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Copyright of Zephyrus is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca 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.)

In this paper, the effect of house envelopes including thermal bridges on the daily, monthly, and annual consumption of the air conditioning system of a detached house and an attached house, with a façade in the east, west, north, or south direction, is investigated; moreover, the capacity of the air conditioning system is calculated for detached and attached houses based on the maximum hourly peak load during severe weather conditions. The four tested house envelopes are exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS), autoclaved aerated concrete block (AAC-B), classical (cement blocks with insulation in between), and AAC column and beam (AAC-CB). The work is conducted using a method that combines the finite element method (COMSOL Multiphysics), building simulation (EnergyPlus), and the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) programs. The results indicated that the annual consumption of the air conditioning system using AAC-B, classical, and AAC-CB envelopes is larger than that of EIFS by about 3.74, 11.53, and 20.70% for the detached house, and 1.8, 2.9%, and 6.7% for the attached house, respectively. The annual consumption of the air conditioner of the detached house is larger than the average consumption of the attached house by about 25.3, 27.7, 35.8, and 41.7% for EIFS, AAC-B, classical, and AAC-CB house envelopes, respectively. Using the different façade directions of the attached house, the average effect of the house envelope type on the air conditioning system capacity is about 8.84%, with a standard deviation of 0.466%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The refurbishment of public residential districts represents a current and complex problem. The Cappuccinelli Social Housing (SH) district in Trapani, designed in the late 1950s by Michele Valori and built during the 1960s, is emblematic of the architectural quality and technological innovation of the time it was designed, but at the same time represents the physical and social decay that occurred just after its construction. The neighborhood was examined through a combination of inspections and documentary research. The inspections were conducted for the entire district in order to identify the recurrent external degradation of building components and the related causes, both physical and anthropogenic. This paper investigates the physical–mechanical degradation and problems connected to previous renovation work in this district. Furthermore, technological design solutions are discussed for deep renovation and energy efficiency improvement of one of the terraced buildings of the Cappuccinelli SH district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By locating the terrace system of the Temple of Heaven within a larger religious context and comparing it with other Chinese ritual architecture and devices, this article unearths some of the seldom-discussed symbolism and functions of the Temple of Heaven. The imperative to symbolically bring the Chinese emperor "closer" to Heaven for communion with the Divine during annual religious ceremonies is a well-understood function of the terrace layout. Closely related to this, however, was another equally critical function, rarely addressed by scholars - to bestow order upon the country by designating the passage of time through number and directional symbolism. In their religious function, these terraces played the same role in religious rituals that Mount Tai, the most sacred peak in China, had for 3,000 years. In their timekeeping function, the terraces served to represent the cycle of time, as understood through the Chinese agricultural calendar system. The Temple of Heaven's terraces existed within a larger system of the Chinese religious-political network and replicated the functions of certain Bronze Age Chinese ritual objects and architecture, perpetuating the universal order through architectural space. This article argues that the terraces comprised a vital and fluid three-dimensional representation of the universe, in which the Chinese emperor's participation fulfilled the fourth, animating dimension of the cosmic order - timekeeping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dimensional geometrical shape such as a circular shape has been established all throughout the history of building design planning in order to find out the suitable arrangements for the living spaces: One of the most unusual designs planning in architecture is circular planning. Moreover, residential buildings that contain a circular plan are not built that frequently as well, but they still are a part of architecture since prehistoric times. Unfortunately, there are significant issues in such buildings, such as a structural challenge within the design module with orientation problems. In other words, there is a missing of the optimum use of space with acoustic problems including difficulties of furnishing. This paper therefore aims to provide the evidence that the geometry of a tiny minority of residential buildings are circular, and it questions why this is so. In addition, it intends to encourage the use of this type of buildings and to propose innovative design methods that can be applied in the circular residential buildings, trying to justify the architectural spaces to fit with the curvilinear walls and the recognition of the advantages produced within such buildings. To achieve this aim, this paper will begin by presenting literature review, based on desk research, carried out by re-reading the philosophical background of circular plans and its function. After that, the paper will theoretically highlight the historical use of circular-plan residential buildings, and will clarify the solution of design module, structural and services' cores, circulation between apartments, terraces, and external walls, within the curvy design. The paper will investigate two case studies such as "Tour Lumière" 2017 by Jacques Ferrier in France, Paris and "Edelweiss Residence" 2010 by Matteo Thun & Partners in Austria as a consequence to comprehend their project's concept and how they solved the circular form of their buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a study done to investigate