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Vitruvius: ‘Ten books on architecture’

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Abstract

For the first time in more than half a century, Vitruvius’ Ten Books on Architecture is being published in English. The only full treatise on architecture and its related arts to survive from classical antiquity, the Architecture libri decem (Ten Books on Architecture) is the single most important work of architectural history in the Western world, having shaped architecture and the image of the architect from the Renaissance to the present. Demonstrating the range of Vitruvius’ style, this new edition includes examples from archaeological sites discovered since World War II and not previously published in English language translations. Rowland’s new translation and Howe’s critical commentary and illustrations provide a new image of Vitruvius, who emerges as an inventive and creative thinker, rather than the normative summarizer, as he was characterized in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Ingrid D. Rowland is an associate professor of Art History at the University of Chicago. Thomas Noble Howe is a professor in the Department of Art at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.
... The bibliography concerning ancient Roman concrete is enormous. Some of the most important secondary sources include Blake 1947: 21-69, 308-52;Lugli 1957: I, 363-436;Blake 1959;MacDonald 1982;DeLaine 1997;Felici 1993Rowland et al. 1999;Gazda 2001;Massazza 2004;Lancaster 2005a. Furthermore, Gazda (2001) has discussed the main contributions to the topic of Roman maritime concrete up to the year 2000, and has provided insightful highlights of the major issues. ...
... The passages from the earlier books collected here concern materials; those from the later books, procedures. Virtually every book on Roman architecture includes long discussions of Vitruvius' work; for modern scholarship more focussed on the following passages, see in particular Dubois 1902;Thielscher 1936, 1939;Schramm 1936Schramm , 1938Blake 1947;Lugli 1957;Schläger 1971;Oleson 1985;Brandon 1996;Callebat 1999;Rowland et al. 1999;Oleson et al. 2006;Jackson and Marra 2006;Jackson et al. 2007Jackson et al. , 2011Jackson et al. , 2012Felici 2009. The first book of the De architectura deals with the first principles of architecture and the layout of cities; Chapter 2, from which the following selection is taken, concerns the terms for various aspects of architecture and with architectural practice. ...
... 80-10 BC). In his multi-volume book De architectura, Vitruvius talks about the multidisciplinary mindset of the architect: "an architect has to be interested in art and science, as well as being versed in rhetoric and having a good knowledge of history and philosophy" (Rowland, Howe, and Others, 2001). Vitrivius' guiding principle was "all buildings must satisfy three criteria: strength (firmitas), functionality (utilitas), and beauty (venustas)" (Rowland, Howe, and Others, 2001). ...
... In his multi-volume book De architectura, Vitruvius talks about the multidisciplinary mindset of the architect: "an architect has to be interested in art and science, as well as being versed in rhetoric and having a good knowledge of history and philosophy" (Rowland, Howe, and Others, 2001). Vitrivius' guiding principle was "all buildings must satisfy three criteria: strength (firmitas), functionality (utilitas), and beauty (venustas)" (Rowland, Howe, and Others, 2001). In a way, Vitruvius presented the concept of functionalism more than twenty centuries before modernism (Bürdek, 2005). ...
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Prototyping is essential in any design process. During the early stages, designers rely on rapid prototyping to explore ideas. Current rapid prototyping tools and techniques focus on paper representations and their disposability. However, while these throwaway prototypes are quick to create they are difficult to iterate over. I argue that rapid prototyping tools can effectively support reusable as well as throwaway artifacts for sketching interaction in early-stage design. First, I investigate tools in the context of video prototyping. Designers experience two main barriers to use video in interaction design: the time to capture and edit the video artifacts. To aid during the capturing-phase of video prototyping I created VideoClipper. This tool embodies an integrated iterative design method that rewards discipline but permits flexibility for video prototyping. The tool provides a storyboard-style overview to organize multiple videos in story Lines. VideoClipper offers editable and reusable TitleCards, video capture for steady-state and rough stop-motion filming and the ability to recombine videos in new ways for redesign. I present informal user studies with interaction design students using VideoClipper in three design courses. Results suggest that participants spend less time capturing and editing in VideoClipper than with other video tools. However, many designers find tedious to create stop-motion videos for continuous interactions and to re-shoot clips as the design evolves. Participants continuously try to reduce re-shooting by reusing backgrounds or mixing different levels of fidelity. Inspired by this behavior, I created Montage, a prototyping tool for video prototyping that lets designers progressively augment paper prototypes with digital sketches, facilitating the creation, reuse and exploration of dynamic interactions. Montage uses chroma keying to decouple the prototyped interface from its context of use, letting designers reuse or change them independently. I describe how Montage enhances video prototyping by combining video with digital animated sketches, encourages the exploration of different contexts of use, and supports prototyping of different interaction styles. Second, I investigate how early designs start being implemented into interactive prototypes. Professional designers and developers often struggle when transitioning from the illustration of the design to the actual implementation of the system. In collaboration with Nolwenn Maudet, I conducted three studies that focused on the design and implementation of custom interactions to understand the mismatches between designers' and developers' processes, tools and representations. We find that current practices induce unnecessary rework and cause discrepancies between design and implementation and we identify three recurring types of breakdowns: omitting critical details, ignoring edge cases, and disregarding technical limitations. I propose four design principles to create tools that mitigate these problems: Provide multiple viewpoints, maintain a single source of truth, reveal the invisible and support design by enaction. We apply these principles to create Enact, an interactive live environment for prototyping touch-based interactions. We introduce two studies to assess Enact and to compare designer-developer collaboration with Enact versus current tools. Results suggest that Enact helps participants detect more edge cases, increases designers' participation and provides new opportunities for co-creation. These three prototyping tools rely on the same underlying theoretical principles: reification, polymorphism, reuse, and information substrates. Also, the presented tools outline a new prototyping approach that I call "Takeaway Prototyping". In contrast to throwaway prototypes, instead of emphasizing disposability, tools for "Takeaway Prototyping" support design by enaction and reify design artifacts to materialize the lessons learned.
... Throughout history, the need to provide shelter is one of the core requirements of human constructions. With the appearance of different types of constructions, especially those that serve the purpose of formal representation, such as temples, treaties on architecture began to appear that described systematically the elements of a specific architecture, like Viturvius' treatise De architectura ('Ten books on architecture', Rowland & Howe, 2001). Gottfried Semper laid out a systematic approach to architecture that identified core elements: the hearth, the roof, the enclosure and the mound (Semper, 1851). ...
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Research is revealing an increasing number of positive effects of nature for humans. At the same time, biodiversity in cities, where most humans live, is often low or in decline. Tangible solutions are needed to increase urban biodiversity. Architecture is a key discipline that has considerable influence on the built‐up area of cities, thereby influencing urban biodiversity. In general, architects do not design for biodiversity. Conversely, urban conservation planning generally focuses on the limited space free of buildings and does not embrace architecture as an important discipline for the creation of urban green infrastructure. In this paper, we argue that the promotion of biodiversity needs to become a key driving force of architectural design. This requires a new multi‐species design paradigm that considers both human and non‐human needs. Such a design approach needs to maintain the standards of the architectural profession, including the aim to increase the well‐being of humans in buildings. Yet, it also needs to add other stakeholders, organisms such as animals, plants and even microbiota. New buildings designed for humans and other inhabitants can then increase biodiversity in cities and also increase the benefits that humans can derive from close proximity to nature. We review the challenges that this new design approach poses for both architecture and ecology and show that multi‐species‐design goes beyond existing approaches in architecture and ecology. The new design approach needs to make ecological knowledge available to the architectural design process, enabling practitioners to find architectural solutions that can facilitate synergies from a multi‐species perspective. We propose that a first step in creating such a multi‐species habitat is the design of buildings with an ecolope, a multi criteria‐designed building envelope that takes into account the needs of diverse organisms. Because there is no framework to design such an ecolope, we illustrate how multi‐species design needs to draw on knowledge from ecology, as well as architecture, and design computation. We discuss how architectures designed via a multi‐species approach can be an important step in establishing beneficial human–nature relationships in cities, and contribute to human well‐being and biodiversity conservation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
... Architecture is a combination of several knowledge or called multidiscipline [1]. Because the richness of architecture arises and aligns with the development of other disciplines, in the working of design, architects interact, adapt, absorb and adopt specific part of other knowledge as part of architecture. ...
