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Some two decades ago, the link between architecture and textiles was more a study topic for art historians than for architects and architectural historians. With very few exceptions -- Semper being the most important one -- professional literature at the time was referring to textiles mostly as adornments of buildings and spaces, usually investigated as such in the departments of decorative arts, crafts, manufacturing, and presenting little to no interest for architectural theory and history. This is probably linked to the historically limited capabilities of textiles to embody architectural objects per se (although known examples can be found throughout architectural history). The 21st century brought a paradigm shift following the technological progress that led to a new diversity and scale of the use of textiles in all major fields of production. This coincided with the increasing use of computer programs for design in general, and in particular for architectural design. The literature of the last twenty years is also considerably richer, another groundbreaking point being the special issue of the Architectural Design magazine from December 2006, dedicated to "Architextiles," a term coined on the occasion by the guest editor, Marc Garcia. This paper seeks to explore the ephemerality of textiles in the contemporary, by looking at major writings and examples of the intersection and reunion of architecture and textiles. I will look at points of view pertaining to aesthetics and semiotics of textile and textile-inspired architecture, but also at the structural effect of textiles in architecture. The analysis deliberately excludes textile art, even related to architecture, because in my opinion it deserves a separate study. For the purpose of this paper the term "textile(s)" refers to any type and kind of fabric, be it woven, knitted, felted or otherwise obtained from fibers and primary materials of any source (vegetal, animal, mineral). Likewise, the term "architecture" generically encompasses all types of space production, be it architecture itself, interior architecture, urban or landscape design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses architects as a professional group in General Government (GG) during the Second World War. It showcases some of their design work, projects, employment, education, and other aspects of everyday life in an occupied country. The focus is on architects working in three cities: the former Polish capital of Warsaw, the GG’s new capital city of Cracow, and Zakopane, localized in the Tatra Mountains, which was intended to become a modern resort and sport center. The paper also mentions cases from Zamość and Radom. Most of the projects were realized by Polish architects employed by the German authorities. In Zakopane, Polish architects had a stronger position and more freedom in their work than in the other cities of GG. The article investigates the relationships between architecture and politics as well as the ideological impact of the architects’ work. Using unpublished archival sources, it evaluates the post-war requitals of the German architect Hubert Groß and a Polish town planner Stefan Żychoń. Neither of the two had to face a court after the war due to his activity as an architect during the occupation. Groß was accused of having been a member in different Nazi organizations, and Stefan Żychoń was suspended from the Association of Polish Architects for one year. For political reasons, both German and Polish architects seldom included war-related activities in their official curricula after 1945. In Poland they remain a taboo until today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary China, ‘experimental architecture’ depicts the rise of independent architectural explorations offered by a group of young Chinese architects in the mid-1990s. These young Chinese architects claimed to have established an autonomous architecture, distant from commercial interventions. This research examines the credibility of architectural autonomy stated by these architects in light of the field theory put forward by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Through this interdisciplinary perspective, the paper focuses on the often overlooked interpersonal networks of critics, architects, and publishers. Through analysing their roles in promoting these experimental architects on the basis of professional publications, this research argues that the notion of architectural autonomy is constituted by a symbiotic collaboration among these actors through a discursive approach and architectural autonomy, despite indicating an architectural resistance against commercial forces, serves a commodity sold in the cultural market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Minbar of Salah Al-Din is considered a masterpiece of traditional Islamic arts and crafts heritage. It stood in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for nearly 800 years until it was burned down completely in 1969. In 1993, King Hussein of Jordan gave instructions to initiate the process of reconstructing the Minbar based on old photos of the original one and small wooden pieces that remained after the fire. The reconstruction job was commissioned in 2002 and finished in 2006 as a replica of the original one. This paper discusses the lessons learned from the reconstruction process through the analysis of geometric principles and features of the design process and construction of the Minbar, towards the rekindling of this artistic heritage. The Minbar geometric patterns are constructed of many interlocking pieces of wood, each carefully carved to fit together like a three-dimensional puzzle. The novel contribution of this study is in the relationship between the geometric construction of the patterns and the