House Facades Research Articles

Biomimetic Cooling: Functionalizing Biodegradable Chitosan Films with Saharan Silver Ant Microstructures.

The increasing occurrence of hot summer days causes stress to both humans and animals, particularly in urban areas where temperatures can remain high, even at night. Living nature offers potential solutions that require minimal energy and material costs. For instance, the Saharan silver ant (Cataglyphis bombycina) can endure the desert heat by means of passive radiative cooling induced by its triangular hairs. The objective of this study is to transfer the passive radiative cooling properties of the micro- and nanostructured chitin hairs of the silver ant body to technically usable, biodegradable and bio-based materials. The potential large-scale transfer of radiative cooling properties, for example, onto building exteriors such as house facades, could decrease the need for conventional cooling and, therefore, lower the energy demand. Chitosan, a chemically altered form of chitin, has a range of medical uses but can also be processed into a paper-like film. The procedure consists of dissolving chitosan in diluted acetic acid and uniformly distributing it on a flat surface. A functional structure can then be imprinted onto this film while it is drying. This study reports the successful transfer of the microstructure-based structural colors of a compact disc (CD) onto the film. Similarly, a polyvinyl siloxane imprint of the silver ant body shall make it possible to transfer cooling functionality to technically relevant surfaces. FTIR spectroscopy measurements of the reflectance of flat and structured chitosan films allow for a qualitative assessment of the infrared emissivity. A minor decrease in reflectance in a relevant wavelength range gives an indication that it is feasible to increase the emissivity and, therefore, decrease the surface temperature purely through surface-induced functionalities.

Seismic Vulnerability Indices of Facades of Colonial Houses in the Historic Center of Morelia, México

Evaluating the seismic vulnerability of facades of historic masonry buildings is essential not only for their significant historical and heritage value, but also to evaluate the safety of this type of construction. This work applies a simplified methodology to assess the seismic vulnerability of the facade of masonry buildings in the historic center of Morelia, Michoacán, México. The historic center of Morelia was declared a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1991. On the facades, there is ornamentation with sculptural and vegetal decorative elements. The methodology involved conducting visual inspections to identify the location, type of structure, construction materials, doors, windows, balconies, cornices, ironwork, pediments, niches, and sculptures, among other characteristic elements of colonial architecture. The seismic demands were determined specifically for the city’s historic center based on a recent seismic hazard assessment of Morelia. Based on the methodology and the compiled database, characterized vulnerability indices were defined for the different damage scenarios that buildings may present. Results indicate that earthquakes with intensities greater than VIII on the Modified Mercalli scale risk collapsing heritage masonry buildings’ facades.

Characteristics Of Two Original Facades (Gable and Gunungan) Of Malabero Chinese Shop House In Bengkulu City

Building facades convey a period of culture at the time the building was built, as well as providing the identity of a cultural group or community. Building facades and anthropology became the impetus to find out the original characteristics of the two main facades in the row of Malabero Chinese shophouses on Jalan D. I. Panjaitan Bengkulu City. This research uses the field observation method to obtain data through photographs as well as information from the surrounding community, historians, and cultural experts in Bengkulu and Malabero Chinese Village, to get a link to the facade pattern with an emphasis on building facade elements (roof, walls and building openings) through variables of Chinese shophouse facade characteristics and shop house facade indicators. Malabero Bengkulu's Chinese shophouses are grouped within the Chinese settlement (Chinese Kamp) in front of Fort Marlborough, initially having two characteristics of Chinese shophouse building styles based on their facades. The alteration of the south side of the Malabero Chinese shophouses eliminated many of the original characteristics of the original facade of the Malabero Bengkulu Chinese shophouses (gable roof). As a result, many new characteristics of the shophouse facade elements have been replaced. The shape of the roof (gunungan), the removal of the balcony, and the shape of the building openings became the characteristics of the facade face of the south side Malabero Chinese shop house (gunungan roof). This change in the facade is in anticipation of the load being responsive to earthquakes.

