The restoration of monuments is of great interest, leading to more architecturally significant designs. Many promising approaches to building design foster a symbiosis of the old and the new. The paper examines the compromises between the structural and physical properties of a historic building intended for renovation, which has already undergone several renovations. Due to the limited optimization possibilities at specific levels of the renovation project, diagnostics were used during the examination of proposals. Part of the diagnostics involves measuring thermal conditions, as well as temperatures on the internal and external surfaces of the building envelopes. The study demonstrates how the properties of the outer shell affect thermal insulation and suggests methods for architects, planners and preservationists to preserve the structural forms of the facade. The goal was to show that, despite the absence of a new thermal insulation layer on the outside of the building, the standard requirements are not violated. On the inner surface of the envelope walls, the temperature does not drop below the critical value for mould growth. Additionally, there are examples of modifications to the original details and their shape after the restoration of this building.
Centripetality, as a spatial prototype characterized by “collective memory”, manifests within the context of traditional Chinese culture as the inherent concept of “human-centeredness” which have existed since ancient times. This paper employs “schema theory” as a cognitive method for morphological analysis. Focusing on traditional Chinese settlements with typical centripetal spatial characteristics, it identifies 11 factors contributing to centripetality in spatial morphology. It constructs a morphological typology pedigree of centripetal spatial schema in traditional settlements. Through quantitative methods, it measures the geometric features of samples and reveals the correlation between morphological factors, typology pedigree, and geometric characteristics. The research aims to systematically understand the external manifestations and underlying causes of centripetal spatial schema in traditional Chinese settlements. This understanding, viewed through the strategic lens of “Chinese-style modernization”, seeks to provide scientific references for the revitalization of historical neighborhoods, the regeneration of traditional villages, and the development of contemporary living environments with Chinese characteristics in China.
In the context of rural revitalization and the increasing prevalence of aging population, the mental health of older adults in rural China has become an issue of widespread social concern. There is an association between rural living environments and depression in rural older adults, but little is known about research on residential facilities and depression in rural older adults. Based on data from the 2014-2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this study explores the relationship between residential facilities, frailty and depression among rural older adults. The results show that the number of residential facilities can alleviate the level of depression among rural older adults through partial mediation of frailty. In other words, the more residential facilities there are, the less frail the older adults will be, thereby reducing the risk of depression. The lack of bathing facilities, broad-band, and toilets within the household will exacerbate the level of frailty and depression among rural older adults. Paying attention to improving the living environment and residential facilities, reducing frailty, will effectively reduce the problem of depression among rural older adults, which has important implications for the health of rural older adults in China.
After Morocco gained independence in 1956, the country’s historic cities, including Fez, Marrakesh, and Meknes, experienced rapid urban growth, decay, and the destruction of their rich cultural and architectural heritage. The rise in urbanisation, redevelopment projects, and tourism has raised concerns related to the urban gentrification and social sustainability of local communities. In addition, the influx of large-scale foreign investments and the conversion of traditional Moroccan houses into riad hotels have sparked tensions over land use, economic shifts, and the ongoing exploitation of historic cities. This research presents a case study of the world heritage city of Fez in Morocco, where these dynamics are particularly significant, as efforts are made to balance conservation and modern needs. The main question to be addressed is how can the surviving historic centres be regenerated while ensuring social sustainability for their inhabitants? The primary objective of this study is to explore the multifaceted urban regeneration strategies in Fez, focusing on urban planning, conservation efforts, economic revitalisation, and social development. Employing a mixed-method approach, this study draws on desk research, content analysis, fieldwork, observations, and qualitative interviews with key stakeholders. The findings suggest that the previous strategies focused on physical development and riad hotels to boost cultural tourism and tourist accommodation, exacerbating the gentrification and socioeconomic stratification of the local community. This study emphasises the “Ziyarates Fez” project, which provides an innovative approach to rehabilitating and reusing traditional houses for tourism accommodation without displacing local occupants. Furthermore, this project represents a holistic strategy for balancing economic and social sustainability in urban regeneration. This paper contributes to the expanding body of research on sustainable urban regeneration in historic cities. These results are anticipated to benefit academic research and the implementation of regeneration strategies in historic cities in Morocco and worldwide.