Interlock (ta'sheeq) construction methodology. Which will hopefully provide a deeper understanding of the structure of the Minbar, allowing architects and craftsmen to achieve improved control over their new design's compositions and structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia Actual Online is the property of Asociacion de Historia Actual and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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Copyright of e-Zbornik: Electronic Collection of Papers of the Faculty of Civil Engineering is the property of University of Mostar, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture & Geodesy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Architecture represents the synthesis of form, function and construction. In the works of the architect Ivan Antić this can be read at the first view of the building. A master in designing movement through an object, Antić constantly developed the relationship between function and form, as well as between function and construction. A detailed analysis of his work, projects and drawings, gives insight to these relations, making them clear. The observer can see the architect's logic and simplicity in designing even the most complex buildings. The relationship between the design concept and the way the structure manifests itself in his projects will be presented in this paper. The logic behind the design of Pinki Cultural Sports Center, with emphasis on structure, as well as the relationship between the architect and the engineer can be seen throughout this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a combined method -- survey and semi-structured interviews -- to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of digital design environments for supporting architects' sustainable design practices. In most contemporary firms, architects' sustainable design aspirations are reliant on the use digital design tools and associated computational platforms. Past research, however, suggests that a level of uncertainty exists about whether these tools and platforms are sufficient for this purpose. To investigate this issue in an Australian context, architects were invited to take part in an online survey to identify general trends and perceptions, leading to a series of semi-structured interviews, to analyse the issues in detail. The survey results (n = 70) suggest that despite considering sustainable design an important objective in their design practice, participants believe that digital design tools require further development and improvement. Detailed interviews (n = 15) then identified specific factors affecting the usefulness of digital design tools. These results enhance our understanding of Australian architects' experiences using digital design tools. It also contributes to improving the tools that support sustainable design practices throughout the architectural, engineering and construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social theories and humanitarian movements, despite their good intentions, have had limited effectiveness. This paper introduces Socio-Systemic science as a conceptual and implementation framework designed for effective high impact systemic action. The science of Socio-Systemic impact is led by the Social Architect who understands how to consciously catalyse key drivers of systemic change. The rise of a systems-based worldview forms the basis of a new way of understanding modern problems, inferring the kind of thinking and leadership required today. The Social Architect is a new entity in this development, working to apply grounded sociological science and understandings of natural systems to improving the human condition. Where traditional activism falls short through structural illiteracy and continually stumbles in engaging mere symptoms of world issues, the Social Architects act as the compassionate analysts addressing the systemic causes of world issues. We can no longer turn a blind eye to structural violence and systemic failure. Inside the dark heart of structural violence are the keys of societal re-architecting that are in fact our only hope out of it. The first part of this paper outlines the science of Socio-Systemic impact. The second part explains how to put the science into practice; reviews current implementation methods being deployed by leading Social Architects; outlines the key skills and roles of the Social Architect working individually as well as strategies for integral systemic action, and, lastly, suggests further action strategies and prospects for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper outlines the career and architectural activities of Hiromichi Matsui and clarifies the characteristics of his architectural works. We classified his career into three distinct periods: Tokyo, Milan, and Kagoshima periods. In Tokyo, he was in charge of interior design at Isamu Kenmochi Design Associates. Matsui cultivated the philosophy proposed by Kenmochi that emphasizes the sense of scale based on full‐scale drawing. In Milan, he worked as a partner architect at Gregotti Associati and introduced Italian architectural culture to Japan. In Kagoshima, he was involved in educational and social activities, which included a role as a professor at Kagoshima University, etc. He designed three architectural works that, while reminiscent of his works at Gregotti Associati, also considered the regional features of Kagoshima. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Mirai. Estudios Japoneses is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Etnográfica: Revista do Centro de Estudos de Antropologia Social is the property of Centro em Rede de Investigacao em Antropologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of the Institute of Art History is the property of Radovi Instituta za Povijest Umjetnosti and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper discusses an emerging field of research in architecture, kinetic design. This approach has been used in different ways through history, but the technological advances of the “Third Industrial Revolution” offer new perspectives on this topic, along with various design innovations. To face this demand, architects must develop new strategies rooted in performance, connectivity and control, and process them to support and inform design. In order to explore these challenges, a group of researchers organized a summer school in 2016. The partnership between ISCTE-IUL and Sapienza University of Rome emerged as an opportunity to join an international community to present recent research, teaching or practice related to architecture, technology, computation, mathematics and geometry. In addition, an experimental learning-by-doing design studio was developed, which allowed for testing a digital workflow to create foldable surfaces based on rigid origami geometry. The major objective of these events, which is summarised in this paper, is to contribute to the debate around digitally-driven kinetic architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an innovative approach to design and construct buildings, which has changed the practices within the construction industry. Different categories of stakeholders, such as architects, construction companies, professional associations, academia and even the policymakers, who have defined national policies and strategy documents to facilitate the BIM adoption, have been interested to understand BIM and its implications for the business environment. The legal implications of adopting BIM in construction projects represent one of the most recently discussed issues, which is still not fully understood and not followed by concrete risk mitigation actions. The paper intends to underline some of the legal implications of adopting BIM, mainly in relation to the procurement and contract strategies. The paper concludes that it is expected that BIM will bring more transparency in the construction project implementation and will enable a more comprehensive audit trail leading to fewer legal disputes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes some methods of water regulation and the impact that dykes have on the landscape. In the paper, the process of planning the Gabčikovo Waterworks is outlined together with the various solutions for the regulation of the river Danube, and the pros and cons of these variants. The paper aims to report the process of planning from the perspective of the authors, engineers, architects and landscape designers. For this article, archives were searched for published papers and journals to find the older versions of the regulation proposed for the river Danube. Later, the authors were interviewed about their part in the planning process. The paper seeks to answer the question: To what degree was the impact on the landscape was taken into account? Where the landscape was dealt with only from the biological and geological point of view, there was no demand for the image or design of the landscape. The result of this process is a drastic change, and it is upon our generation of architects, urban and landscape designers to learn from the past processes of construction and to improve any future changes in a more collaborative and socially oriented way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to review Dante Bini's career, as well as his form-resistant Binishell and other pneumatic construction systems. The role of Mario Salvadori in Bini's international success works as the introduction to a broader discussion about the relationship between innovation in design and innovation in construction for shell and gridshell designers. The second part of the paper focuses, instead, on Bini's double profile-architect and builder-which led him to develop his inventions both architecturally and as commercial products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a country with few restrictions on architectural styles. The main aim of this paper was to investigate a group of participants' unconscious emotional responses to images of traditional and modern architectural styles in the UAE. All images were from the city of Dubai, but participants were from elsewhere to avoid the influence of familiarity. A physiological method was used to measure the unconscious emotional responses to the images' visual contexts, specifically the emotions of stress, engagement, interest, focus, excitement, and relaxation. Six architects working in the UAE were then interviewed for their interpretations of both the images themselves and the participants' emotional responses. A sample of 29 male laypeople (aged 18–45) participated in this study, divided into locals from Al Ain city, locals from the northern emirates, and nonlocals. The results showed that the brand image provided observers with better emotional quality than the foreign image for local participants from Al Ain, and that nonlocal participants showed strong emotional responses to the traditional architecture, but the northern Emiratis remained neutral. The findings of this study contribute to emotion studies in the field of meaning in architecture. It also validates the effectiveness of a physiological method of investigating the emotional responses to architectural styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The renowned architect Antonin Raymond undertook a large amount of work in Japan for more than fifty years. He arrived to the archipelago as a partner to Frank Lloyd Wright, who had received the commission for the paramount Imperial Hotel. Nevertheless, Raymond became almost revolutionary in that country for his realizations of projects and buildings. Simultaneously, he pioneered the concept of solar