When houses wear faces: Reverse correlation applied to architectural design

Reverse correlation (RC) is a data-driven method from social psychology that has been effectively shown to visualize the mental representations that humans hold regarding facial attributes. The method helps to understand what features are relevant in terms of the evaluation of faces, such as dominance or submissiveness. To the best of our knowledge, RC has solely been applied to faces within the area of psychology until this point. However, there are many other areas where it is of interest to understand how humans evaluate and visualize content, one of them being the evaluation of house facades. With this work, we extended the application of RC to architectural design, specifically focusing on the evaluation of house facades with respect to the psychological attributes of facelikeness, invitingness, and likeability. Furthermore, we propose a novel approach to create the base image, by utilizing a generative adversarial network. In an online study with a between-subject design, 121 participants completed the RC task, with 40 to 41 participants assigned to each of the three attributes. The resulting classification images (CIs) from the RC task unveil face-related features for the attribute facelikeness, signifying the potential extension of the RC methodology beyond the established domain of facial analysis to other domains, such as architectural design.

Analysis of Rural Heritage House Facades as the Initial Step Towards Their Adaptive Reuse and Renovation: A Case Study of Sixteen Houses in Mazandaran Province, Iran

The facades of buildings stand as one of the most influential aesthetic elements in urban and rural districts, serving as a boundary between exterior and interior while historically expressing various cultural and climatic functions. In Mazandaran Province, Iran, historical and rural areas have often been overlooked, leading to inappropriate approaches in reusing and renovating these buildings without considering their values. This study aims to analyze the characteristics of the facades of various historical and rural houses to provide a solid foundation for architects dealing with their reuse and renovation or the design of extensions to the existing buildings. In addition to discussing practical applications, this paper offers a methodological approach for scholars active in the field of rural architecture. The research method includes an analysis of several historical houses, drawing from both literature and field studies. The formal approach has been chosen to align with the research goal. The sixteen selected cases are situated in the historical and rural districts of Alasht, Lafour, Qaemshahr, each built in different historical periods of Iran. Given that many historical houses in this area are not officially listed as heritage buildings and no data regarding them are available, the researchers conducted field surveys and interviews with residents to collect the necessary information. The investigation focused on facade elements, including the pattern of openings and the materials used in the selected houses. This research led to the documentation of the facade shapes in the rural areas of Mazandaran Province, highlighting the necessity of documentation to establish a knowledge base before reuse, renovation, or design within these historic regions. This approach could serve as a model for other regions and countries.

HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE TRAINING OF DECORATIVE AND APPLIED ARTS SPECIALISTS IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF UKRAINE

The paper examines the historical aspects of the development specialists in decorative and applied arts training in Ukraine on the example of porcelain production (late 18th century – today) and its current state abroad. In line with the issue of introduction of this direction of decorative and applied art in our country, examples of its flourishing in the cities of Koret (production of baroque Meissen porcelain), Baranivka, Hrodnytsia, Dovbysh (Iliinskyi Manufactory, Markhlov Factory, Dovbysh Porcelain Factory, Polonsky Porcelain Factory); Poltava, Boryslav, Sumy, Ternopil (opening of porcelain factories in 1965) are characterized. It has been found that along with the foundation and development of porcelain industries there were professional schools focused on training skilled craftsmen to work in the factory, in particular schools in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv; Myrhorod Art and Industrial School in Poltava region, etc.). The high-quality training of pottery and porcelain and faience specialists, teachers of graphic arts and drawing, masters of artistic decoration of products ready to perform significant amounts of physical work - making tiles, bulky dishes, decorating the facades of churches, houses, fireplaces, creating sculptures, interior and exterior decorations - was facilitated by the activities of famous artists and teachers S. Maslenikov, O. Slastion, and V. Krychevskyi, who also supervised the production of outstanding works and participation in industrial exhibitions. Key words: decorative and applied arts, ethnological training of specialists, porcelain production, domestic and foreign experience, ethnography.