the effects of solar radiation on the wall surface temperature of a modern terrace house. It involves the analysis of the thermal fluctuations of common building materials used for walls or vertical surface areas such as the bricks, glass of the window, and metal doors. A thermal imager and data logging system was used in collecting the data for the Southeast and Northwest façades of the house. The imager gave resourceful data on the thermal heat trend of the walls and their surface temperature. The results show that a lighter wall surface color reduces the temperature of the surface. Furthermore, the bricks, which have a higher density hence a higher absorptivity due to their high capacity for storage of heat, decrease the flow of heat. However, the use of tinted glass on windows increases the surface temperature of the glass area of the wall surface. The metal also shows a high similarity with glass in terms of its thermal performance. In conclusion, the types of material used on wall surfaces have a significant impact on the wall temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building overhang is an essential element in the construction of terrace houses in Malaysia to protect occupants from the sunlight, car parking, and social event purposes. However, there is still a lack of study investigating the effect of overhang in a windy area of terrace houses despite its effect on the flow modification around the building. Therefore, in this paper, a series of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed using Reynolds Average Navier Stokes(RANS) equations and renormalization group (RNG) k - ε as the turbulence closure model. Simulations were conducted on a unity aspect ratio of two-dimensional street canyon representing the low-rise terrace house area in a flat roof shape and three different overhang conditions. The protruding overhangs were significantly modified the in-canyon flow structure as it limited the penetration of the above flow into the canyon as compared to the without overhang case. In addition, spatially-averaged, of the turbulent kinetic energy depicted that the value decreased within the canyon, demonstrating the independence of the overhang location. It is recommended to perform a further study on the ventilation performance of the street canyon through evaluation of ventilation indices such as ventilation rate, air exchange rate (ACH), and pollutant exchange rate (PCH). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study on the usage of interior space in the residence to accommodate the elderly was a study on the using interior space of the elderly in the row houses. As there was limited and narrow space it was important to modify space inside the house in order to make the living together within the family to be safe and comfortable for elderly in the community area. Data collection was divided into 2 methods, which were data collection from physical survey in the old wooden row houses and collecting data from behavior including interviewed residents. It was a Participatory research involving participation of villagers. Then the results were analyzed on the changing characteristics of the interior space. The research results found that among all the 15 houses. The living in the houses of the elderly each day, more than 80% were stayed in bedroom and about 70% were stayed in living area and all bedrooms were located on ground floor. There were relatively little ventilation and lighting inside the house and semi-glossy surface materials. There was still quite a few of other facilities, which will be conducive the usage for the elderly according to lack of knowledge and wasteful costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thailand committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals to increase urban livability and reduce energy use in the building sector. However, the design information to achieve those challenge goals has been undefined. This study aimed to investigate and examine potential improvements for outdoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency in 136 designs of the two-type residential cluster in Pathum Thani, Thailand, via designs of building orientation, geometry and window-to-wall ratio (WWR). The daily cooling energy consumption in residential clusters was performed using eQuest under the modified weather data from the prior microclimate analysis. The energy-saving scenarios were calculated and compared to the acceptable outdoor thermal comfort hours. It is found that the row house cluster had the potential to be more sustainable than a single house. The row house clusters on orthogonal street orientation offered the highest percentage of hours in outdoor thermal comfort of 46% and energy efficiency below the new standard of Thailand. The cooling energy savings through increasing H/W with lowering WWR was up to 32%. This study's results could provide urban planners and architects with the new design guidelines and improvement potentials to make cities more energy efficient and environmentally friendly for outdoor living in Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the Japanese television show franchise Terrace House, six people live in a large home together and cameras record their interactions, with the key addition of a group of comedians and television personalities who watch the show together and comment on it. In its ongoing discussions of which housemates and behaviors are the most 'manly', Terrace House offers a window into contemporary debates about masculinities in Japan. In examining in-show incidents and commentary related to the housemates' sexuality, aggression, passivity, maturity, and attitudes toward money and labor, we begin to see how certain norms surrounding masculinities in Japan are shifting (and how some remain static). Focusing on the 2017–2019 iteration of the show, 'Opening New Doors', this paper examines how the interactions of Terrace House's young housemates, the reactions of the show's (mostly older) commentators, the responses of fans, and the show's editing and structural choices reveal conflicting ideas about what it means to be 'manly' (as well as to be a responsible adult) in contemporary Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Italian occupation has left numerous traces in Albania. It is worth mentioning the capital, Tirana, which has had significant development