In the circumstances of the 21st-century digital and technological turn, and due to the burst of the cosmopolitan way of living, the urban environment has gradually transformed in its appearance and identity. The loss of object singularity in urban context due to continuous variability and functional indeterminacy blurs the boundaries between architectural and urban scale, personal and social experience. Through an interdisciplinary framework, this paper deals with the fluidity phenomenon instrumentalisation through value-based research of renominated architectural practices in creating an authentic methodological research model that connects urban dynamics and architectural design methods, techniques and instruments in shaping a contemporary spatial experience. The resulting methodological model employs an analytic graphic narrative to formulate a strategy integrating fluidity into the process of architectural design. The paper explains how architectural design, as a cultural practice, employs fluidity to incorporate dynamics and needs, strategically enhancing the expression of urban values, requirements, and narratives.
Streets play a crucial role in the pedestrian catchment area (PCA) of metro stations. However, the large-scale quality measurement of street space and its influence on the vitality of station area have not been well revealed. With multisource big data such as points of interest (POI), and street view images, a three-dimensional evaluation system based on the pyramid scene parsing network (PSPNet) and spatial design network analysis (sDNA) is constructed. 73 metro stations in the Third Ring Road of Chengdu are chosen as research samples to carry out large-scale quantitative evaluation of street space in PCAs to reveal the quality characteristics of street space at the overall urban, PCA, and circle scales. Furthermore, this study constructs two multiple linear regression models of weekdays and weekends to explore the relationship between urban vitality and street space quality indicators. The results indicate a heterogeneous distribution of street quality on an urban scale. Streets located in the 300-500 m of PCAs rate highest in terms of convenience and the overall street space quality. The functionality dimension of street spaces in the sample PCAs of Chengdu present a gradient effect with the highest score of 0-300 m in the circle, while the comfortability dimension of streets shows an opposite trend. The multiple linear regression analysis show that street quality indicators are more explanatory of the weekday vitality than the weekend vitality. It indicates that well-connected street network, pleasant street scale, and abundant urban facilities have the greatest effect on urban vitality in the PCAs. The findings can provide new ideas for making targeted interventions in the urban design of metro station areas, to improve the quality of streets and foster urban vitality.
Science and technology innovation has become the core driving force of urban development, and innovation spaces as the carriers of innovation activities have evolved continuously, forming the emerging model of innovation districts in recent years. However, the evaluation standard of innovation spaces has not changed with the evolution of the model, and the evaluation method that focuses on economic benefits still dominates the mainstream. As a result, the construction of innovation spaces around these indicators and guidelines lags behind the advanced level.
In this paper, we have systematically sorted out the relevant research progress of innovation districts, established a set of cases with global typicality, combined the dual attributes of “innovation characteristics + urban characteristics,” constructed a research framework for the spatial quality of innovation districts based on the dual perspectives of “innovation space,” and summarized the spatial quality evaluation model through analysis. We do an empirical study on Haidian District to find out how well innovation districts work in terms of space, find typical clusters, and come up with the most important aspects of their space quality. In order to observe the applicability of this method, it is also applied to the urban health check-up in Chaoyang District, Beijing. Through the expert seminar, the evaluation and analysis method of spatial quality of innovative urban areas is further verified and discussed. The results show that the integration of innovative urban areas and urban structures, and the collaborative development of innovative industries and high-quality spaces are the keys to promote the common development of innovative economy and cities. The new evaluation method can effectively measure the quality of innovation spaces, and has certain transferability.
Various parameters can be integrated in material-based computational design in architecture. Materials are the main driver of these processes and evaluated with the constraints related to the form, performance, and fabrication techniques. However, current methodologies mostly involve investigating already existing materials. Studies on computational material design, in which new materials are developed by designing their microstructures in response to the performative issues, are generally undertaken at the material scale, and not adopted to the architectural design process yet. To resolve this issue, the methodology titled Interscalable Material Microstructure Organization in Performance-based Computational Design (I2MO_PCD) is developed and presented in three stages, including (1) identification of different types of material microstructures, (2) computational material design, and (3) prototyping. Data-based material modelling and visualization, and algorithmic modelling techniques are utilized, followed by various performance simulations as a part of an iterative process. New microstructure organizations are designed computationally, organized under three main groups as linear-curvilinear, crystal and metaball-voronoi. The outcomes of different performance analyses, including structure, radiation, direct sun hours, acoustics and thermal bridge were compared. Thus, the role of geometrical organization of microstructures, scales and material types in different performance computations were identified, by designing and fabricating synthetic materials.