The Impact of Using Heritage Architectural Elements in The Facades of Contemporary Buildings: The Shanashil in the Facades of Contemporary Houses in Iraq

The Impact of Using Heritage Architectural Elements in The Facades of Contemporary Buildings: The Shanashil in the Facades of Contemporary Houses in Iraq

Productive Facade Studies With Rule-Based Design: Ankara Çınar Street Sampling

The architectural design process, which has a multi-component structure, is redefined with technological up-to-date systems in addition to the unchanging basic design principles in the face of changing needs. This change in the design process, with the inclusion of computer-aided productive approaches in the process, provides original and alternative design outputs in architectural formation. In this study, house facades were analyzed with the shape grammar, which is the rule-based analysis method of the detached house pattern in Ankara, Yenimahalle Çınar Street, which has survived to the present day. This detached house pattern, designed in 1948 and after, reflects the cultural, economic, and aesthetic features of the period. It is valuable in these respects and is the first modern construction study in the history of the Republic of Turkey. Although few examples remain today, they are rapidly replaced by high-rise residences. These newly constructed high-rise buildings do not provide a linguistic unity with the texture of the environment. For the sustainability of Çınar Street’s architectural values, it is of great importance to determine this grammar and to take it into practice with new technologies. In this study, detached houses on Çınar Street are discussed in the context of architectural language, and the rules of formation are determined. The facades, whose architectural form was determined, were tried to be reproduced using the same rules by computer-aided design. The study aims to be a reference for the facade designs of new high-rise residences and to maintain the urban texture by preserving it. In this context, it will contribute to architectural and social sustainability in today’s architecture and designs made using advanced technology.

HABERMAS MODEL AND AESTHETIC PREFERENCE EVALUATION OF HOUSE FACADES: INSIGHTS FROM ERBIL CITY

Introduction: Architecture is a discipline distinguished through diversity, message transmission, and communication. Purpose of the study: A notable phenomenon has been noticed in Erbil: most of the units in the typical housing complexes started to redesign or change the facade characteristics. These changes were the result of the psychological trait of aesthetic preference. This study aims to analyze aesthetic preference parameters to identify communicative action using the Habermas model of communicative action. The analysis of the effective factors contributed to the understanding of these changes. Methods: The methodology of this study combines case study formal analysis and a proper questionnaire survey. A statistical analysis of the obtained results was used to formulate research objectives. Results: Five parameters derived from the theoretical framework (unity, scale, color, proportion, and balance) serve as elements and principles of design that affect the aesthetics. As a result, the study concludes that unity, proportion, and balance are the main factors to create a pleasing aesthetic appearance on the house facades.

Investigating the Geoenvironmental and Climatic Impacts on the Facades of Historical Houses in Killit (Dereiçi) Village, Mardin

Killit (Dereici), which is largely abandoned today, is an Assyrian village thought to have a population of more than 20,000 spread around the world. The Kilit (Dereiçi) village of Savur stands out as a rare example in the world with its multi-identity structure. The street façades of this Assyrian village, which has such cultural importance, can be clearly seen today, due to various factors. The aim of the study is to investigate the damage patterns and the factors affecting the durability of Kilit (Dereici) street facades (Old Bazaar). For this purpose, observational detection method was used and the findings were presented based on the dictionary of stone deterioration patterns prepared by ICOMOS-ISCS,2008. As a result of the study, the most intense deteriorations observed on the street facades; cement-induced faulty repairs made between the joints of the stone blocks on the facades and ‘crack, disintegration, erosion, ‘missing part, discolouration’ on the stone surfaces exposed to climate impact for a long time.

The Interrelationship between the Design of House Facades and the Architectural Identity of the City: Amman City as a Model

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the evolution of architectural identity in Amman's house facades, emphasizing the reciprocal influences between these facades and the city's overall architectural identity. Methods: The study employed a historical overview of Amman, examined the evolution of residential facades, and incorporated insights from pioneering architects through research and interviews. Analysis focused on a set of multi-story residential facades sharing certain characteristics but differing in construction stages and city locations. The goal was to understand mutual influences between architectural identity and dwelling facades. Results: The study revealed Amman's residential facades evolved from spontaneous beginnings to controlled designs influenced by local architects and municipal regulations. This led to a distinctive Urban Cubist character. Mutual influences between dwelling facades and city identity were identified, shaped by political, economic, social, and cultural factors, as well as materials. Global capitalism and new market mechanisms contributed to diverse intellectual styles, influencing the city's architectural identity. Conclusions: The study recommends reevaluating regulations for architectural facades to boost place identity for new architects. Additionally, it suggests establishing the architectural identity of the city, understanding Amman's urban growth, exploring the city's architectural identity in relation to Jordanian societal perspectives on buildings, and promoting architectural culture in academic settings.