Conference Paper
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Architecture is a multidisciplinary field, with or without intention, architecture absorbs knowledge from other fields of discipline to become a part that enriches itself. If knowledge is centered on signs and meanings, then Eco's semiotic theory which is based on communication and signification becomes interesting to be verified as a method of transferring concepts/propositions from other disciplines. This research is a theoretical qualitative research with case studies which include: (1) Analysis to examine the relationship between the components of the structure of the Elementary Communication Model as a coding system descriptively for interdisciplinary purposes; (2) Verification of Modes of Sign Production as a concept transfer method through case studies of “The Gherkin Tower” work of Norman Foster and “Church of the Light” work of Tadao Ando. This study concludes that the difference in the scope of each discipline area lies in the continuum, so it is necessary to add a “Converter” component to the Channel component of the Elementary Communicational Model structure, and Modes of Sign of Production as a converter method.
... The coordinate-based analysis of proportional redundancy is another concept to analyze and characterize complexity in architecture and can be applied in the areas of eurythmia and symmetria as described by Vitruvius (see e.g., [38]). As one of those methods, the gradient analysis explores the repetition of proportions within a 2-dimensional design such as façades. ...
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This article contributes to clarifying the questions of whether and how fractal geometry, i.e., some of its main properties, are suitable to characterize architectural designs. This is done in reference to complexity‐related aesthetic qualities in architecture, taking advantage of the measurability of one of them; the fractal dimension. Research in this area so far, has focused on 2‐dimensional elevation plans. The authors present several methods to be used on a variety of source formats, among them a recent method to analyze pictures taken from buildings, i.e., 2.5‐dimensional representations, to discuss the potential that lies within their combination. Color analysis methods will provide further information on the significance of a multilayered production and observation of results in this realm. In this publication results from the box‐counting method are combined with a coordinate‐based method for analyzing redundancy of proportions and their interrelations as well as the potential to include further layers of comparison are discussed. It presents a new area of boxcounting implementation, a methodologically redesigned gradient analysis and its new algorithm as well as the combination of both. This research shows that in future systems it will be crucial to integrate several strategies to measure balanced aesthetic complexity in architecture.
... This includes wood beams that support stone entablatures [32]. This can be seen clearly in the Doric Order, where the Mutule and Triglyph are major examples [33]. Although Eastern architecture has continually developed member-type assembly structures, such as bracket sets centering around wood, Western architecture has developed integrated curved structures, such as arches and domes, centering around stones. ...
Article
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Historic building information modelling (HBIM) is a technology that documents and analyses 3D model information for reverse engineering using laser scan and image survey data of buildings having heritage value. In the case of traditional Korean wooden architectures, especially the bracket-sets of buildings, there is a limit to accuracy, owing to non-visible seams. Thus, in this study, mesh modelling is conducted using point-cloud data of the entire Seoikheon building of Jeonju Pungpajigwan, which is a national cultural property of Korea. After dismantling the building, scanning the members and cross-checking the cloud data, it was possible to create a realistic Rhino 3D model that includes joints of the bracket set. Hence, it is possible to implement a 3D model in Revit that reflects the unique shapes and characteristics of traditional wooden architectures. The resultant model not only provides a platform of various historic building information, but it can also be used as a digital twin to understand deformation and damage to wooden joints.
... This construction of a narrative of the body inherently influences how we write our environments, structuring our interactions with and expectations of those environments. From Vitruvius' (see, Rowland and Howe 2001) early descriptions of the idealised proportions of the body as the basis for architectural form in the first century BCE to the reliance on texts such as the Metric Handbook for anthropometric data by architects, industrial designers and interior designers in the twenty first century (Neufort 2012), the body has long been poorly understood and represented in architectural design. Through numerous iterations -most notably Leonardo Da Vinci's interpretation of 'The Vitruvian Man' in the sixteenth century and Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris' (better known as Le Corbusier) 'Modular' body of the twentieth century -the body has been abstracted, idealised and excessively simplified by both architects and designers. ...
Article
Writing has long played an important role in the progression of architecture and the built environment. Histories of architecture are written, manifestoes that form the basis for a designer’s work are written and most importantly, the built environment advances itself through the act of critical writing. Not unlike the visual arts, literature and poetry, the tradition of written criticism has been crucial to the progression of architecture and its allied professions (Franz 2003). This article contributes to architecture and the built environment through the act of a written essay that critiques the problem of bodily diversity to architecture. In particular, the article explores the implications of body-space politics and abstracted body thinking on diverse bodies and their spatial justice. Using Soja’s Spatial Justice theory (2008), we seek to point out the underlying conceptions and power differentials assigned to different bodies spatially and how this leads to spatial injustices and contested spaces. The article also critically analyses the historical emergence of ‘the standardised body’ in architecture and its application in design theory and practice, and looks at how bodies often found on the outside of architecture highlight how such thinking creates injustices. Different theories are drawn on to help point to how design through the use of the upright, forward facing, male body willingly and unwillingly denies access to resources and spatialities of everyday life. We also suggest ways to re-conceptualise the body in design practice and teaching.
... The triplet of "Utilitas, Firmitas and Venustas" (Rowland & Howe, 2001) (most commonly translated as "commodity, firmness and delight"), defining Vitruvius' design quality in the eyes of many contemporary architects, has been a source of inspiration in determination of criteria (Boschi, 2002;Gann et al., 2003;Thomson, 2003;Volker, 2008). Building performance indicators set by Vitruvius have been transformed into a hierarchical system of user needs by Lang and synthesized by Preiser within the framework of liveability (Lang, 1974;Preiser & Vischer, 2006). ...
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It is possible to obtain better, qualified and error-free structures by evaluating the multidimensional criteria reflects all manner of opinions in the building production process. Stakeholders’ integration plays a major role in achieving this evaluation expecting the targeted quality in building production, and different priorities could be defined by various type of stakeholders. Therefore, applicable approaches should be used where the stakeholders of the building production process will be included to determine priority levels of criteria. All the criteria considered should provide that all dimensions of demands and expectations are met in the creation of the new building and the built environment. In this study, which is a widely used multi-criteria decision-making method, is applied to ensure mutual satisfaction of decision-makers and beneficiaries in construction process. Four main criteria and sub-criteria related to these main criteria were determined by adding “green and sustainability issues” to the “functionality”, “build quality” and “impact” trilogy determined by Vitruvius for the development of architectural quality. The method used here is based on an evaluation system takes into account all of the stakeholders’ expressions. Necessary data is gathered from three type of stakeholders; a technical team of five individuals consists of architects and engineers, a focus group of twelve individuals consist of occupiers as mass housing clients and the last one is the focus group of three individuals from building production firms as facilities manager. It was observed that distinct type of stakeholder ranked the weight of each main and sub-criterion differently. Therefore, it has been concluded that definition of criteria and determination of the weights of them shall not be determined by only one stakeholder in a project, but also all particular stakeholder are also shall be included during planning and application process.
... According to Vitruvius his book De Architectura [4], the existed oldest written source, a good building must have beauty/aesthetics (Venustas), strength (Firmity), and usability/function (Utility); architecture can be said as a balance and coordination of the three elements, and no element exceeds other elements. In the modern definition, architecture must include functional, aesthetic, and psychological considerations. ...
