Architecture Domain Research Articles

RE: ‘This Thing Called Theory’

Focusing on This Thing Called Theory, and last of a series of itinerant events and publications, the seminar ‘Double Crossing’ in which the author acted as respondent gathers five different points of view about the possibility of producing theory as an act of betrayal against a previous ‘thing’, be it a theoretical discourse or a fact. A theory does not simply construct something new but undertakes an aggression towards the ‘old’ in order to produce the ‘new’. Several suggestions come out about how such an overturning of architectural theory can be undertaken. Among these, different theoretical branches ranging from critical thinking to computational criticism are involved. In general, the seminar outlines two main tendencies or attitudes to portray theoretical betrayals in architecture: those who consider theory as a possibility of betraying intentions and others who intend betrayal as a continuous process of exit and re-entry from the domain of architecture.

EEG Spectral Coherence Analysis in Nocturnal Epilepsy.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is widely employed in the study of sleep disorders. This paper exploits the identification of cyclic alternating patterns (CAPs), a periodic ubiquitous phenomenon nested in the sleep stages, to analyze the EEG spectral coherence in subjects affected by nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (NFLE) and healthy controls. For each EEG recording, we extracted several CAP A1 subtype 4 s time series. We analyze the coherence between each pair of electrodes for each individual to obtain its distribution for each frequency range of interest to investigate differences between cases and controls. In addition, the imaginary and real parts of the spectral coherence were calculated and plotted to assess their likelihood of segregation into different classes and anatomical regions. The results of this study suggest a relevant frontal-temporal neural circuitry difference between individuals affected by epilepsy and controls. This supports the observation that, though highly variable, a broad range of executive, cognitive and attentional deficit observed in subjects affected by NFLE might depend on frontal-temporal altered networking. The investigation of EEG activity in the domain of the complex sleep architecture represents a challenging topic in neurophysiology and needs new methods to explore the manifold aspects of sleep. This work aims to provide a simple method to distinguish NFLE from healthy subjects from a functional connectivity point of view and to explore the possibility of using a smaller EEG channel set to support diagnosis.

Conclusion and Future Recommendation

Interactive Architecture should embody the features of “Information”, “Improvisation”, and “Integration” in order to generate sufficient “Intelligence” to embody the authentic kernel of “Organic Architecture”. In the domain of Interactive Architecture, it is quite easy to become trapped in discussions predominantly focused on technical discourses. This is what can be observed in most of the published materials on Interactive Architecture available in the market today. These publications draw too much attentions in the manner of how to make technical systems, instead of focusing on why to make it. Partly, this may be because it is necessary to understand hands-on technical issues, however, there should certainly be more informative material to fertilize design thinking of Interactive Bio-Architecture. Some other publications in the same genre fall into a collection of on-going case studies in the domain of Interactive Architecture without properly arranging them into an organized systemic discourse. Unlike such publications, this research attempts to become a pioneering exploration attempting to address Interactive architecture as the convergence of three areas: Computation, Embodiment (Body), and Biology. From the computational point of view, the research outlined the historic trajectory of computational applications in digital architecture design or CAAD (computer aided architectural design) and its evolution from data storage, rendering representation, towards sophisticated physical computing. From embodiment(body) perspective, a wide range of issues from diverse fields of metrology, philosophy, media studies, interactive art, VR and motion tracking technology have been elaborated upon in order to discover intimate relationships and connections between (cyber)space and (cyborgs)human. In the section of Biology, the discussion ranged from the so-called organic architecture design that remains at the stage of mimicking organic shapes, to extracting and translating the fundamental premises of morphogenesis from Evolutionary-Development Biology (Evo-Devo) in order to propose computationally assisted body-like interactive Bio-architectures. By leading the arguments slightly more towards the humanities, cultural, and social or even biological aspects, it aims to broaden the research scope of Interactive Bio-Architecture to reverse its stereotypical associations of being extremely technical and engineering oriented. This research thus concludes by providing critical emphasis on topics such as Information, Improvisation, Integration, and Intelligence, which are reflective of the fundamental essence of the inter-disciplinary research elaborated in each chapter of the thesis.

