Architectural Reality Research Articles

“It Requires Privacy”: Sharing a House in Thirteenth-Century Paris

AbstractAnalysis of a legal ruling by Yehiel of Paris (d. ca. 1260) in a rental dispute between two Jewish men sheds light on aspects of Jewish life in a major medieval European city. Two Jews rented an apartment from a Christian owner, and a dispute arose when one of the tenants left mid-term and his replacement, also a Jewish man, tried to renew the lease directly with the landlord. The original tenant claimed the exclusive right to renew the lease and that he was unwilling to share the apartment with the new tenant as this would impinge on his privacy in use of the lavatory. This article attempts to unravel the legal and cultural dimensions of the dispute and the demographic and architectural realities underpinning it. The article maintains that the disputants’ legal arguments drew upon both Jewish legal tradition and the legal norms of the rental market in Paris. The legal and cultural significance of privacy in the medieval urban context also plays an important role in the case.

Historical Architecture and BIM Modelling: Between Representation of Reality and Conceptual Abstraction

The essay aims to explore the applications of BIM to design regarding historic buildings, which will become mandatory in Italy from 2025 for public works above €1 million. Despite the advantages in coordinated data management and information sharing among the actors involved in contracts, problems related to the geometric representation and semantic definition of the virtual entities that populate the models have been recognized by the scientific community. Critical issues that have emerged from the study of significant experiences can be traced back to the difficulty of adapting tools designed for the projects of new buildings to the characteristics of the cultural heritage. In particular, the complexity of proposing congruent categorisations and parameterisations seems related to only partial correspondence between historical building components, IFC classes and BIM software categories. These limitations often lead to the identification of contingent solutions and expedients, which solve only the problems of geometric representation. In contrast, the ability to adequately share information stored in databases, interoperable through the IFC format, is conveyed by an appropriate semantic description. Formal representation in the BIM environment effectively refers to standardized industrial production, reproducibility of building elements and, more generally, to the goals of globalisation. Thus, the proposed reflections aim to encourage a conscious use of these tools and to outline implementation perspectives useful to bring the digital environment closer to the concrete reality of historical architecture, unique and irreproducible in origin and transformation, often realized through artisanal processes and anchored to specific contexts in multiple aspects.

Integrating Augmented Reality in Architectural Design: A New Paradigm

The explores into the significant impact of augmented reality (AR) within the domain of architectural. The research being conducted examines the transformative effect of augmented reality (AR) on the practice of architectural design, including the entire process from basic conceptualization through ultimate execution. The present investigation analyzes the utilization of augmented reality (AR) as an approach to enhance visualization, increase design accuracy, and ease client communication. This study discusses the advantages of augmented reality (AR) in facilitating the production of realistic and engaging design experiences. By using AR technology, designers are able to go past the restrictions presented by standard two-dimensional drawings and realistic models. The work addresses the challenges and obstacles linked to augmented reality (AR) technology, such equipment standards and technical knowledge. This article provides a comprehensive examination of current uses of augmented reality (AR) in architecture, utilizing a combination of mathematical modeling and practical case studies. Also, it analyzes the potential of AR to reshape the next phase of architectural design.

Contradictions in the development of architecture science

The aim of the research is to study the formation of the ontological foundations of the science of architecture as an experience of its self-consciousness in the context of the evolution of spatial codes of cultural experience. The article considers contradictions of the modernist definition of architectural form, as well as the formation of the scientific discourse of architecture and the identity of architects’ professional thinking in general. The main hypothesis is based on the thesis that the freely historically unfolding evolution of architectural form is an objective experience of consolidating the self-consciousness of architecture as a text of its immanent expression and self-reference. The authors specify the limitations of the scientific functionalist discourse, which do not allow forming the internal basis for an autoreferential image of the architectural reality. Problematization of the ontological foundations of the science of architecture is a necessary link in the evolution of the methodology of architectural thinking and form making in post-industrial society.

TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF VIRTUAL REALITY TOOLS IN THE GLOBAL DESIGN PRACTICE

The article is devoted to consideration of general trends in the development of virtual reality in architecture. It has been determined that the conditions for the usage of VR in architecture are becoming more and more favourable as each year these technologies are improved and their availability increases. As a result of the increasingly widespread use of smartphones, virtual reality applications have appeared that can be easily downloaded and installed on a phone. From the variety of tools for working with virtual reality, those that can be useful for applicability in architecture were selected. The chosen relevant tools were systematised into two categories: hardware and software. Recommendations for their application, depending on the request or stage of the project, are presented. It has been determined which form of virtual reality, devices, and software are the most suitable for the analysis, simulation, and design of the architectural environment. Special attention in the research is paid to artificial intelligence and the analysis of its influence on VR in architecture. The speed of development, compared to the traditional methods, economic expediency, and enhanced realism are singled out among the advantages of artificial intelligence. The prospects for VR development in architecture and its impact on the profession are examined. VR can also be used to create innovative new designs for buildings, allowing architects to explore the potential of materials, textures, and shapes in a way that was not possible before. Architects and designers can use VR to create, experimentalise, and refine design solutions virtually before starting construction. In the future, VR will become an integral part not only of the design process but also of presentation and approval. It is a powerful tool that helps establish communication between all the process participants. VR in architecture has enormous potential, the implementation of which will provide high social and economic results. Keywords: virtual reality, augmented reality, architectural environment, design, artificial intelligence.

Architectural form: the space of experience and technological innovations in construction

The research work aims at revealing the purely immanent foundations of the systemic knowledge of architectural form, which initially always has an instrumentalist character. In the context of current transformations in the field of science in general and the attitude of society to it, the differentiation of theoretical fundamental layer of knowledge and applied knowledge has become extremely complicated. At the same time, the very need to clarify the root foundations of architecture not only persists as a criterion and sign of academic identity, but also sounds quite certain in relation to the search for possible scenarios of future development of this branch of human activity, production, social exchange, information flows, and reorganization of the living environment. This search is connected most directly to the reflections on the processes of architectural form generation. The issue of architecture’s future is the problem of finding a new architectural form. A group of factors, including the use and experimentation with new building materials and technologies, is not excluded from this search, but does not exhaust the strategy of form generation. The proposed exposition of architectural form in the context of modern technological innovations relies mostly on a historical cross-section of the architectural component of human culture. In other words, it is a study into the foundations of the methodology of the science of architecture including three basic points: 1) the science of architecture is its understanding as an autonomous reality; 2) this understanding may only be achieved by revealing the immanent logic of historical development; 3) architecture in its sovereignty as an existential "region" or a phenomenon of human civilization is expressed essentially in the form, the structural analytics of which crystallizes the universal logical and semantic dimension of the evolution of architectural reality.

Neo‐Fluxus: Multimedia Performance Art and Architecture

AbstractSpace Interface is a collaboration between artist‐architect Mathew Emmett and the legendary Eberhard Kranemann, a German neo‐Fluxus artist and founding member of electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk. Here, Emmett describes how, through mixed‐reality performance and audiovisual installation, their work transforms architectural settings by using video and electronic improvisation to evoke extended levels of architectural reality. They consider buildings as psychological prostheses, and their experiments attempt to invert and extend what might constitute architecture.

Possibility of application of intelligent buildings (IBs) characteristics to improve the office buildings performance in Yemen

At the beginning of the eighties last century, there was a qualitative leap in the architecture field, which was the beginning of the emergence of intelligent buildings (IBs). These buildings expressed the pinnacle of scientific and technical progress that humanity had reached in architecture. IB has an integrated intelligent system that can recognize, make decisions, and respond to variables on its own, in addition to achieving sustainability. With these new concepts in the architecture field, in Yemen, buildings are still traditional in their performance, where individual systems are used. This paper aims to investigate the possibility of applying the characteristics of IBs to Yemeni buildings, especially office buildings, to enhance these buildings’ performance in order to improve the employees’ productivity. To achieve this goal, the study reviewed the characteristics of IBs, specifically the IB’s systems, and the reality of architecture and informatics in Yemen by analyzing one of the contemporary office buildings that own and use technological systems. The review showed a high possibility of achieving the features of IBs in Yemeni buildings in terms of applying intelligent systems. However, to make Yemeni buildings smarter in their performance, their digital infrastructure and the information and communication technology (ICT) in Yemen must be updated.

The Application of Metaverse in the Construction Industry: Exploring the Future Architectural Trends of Virtual and Real Integration

This article aims to explore the application of the metaverse in the construction industry and its role in future architectural trends. The metaverse is a virtual, interactive digital world that can simulate various scenarios and environments in the real world and provide highly personalized experiences. This article will introduce the concept and characteristics of the metaverse, and combine it with the actual needs and application scenarios of the construction industry to explore the application of the metaverse in architectural design, construction, and operation and maintenance. In particular, this article will focus on the virtual and real integration of the metaverse and architectural reality scenes, including virtual reality technology, augmented reality technology, hybrid reality technology, etc., and explore the application prospects of these technologies in the construction industry. Finally, this article will summarize the application value of the metaverse in the construction industry and look forward to its impact on future architectural trends.