houses, a notion that proved to be fundamental for bioclimatic design. Raymond realized that because of the influence of geomancy and Daoism, the buildings of Japan had a sort of cosmic link, especially to the sun and the seasons, and in this way, he took great concern with solar exposure, shading, and daylighting, both in the way in which they were composed and also in the materials that were employed, such as lumber, reed roofs, and paper screens. We have tried to identify these trends in his most significant buildings and establish a sequence of how they evolved towards a contemporary and truly sustainable design. The main result presented is that for the reasons presented, Raymond influenced a number of celebrated architects in Japan, India, and the USA. In fact, instead of pursuing the pure abstract minimalism common in his epoch, he made use of the ideas of naturalism in architecture, which in the case of Asia were related to ritual cosmology. In this article, we have outlined how such a procedure was possible and what it entailed for complex domains such as sun-lighting and daylighting, ventilation, acoustics, and re-interpretation of vernacular architecture. The connection with the main forces of the environment, which effectively interact through architecture, when considered from a philosophical and even spiritual point of view as he did, resulted in a kind of artistic revitalization of traditions belonging to Daoism and Shintoism and inaugurated a new manner of sustainable thinking for the building profession that endures today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to understand how ballistic materials respond to impact from projectiles such that informed decisions can be made in the design process of protective armour systems. Ballistic testing is a standards-based process where materials are tested to determine whether they meet protection, safety and performance criteria. For the V50 ballistic test, projectiles are fired at different velocities to determine a key design parameter known as the ballistic limit velocity (BLV), the velocity above which projectiles perforate the target. These tests, however, are destructive by nature and as such there can be considerable associated costs, especially when studying complex armour materials and systems. This study proposes a unique solution to the problem using a recent class of machine learning system known as the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). The GAN can be used to generate new ballistic samples as opposed to performing additional destructive experiments. A GAN network architecture is tested and trained on three different ballistic data sets, and their performance is compared. The trained networks were able to successfully produce ballistic curves with an overall RMSE of between 10 and 20 % and predicted the V50 BLV in each case with an error of less than 5 %. The results demonstrate that it is possible to train generative networks on a limited number of ballistic samples and use the trained network to generate many new samples representative of the data that it was trained on. The paper spotlights the benefits that generative networks can bring to ballistic applications and provides an alternative to expensive testing during the early stages of the design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to establish clients' perception of the performance of architects on building projects in Ghana. It reports on a survey of both public and private clients of recently completed building projects in two major metropolitan areas of the country. Data from the survey were analyzed by first computing performance indexes and subsequently comparing similarities and differences between results obtained for the two sector clients. The results showed that private sector clients are likely to be more concerned with cost, while public sector clients are more concerned with buildability of design. A total of 71% of the 28 architect performance assessment criteria identified from literature were similarly selected by both sectors with respect to importance of the criteria. Using these, both public and private sector clients were asked to assess the performance of their architects. The results showed that architects were perceived to perform better on public sector building projects than on private sector ones. Their performance on 25% of the performance assessment criteria employed was indicated as being statistically different. The study also revealed that clients expected their architects to improve their performance significantly in approximately 82% of the 28 performance assessment criteria used in the study. The results from this study provide vital feedback to architects on their perceived performance on building projects in Ghana. On a broader level, the paper offers practicing architects some useful feedback that will allow for correction of misconceptions about their true role so as to improve on their relationship with project clients for improved project delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: THIS PAPER TESTS A PROPOSITION THAT THERE IS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONALS' PERCEPTION OF CONSTRUCTION SITE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide support, or otherwise to the diversity attribute of the construction industry. The construction industry is largely regarded as diverse; however, the industry also manifests signs of alignment especially on issues that tie construction professionals to project goals. One of such issues is construction site management, which when effective, leads to project success. Design: This paper adopts a survey research design where wellstructured questionnaires were used in obtaining the perception of construction professionals (architects, civil engineers, builders and quantity surveyors) on their prioritisation