Između postojanja i postajanja - jezik metafizike u arhitekturi

The use of platonic solids like cubes, spheres and pyramids, and a certain sense of "timelessness" are some of the most recognisable ways in which metaphysics has been interpreted as a formal language within the domain of architecture, particularly since the emergence of the avant-gardes at the beginning of the twentieth century. Starting by critically confronting different ways of interpreting this relationship, this paper proposes a specific phenomenological approach on the subject, focused on the analysis of the concept of timelessness and the possible theoretical foundations of its distinctive role in articulating the metaphysical expression in architecture.

Architecture Board Practices in Adaptive Enterprise Architecture with Digital Platform

This article aims to investigate solutions incorporated by a group called an Architecture Board in the global healthcare enterprises (GHE) for solving issues and mitigating related architecture risks while implementing “Adaptive Integrated EA framework,” which can be applied in companies promoting IT strategy using Cloud/Mobile IT. The distribution of solutions is to mitigate risks from different categories across the architecture domains in enterprise architecture (EA) is revealed, thereby covering applications, involving ERP, and technologies using the Cloud/Mobile IT/Digital IT. An in-depth analysis of this distribution can act as practical guidance for companies that consider starting up an Architecture Board, by utilizing digital platforms, while moving toward a digital transformation in an adaptive EA aligned with an IT strategy, encompassing digital IT-related elements.

Risk Management for Digital Transformation and Big Data in Architecture Board: A Case Study on Global Enterprise

This study investigates the solutions incorporated by the Architecture Board in global healthcare enterprise (GHE) to mitigate architecture risks especially in Digital IT areas covering Big Data while implementing the Adaptive Integrated EA framework, which can be applied in companies promoting IT strategy with Cloud/Mobile IT. The study revealed the distribution of solutions across the architecture domains in Enterprise Architecture covering applications and technologies with Cloud/Mobile IT/Big Data/Digital IT to mitigate risks. An in-depth analysis of this distribution resulted in practical guidance for companies that consider Risk Management for Digital Transformation while starting up the Architecture Board in Enterprise Architecture with IT strategy covering Digital IT related elements.

Core Knowledge Domains of Landscape Architecture

Landscape architecture is a young discipline relative to other design-based fields, such as engineering or architecture. The unique knowledge, processes, and capacities of landscape architects—central requirements of a recognizable profession—are currently broad and largely undefined. The profession needs to have clearly defined knowledge domains recognized by other disciplines and the public. This study used four sources of evidence to identify core landscape architecture knowledge domains: (1) a census of land design and development professionals from the 1970s; (2) a sample of U.S. landscape architects in the early 2000s; (3) two systematic reviews of articles published in <i>Landscape Journal</i> over a 25-year period; and, (4) courses offered in accredited first-professional Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) programs across North America. Ten knowledge domains were identified, none of which were unique to landscape architecture. Two domains, <i>design</i> and <i>natural</i>, were identified by all data sources to be core to landscape architecture. However, the <i>connections</i> between knowledge domains, rather than the domains themselves, and a focus on conceptualizing appropriate change to the landscape, might more appropriately define the core domains of landscape architecture.

Epistemološke implikacije neuroarhitekture

This article will attempt to explain how the spatial characteristics of built environments affect both the cognitive processes of producing knowledge and the epistemic quality of other doxastic states. Recent discussions in philosophy and the social sciences have been vocal about the changing dynamics of contemporary life. As clouded boundaries between labor and leisure make individuals spend most of their time in built environments, personal experiences of space, buildings, and interiors are becoming a decisive factor in self-perception and cognition. These circumstances have encouraged the advent of a new scientific field: neuro-architecture, a branch of functional design supported by neurological brain scanning technologies and the concept of neuroplasticity, the brain's capacity to change its structure along our behavior and surroundings. After articulating neuro-architecture's ambition to define spaces most suitable for promoting positive emotions, good health, and intellectual agility, the article will critically assess its epistemological implications and its potentially unfavorable impact on architectural aesthetic autonomy. This intrusion of natural sciences into the ostensibly artistic domain of architecture bears certain similarities to the tension between traditional analytic philosophy - which was preoccupied with idealized models of intellectual practices and mental processes - and scientific insights into human cognition, perhaps best illustrated by the mind-brain identity theory.