Article
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Banyuwangi is a city with natural beauty and cultural uniqueness. One its cultures is Osing. Because it has many art performances, Banyuwangi does not yet have a special place to accommodate all art activities. Tourism in coastal areas has a high potential because it offers the beauty of natuew in every corner as its main atrraction. Banyuwangi Opera House is a combination of Banyuwangi Gandrung dance, patrol music, and Umbul-Umbul Blambangan song. Descriptive method was employed in this study using the results of comparative studies on art performance buildings that have cultural history. This design was made as an icon to describe the characteristics of Banyuwangi. The shape is an analogy from the typology of Osing Architecture consisting of tikel, baresan, and cerocogan by modifying the planes. Osing spatial planning includes bale, jrumah, and pawon with a space arrangement from front to back combine with colors identical to the distinctive Gandrung Sewu dance attire, namely red, yellow, and black. From the results of this study, it is expected that young generations can protect and preserve the wisdom of local culture through works of art.
... As recorded by Vitruvius, Archimedes discovered the measurement of density by calculating mass per unit volume (p=m/V) ) (Rowland et al., 2014). A similar principle can be related to density measurement in urban environment, but the translation between these measurements was undocumented. ...
Conference Paper
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The measurement of dwellings per hectare as static density is imprecise to calculate urban, population, and building densities. The missing factor is the dynamics of human behaviour, either by moving or occupying a temporal area that changes to different and unpredictable activities. In order to improve the precision of real-time density, this paper introduces two novel equations to measure activities in an urban environment: intensity and frequency. Intensity is the measurement of the number of people occupying an area for more extended time activities. Frequency measures the shorter activities that do not occupy an area. These equations are tested in a human settlement, Tmor-Da in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to measure the activities along the laneways. The study conducts a systematic observation documented as time-lapse photos, to map and measure human activities for further statistical analyses. The findings suggest that the equations allow for customisation variables in specific activities, time-intervals and types of people of the context. The measurements could serve as a quantitative factor to test Jacob's assumptions of public/private interfaces and offers insights into the study of human behaviour. In conclusion, these novel equations are generalizable to measure human activities in any place and serve as a quantitative indicator of real-time density.
... Gameiro et al. (2014) have discussed that B/A is a very critical parameter in accommodating the pores of lime mortars and it has a direct effect on the diffusion of CO 2 into the lime matrix. Vitruvius, chapter IV (Rowland and Howe, 2001) in his ten books of architecture, he stated 1: 3 (lime: sand) is the excellent proportion for higher carbonation of lime mortars. In the case of limecrete samples, the attained binder to fine aggregate ratio is also in the range of 1:3, means the ancient architects are designed in such a way to achieve the greater strength and durability properties. ...
Article
The characterization of limecrete slabs made of plant extract and hemp fibers of an old monument, Bichili haveli, located in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India was carried out to understand the traditional materials used and its production. Limecrete of ratio 1: 1: 3 (Lime: brickbats: sand) were produced with hemp fibers to acts as flexural members. The hardened limecrete shows the predominate phases of calcium carbonate such as calcite with other polymorphs (vaterite & aragonite), tobermorite and Calcium alumina-silica hydrates (CASH). The organic analysis has confirmed the presence of biomolecules which are originated by the addition of fermented plant extracts that acts as a natural admixture during the preparation of limecrete slabs. With the help of organic additives, limecrete also acts as a Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) unit and sequester 15-20% of atmospheric carbon di oxide (CO2). The current study reclaims the lost old technology which uses low energy-intensive materials like lime, brick powder & bats, plants extracts and hemp fibers at the same time 20 % lesser cost than cement concrete. The experimental evidence from the present research proves that the limecrete slabs have enough strength and durability, also acts as CO2 capture materials in mitigating global emissions. Limecrete can be used for the restoration of the heritage building as well as in modern construction for low rise buildings.
... On Earth, we stopped using raw soil for any construction purposes thousands of years ago. The first significant refinement of the production and use of aggregate occurred during the Roman Empire (Rowland et al., 2014). An aggregate, due to its known properties (particle shape and texture, strength, specific gravity, bulk density, porosity, and particle size distribution), is predictable when used for production of any cement composite. ...
Article
Aggregate is a key ingredient for the production of any kind of concrete. On Earth, we do not use soil for concrete production and for the same reasons, we should not use soil for concrete production on the Moon. Nevertheless, all proposed lunar concrete solutions, such as sulphur or polymeric concretes, as well as 3-D printed concretes, are based on utilizing lunar soil in its raw state. The authors propose a lunar aggregate which will mirror the characteristics of an earthly aggregate. The proposed aggregate will be feasible to produce and standardize on the Moon. It will also be characterized by stable and uniform properties in comparison to raw lunar soil. Moreover, a simulant of the proposed lunar aggregate is easily available on Earth for preliminary testing.
... Evidences of using admixtures for soil improvement was revealed by archaeologists from different civilizations like Sumerian and Roman. For example, Vitruvius described the application of dried blood for air-entrainment and biopolymers for set retardation of gypsum (Rowland et al., 2001). Technologies improved with the advancement of civilization and materials used for soil improvement also changed to a great extent. ...
Conference Paper
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The benefit from using admixtures in soil to improve properties was discovered in ancient times. Various admixtures such as straw, bitumen, lime, salts, and pozzolans are conventional additions to soil, while cement, petrochemicals and bacteria are currently being increasingly used in an effort to improve and stabilize soil from both mechanical and chemical aspects. The conventional techniques which utilize cement, lime, petrochemicals etc. causes significant environmental degradation. With environmental awareness for materials and methods used in ground improvement generally growing, the trend towards using biopolymers as admixtures is expected to increase. This paper gives the concept and theory of ground improvement technique which employs biopolymers and describes the practical application of these techniques. Number of studies have been conducted in the past decades to check the suitability of various biopolymers in improving soil properties. Effectiveness of biopolymers for soil stabilization in agricultural, construction, and military applications have been recognized by many researchers. More efficient and scientific usage of these materials for soil improvement requires knowledge about interaction mechanisms involved in the modification of geotechnical properties of soil. Most of the studies in clay polymer interaction are from the field of medical engineering, where clay particles are suspended in the colloidal form and macromolecules are attached to them in different ways. The fundamental mechanism in biopolymer soil modification proposed by various researchers are also presented in this paper. The study reveals the prospects of this green technology in the current era of rapid deterioration of natural resources. Furthermore, the need of continuing research on a number of factors which controls the mechanism is suggested.
... Architecture is the art of designing and building structures for habitats. Vitruvius [247] wrote in the 1st century BC that a good structure should be durable, suitable for the purpose and aesthetically pleasing. Durability and utility is easy to define but it is considerably harder to find optimality criterions for beauty. ...
Preprint
This postdoctoral thesis starts by reviewing the historic development of airplane structures and high lift devices from an engineering point of view. However, the main purpose of this document is the development of a novel concept for shape changing, gapless high lift devices that is inspired by the nastic movement of plants. A particular focus is put on the efficient simulation and optimization of compliant pressure actuated cellular structures.
... Architectural orientation is an ancient tradition, treated in detail in Vitruvius' De architectura (BC 30-15), one of the oldest and most influential works on architecture. The author discussed private, secular and sacred building orientation, in its horizontal (generally E-W direction, mainly due to the impression of sunrise and sunset) and vertical dimensions (the penetration of light into the building, relying on the movement of the Sun during the day) (Rowland and Howe 2001;Incerti 2013;cf. Heilbron [2001]). ...
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The astronomical cycles and occurrences of the Sun, Moon, planets and certain star constellations were well known to prehistoric, Roman and medieval communities. Archaeoastronomy studies how ancient societies incorporated this knowledge into various aspects of past cultures. The discipline draws on modern astronomy, geodesy, physics, statistics, anthropology, ethnology and archaeology to study and interpret a wide range of source materials, from structural alignments to art, artefacts and inscriptions. This paper presents archaeoastronomical research on the orientation of Romanesque churches across the territory of modern-day Slovenia, focusing on an array of medieval festivals associated with the solstices and equinoxes. It demonstrates a profound connection between these festivals and the alignment of churches.