Sound Insulation of Dwellings Façades – the Case of Santiago de Chile

The increment in the number of automobiles and the densification of the city has increased noise pollution rates. In addition, the lack of regulation in Chile regarding the acoustic insulation of fa¸cades is a problem of a growing concern. The main objective of the present study was to obtain a model of the Sound Insulation of housing, facades, stratified in Santiago, Chile, based on constructive variables. It is expected to serve as a basis for one future regulation for acoustic facades of houses. In the present study, tests based on the international ISO 140-5 standard were carried out in situ. An estimation model of the Standardized Level Difference Dls;2m;nT;w + C, was obtained based on the opening/facade proportion, and the type of glass used for the windows.

Construction of pavers from drilling cuttings as an alternative for environmental management of waste

The management of drilling waste represents a problem of high economic and environmental impact for operating companies. This is due to its polluting components that, besides being dangerous for the environment, must be treated with special care. The cuttings generated during drilling which are normally impregnated with water-based and oil-based muds, represent most of this solid waste. In this work, it is proposed to treat the drilling cuts to be used as raw material for construction of paving stones that can be used as construction material in platforms and facades of buildings or houses, being an alternative of innovative and high impact disposition. For the foregoing, a determined volume of drilling cuttings from a well of a Magdalena Medio field was used as a test, performing all the usual solids control treatment, passing through shakers, desander, desilter and mud cleaner. After treating the perforation cuts, they were dried in an oven between 110 and 150 °C for 24 hours. Then the sample was allowed to cool to grind it and bring it below 45 microns; where it was finally used as material for the construction of the paving stone, to which the resistance tests established in the NTC 2017 standard were carried out. Results show that the use of some drilling cuttings in the construction industry is viable. Conversely, the comparison was made with a conventional way of managing the gravel when it was reused in the production of cobblestones, obtaining a reduction of up to 34% of the associated costs and when there are greater than 12,000 barrels of waste. Additionally, it is used to generate valuable items and avoids the disposal of waste material

The Architecture of Social Reform: Housing, Tradition, and German Modernism

Architecture and housing are embedded in their social, cultural, and political context. Historical treatises on the idealized notions of family, household, and community uncover the continuous and complex interplay between the printed and the built. The Architecture of Social Reform: Housing, Tradition and German Modernism by Isabel Rousset examines the productive dialogue between social policy and architecture by analyzing a variety of sources ranging from historic publications over floor plans and master plans to drawings of interiors and photographs. The author, focusing on the era of Social Reform following the revolution in 1948, explores the discursive processes that shaped concepts of German housing in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The author investigates several nineteenth-century publications on the ideals of housing and town planning that formed German modernism. The book starts with an in-depth analysis of Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl’s traditionalist and conservative approach to social reform, which this Bavarian folklorist and proto-sociologist had based on the studies of geography, family, and society. According to Rousset, Riehl’s notion of building from the inside out and his ideas on the ideal household based on the self-enclosed, detached house decisively influenced early modernist architecture in Germany. In the second chapter, the author assesses the concept of interiorization of dwellings by studying floor plans and interpreting the tenement versus suburban settlement debate. The cultural mission of the German middle class is expressed through the design of the dwelling. In the third chapter, Rousset explores the linkages between the principles of modern city planning (Städtebau) and the medieval archetypes as well as urban planning and housing. The fourth chapter is dedicated to the concept of “Sachlichkeit” (objectivity). The author describes how architects, Paul Schulze-Naumburg, Paul Mebes, and Hermann Muthesius, translated this idea into the principles of straightforward housing design. Photography (of extant housing facades) was crucial to the promotion of ‘the culture of the visible’. In this chapter, the author also analyses the use of publications in popularizing principles of simplistic design that amalgamate tradition with modernity. In conclusion, Rousset highlights the continuity of concepts between the nineteenth-century traditionalist architects and town planners with CIAM and Modernist avant-garde. The author closes with a pledge to reconsider the productive alliance between social reform and architecture to resolve class antagonisms and reenact communities by focusing on the ‘good, modest and traditional housing’ (p. 197). The chapters of the book are self-contained and can be read separately.