of construction site management practices. The data obtained was subjected to empirical analysis that informed the findings. Findings: The research proposition is rejected. Significant difference exists in the construction professionals' perception of construction site management practices in the construction industry. Value: The findings of this paper is valuable to tinkering the need for professionals' interests and goal alignment in the construction industry Research Limitation/Implication: Interview case study could be deployed to complement the survey research design used. The singular survey design used is not however expected to undermine the findings owing to the comprehensiveness of the questionnaire designed and the scientific basis (objective-oriented) upon which the respondents were selected. Practical Implication: The paper informs on the non-unified interests that exist among professional service providers in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies spatial hedonic econometric models to estimate the willingness of buyers to pay for dwellings with different orientations based on a data set comprising 63 306 transactions of secondhand apartment sales in 10 districts in Beijing from October 2011 to September 2014. Our results indicate that apartments with South orientation are sold at a 7.8% premium compared with those with West orientation, and that apartments in ancient city areas are more sensitive to orientation. The obtained results can help architects and developers to maximize the value of development projects by optimizing the layout of apartment units on each floor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the importance of the historical context of Dezful City, investigating historic buildings is necessary. But unfortunately, a large part of it is being destroyed. For this reason, it is essential to discover the guidelines and logic behind the architectural design of these buildings to help their reconstruction or restoration. Regrettably, there is no logical information about the components of this context and the reconstructions are usually done according to taste and based on architecture tested or personal preference. Therefore, it is necessary to find a logic behind these critical components that support the whole plan or parts of it in a particular style. The purpose of this research is to discover and find the logic behind the design of this building in the historical context of Dezful. Finding geometrical proportions can significantly help to reconstruct buildings better and more accurately. For this purpose, 30 historical houses of Dezful were randomly selected, and their input information was drawn in 2D form in AutoCAD. Then, the length, width, and height proportions were measured, and the obtained ratios were compared with the golden proportions and dynamic rectangles. This paper studies entrance based on ratios of 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 1.25 and φ (the golden section). The results show that golden proportions and proportions derived from dynamic rectangles are present in the wording of all cases. Moreover, the range of ratios in the plan is from 1.34 to 2, and the content of changes in the section is from 1.22 to 2. The results can help architects, and particularly building owners, to reconstruct based on existing logic by discovering the proportions of the entrances of the houses. It is possible to administer a part of the damaged tissue and estimate its dimensions and sizes because the proportions' completeness can help revive half-destroyed historical buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Villa Karma's authorship is as a rule ascribed to Adolf Loos. According to most accounts, the villa was formed by taking an existing structure and extending it upwards and sideways, in the period between 1903 and 1906. However, as a matter of fact, at that time the construction of the new parts and the transformation of the existing building had only just begun. The period in which the Zagreb architect Hugo Ehrlich was involved in the design and building of Karma stretched from 1908 to 1912; it was then that the villa took on its final external appearance. At the same time the grounds were landscaped, and the interior spaces were defined according to Ehrlich's designs. The hall and the library are an exception, for Ehrlich produced them in line with Loos's approach and in part with materials already sourced. An examination of the documentation kept in three countries has shown that the claim that Ehrlich was just the contractor for the building of designs previously defined by Loos is untenable. The original style can be correlated with a series of formal motifs in the works of Hugo Ehrlich or Viktor Kovačić at the time they were working together, which was contemporaneous with the period in which Karma was undergoing its finalisation. The most telling confirmation of Ehrlich's work consists of several hundred drawings from Ehrlich's personal papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collection of Kyoto Institute of Technology features numerous sketches and drawings scanning wide variety of exterior compositions of the cathedral. Togo Murano recalled that receiving the understanding and approval of the Fathers was challenging. This study analyzes the creative evolution of the cathedral's exterior form until the conclusion of the schematic design in November 1948. The proposed analytical method was applied to completely undated sketches and drawings to reveal the architect's morphological creation. Furthermore, it revealed the development of diverse types in an extremely short period, as well as the architect's design thinking and strategy in this phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dearq is the property of Universidad de los Andes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of VLC Arquitectura is the property of VLC Arquitectura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