... 28 Some pigment particles appeared black and the darkening of vermilion when exposed to light is well known since ancient times. 29,30 The Raman spectra of these dark particles present less intense and broader peaks, compared to the spectra of the sound pigment, but no characteristic Raman features were observed. The darkening of vermilion has often been attributed to the formation of black metacinnabar, although other authors have also reported the difficulty of its positive identification. ...
Article
Although medieval alabaster sculptures might appear white at present, they were colourful once, because painting and gilding the stone was an integral part of their production. This work presents the study of polychrome remnants on a selection of fourteenth century English alabasters, using multiple scientific methods (microscopy, spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques). The range of pigments identified include vermilion, red ochre, red lead, kermes, verdigris, copper resinate, azurite, lead white and carbon black. Some sophisticated decorative techniques were also observed, namely the application of translucent glazes on top of raised gilded motifs. The analysis was useful in understanding the degradation processes undergone by some materials, such as verdigris. The use of oil as binding medium for the application of the paint layers and a mordant gilding technique were determined. These findings yielded important clues towards the digital reconstruction of the original appearance of the polychrome surface, which is also presented here.
... The facades existing prior to the advent of Haussmann buildings were made of timber frame structure with limestone rubble (Rowland, 1999). The Haussmann facades of this building complex, Fig. 4, are made with a 55 cm width dressed stones (Quelhas et al., 2014) supported by the limestone walls located beneath them, on the basement floor. ...
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Haussmann buildings are representative of Paris urban architecture. However, those buildings being centenarians, present several pathologies which is preventing their adequate use. Moreover, an upgrade regarding users security, acoustic, thermal and fire requirements is, among others, urgently needed to meet the new standards. Additionally, there is actually, in Paris, an increasing demand for hotel rooms. For those previous reasons, Haussmann buildings are nowadays submitted to heavy operations relative to use changes, conservation, rehabilitation and strengthening. In this paper, a structural and material characterization of a Haussmann building complex located at La Madeleine in Paris is presented. This characterization is the result of a survey realized during the construction stage occurred between 2015 and 2017, relative to use change, rehabilitation and strengthening. The present study allows identifying the existing structural system, the materials and the geometry of the principal structural elements. The knowledge from this study would be very useful for the development of sustainable rehabilitation and strengthening techniques and at the same time helping to preserve this important heritage or similar ones existing in other countries.
... Natural oils and fats were one of the most common types of water-repellent additives used in mortars and coatings in the antiquity, and linseed oil is frequently mentioned in the European literature (e.g., De architectura by Vitruvius [13]). It is a highly chemically reactive oil because it contains a high amount of linolenic (48-60 wt%) and linoleic (14-19 wt%) acids with three and two double bonds, respectively. ...
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This study investigates the effect of linseed oil on the microstructure of lime and lime-metakaolin pastes after 68 months of curing under controlled conditions. The hydrophobicity imparted by linseed oil to the pastes' bulk was confirmed by measuring water drops' contact angle. The results of thermal analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that linseed oil significantly hindered the carbonation reaction in both lime and lime-metakaolin pastes and promoted the development of amorphous phases. The obtained results also indicated that linseed oil could foster the poz-zolanic reaction in the lime-metakaolin system by stabilizing and/or promoting the development of hydration products resulting in reduced shrinkage in comparison with the reference.
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The ninth International Symposium Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas: Problems and Measurements Techniques was organized by CNR-IBE in collaboration with Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, and Natural History Museum of the Mediterranean and under the patronage of University of Florence, Accademia dei Lincei, Accademia dei Geogofili, Tuscany Region, The North Tyrrhenian Sea Ports System Authority, Livorno Municipality and Livorno Province. In the Symposium Scholars had illustrated their activities and exchanged innovative proposals, with common aims to promote actions to preserve coastal marine environment. Despite the COVID 19 pandemic, the success of this edition is attested by the 170 contributions selected by the Scientific Committee from among those received. Participation involved all the thematic lines envisaged by the sessions, involving many countries of the Mediterranean Sea. A big endeavor for a costal environment of paramount importance but threatened by global changes. The importance of this Proceedings is attested by the fact that this volume is the first issue of a new FUP Series.
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The modern Tiber delta includes two river mouths flowing into the Tyrrhenian sea, the Fiumara to the South and the Fiumicino to the North. While the Fiumara is a natural channel, the Fiumicino is a canal that was excavated during the Roman period. Two major Roman archaeological sites are associated with these two watercourses: Ostia, founded between the 4th and the 3rd c. BCE, built at the mouth of the Fiumara; and Portus, founded in the 1st c. CE, built with a series of canals including the Fiumicino (Fossa Traiana), three kilometres north of Ostia. In this paper we shall explore strategies used by the Romans on these two sites to manage river mouth environments, which were characterised by high fluvial sedimentation inputs and rapid fluvio-coastal mobility. We will observe possible urban adjustments to natural constraints at Ostia, and demonstrate how Portus was, building on the experience from Ostia, from its inception designed to reduce fluvial sedimentation in the harbour basins and to lower lateral mobility of the canals. Finally, we will propose the existence of an integrated management system for the watercourses at Portus and Ostia in the Imperial period.
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This article discusses the problems and technical issues related to the conservation and rehabilitation of historic wooden structures. Showing the history of wooden construction in Europe and Poland, it analyzes the technical solutions used for the timber structure of buildings. The author highlights the leading technical and conservation issues arising from the principles of conservation of wooden heritage buildings, taking into account the role, importance, and proper implementation of diagnostics preceding conservation engineering activities. The article discusses interdisciplinary diagnostics developed by the author, an original method for assessing the revitalization capability of a historical building, which analyzes non-technical issues, including those relevant to conservation, in addition to the technical aspects of assessing the technical condition of a building. Based on engineering practice, problems and technical issues that often occur in the conservation process of wooden buildings, as well as in the broader process of their revitalization, are presented. They concern various engineering activities that must be implemented in this process according to the principles discussed.
Article
Public space is an essential element of human wellbeing and the overall development of the city and society. This paper presents a brief outlook of the past and present situations related to the planning and use of public spaces in urban environments. In doing so, this paper addresses the finding that public spaces gradually lose the focus of quality in them, and as time goes by, these spaces are reshaping even in human-unfriendly places. The purpose of this presented research is to find out what are the key elements that create a quality public space. To achieve it, it is used a comparative–descriptive method comparing two relevant pieces of literature or authorial approaches, Henaff and Strong's “Public Space and Democracy” and Pérez-Gómez's “Attunement”. These two examples fulfill the criteria of having different interdisciplinary approaches toward public space, explained through different periods and backgrounds. It is found that the crucial elements these authors suggest for building qualitative space are well-grounded. As such, they can be implemented in an integrated physical form because they base on the human factor or the physical presence and experience in space. In the conclusion part, a suggestion was made to include these elements in the process of planning and designing public spaces in the context of the challenges of modern living culture.
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Today’s critical discourses and theorizing vanguards agree on the importance of getting lost, of failure, of erring — as do life coaches and business gurus. The taste for a departure from progress and other teleologies, the fascination with disorder, unfocused modes of attention, or improvisational performances cut across wide swaths of scholarly and activist discourses, practices in the arts, but also in business, warfare, and politics. Yet often the laudible failures are only those that are redeemed by subsequent successes. What could it mean to think errancy beyond such restrictions? And what would a radical critique of productivity, success, and fixed determination look like that doesn’t collapse into the infamous ‘I would prefer not to’? This volume looks for an answer in the complicated word field branching and stretching from the Latin errāre. Its contributions explore the implications of embracing error, randomness, failure, non-teleological temporalities across different disciplines, discourses, and practices, with critical attention to the ambivalences such an impossible embrace generates.
