationships among community members including the communications exchanged among these members. These spatial representations reflect the degree of closeness of interests and concerns among the members, and are intended to provide users with clues on how to form network communities. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed spatial representations, we conducted experiments with two different versions of the software. One version offered meaningful spatial representations while the other version did not. The subjects who used the former software version felt a greater sense of ‘community’, enjoyed using the software more, and actively used it longer than the subjects using the latter software version (control condition). These results indicated that the proposed spatial representations are effective in supporting network community formation.     

Development of Boundary Structures for Complex-Shaped Buildings

Over the past few years, the field of architecture has witnessed revolutionary changes in design. The recent completions of Frank O. Gehry’s projects brought unprecedented attention to complex-shaped, nonconventional design. In following these latest trends, the author has been drawn to the issue concerning the structural systems currently being adopted in realizing these complicated designs. It is perhaps inevitable that the traditional structural systems, comprised of structural elements suitable for use in conventional linear shapes, face tremendous challenges and limitations in building such complicated designs. In this context, this research consists of proposing a new alternative by employing “boundary structures with continuously changing curvature,” which follow the complex-curved envelope surface, as well as fabricating an experimental model made of polymer composite materials with computer-aided design/computer-aided engineering/computer-aided manufacturing technologies. Consequently, the study aims at offering architects unprecedented freedom in design and a new paradigm for realizing their creative ideas.