‘Vernacular Architecture’, according to Kingston Heath, represents a localized response to broad cultural systems, historical events, and environmentally determined regional forces, in short, an observable condition of dynamic cultural and environmental change and accommodation expressed in built form, whereby simultaneous identities exist (Heath 210). True to this spirit of a dialogue with the environment, it can also be defined as built form, or building techniques, that are distinctly indigenous, arise out of need and are driven primarily by materiality. The North-East of India, in particular Tripura, has a distinct cultural identity that also translates into its architectural style. Tribal architecture is highly risk resistant, bioclimatically sustainable and culturally relevant to the region. It is also very unique in its approach to overcome the site-specific restrictions that it is prone to. The social, cultural and ethnic significance that this style carries helps to define the architectural heritage of a region whose rich building traditions have not yet been investigated enough. This paper aims to look at an indigenous housing typology of Tripura- the Reang House, investigate it through the parameters pre-established for “Vernacular” architecture and dissect the socio-cultural implications of the same. The typology is examined through the lens of building climatology, technique, materiality, regional and social context, and cultural significance. The aim of this investigation is to again, define the typology and its relevance, given the region it is born out of and largely represents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Studies in History & Theory of Architecture / Studii de Istoria şi Teoria Arhitecturii (sITA) is the property of studies in History & Theory of Architecture (sITA) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Justified Plan Graph (JPG) technique was developed in the late 1970s and refined in the following two decades as a means of undertaking qualitative and quantitative research into the spatial structure or permeability of buildings. Famously used by Space Syntax researchers to uncover the social logic of architectural types, the technique remains an important, if not widely understood, approach to the analysis of the built environment. This paper uses the JPG method to undertake a three-stage analysis of the early houses of Pritzker Prize winning architect Glenn Murcutt; the stages are visual analysis, mathematical analysis and theoretical analysis. Through this process the paper offers a rare application of the JPG method to multiple works by the same architect and demonstrates the construction of a series of 'inequality genotypes', a partial 'statistical genotype' and a partial 'statistical archetype' for these houses. Instead of seeking to uncover the social structure of Murcutt's housing, the paper analyses the architect's distinctive approach to ordering space within otherwise simple volumes or forms. The ultimate purpose of this analysis is to offer an alternative space-based, rather than form-based, insight into this architect's work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the long simulation time of the reference input set, computer architects often use reduced time simulation techniques to shorten the simulation time. However, what has not yet been thoroughly evaluated is the accuracy of these techniques relative to the reference input set and with respect to each other. To rectify this deficiency, this paper uses three methods to characterize reduced input set, truncated execution, and sampling-based simulation techniques while also examining their speed versus accuracy trade-off and configuration dependence. Our results show that the three sampling-based techniques, SimPoint, SMARTS, and random sampling, have the best accuracy, the best speed versus accuracy trade-off, and the least configuration dependence. On the other hand, the reduced input set and truncated execution simulation techniques had generally poor accuracy, were not significantly faster than the sampling-based techniques, and were severely configuration dependent. The final contribution of this paper is a decision tree, which can help architects choose the most appropriate technique for their simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For some time now, scholars have advanced an interest in the unruly and emerging aspects of organizational space while arguing for theoretical integration, wayfinding, and synthesis to overcome conceptual fragmentation of the field. Taking inspiration from recent work focusing on the tensions that emerge from the interplay of architectural design and organizational action, our paper investigates organizational space by drawing on Mary Douglas' work on purity and danger to unravel relations of dis/order in a newly built psychiatric hospital designed with a 'healing architecture'. Using ethnographic data, we analyze the everyday ordering work of nursing staff within two inpatient wards and describe how it unfolds as a response to the patients' use of the hospital design, which amplifies experiences of disorder for the nursing staff. We argue that the tensions between the ordering efforts of architects, nursing staff, and patients to make ward spaces conform to particular ideas also are an important reminder of the key insight in classic organization theory that organization involves perpetual negotations over purpose and concerted action. Unravelling such tensions through Douglas' approach, we contribute with greater insight across theoretical preferences and conceptual differences into how but also why organizational spaces are continuously cast as 'sites of