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Paints are the protective and aesthetic skin of buildings, so (re) painting is one of the most recurrent maintenance actions. Limewashes have been used since antiquity and are currently of high interest for both conservation and new construction, majorly thanks to their eco-friendly and antiseptic features, and ability to improve the performance of the materials in relation to water transport. Linseed oil is a traditional water-repellent additive that can enhance the water-shedding properties of the limewashes. However, it has the risk of altering the drying kinetics of the substrate if an improper dosage is used. In this work, limewashes with the addition of varying dosages of linseed oil have been applied on two types of natural stone to study the effect of the paints in respect to water and salt transport. The water absorption by capillarity was reduced in both stones coated with pure limewash and limewash with oil, while the drying rate was slightly accelerated. The effect of the paints on the drying of the salt-laden stones varied. The salt damage developed during drying also diverged in both stones, damaging the coats and stone surface of the less porous stone and mainly promoting salt efflorescence in the most porous one.
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This paper presents a reconstruction of two ancient water intake facilities at the Jadro spring in Croatia. The Jadro spring was the water source for Salona, the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, and Emperor Diocletian’s palace. The water supply system of Salona functioned from the 1 st century BC to the 7 th century AD, while Diocletian’s operated from the 4 th –7 th centuries AD. The engineering approach of the abstraction facilities is reconstructed based on analysis of the spring’s physical characteristics and Roman engineering practices. The simple, flexible, and robust water intake solutions that were applied functioned in a satisfactory way over a long period that included significant climate changes. This confirms the reliability and resilience of water abstraction from karst springs. A solution similar to the Tyrolean weir, a bottom intake system was integrated into the physical system, enabling the sustainability of the water supply. This solution is a fine example of a water intake structure at a karst spring that could be applied today to solve the problems caused by development and post-industrial climate change.
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A short review is presented covering English-language publications where quantitative engineering analysis has been used to study and gain insight into how ancient Roman and Mediterranean water systems functioned. The review covers work on using technical engineering perspectives to try and understand the geometrical layout of water systems, quantitative work of a type readily accomplished by undergraduate civil engineering students, such as calculating the flow capacity of aqueducts and other conduits of known dimensions, and more involved studies using computational techniques usually applied by specialist engineers in research or industry. It is concluded that the many different levels of analyses employed have given insight into how Roman water systems worked, for example the amount of water they delivered, and the kinds of issues their designers and operators might have faced. It is hoped that this review will inspire further interdisciplinary study in Archaeohydrology, using modern engineering techniques to amplify and extend the story of Roman water systems told by archaeologists.
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We write about general features of musical instruments, classified into 4 categories: their sound characteristics, their structure, physical mechanisms of sound creation and emission, tonal capacities and limitations, modalities of appropriate use, and more. A guideline is set according to the families of instruments commonly used in symphony orchestras, and for all examples cross-links to “relatives” from different cultural environments will be considered.
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Only a few scientific evidences for the use of Egyptian blue in Early Medieval wall paintings in Central and Southern Europe have been reported so far. The monochrome blue fragment discussed here belongs to the second church building of St. Peter above Gratsch (South Tyrol, Northern Italy, fifth/sixth century A.D.). Beyond cuprorivaite and carbon black (underpainting), 26 accessory minerals down to trace levels were detected by means of Raman microspectroscopy, providing unprecedented insights into the raw materials blend and conversion reactions during preparation, application, and ageing of the pigment. In conjunction with archaeological evidences for the manufacture of Egyptian blue in Cumae and Liternum and the concordant statements of the antique Roman writers Vitruvius and Pliny the Elder, natural impurities of the quartz sand speak for a pigment produced at the northern Phlegrean Fields (Campania, Southern Italy). Chalcocite (and chalcopyrite) suggest the use of a sulphidic copper ore, and water-insoluble salts a mixed-alkaline flux in the form of plant ash. Not fully reacted quartz crystals partly intergrown with cuprorivaite and only minimal traces of silicate glass portend solid-state reactions predominating the chemical reactions during synthesis, while the melting of the raw materials into glass most likely played a negligible role.
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The concept of a circular economy has been proposed as a key component of a solution for the finiteness of earth’s resources. As one path, the research on the direct reuse of construction components focusses on strategies for designing buildings for disassembly in the end-of-life stage. This is of particular importance because it can reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry. The recently published ISO 20887 also advocates to design buildings for disassembly and to use standard-sized components. However, to the authors’ knowledge the role of standardisation in this process remains unexplored. Therefore, in this paper the evolution of standardisation is studied in order to identify the drivers for standardisation and currently available standards that aid and support the claims of the ISO 20887. This study concludes that most standards are introduced from an economic, rather than an environmental point of view. Also, ISO 20887 seems to be the first actual standard addressing the idea of reusing building components. Through an integrative discussion of the available types of construction standards, the problem areas obstructing the required further standardisation are identified: protectionism of contractors whom perceive standardisation as a threat, protectionism of manufacturers whom are reluctant to change the organisation structure, and designers whom seem least aware of the need to implement the circular economy in the construction sector. Finally, a corresponding trajectory is proposed for future standardisation to tackle these problem areas and to actually perform its role as an essential enabler for circular Reuse in the construction sector.
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Abstract Vernacular settlement examples are guides that bring the originality of the region and its structural and vital experiences to the present. At the same time, they are ecological and sustainable structures with appropriate solutions suitable for environmental, cultural and economic conditions. Therefore, examples of vernacular architecture found in different regions should be studied and interpreted in depth. In this study, the effect of local data on rural settlements and the close relationship of vernacular architecture with sustainability were examined in Bingöl rural settlements in Turkey. With this research, the decreasing vernacular architectural examples in the region will be documented and recorded. In addition, the analyses performed in the study can be used as a data source for new residential areas. In the study, sustainability principles and vernacular architecture principles compiled from the literature were developed in a single diagram, taking into account common strategies. The study area has been analysed based on the main and sub criteria, taking into account the environmental, socio-cultural and socio-economic dimensions of sustainability. Data obtained from field research, measurements, sketches, observations and interviews with local people were conveyed by supporting schematic expressions. Keywords: Vernacular Architecture; Sustainable Development; Rural Heritage; Bingöl Housing Typology. Öz Vernaküler yerleşim örnekleri, bulunduğu bölgenin özgünlüğünü, yapı ve yaşam tecrübelerini günümüze taşıyan rehberlerdir. Aynı zamanda çevre, kültür ve ekonomik koşullara uygun çözümleri ile ekolojik ve sürdürülebilir yapılardır. Bu nedenle farklı bölgelerde bulunan vernaküler mimarlık örnekleri, derinlemesine incelenmeli ve günümüz yapıları için yorumlanmalıdır. Bu bilinçle yapılan çalışmada yerel verilerin kırsal yerleşimler üzerinde etkisi ve vernaküler mimarlığın sürdürülebilirlikle yakın ilişkisi Türkiye’de bulunan Bingöl kırsal yerleşim alanlarında irdelenmiştir. Bu araştırma ile bölgede azalan vernaküler mimari örnekleri belgelenmiş olacaktır. Ayrıca çalışmada yapılan analizler, yeni yerleşim alanları için veri kaynağı olarak kullanılabilecektir. Çalışmada literatürden derlenen sürdürülebilirlik ilkeleri ve vernaküler mimarlık ilkeleri ortak stratejiler dikkate alınarak tek bir diyagram olarak geliştirilmiştir. Çalışma alanı sürdürülebilirliğin çevresel, sosyo-kültürel ve sosyo-ekonomik boyutları dikkate alınarak ana ve alt kriterler bütününde analiz edilmiştir. Elde edilen veriler saha araştırması, ölçümler, eskizler, gözlemler ve yöre insanıyla yapılan görüşmeler sonucunda şematik ifadelerle desteklenerek aktarılmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Vernaküler Mimarlık; Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma; Kırsal Miras; Bingöl Konut Tipolojisi.
