New design tools have created a growing interest for presenting complex geometries and patterns. The need to form curved geometries of facades, without incurring high construction costs and time increases, presents one of the most complex design challenges for any project. In this paper, we present and demonstrate a new computational framework for the creation of patterns on top of facades, via cladding of panels and honeycomb structures. The tool describes a given region on a base model;d ealing particularly with location, size and orientation of general geometric features on the surface of such model. The user inputs curves that manifest the desired user's intention for the panels and a set of seed features that correspond to the initial boundary conditions of a Riemannian metric tensor field. The system interpolates the tensors defined by input features and input curves by solving a Laplace-Beltrami partial differential equation over the entire domain. We show a fast clustering and search operations for correct panel utilization based on size quantization as design variable and implemented via Voronoi segmentation. We present honeycomb structures that can be retrieved from the fundamental mesh producing another option for facade creation and ideation. The system connects to a geometric modeling kernel of a commercial CAD package; the system places features on top of the base model facade using boolean operations from the core geometric engine via its programming interface calls. With this computational tool, thousands of clad panels can be visualized and developed within minutes.
The perception of a 3D space, in which movement takes place, is subjectively based on experience. The pedestrians’ perception of subjective duration is one of the related issues that receive little attention in urban design literature. Pedestrians often misperceive the required time to pass a certain distance. A wide range of factors affects one'sperception of time in urban environments. These factors include individual factors (e.g.,gender,age,and psychological state), social and cultural contexts, purpose and motivation for being in the space, and knowledge of the given area. This study aims to create an applied checklist that can be used by urban designers in analyzing the effects of individual experience on subjective duration. This checklist will enable urban designers to perform a phenomenological assessment of time perception and compare this perception in different urban spaces,thereby improving pedestrians’ experiences of time through a purposeful design. A combination of exploratory and descriptive analytical research is used as methodology due to the complexity of time perception.
Understanding the persistence and success of students has gained increasing attention to unravel the “architectural education black-box.” However, the motivation and presocialization of incoming students were largely ignored as these factors fell outside the direct control of architecture schools. Motivational factors can affect the educational process given that the values, expectations, and career-related goals of incoming students influence their attitudes to education. This study seeks to uncover the motivational factors of applicants to an architecture program in East Africa and appreciate those factors that lead students into architecture as a career choice. Through qualitative content analysis, the study revealed the motivational factors of applicants, which were classified into four groups: educational, external, personal, andprestige. These factors were comparable with those found in previousstudies conducted in Europe and North America, but nevertheless highlight contextual variances unique to the region.The findings raise questions of the role architecture education in engaging incoming students in discourse that aids their under standing of architecture and architectural education.
This study proposed the development of a house with the following characteristics: grows, builds, and repairs itself; changes with the seasons; uses the forces of nature and is in harmony with its environment; favors biodiversity and natural equilibrium; low cost and does not require considerable workforce or industrial material; carbon free and waste free; returns to nature when no longer inuse; enables sustainable and balanced mankind development. The use of living architecture to decreaseor nullify the environmental costs of structure materials was also investigated. Furthermore, the use of living architecture techniques to comply with the current living and construction style with as little change as possible was analyzed. A new envelope material with little to no carbon impact was scientifically explored, and the use of this material to create a sustainable house was technically examined. Findings demonstrate that such a house is not only feasible but also rational and beneficial from the economic and environmental perspectives.
Manifestations of sustainable design require renewable resources, impact the environment minimally, and connect people with the natural environment. This article is aimed to investigate the concept of Iranian traditional courtyards, as microclimate modifiers, for sustainable building design in hot-arid regions. To this end, a quantitative field survey is conducted to analyze various physicalel ements including the orientation, dimensions and proportions of enclosed and open spaces, physical bodies (opaque walls), and transparent surfaces (openings) as well as natural elements (water and soil) in nine valuable Iranian traditional courtyard houses from BWhs mesoclimate. In conclusion, all survey-based data are integrated to proposea physical–environmental design model for courtyards in this region. Proposed model can be generalized to all design cases, where located in BWhs mesoclimate with similar environmental conditions.
Clay brick is the most common construction material used in the historical buildings of Diyarbakır (Turkey). Many clay brick manufacturing workshops and numerous brick masters have emerged. Diyarbakir currently has two clay brick workshops that face the problem of being closed down. Therefore,manufacturing of clay brick by traditional methods may be forgotten in Diyarbakir. This study investigates the manufacturing phases of traditional clay bricks in Diyarbakir's local workshops, which have not been documented.
The manufacturing phases of the clay bricks in Diyarbakır were examined for the first time based on in-situ observations, investigations, and interviews. The research indicated the general phases of claybrick manufacturing. Raw materials are first prepared, formed, and dried. The firing of clay bricks is then performed through hacking, heating, burning, cooling, and de-hacking. The clay bricks are finally packaged and dispatched. The traditional manufacturing of clay brick methods in Diyarbakır is similar in many regions of the world. The clay bricks are currently and extensively used in the restoration of historic structures. Therefore, their production must be continuous.
Form or shape is one of the main aspects of architecture design. A gap exists in scientific studies on categorizing different architecture interior forms according to design. This paper presents a methodology for categorizing interior forms of built places. The maininnovation of this study was to evaluate the architecture interior forms of real built places as a base for any analysis on form. We proposed a clustering method by selecting 343 images of living rooms from residential places according to their history and interior design style. We labeled all the images in AutoCAD software depending on form features. The labeling results showed that images had 1104 distinct form features, including sloped, vertical and horizontal linear solids, and edges. Regarding the high dimension of data, we used Graphical Clustering Toolkit software for clustering, which involved the use of correlation coefficients and internal similarity among clusters. The clustering analysis grouped all the images into 25 clusters with the highest internal and the lowest external similarities. The descriptive features of each cluster could show its formal characteristics.
This study conducts an investigation on temporary housing in disaster areas and a survey on the condition of containers used as buildings. The construction of temporary housings in disaster areas using containers is proposed as an application solution. With its advantage of combination and splitting, the modularity of containers offers a wide range of implementation possibilities for container housing in disaster areas. Specific housing needs of various types of victims can be easily satisfied through the different organizations of various units.
This work focuses on the spatial compositions and characteristics of religious sites and surrounding pilgrimage space in the city of Lhasa, which is the sacred center of Tibet. The modernization and urbanization of the city in recent decades have transformed the spatial and socioeconomic positions of its urban religious sites. The present study offers insights into the composition of urban religious spaces in the city of Lhasa with consideration to the spatiality and sociality of these spaces. After examining the current situations of religious spaces, we classify the target spaces into five types using the cluster analysis method and identify the characteristics of each type. We then discuss the socioeconomic values of each type of religious space and derive recommendations for planners. The analysis performed in this study may contribute in the special planning for the protection of religious traditions.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba faced a crisis that forced it to change its housing approach. Self-help building programs began to supplant the construction of mass standar dized housing estates. The Community Architect Program was developed to provide design advice to self-help builders, and it expanded exponentially within a decade. By the year 2000, all municipalities across Cuba had their own Community Architect Office. While the approach of the Community Architect Program has been hailed a breakthrough in the fields of planning and architecture, the particular case of Old Havana suggests that several obstacles prevent residents from benefiting from its services. The author identifies the strengths and limitations of the approach by looking at two home renovation projects in Old Havana and the perceptions of low-income residents on the work done by community architects. This research ndicates that participatory design methods should be complemented by community-based initiatives that address other aspects of the housing development process, such as access to materials, construction, and construction management.