From Modern Closure to Postmodern Openings Editorial

Postmodernism is a literary invention, a very creative and expressive artistic current widespread across domains of philosophy, the arts, and architecture. Its main intellectual characteristics are a general relativism - from epistemology to moral - and the promotion of subjectivism by criticism of modernity's pillars of universalism and objectivity. Post-modernity is the alleged correspondent state of the society and culture we live in. But the state of a society is other than the critique of that society. It is said that we live in a post-modern era, and many acclaim this brand because it supposedly represent a new state of social evolution characterized by a free individual, liberation of the emotions and expressions from the reason constraints and so on. How to cite: Popoveniuc, B. (2017). From Modern Closure to Postmodern Openings. Editorial. Postmodern Openings, 8 (3), 6-10. https://doi.org/10.18662/po/2017.0803.01

The machineries of user knowledge production

A multiple case study was conducted to investigate the machineries of designers' user knowledge production at six design consultancies in the Northwestern USA in domains of architecture, industrial design, and interaction design. Karin Knorr Cetina's theory of epistemic cultures was utilised as the theoretical lens. The findings indicate that the user is not a given; instead, the user is a constructed phenomenon in design. The design process is characterised by the deconstruction and reconstruction of the user information and of experiential information, implemented to meet the epistemic needs of designers. User representations are used as the liminal knowledge. Designers manipulated this knowledge in order to narrow down the artefact to be designed.

Hyperlocalization through architecture & climatology

Wellington is famous for its wind. It is arguably the windiest city in the world and provides the site for this research that considers an inter-disciplinary design approach fusing climatology and architectural domains. This research uses Wellington’s wind climate as the pivot of inquiry in all of its complexity, and explores design narratives that best respond to those circumstances in order to generate building forms with the capacity to emulate a ‘hyperlocalized’ typology. Emergent systems will provide the models and processes of the wind dynamics in Wellington so that this naturally occurring phenomenon can be explored for the creation of artificial systems, designed to produce hyperlocalized forms in response to its immediate climate.

Analysis of the consistency of enterprise architecture models using formal verification methods

Э.А. Бабкин - кандидат технических наук, PhD in Computer Science, профессор кафедры информационных систем и технологий, Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики»Адрес: 603155, г. Нижний Новгород, ул. Большая Печерская, д. 25/20E-mail: eababkin@hse.ruН.О. Пономарев - студент магистерской программы «Бизнес-информатика», Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики»; инженер группы разработки программного обеспечения АО «Интел»Адрес: 603155, г. Нижний Новгород, ул. Большая Печерская, д. 25/20E-mail:nik4nikita@gmail.com Разработка архитектуры предприятия является сложным процессом, но в то же время позволяет решить проблему синхронизации возможностей и потребностей бизнеса и информационных технологий (ИТ). Решение данной проблемы достигается за счет уточнения понимания и формализации описания бизнес-процессов и взаимодействия элементов системы путем их формального описания. Наличие большого числа взаимодействующих бизнес-процессов и сущностей архитектуры предприятия объясняет необходимость проверки их корректности. Поэтому необходимо их автоматически верифицировать, на основе формализации требований к архитектуре. В данной работе предлагается метод обнаружения логических противоречий в моделях архитектуры предприятия, на основе частного случая подхода к проверке моделей, примененного в бизнес-моделировании. В качестве языка описания архитектуры предприятия в работе используется современный открытый и независимый язык ArchiMate. Разрабатываемый The Open Group стандарт предоставляет общую спецификацию для описания построения и функционирования бизнес-процессов, организационных структур, информационных потоков, ИТ-систем и технической инфраструктуры предприятия. В качестве верификатора выбран формальный язык реляционной логики и инструментарий системы MITAlloy Analyzer, позволяющий выполнять анализ ограничений модели в терминах реляционной логики путем автоматической генерации структур, которые удовлетворяют требованиям логической модели. В данной работе предлагается упростить и автоматизировать процесс спецификации и верификации моделей предметной области архитектуры предприятия с помощью визуального редактора конструирования моделей на языке ArchiMate - Archi. Разработанный авторами плагин к редактору осуществляет трансляцию моделей архитектуры предприятия на язык системы Alloy Analyzer и в качестве основы для построения конкретных моделей предметной области использует метамодель ключевых элементов спецификации ArchiMate. Предложенный метод и программные решения апробированы на примере пользовательского кейса архитектуры предприятия компании ArciSurance.Исследование выполнено при финансовой поддержке РФФИ в рамках научного проекта № 16-06-00184 А «Разработка и исследование моделей online-дискуссии на материале обсуждения политических новостей»