Lost between legislation and application: a critical reading of Czech post-war architectural conservation policies

ABSTRACT Responding to the reality of post-war architecture in Prague, threatened by demolition and harmful reconstruction, this paper employs critical discourse analysis to examine heritage legislations and documented administrative procedures. The Czech context is a relevant case to the international discussion on heritage definition as an example of the establishment of a rigid authorised discourse that turns conservation processes incoherent and self-referential, especially when evaluating post-war architecture. To safeguard post-war heritage, local conservationists have sought legal protection granted by the Act on State Landmark Conservation upon monument designation. However, designation proposals are being halted and declined to inconsistent criteria and evaluation processes. In response, this paper aims to add to the understanding of the Act and its application by revisiting raised arguments on the designation of five cases and detecting patterns in tendencies and attitudes to estimate the impact of communicated values and influences on the process. The analysis confirms the reported issues of the Act and its application. It also highlights the ideological issues at play that have resulted in a prejudiced judgement towards post-war architecture. Recommendations provided are expected to assist conservationists to strategically structure future proposals being aware of these issues and ultimately contribute to post-war heritage conservation.

The Use and Challenges of Virtual Reality in Architecture

Technology has changed so much over the years and it has contributed a lot to the advancement of the many aspects of the industry as well as people's daily life. Architecture is not spared from this change and has benefited a lot from the development of this technology. With this, it is no secret that one aspect of technology that has changed the world is virtual reality. This study outlines the application of virtual reality in various sectors such as industrial, architecture design, science and technology, education as well as entertainment. There is a great potential of virtual reality in the future, especially in two different aspects namely technological and social. The importance of virtual reality in architecture is relying on the advancement of technologies, applications and processes. The use of virtual reality in architecture can be classified into several categories, namely landscape, building, interior, and exterior. Moreover, this study also elucidates the challenges of virtual reality in architecture and education. All in all, the virtual reality in architectural highlights the multiple advantages of multiple applications, and overcomes the defining challenges which may lead to the successful realization of virtual reality in architecture.

Stochasticity and the limits of molecular signaling in plant development.

Understanding plant development is in part a theoretical endeavor that can only succeed if it is based upon a correctly contrived axiomatic framework. Here I revisit some of the basic assumptions that frame our understanding of plant development and suggest that we consider an alternative informational ecosystem that more faithfully reflects the physical and architectural realities of plant tissue and organ growth. I discuss molecular signaling as a stochastic process and propose that the iterative and architectural nature of plant growth is more usefully represented by deterministic models based upon structural, surficial, and stress-mechanical information networks that come into play at the trans-cellular level.

Review: Tokyo before Tokyo: Power and Magic in the Shogun’s City of Edo

Review: <i>Tokyo before Tokyo: Power and Magic in the Shogun’s City of Edo</i>

Bias in the Critique of Arab Architecture

The research derives its significance from the importance of the subject of architectural criticism, and what it reflects on the reality of contemporary architecture and local identity in the Arab region in light of the changing political and economic ideas. From this point of view, the research problem can be summarized as: The extent of the comprehensiveness of previous studies of the relationship of bias to architectural criticism and determining its characteristics and types as a mechanism of criticism in contemporary Arab architecture. To address the research problem, the goal of the research was determined by building a theoretical framework to understand how to release critical judgments within the concept of bias, and to access the mechanisms that measure criticism in contemporary Arab architecture based on the research hypothesis that states: The intellectual features in architectural criticism are determined through a set of characteristics and concepts associated with the concept of bias.

Multiscale Integral Assessment of Habitability in the Case of El Raval in Barcelona

The understanding of habitability conditions of existing housing stock plays a central role in the quantification and qualification of sustainability from the architectural field. This research assessed habitability as a fundamental social benefit by means of a multiscale approach to the case study of the Raval neighborhood that can be replicated in other settings. We described a sample of six hundred dwellings located in two urban blocks spatially and typologically. This analysis of architectural features incorporated information on the current occupancy and use of spaces and the assessment of the state of conservation and maintenance of building envelopes and common elements. Although the scale of most analyzed aspects was larger (building, urban block or urban fabric), the discussion of results by housing unit provided a close picture of the existing diversity and heterogeneity of socio-spatial and architectural realities within buildings and urban blocks. Results from this paper allow for the valuation and discussion of substandard housing cases that call for an immediate improvement and adaptation, while providing evidence that most dwellings fail to fulfill residents’ right to adequate housing. In conclusion, the results obtained highlight the importance of designing rehabilitation programs and instruments to improve existing spaces with a focus on current use, occupancy, and residents’ needs.