This study aimed to investigate the impact of specific landscape elements on pedestrians’ emotional experiences during walking. During the study, footages were recorded by participants while walking to obtain real-time visual element data, including greenery, building and road visibility. And electroencephalogram (EEG) indicators of β/α, (α+θ)/β, θ/β and θ/α ratio were collected to represent levels of arousal, fatigue, attention and relaxation. Our findings suggested strong correlations between θ/α ratio with both greenery and road visibility. Conversely, other indicators were primarily influenced by greenery and building visibility. Regarding the combined impact of elements, the most positive emotions were observed when green visibility exceeded 51%. However, the peak alertness was achieved with building visibility between 5.2% and 31%. The lowest fatigue and the highest attention level were recorded under building visibility less than 5.2%, and the highest level of relaxation occurred with road visibility less than 10%. In terms of the influence of time, the entire walking process could be delineated by the five and 8 min marks, classified into novelty, adaptation and sustained phase based on the patterns of emotional changes observed in the participants. Consequently, the visual elements and their combinations, and duration play regulatory roles in pedestrians’ emotional experiences.
This article is dedicated to exploring the possibility of creating a regional-level tourism cluster in a historically developed industrial region. The research objectives are to identify the boundaries of the Prydniprovsk region, to analyze the natural-resource potential and historical-cultural identity of the investigated territory, to define the most suitable concept for the tourism cluster, and develop its model. The study takes into account the typology of the region’s recreational resources, both material and non-material, along with their quantitative and qualitative indicators. The analysis of the level of urbanization of the territory and the development of the service system is conducted. The research examines the spatial distribution and concentration of recreational resources, the ability of certain industrial facilities to become recognized architectural landmarks and obtain a protective status as cultural heritage objects. The methodology employs a combined approach, based on a thorough analysis of literary sources, statistical methods for analyzing natural and historical-cultural resources, expert evaluation of the quality of industrial-oriented attractor objects, and clustering. The study represents a comprehensive system for assessing the territory concerning its natural-recreational resources and historical-cultural heritage. The key findings of the work are the spatial representation of the natural-resource base, key tourist attraction points and connections. This has allowed, for the first time, to develop a spatial model for the tourism cluster of the Prydniprovsk region and identify the main European programs where this cluster can become a part of.
Numerous metropolises worldwide have adopted transit-oriented development (TOD) as a sustainable urban development tactic. And the node-place model is the most commonly used model for TOD typology. However, the spatial vitality, one of the most fundamental aspects of TOD, has not been systematically taken into account in the node-place model. Therefore, this article introduces vitality as a third dimension into node-place model and develops the node-place-vitality (NPV) model, aiming to comprehensively re-classify and re-evaluate TOD performance. The independent weight coefficient method is used to compute place values, node values, vitality values, and overall TOD degree. Moreover, the categorization of TOD typologies makes use of the K-means++ clustering approach. The model is employed in a case study in Wuhan, China. The results show that the TOD degree exhibits a spatial discrepancy, characterized as “high-medium-low” from the center to the periphery, not only in the whole city but also in the three towns. The geographical characteristics of TOD degree within station catchment area are revealed by the heat map. Five TOD types are identified and they present obvious spatial differentiation. The approach proposed in this paper furnishes urban planners and decision-makers with a scientific instrument for assisting TOD planning and strategies designing.