Morfologia urbana como um campo interdisciplinar emergente

Neste artigo identificam-se as forças e os acontecimentos que conduziram à formação do International Seminar on Urban Form (ISUF). O ISUF tem vindo a expandir o campo da morfologia urbana para além dos seus limites originais na área da geografia particularmente em direção aos domínios da arquitetura e do planeamento. Três escolas de morfologia urbana, em Inglaterra, Itália e França, têm vindo a desenvolver um processo de aproximação, seguindo o trabalho seminal de dois morfologistas, M. R. G. Conzen e Saverio Muratori. A aproximação destas escolas fornece as bases para a definição de um campo interdisciplinar e a oportunidade de estabelecer fundações teóricas comuns para um conjunto crescente de morfologistas em diferentes partes do mundo. A ambiciosa missão do ISUF é abordar um conjunto de temas atuais e concretos relacionados com o processo de construção da cidade, fornecendo um fórum de reflexão e ação que inclui disciplinas, e profissões relacionadas, provenientes de diferentes culturas. Neste artigo discute-se o potencial de um campo interdisciplinar de morfologia urbana e o seu contributo para a compreensão e para a gestão dos processos de desenvolvimento urbano num período de transformação sem precedentes.

Study and comparison arch at framework modern materials case study: Iran

With the shaping of novel ideas and trends in architecture, the traditional use of arched structures and forms is gradually fading away and being forgotten. This is while today the advancement of technology and the emergence of a wide range of innovations as well as the utilization of superb creativity have resolved many issues that were generally associated with arch shaped structures, whereby this particular type of structure has attracted attention and has gained importance in different ways. For instance, nowadays arch is used along with other kinds of novel innovations such as truss and space structures through the application of new materials like tent-like, membrane and composite structures. Rapid global progress in the domain of architecture and utilization of new technologies and revolutionary structures necessitates more attention and research on this field in our country. In this study, first existing research literatures on arch shaped structures have been reviewed critically and then considerations have been granted to novel compositions of this structure and accordingly it is hoped that the conclusions put forth by this research are considered in the educational and administrative sectors of the country.

Building for Modernity in Post Uprising Colonial India: Sanderson’s Survey and other Tales of Modern Indian Architecture

The post uprising colonial modern state zealously ushered modernity in the Indian Subcontinent. In the domain of architecture it produced a building frenzy from implementation of urban improvement schemes to raising infrastructure including buildings patronised by the government, Indian rulers and the masses. In a departure from the state’s view to impose the Eurocentric, universal idea of modernity as the only legitimate form of architectural expression, the corpus of buildings built at the turn of the century was a hybrid product of entanglement of tradition and modernity. Indeed, the various actors engaged in the production of buildings, from patrons to designers including architects and Mistris (craftsmen) negotiated modernity on their own individual terms in the absence of any established framework. Types of buildings ranged from state buildings for governance to opulent princely palaces to innumerable every day buildings. This Paper examines the many trajectories of architectural expression that prevailed in the Indian Subcontinent at the turn of the century and argues that the notion of modernity was not homogenous and was characterised by hybridity. It further asserts that this extant building corpus should get its due as modern heritage and be conserved today.

A performance benchmark over semantic rule checking approaches in construction industry

As more and more architectural design and construction data is represented using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) data model, it makes sense to take advantage of the logical basis of RDF and implement a semantic rule checking process as it is currently not available in the architectural design and construction industry. The argument for such a semantic rule checking process has been made a number of times by now. However, there are a number of strategies and approaches that can be followed regarding the realization of such a rule checking process, even when limiting to the use of semantic web technologies. In this article, we compare three reference rule checking approaches that have been reported earlier for semantic rule checking in the domain of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC). Each of these approaches has its advantages and disadvantages. A criterion that is tremendously important to allow adoption and uptake of such semantic rule checking approaches, is performance. Hence, this article provides an overview of our collaborative test results in order to obtain a performance benchmark for these approaches. In addition to the benchmark, a documentation of the actual rule checking approaches is discussed. Furthermore, we give an indication of the main features and decisions that impact performance for each of these three approaches, so that system developers in the construction industry can make an informed choice when deciding for one of the documented rule checking approaches.