and progress from the influence of the Italian state in our country. This development has occurred in all areas, especially in urban planning and architecture. The Regulatory Plan of 1939-1943, created by Italian architects, left traces in the proposal and establishment of some neighbourhoods with collective housing concentrated in some regions of Tirana. This paper presents the maps and layout of these housing typologies of considerable importance for their created period. Tirana could not be excluded from the phenomena in other European countries during the same period, consisting mainly of the rapid population growth due to the migration of people from the countryside to the city and the increase of local and foreign labour force. This phenomenon led to increased demand in housing for this category of people and the need for new housing projects provided that they could accommodate as many people as possible. This paper presents neighbourhoods with collective housing of employees in Tirana, focusing on their location and plan's shapes. The study also describes the characteristics of these buildings and their organisation in the city's urban structure, highlighting the housing typologies. The comparison and confrontation of these projects (not all finalised in practice) with the popular collective housing in Europe after World War II is of particular importance. In Tirana, there is the presence of some typologies such as attached houses, block and linear collective houses. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the typology of collecte houses in Tirana during the Italian occupation. The study reveals the importance of repeating the same units inside a neighbourhood in order to rationalise the buildings to get better apartments and conditions of living. There is a strong connection between the typology of public housing and the number of families that can be accommodated in each neighbourhood's case study. The collective houses in "New Tirana" can shelter more families because of their characteristics such as the number of floors, utilisation of the land, organisation of plans with at least two apartments per floor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk assessment analysis for investment decisions largely depends on expert judgment using traditional approaches and is lacking in considering investors' different preferences and limitations. This paper proposes an adaptive personalized property investment risk analysis (APPIRA) method to identify the property investment determinants using a data-driven and personalized approach to weight the risk factors using the multicriteria decision model for optimal solutions. Result for predictive modeling using value prediction technique that measures the median house price depicts that the best method used was nonseasonal ARIMA. Furthermore, classification technique indicates that in each of the three selected suburbs, different property characteristics determined the rental properties desirable. As shown in result, for the investors who plan to invest in property for rental purposes, they need to choose townhouse type or property to make it rentable while for Vaucluse, terrace houses. These results can be applied into practice and will benefit the property industry directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past twelve months, I have researched and compared housing policies for death-sentenced and non-death sentenced prisoners throughout the United States. I chose this topic because the death penalty and circumstances on death row have had my interest for many years. I am from the Netherlands, where the death penalty is forbidden by Protocol No. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The use of prolonged and indefinite solitary confinement in European prisons has mostly been banned as well. My seven-year friendship with Clinton Young, a death-sentenced individual in Texas, motivated me to move to Texas to study at the University of Texas School of Law and become an attorney, to help Those on death row, and to research conditions on death row. Countless times I visited death-sentenced prisoners in the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas and observed the devastating effects of indefinite solitary confinement on death-sentenced prisoners, their families, and their friends. These prisoners are confined to a small cell for at least twenty-two hours a day and unable to hug their loved ones for years. These confinement conditions add inhumane treatment to the most severe and irreversible punishment that exists. With this article, I aim to advance the fight against the death penalty and the use of indefinite solitary confinement on death row in the United States. I am thankful and indebted to the attorneys who have shared their experiences and insights on death row conditions in states where they represent those on death row. Without their help, I would have never been able to gather information in this report on the conditions Of death- sentenced prisoners throughout the United States since such information is rarely published. Not only am I grateful for their help, but I admire them for their tireless efforts to fight for those who are among the least valued in society. These attorneys are the ones who are making the real difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Architectural Journal / Jian Zhu Xue Bao is the property of Architectural Journal Editorial Office 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 study presents a detailed measurement of indoor and outdoor terrestrial gamma radiation levels in different cities of Pakistan. The measurements covered dwellings in 27 cities, covering all provinces and region of Azad Kashmir. Most of the houses were of attached type, made of brick walls and concrete roofs. The measurements were made by a handheld radiation survey meter containing Geiger–Muller tube. The average absorbed dose rate in air was 100 ± 32 nGy h−1 for indoor and 74 ± 30 nGy h−1 for outdoor. The population-weighted mean terrestrial dose rates were 90 nGy h−1 for indoor and 78 nGyh−1 for outdoor. The ratio of indoor to outdoor absorbed dose rate was 1.5 as compared to 1.3 for the world average. The estimated average annual effective dose rate was 0.58 ± 0.18 mSv a−1 and the mean excess life time cancer risk was 2.0 × 10−3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]