Architectural form as a subject of cultural communication

The aim of the article is to investigate the architectural form self-representation processes in the spatial experience of culture. Theoretical and methodological prism of the research is the semiotic concept of architecture of W. Eco and the concept of E. Panofsky correlating with it and explaining the nature of the Gothic architectural form evolution. The architectural reality self-definition problem in the context of the historical development of cultural and anthropological experience spatial codes is considered. On the basis of W. Eco’s semiotic concept of architecture we propose the vision of architectural object as a form in which the signifier - the “grammar” of architectural text - is treated as a signifier in the unity of meanings, functions and structures of the work. Architectural form in this capacity is described as a subject of socio-cultural communication, an individual link in the spatial code mediation chain of this or that tradition. On the basis of the comparative analysis, we have demonstrated the similarity of semiotic approach to the essence of architecture and Gothic architectural thinking of E. Panofsky. It shows the relevance of this methodology for modern architecture theory allowing to reveal the processes of architectural reality affirmation. The significance of the results for the theory of architecture consists in the fact that the heuristic significance of Eco’s semiotic conception of architecture was substantiated by E. Panofsky’s conclusions concerning the essence of Gothic form-building. The notion of architectural form as a subject of cultural communication greatly extends the architectural reality affirmative nature notion.

An Integrating Contextual Approach Using Architectural Procedural Modeling and Augmented Reality in Residential Buildings: The Case of Amman City

An Integrating Contextual Approach Using Architectural Procedural Modeling and Augmented Reality in Residential Buildings: The Case of Amman City

Identity As An Approach To Community Sustainability According To Society (Dept.A)

Identity and sustainable urbanization one of the public issues that occupy the minds of everyone and of interest to the specialists and non-specialists, the most of what urban communities are suffering from the loss of architectural identity and the sustainability of construction. Research problem is to find an architectural identity for the construction of sustainable urbanization according to community partnership, as there is a gap to reach a joint relationship between identity and sustainability of construction and the concept of linkage between them. The research discussion how to leverage the advantages of a study of identity and relationship to try to find common sustainability of urbanization according to community partnership and the research aims to explore and study ways and frames as possible to confirm the interaction between the social reality of identity and the physical reality of architecture and sustainability of the built-positive results from this interaction. The research found the need to raise awareness of the importance of community identity and sustainable urbanization as well as to community partnership to achieve sustainable urbanization which has got an identity; the research also found a set of benchmarks which hopes will lead to the sustainable urbanization.

Coexistance of form and structure in contemporary architecture

The reality of contemporary architecture refers that the architectural form may not always reflect the structure of the structure. There are two different models in the relationship between the form and the structure: one contradicts the form with the structure while they work separately, and the other in which the form stems from the structure, overlaps and is compatible with it. Developments in structural engineering have profoundly influenced architecture, where the use of new structural materials and new structural systems to define the formal characteristics of contemporary architecture, the emergence of digital programming and parametric design enabled a return to historical tectonic symbols and self-modulation in the natural structures and materials science and analysis to create a contemporary architectural structures. From here came the desire to explore the nature of this coexistance relationship. The main objective of this study was to clarify the relationship of form with the structure by giving a clear vision about one of the types of form correlation with the structure, which is the relationship of coexistance in which the form stems from the structure that the structure reads the form and be the source of its creation. The problem of research is the lack of clarity of the formal and structural harmonic relationship and the ways for achieving this harmony in contemporary architectural products. The main elements are derived from the concepts related to research and analysis of the set of architectural applications that achieved the case of coexistance and the practical application, and then come up with the results and conclusions that related to the case of formal-structural harmony in contemporary architecture which is achieved through a combination of intellectual, symbolic and material factors with digital techniques.

INTERAKTIVNA PREZENTACIJA JEDNOPORODIČNOG STAMBENOG OBJEKTA KORIŠĆENJEM VIRTUELNE REALNOSTI

U radu je prikazana interaktivna prezentacija jednoporodičnog stambenog objekta pomoću virtuelne realnosti. Predstavljeni su i analizirani svi postupci koji od projektovanja objekta vode do postupka primene interaktivne virtuelne realnosti u arhitekturi.