Urban public spaces are pivotal to the welfare and prosperity of modern cities. Recognizing their importance, this research addresses the critical gap in understanding and enhancing the qualities of these spaces through advanced analytics, focusing on Tehran’s main traditional market, the Bazaar. A novel methodological framework combining Social Network Analysis (SNA), and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, supported by location-based social media reviews, was employed. This innovative approach assessed the Bazaar’s comfort, vitality, and safety, analyzing real-time public interactions and perceptions through social media data. The findings highlighted the Bazaar’s central role in Tehran’s urban landscape and identified the need for strategic design interventions. These interventions aimed to improve walkability, comfort, safety, and diversity, and have been successfully implemented, significantly enhancing the Bazaar’s quality and usability. This study not only advances urban studies and planning by providing a model for urban public space analysis but also underscores the value of social media data in urban analytics. The successful revitalization of Tehran’s Bazaar sets a precedent for enriching urban experiences and boosting city vitality through similar interventions in other urban spaces.
In the past decade, there has been an increasing recognition of the role of computational design optimization in early-stage performance-based architectural design exploration. However, it remains challenging for designers to apply such optimization-based design explorations in practice. To address this issue, this paper introduces a design tool, called EvoMass, and an associated design method that facilitates design exploration for building massing typologies in performance-based design tasks. EvoMass is capable of offering architects design options reflecting performance-related building massing typologies for the design task, without necessitating advanced computational design skills. More importantly, it can provide architects with insights into the underlying performance implications, thereby enhancing early-stage performance-based design exploration. EvoMass and its associated design method overcome the limitation in the conventional typology-first-optimization-second design procedure adopted by most existing tools, and it promotes a typology-oriented design exploration method of using computational optimization in performance-based architectural design. To demonstrate the efficacy of EvoMass, case studies derived from architectural design studio tasks, incorporating daylighting, solar exposure, and subjective design intents, and the result of a user survey are presented, which highlights how EvoMass and the performance-based design optimization and exploration can enable architects to achieve a more performance-aware design.
Interactive architecture designs enable spatial forms to respond to human activities by integrating technology, programming, and spatial experience. Most interactive programs respond to established actions in a uniform manner and do not take into account the individual emotional state of the user. However, the emotional states of children and adolescents with emotional/behavioral disorders play a crucial role in their interactions, and uniform spatial responses cannot be adapted to different people. This study developed an interactive architectural system for children with emotional/behavioral disorders based on individual emotion recognition and corresponding spatial transformation. The method proposed in this study enables individuals in certain emotional categories, such as extroverted, introverted, aggressive, and defensive states, to receive matching spatial responses. Using this individuality-oriented interactive system, we built a practical pavilion in a primary school in Tianjin. This study demonstrates how combining individual emotions and spatial variations opens up new design possibilities for interactive architecture.
Tessellations have been widely used in architectural designs to create visually striking surfaces by repeating a small number of elements. While there has been extensive research on 2D tiling over the past 2000 years, this study focuses on the systematic development of a technique for the modular construction of 2D tiling with 3D texture surfaces using identical tiles, which is of great importance in architectural designs for cost-effective constructions through the mass production of repeating components. This study applies parametric geometrical modelling using Grasshopper scripting to generate a wide range of 3D reliefs on planar surfaces by repeating a single tile or a few different tiles. Based on the findings of this study, it is possible to arrange tiles with an identical 3D texture surface in multiple configurations, resulting in a range of 3D reliefs on tessellated surfaces that exhibit smooth transitions across adjacent tiles. A significant application of this technique is in producing stunning facades and other 3D surfaces using identical modules, offering affordable modular construction through repetition. The study also demonstrates the versatility of the technique by creating various attractive non-periodic 3D surfaces using triangular, square, hexagonal, or even non-regular tiles.
Stepwell is one of the unique medieval groundwater resource structures distributed across most of all the states in India. The main purpose of constructing stepped wells was to get access to the groundwater, but was also used for the storage of food, and as a summer shelter in medieval times. In tropical regions such as India, temperature is a major problem that causes thermal distress. Traditional architectural concepts were incorporated in the medieval Indian structures to achieve thermal comfort. Traditional architecture is optimization of building design to climate, adaptive crafts, and building techniques learnt over time and experience. The objective of this study is to interpret and evaluate the architectural and engineering aspects of stepwells pertaining to passive cooling techniques used in stepwells and the shelters associated with them. This paper reviews technical aspects pertaining to passive cooling in the design of stepwells, which has identified fundamental principles that can adopted for the building of various structures presently.