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The global pandemic of COVID-19, which enforced strict isolation, demonstrated the responsibility of architects and planners for public health promotion. While the concept of therapeutic landscapes is rather new, the quest for designing health-promoting human environment is at least as old as urban planning. The garden suburbs of Ebenezer Howard and Patrick Geddes were planned to promote health and well-being. The ultimate goal of Le Corbusier was to provide daylight and fresh air to each apartment. However, towers in open green space, which were built according to his visions, turned into unfriendly large suburbs. Today, the definition of therapeutic landscapes encompasses not only physical aspects of environment but also social and psychological factors. This study focuses on attempts to create health-promoting places. The interesting question is what are the architectural features linked to health promotion? Although the individual perception of health-promoting places is subjective and may vary, there are some objective qualities of eco-neighbourhoods that are conducive to human health and longevity. This study combines literature review with field observation and resultes in the development of the conceptual framework which can be consolidated into the universal standards for health-promoting places.
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Some properties of electromagnetic metamaterials have been translated, using some wave analogies, to surface seismic wave control in sedimentary soils structured at the meter scale. Two large scale experiments performed in 2012 near the French cities of Grenoble [1] and Lyon [2] have confirmed the usefulness of this methodology and its potential influence on soil-structure interaction. We present here a new perspective on the in-situ experiment near Lyon, which unveils energy corridors in the seismic lens. We further introduce a concept of time-modulated seismic metamaterial underpined by an effective model based on Willis’s equations. As a first application, we propose that ambient seismic noise time-modulates structured soils that can be viewed as moving media. In the same spirit, a design of an analogous seismic computer is proposed making use of ambient seismic noise. We recall that ancient Roman theaters and forests of trees are two examples of large scale structures that behave in a way similar to electromagnetic metamaterials: invisibility cloaks and rainbows, respectively. Seismic metamaterials can thus not only be implemented for shielding, lensing and cloaking of potentially deleterious Rayleigh waves, but they also have potential applications in energy harvesting and analogous computations using ambient seismic noise, and this opens new vistas in seismic energy harvesting and conversion through the use of natural or artificial soil structuring. © Académie des sciences, Paris and the authors, 2020. Some rights reserved.
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This paper examines the nature of the relationship between ethics and architecture. This complicated state of affairs—in professional practice and architectural design—is evaluated based on a bibliographical review of the visions of some Arab and Western thinkers. This review passes through the analysis of three intellectual movements: modernism, postmodernism, and the new brutalism. This work follows the concepts of ethics concerning the field of architecture; it focuses on investigating some holier-than-thou principles that have been laid down by critical thinkers. A series of questions arises: How is it determined whether any of these principles are moral or immoral? Does a specific principle override other beliefs? Who decides that any building is ethical or unethical? This article shows that some conclusions can be drawn from human values to act as a guide for creating a superior design but not for a “stately” design. Critically, it emerges that there is no so-called ethical architecture, but rather, ethics is always related to professional practice. This means that the construction of a building is governed by ideas and design criteria while professional practice is guided by ethical /moral principles.
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This chapter proceeds by way of presenting an epistemic historiography that philosophically rethinks the relationship between art and science. This is mediated via a consideration of the artes liberales (liberal arts) in antiquity and the mediaeval epoch in the way the letters and the sciences integrally underpinned the architectural arts. The emphasis is then placed on the perspectiva tradition in the manner the Graeco-Arabic science of optics impacted the scientific inquiries that were mediated via Renaissance pictorial and plastic arts. This is further explored in terms of projective geometry in the mathematical praxis of the early-modern era in generating a representational space via the applications of the géométral (geometral) at the intersection of science with architectural engineering. Our inquiry then deals with the modernist age in rethinking the residual aura of the artwork in our contemporary condition by reflecting on the πάρεργον (parergon) that supplements science with the generation of existential meaning. We then ponder of this phenomenon in terms of Heidegger’s ontological reflections on the essence of modern technicity in the way it unfolds as a planetary will to power that en-frames our being-in-the-world (In-der-Welt-sein).
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Draw In Order to See is the first book to survey the history of architectural design using the latest research in cognitive science and embodied cognition. Beginning with a primer on visual perception, cognitive science, design thinking, and modes of conception used by groups of architects in their practices, Mark Alan Hewitt surveys a 12,000-year period for specific information about the cognitive schemata used by Homo sapiens to make their buildings and habitats. The resulting history divides these modes of thinking into three large cognitive arcs: crafting, depicting, and assembling, within specific temporal frames. His analysis borrows from Merlin Donald’s thesis about mimetic and symbolic cognition as critical to the emergence of the modern mind, and further employs theories of enactment and embodiment to clarify their relationship to architecture. Individual chapters treat the emergence of depiction during the Renaissance, the education of architects in the modern era, Baroque illusionism and scenography, the breakdown of artisanal literacy during the Enlightenment, and modern experiments with models, montage, and illusions of movement. The author concludes with a critique of contemporary design and education, and promotes design with embodiment as a tonic for a profession in crisis, facing the challenges of climate change, energy shortages, inequality, and housing a population of over seven billion in the coming decades. This groundbreaking and valuable study presents a clear view of current research in two related fields that have not heretofore been compared, and outlines a strategy for future research. An extensive bibliography offers readers an up-to-date reference to both the science and the architectural history behind the text.
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Aim User group consultation is more effective when participants work toward commonly agreed goals and objectives. To understand how they set these goals, this research explored how “user group” participants from diverse professional discipline backgrounds define the concepts of “design quality” and “project success,” and their connection on a healthcare facility design project. Background User group consultation is often time-consuming, frustrating, and expensive. Rarely are design quality or project success clearly defined, nor is the connection between them communicated well either in the literature or by project clients. Method Using an online survey, respondents were asked to rank frameworks of components for design quality and project success in order of importance and to indicate how they believed their project clients would assess the same items. They were asked about the connection between the terms, and how well each was achieved on their healthcare projects, both from their personal and their client’s point of view. Results Design quality and project success were personally valued highly by respondents, with a strong connection seen between the concepts. By contrast, respondents perceived their clients saw the connection as less important. Functionality was essential to all, especially clinicians, but designers and other consultants demonstrated a broader perspective on all design outcomes. Conclusions Healthcare designers should take the lead on project teams in defining design quality and its connection to project success as part of setting clear goals and objectives for more effective user group consultation.
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The human experience of dwellings has evolved from prehistory to today. The material remains of archaeological architecture have been studied using divergent ways of understanding past human life and activities. To achieve a holistic comprehension of human experience throughout space and time, archaeological research in many examples learns to gain a broad perspective on contemporary societies. The interpretation of Lepenski Vir, which is one of the best-known Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites in the world, demonstrates these premises. Studies of archaeological architecture, which is in ruins and barely identifiable today, are a posteriori research on the causes, methods, and goals of the primary builders. In comparison to archaeological research, architectural theory to a great extent also supports and relies on studies that are only possible after experiencing architecture already built. Parallel criticism appears that architects are not sufficiently interested in all dimensions of human beings (including those that archaeology intends to discover after thousands of years) and their experiences deriving from these dimensions before working out concepts for new architecture. The diversity of human experience in architecture starts with using parts of the human body, sometimes also its attributes and abilities, as measurement units, and then continues to ergonomics, which is concerned with interactions between the human environment and products. Architecture can be a complex and intelligent system that responds to and transforms in relation to human bodies and their movements, as shown in interactive architecture. Issues of gender are rarely based on the finding that non-distinction between men and women has not only affected the articulation of differences and properties of the feminine, but has impoverished the sensitivity and transformation of basic perceptions in architecture. The decline in the use of public spaces, which has been in focus in recent years for safety and security due to other reasons, is also connected with its design, which has a direct impact on people’s senses and consequently on their willingness to use space. Humans suffer from exposure to various building materials. Different manners of cooling, heating, and energy conservation principles are considered to improve people’s thermal comfort. All of the human senses bear responsibility in experiencing spatial surroundings and architecture, and only increased empathy of these perceptions can lead to a novel architectural design.