contention'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heritage is generally understood as the legacy from the ancestors to the descendants over time. But when this heritage is part of a colonial city, Kinshasa (Leopoldville), that is the result of the work of Western architects, the question of the story that would carry its heritage becomes crucial. The article first shows, through a few selected case studies - the BCB Bank (1949), the Sabena Towers (1952) and the Saint Antoine Church (1961)- that the modernism that characterizes downtown Kinshasa, carries the DNA of local identity cleverly expressed by the tropical architecture. The aim of this paper is to examine part of this African modern heritage that has to be studied, classified and protected, the sustainability already embedded in that architectural language and its application in the design process analyzing quintessential artifacts in order to adequately tackle the further sustainable steps without losing the fundamental teachings of this next World Heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Site planning not only involves the arrangement of a large number of elements but also considers the complexity of urban systems; hence, the design process involves large workloads and is time consuming. Retrieving similar existing cases helps architects optimize or accelerate the design process. This paper proposes a computational approach that provides valuable references by retrieving similar cases. Three types of attributes are extracted to represent a given parcel: land-use attributes, geometric attributes (area, orientation, etc.), and environmental attributes (greening rate, surrounding facilities, etc.). The complete hierarchical retrieval process is divided into three phases. The first phase selects cases whose land-use attributes are consistent with the target parcel. Then, the similarity distances between the given target parcel and the selected cases are calculated using geometric attributes. The eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) classifier is adopted to determine which case is similar to the target parcel. Finally, similarity scores of the retrieved cases are calculated based on the environmental attributes to provide more options during the actual design. In total, 1189 cases with different land-use types in Beijing were collected for the case base. The comparative experimental results confirmed that the proposed ensemble learning-based hierarchical retrieval of similar cases approach improves the accuracy of retrieval results. Furthermore, we use a real-world target parcel to demonstrate the superiority and flexibility of the retrieval process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Architecture is a professional discipline that integrates art and science to build attractive, practical and safe structures for human activities. In architecture, design is a core subject where students are taught the main skills to produce drawings and models of building design. Furthermore, architectural design involves a cognitive process that generates higher level of creativity in producing noble design solution. Such process is also fundamental to students who are learning architecture in the higher education. It helps student to develop their level of creativity and competency in design. This intellectual capability is an important aspect for architectural students to practice as professional architect when they graduated. Malaysia has many talented and internationally well-known professional architects. Their works represent high level of creativity that can be beneficial sources of practical knowledge to the students. Unfortunately, these respectable architects’ creative cognitive processes are not properly documented for references to others within the architectural community. Therefore, this paper aims at exploring and identifying the cognitive process characteristics of a local prominent, visionary architect, Dato’ Dr Ken Yeang who is well known for his creative, masterpiece architectural works. A semi-structured interview was conducted to gather insights on his cognitive process while designing to produce creative solution for complex architectural problems. The study found that this professional architect has a distinct formulation of knowledge, skills, attributes and principles that he utilises while designing and looking for creative solutions. This dynamic, integrated process involves imagination (intrinsic) and modelling(extrinsic) capabilities that produce renowned local architectural buildings. Such significant cognitive attributes will be useful guides to improve creativity in design among the young architectural students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on South Africa's post-apartheid foreign policy decision-making has stagnated. For more than a quarter century analysts have generally drawn on secondary material from other scholars, newspaper reporting, and the speeches of government officials to elucidate how South Africa crafts and carries out its foreign policy. The accessibility of previously classified archival documents and the availability of policy makers for research interviews holds the potential to advance scholarship on South African foreign policy along two fronts. First, these primary sources offer insight into foreign policy decision-making processes. And second, they encourage a critical re-evaluation of many of the traditional understandings and tropes that have dominated the study of South African foreign policy. This paper outlines the state of foreign policy studies in South Africa and then demonstrates the power of primary research to alter key ideas about the conduct and content of South African foreign policy through three case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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