Virtualized Computational Environments on the cloud to foster group skills through PBL: A case study in architecture

The ODISEA platform provides Virtualized Computational Environments (VCEs) on cloud providers as the computational infrastructure to support educational activities. A VCE consists of a collection of one or more Virtual Machines (VMs) to which the students connect from their own computers. In this paper a case study is presented in the architecture domain where a PBL activity is carried out in working groups. The study involves 293 students organized in 28 pilot groups that use customized VCEs created and deployed through the ODISEA platform on a Cloud, and 30 traditional groups that use a LMS platform. The VCE provides the software, hardware and specific configuration to ease the interrelation and cooperative work between the working groups, enhancing the process tracking and feedback gathering as well as providing a better organization of the teaching material. The results demonstrate that the VCE allows to improve the cooperative work, improving the final marks in the PBL developed by the pilot working groups. Also, an economical study is presented, highlighting the economic benefits of the Cloud with respect to traditional physical laboratories of PCs.

SOBRE LAS ESTRATEGIAS DE TRADUCCIÓN DE REFERENCIAS CULTURALES EN EL ÁMBITO DE LA ARQUITECTURA (ESPAÑOL-INGLÉS)

La traducción, entendida como una actividad de mediación intercultural, supone un reto para los profesionales de la traducción, que deben sortear las barreras culturales que separan unas lenguas de otras. El lenguaje del turismo contiene abundantes referencias culturales por lo que resulta de gran interés para su estudio traductológico. Este trabajo analiza las técnicas traductológicas utilizadas en los culturemas del ámbito de la arquitectura, una de las áreas más relevantes en turismo. El objetivo es ofrecer nuevas perspectivas en la reflexión teórica y, al mismo tiempo, ahondar en los problemas que se plantean en este tipo de traducción de palabras específicas de la cultura española.

Visualizing the secondary and tertiary architectural domains of lncRNA RepA.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important for gene expression, but little is known about their structures. RepA is a 1.6-kb mouse lncRNA comprising the same sequence as the 5' region of Xist, including A and F repeats. It has been proposed to facilitate the initiation and spread of X-chromosome inactivation, although its exact role is poorly understood. To gain insight into the molecular mechanism of RepA and Xist, we determined a complete phylogenetically validated secondary-structural map of RepA through SHAPE and DMS chemical probing of a homogeneously folded RNA in vitro. We combined UV-cross-linking experiments with RNA modeling methods to produce a three-dimensional model of RepA functional domains demonstrating that tertiary architecture exists within lncRNA molecules and occurs within specific functional modules. This work provides a foundation for understanding of the evolution and functional properties of RepA and Xist and offers a framework for exploring architectural features of other lncRNAs.

Predicting chromatin architecture from models of polymer physics.

We review the picture of chromatin large-scale 3D organization emerging from the analysis of Hi-C data and polymer modeling. In higher mammals, Hi-C contact maps reveal a complex higher-order organization, extending from the sub-Mb to chromosomal scales, hierarchically folded in a structure of domains-within-domains (metaTADs). The domain folding hierarchy is partially conserved throughout differentiation, and deeply correlated to epigenomic features. Rearrangements in the metaTAD topology relate to gene expression modifications: in particular, in neuronal differentiation models, topologically associated domains (TADs) tend to have coherent expression changes within architecturally conserved metaTAD niches. To identify the nature of architectural domains and their molecular determinants within a principled approach, we discuss models based on polymer physics. We show that basic concepts of interacting polymer physics explain chromatin spatial organization across chromosomal scales and cell types. The 3D structure of genomic loci can be derived with high accuracy and its molecular determinants identified by crossing information with epigenomic databases. In particular, we illustrate the case of the Sox9 locus, linked to human congenital disorders. The model in-silico predictions on the effects of genomic rearrangements are confirmed by available 5C data. That can help establishing new diagnostic tools for diseases linked to chromatin mis-folding, such as congenital disorders and cancer.