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Originally developed in the ecological circles of the 1970s that pursued critical alternatives to the modernist worldview, the concept of ‘resilience’ has pervaded 21st-century thought, from psychology to political theory, and from planning to architecture. But in most of its current guises, it has been used in positivist and future-oriented frames of thinking that limit it to an aspired benchmark for managing crises and withstanding catastrophic events. This Special Collection of Architectural Histories is an attempt to recuperate the overlooked potential of ‘resilience’ by asking whether and how its introduction in architectural history can transform current disciplinary practices. In their articles, the contributing authors revisit buildings that have been reused and transformed to withstand change over the centuries. Adopting the long-term perspective of ‘resilience’, they examine these physical objects as carriers of multiple layers of interventions, leading them to re-evaluate the intentions of architects and users and to reconsider the place of these buildings in architectural history. In most cases, ‘resilience’ offers a novel historiographical perspective that unveils long-standing conceptual schemata, from periodizations to methodological tropes, which still condition the historians’ interpretation of the past. In the final instance, ‘resilience’ illuminates the deep-seated modernist dichotomy between ‘innovation’ and ‘tradition’ in architectural history. In keeping with its origins in the late 20th-century, the concept offers a significant alternative to 21st-century architectural historians’ established views on modernity that are still embedded in their thought and practice.
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This paper deals with the stones used as building materials in the centre of Pisa during the Middle Age. Most of the stones are quarried from the nearby mountains, Monte Pisano and Monti d’Oltre Serchio, but there are also other ones, coming from Apuan Alps, Elba Island, western Tuscan coast, and from other quarries opened in the Western Mediterranean area. Our goal is to enrich the classic concept of street photography by inserting, in an interpretative context, the analysis and the observation of the geoenvironment in which we are immersed, daily, for the journey home-office, home-school or just for a simple walk. The tools we have are the eyes, the light and an instrument: the camera. Five stops along a city route allow to describe the main types of stones that have been used to construct and ornate the buildings since the 10th and 11th centuries, when Pisa acquired its traditional fame as one of the four historical Maritime Republics of Italy. Monte Pisano marble is the most important stone in the medieval phase of construction of the city of Pisa, often used together with black limestones to give the typical decorative alternate bands, black and white, of the Pisan Romanesque style. Other types of stones were also used, such as Quartzites, Agnano breccia, Panchina, Macigno sandstone as well as Apuan marble, granitoid rocks from Elba Island and Sardinia, and some rocks from ancient quarries of the western Mediterranean area, such as precious marbles from Greece and Turkey.
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Understanding climatic conditions is crucial for the design of bioclimatic buildings and governs the selection of appropriate design approaches. Together with occupants’ physiological, psychological and cultural demands discussed in the previous chapter, climate defines the boundary conditions under which the building should be designed. Therefore, climatic conditions represent the starting point for any climate adapted design, whereas designers should analytically study the appropriate climatic conditions and in accordance with them propose suitable bioclimatic solutions. During this process, designers should study the macro-, mezzo- and micro-climatic characteristics of the building’s location and select the appropriate influential parameters. In order to be able to conduct such an analysis, some basic knowledge about climate science is crucial. The presented chapter will discuss how and which climatological data to interpret for the purpose of bioclimatic design. The features of four basic generic climate types (i.e. cold, temperate, hot-arid and hot-humid) will be presented by stating the relevant implications for the building design process.
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The study aims to contribute to understand the Vitruvian design system through the analysis of the temples described in the text leading to the three key concepts related: proportio, commensus and commodulatio. At first, it is proposed a conceptual discussion about the origin of the compositional elements, and further it is discussed the concept of proportio as an operation of sizing and scaling these elements individually. Analyzed the definition and types of elements, it is proposed to continue the discussion on the relationship that must be built as a way of associating elements in a consistent way, leading to the notion of symmetria, understood as an ideal state in which the elements maintain dimensional and/or geometrical relationships between them, creating a relational harmony. From the operational point of view, it is sought to demonstrate that the Vitruvian symmetria is fetched from two types of relations: a modular (commodulatio) and a dimensional (commensus).
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This paper discusses the organisations involved in the development of application standards, European regulations and best practice guides, their scope of work and internal structures. It considers their respective visions for the requirements for future standardisation work and considers in more detail those areas where these overlap, namely human centric or integrative lighting, connectivity and the Internet of Things, inclusivity and sustainability.
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This study is based on exploring the relationship between examples of coastal settlements of the Eastern Adriatic coast in Croatia and their natural context—the sea and the mountain hinterland. These are landscapes with different intensities and qualities of associative features. Associative landscape provides mental connections of physical elements with intangible heritage through the experience of landscape meaning. Associative experience is possible when landscape is perceived as a whole, with recognised contextual values and a unity of intellectual and physical content. In this research, landscape identity is observed as the most prominent and comprehensive associative landscape feature. The research is based on the Heritage Urbanism approach, with the aim of defining models for the revival and enhancement of landscape identity from the landscape and spatial and urban planning points of view. Selected case studies, Starigrad Paklenica with South Velebit, and Makarska with Biokovo, are landscapes where strong relations exist between urbanscape and the natural context, through which means of the recognition and preservation of the landscape associative features and landscape identity are established. The research results define the present state of perceiving associative landscape features (the landscape identity model), identifying the means of perceiving the landscape identity which requires preservation (the landscape concern model) and setting a spatial development strategy from the aspect of the relationship between the settlement and its natural landscape (the landscape resilience model). Landscape perceived as a whole is presented as a new heritage dimension and as a process of the development of the perception of knowing a landscape. By establishing the perception, concern and resilience models of associative landscape features, the associative dimension is affirmed in landscapes as fundamental to their being retained, restored and redefined.
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An extended model of cultural evolution is brought to bear on the development of practical and theoretical knowledge related to early weighing. We argue that this development can be characterized as an iterative process in which the exploration of the inherent potential of external representations of cognitive structures leads to the establishment of new cognitive structures, whereby this exploration is canalized at each step by historically specific contexts that constrain the actors. We argue that this scheme applies to technological innovation processes as well, and, based on the concrete example of the balance with variable arm length, implications are developed. Thus, the first theoretical writings on mechanics in the western tradition were indeed the result of a reflection on the external representations of weighing techniques. This is contrasted to the case of China. Comparing the historical developments of the two major types of balance with variable arm length—the Bismar and the Roman steelyard—we show how earlier developmental stages function as a scaffold for later techniques and, in particular, how the Roman steelyard required a rather elaborate societal and cognitive infrastructure as the basis for its standardized production. Based on an example drawn from Hero, we indicate how the development of weighing techniques and technical knowledge in turn influenced theoretical knowledge. (An earlier version of this chapter was published in 2016 in eTopoi. Journal for Ancient Studies.)
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Several medieval building miracles feature plans marked on the ground in dew or snow, which can be understood as acheiropoieta, works not made by human hands. Despite a textual tradition dating back to the ninth century, the earliest depiction of such a plan may be that in the late medieval facade mosaics of Sta. Maria Maggiore in Rome. Three catalysts for this innovation are identified here: the legend, which combined a plan in snow and foundations that opened by themselves; institutional rivalry, as expressed in representations of church foundation and possession of miraculously created images; and increased ecclesiastical involvement in the initial stages of church construction, including delineating the foundations. In turn, themosaics inspired further depictions of the miraculous plan and set a precedent for visualizing ground plans more widely in late medieval and early modern Italy, since illustrations of foundation rituals in pontificals arguably draw on images of the miracle of the snow. Examining this legendary and liturgical material together indicates that the plan and foundations of a church formed a key point of encounter between its construction and its spiritual significance. It also reveals a type of ground plan— an image of a plan marked on the ground—that can be distinguished in form and associations from other small-scale plans. Simple, schematic, and often cruciform, itwas redolent of miraculous and sacred foundations. More broadly, the article demonstrates the potential of ephemeral marks on the ground to inform lasting visual and verbal representations in more conventional media. © 2018 by the International Center of Medieval Art. All rights reserved.
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Este trabajo trata de la adaptación experimentada por la metodología BIM (Building Information Modelling) para abordar el modelado y la gestión de edificios históricos, obteniendo lo que se conoce como HBIM (Heritage/Historic Building Information Model). Las siete dimensiones y los niveles de madurez establecidos en BIM, se evalúan y analizan para extrapolarlos al ámbito del patrimonio cultural arquitectónico. Se presenta también una sección sobre la evolución del software BIM y cómo puede utilizarse en el desarrollo de modelos de edificaciones históricas. Finalmente, se hace una revisión de la literatura publicada en los últimos años, mostrando la importancia que el enfoque HBIM ha ganado en los últimos tiempos como una herramienta importante para la gestión integral de los edificios del patrimonio cultural desde un punto de vista multidisciplinar. Esta revisión saca a la luz la falta de soluciones generales para la generación de repositorios de objetos paramétricos para los diferentes estilos arquitectónicos, debido a la amplia gama de posibilidades que se pueden encontrar.
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Our knowledge of Greek Architecture depends almost entirely on its actual remains. Undoubtedly the Greeks themselves were much concerned with its more theoretical aspects, and in pursuit of this wrote a large number of treatises, descriptive and analytical, which are frequently referred to by our chief authority for ancient architectural theory, Vitruvius. Since, with one exception—and that only in part (Philo Mechanicus, named by Vitruvius vii praef. 14 as an author ‘de machinationibus’)—none of Vitruvius' Greek sources survives, we experience considerable difficulty in controlling the information he gives us about these aspects of Greek architecture, especially when we try to apply his various theories to the actual remains. First, for all we know, theories and techniques described with some prominence by Vitruvius may not have had a corresponding prominence in the Greek authorities, or actual practice. Secondly, a theory described by Vitruvius as apparently universal may actually have been very limited, either in scope or time. It is in fact true to say that many of Vitruvius' ideas of Greek architecture apply to the Hellenistic period only. Thus the passage on the spacing of columns (iii 3) must owe much to Hermogenes, two of whose temples are given as examples.
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Three manuscripts in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich (Cod. It. 37, 37A, and 37B) provide important clues to Raphael's architectural studies under the pontificate of Leo X. The scribe of all three manuscripts, here identified as the curial humanist Angelo Colocci, offered Raphael rare technical expertise, for this genial polymath was the greatest expert of his time on ancient weights and measures. The Munich manuscripts allow reconstruction of two joint publishing ventures undertaken by Colocci and Raphael, and help as well to explain why it is they who first applied the term "orders" to the Vitruvian genera of classical architecture.
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This paper examines Bernini's role in the redecoration of the interior of the Pantheon in Rome, which was projected and partially executed during the pontificate of Alexander VII (1655-67). A careful review of surviving drawings, documents, and sources reveals that - contrary to the usual assumption - Bernini had little to do with the enterprise. Indeed, the evidence leads me to conclude that he actively opposed any scheme to alter the venerable ancient building, and in this regard he found himself at odds with his most important patron in architecture, Alexander VII. The present essay attempts to shed some light on the issue, which inflected the relationship between the architect and the highly cultivated antiquarian who was his chief sponsor in architectural matters. The story of Bernini's refusal to decorate the interior also helps us to appreciate the ways in which the Pantheon could be understood in seventeenth-century Rome and how its reception differed from that during the Renaissance.
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The Pantheon, in particular the interior of the Rotunda, has posed a paradox: unrestrained praise for its overall effect; severe criticism for its interior elevation. The criticisms were rooted in a Renaissance perception of Roman imperial architecture, a perception based too heavily on a Vitruvian view of Hellenistic trabeate architectural design, largely irrelevant to the Rotunda. This view of the critiques of San Gallo the Younger, Michelangelo, Desgodetz, and Viollet-le-Duc leads one to the Roman aims of the Roman architect who designed this interior. I wish to show how the Hadrianic state of the Rotunda may be taken as a projection of the Roman idea of the templum mundi.
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IL CAPITELLO CORINZIO ROMANO: DISEGNO E PROGETTAZIONE Lo studio è concentrato sui capitelli corinzi dei templi a Roma, ma vengono anche considerate le testimonianze greche, ellenistiche ed italiche per quanto concerne il composito ed altre forme corinzieggianti . La spiegazione di Vitruvio non è sufficiente per capire come veniva progettato il capitello corinzio. Il capitello può essere meglio capito studiando proporzioni diverse da quelle menzionate da Vitruvio. Il disegno spesso rispetta una regola che vuole l'altezza del capitello uguale alla larghezza o minima distanza tra le facce opposte dell'abaco. Inoltre, la larghezza in diagonale dell'abaco corrisponde spesso a due volte il diametro inferiore del fusto della colonna. Inoltre ancora, molte dimensioni importanti di un'ordine corinzio normale corrispondono all'uno o all'altro di questi calcoli. Lo schema che emerge mette in contrasto la semplicità e cosistenza di certe regole a confronto di una grande numero di variazioni nei particolari. Ciò dipende dalla costrizione delle forme architettoniche ma anche dei mezzi di produzione. Dallo studio dei capitelli abbozzati è emerso che i calcoli più usati erano quelli più importanti per la lavorazione. Nel periodo imperiale, soprattutto, ci fu un sistema per il proporzionamento combinato con tendenze verso la standardizzazione al fine di incrementare la produzione su larga scala. L'intreccio tra le regole e le variazioni rivela un ingegnioso, ed allo stesso tempo pragmatico approccio alla questione del disegno e dell'ornato.
Article
It is one of the paradoxes of the study of Roman architecture that what, in terms of the written record, is probably the most thoroughly and reliably documented phase of its whole development, the Augustan age, is from the point of view of the architectural historian still one of the most obscure and controversial. That it was a vital turning point in the history of Roman architecture one cannot doubt; and yet the number of monuments in the capital that can be accepted without hesitation and without reservation as representative of the age is very limited. No doubt the full and critical publication of the excavations of the last few decades will increase the number and provide a firm basis for further studies. But in the meantime we are still dependent—all too dependent—upon those few buildings which are securely and unequivocally Augustan, and which may be used therefore as a safe standard of comparison for some at any rate of the architectural practices current in Augustan Rome.
Article
The Composite capital was described by D. S. Robertson in his Handbook of Greek and Roman Architecture (2nd ed., 1945) as ‘essentially a mixture of four-sided Ionic and Corinthian, in varying proportions. The invention is probably Augustan, but the earliest strictly datable examples are perhaps to be found at Rome in the Colosseum, dedicated in A.D. 80, and in the slightly later Arch of Titus: both these have a double row of acanthus leaves which gives them a more Corinthian look’. Since the Handbook was written, very little has been added to the history of the Composite capital. Robertson's explanation of the origin of the type, which seems to have been pointed out first by Patroni, is still the accepted one.
Article
Palladio's version of the Corinthian Order (fig. 6) is not, so far as one can see, taken directly from any Roman building but it is thoroughly Roman in inspiration and based on Palladio's careful study of ancient Roman buildings. The design and detail relate most closely to buildings of the time of Trajan and Hadrian but a similar order could have been found on any Roman building erected from the end of the Augustan period onwards. It may be seen that there are several elements in the design which are derived from Greek versions of the Ionic Order: the architrave with its three divisions and crowning mouldings, the plain continuous frieze and the cornice with dentils. One feature of the design, however, immediately distinguishes it from that of Greek Ionic and this is the presence of a series of brackets—modillions or consoles, as they are variously called—spaced at regular intervals below the projecting part of the cornice and serving to give it visible means of support. Between the modillions there are square panels or coffers, framed by a decorated moulding and each containing a rosette in relief.
The Adoption of Roman Building Techniques in the Architecture of Asia Minor
  • Waelkens M.