Effect of urban morphology and greening on noise and air pollution - case studies including disease burden estimates

Exposure of both noise and air pollution due to road traffic in urban environments has been calculated and evaluated for multiple cases assuming constant total traffic flow. A model study in an urban setting used 31 cases of building morphologies and traffic concentration. An evaluating second set was based on a real case of an arterial road transformed into a boulevard. Besides the effect of building morphology, the effects of driving speed, electric vehicles and urban greening were studied. The levels of noise exposure (Lden and Lnight at housing facades) and air pollution (NO2 and PM10 at sidewalks and yards) were calculated as input to estimating the health impact using DALY (Disability-Adjusted Life Years) per person. Openings in building blocks were shown to impair the noise situation but improve air quality. Nonconflicting positive results were shown for several solutions including densification by complementing the blocks with towers, transitioning to electric vehicles in combination with reduced vehicle speed, and traffic concentration by locating all local traffic to a single, widened road. Urban greening was shown to improve the noise situation whereas air quality varied due to the interaction between wind speed, dispersion, and filtering effect of leaves.

The Significance and representation of aesthetic among users in residential facades design: The case of the facades of self-build houses in the city of Biskra

Facades are perceived as such a body shape in their urban surrounding, their beauty and significance are felt through the impact we feel towards their representativity and shape’s features. The aesthetic of the buildings’ facades has been a subject study for a set of researchers that tried to adjust the significance of expressions that deal with an aesthetic concept that is characterized by subjectivity. This is by identifying the physical properties of the interface that are most affecting the behavior of the recipient by acceptance, in order to rely on them objectively during the design process. How can we define then the aesthetic meanings and perceptions of buildings’ facades and their components among their users, especially in self-construction housing neighborhoods? Considering them as users, creators and they helped the architects in their design. Its own aesthetics is the reflection of a certain socio-cultural level, besides a certain knowledge and experience that are responsible for the construction of a popular building which is the result of the awareness (EGO). for that reason, this essay tends to shed the light on the social representation of certain buildings’ facades users, built as a self-construction model in Beni Morah (I) in Biskra (the case study), on the meaning of a beautiful facade, and its components’ significance. To make this proposition come true, we focused on analyzing social imagination methodology as an objective approach by making a list of ten expressions that are meaningful on three sides: physical indication (clear model, all its components are complete, more sophisticated), moral indication (social class, ego, more diversified and coherent, more balanced and an innovating element), pragmatic (protection and convenience). To monitor the content of the studied social perception structure a questionnaire was distributed to a sample consisting of 30 users where the degrees of approval of these statements were structured on the basis of a structural model that allows them to be classified and to determine the relationships between them and the degrees of their correlation at the same time. By using data (Dendrograms) that provided an automatic statistical computing system which allows the explanation of the general considerations that rely on the sample’s perception of the buildings concerned with the study. The results showed that the classification of the meaning relies mainly on instinctive perception (diversity – harmony, totality), and secondarily on socio-cultural considerations (Ego, social class, more sophisticated and innovated). And less importantly the scientific knowledge of the architecture (a clear model, well-balanced, convenient- protection) shows that this aesthetic side is proper to a popular building but nothing more.

Street Art out of Time

The small town of Asilah in the north of Morocco holds an annual international festival of visual and performance arts, including exhibitions, workshops, conferences, and other parallel activities. However, it is best known for the murals that are painted every year anew by invited artists on the facades of old town houses. Founded in 1978, the Arts Festival or Cultural Moussem of Asilah qualifies as the first street art festival in Morocco and has significantly shaped the cultural context for arts to interact with public spaces. It has, in particular, linked street art manifestations to ideas of cultural dialogue and south-south alliances as well as to urban regeneration and social development. At the same time, the Festival has been criticized for using the integrative concept of the moussem, a traditional communal festivity, for cultural marketing and for connecting arts and culture to the power of the monarchy. By focusing on political, aesthetic, and urban aspects of the institutionalization of the Asilah Festival, this article draws a genealogical perspective on entanglements of art, public culture, and urban politics in Morocco. It thereby analyzes the cultural context in which street art finds its place, meaning, and critical potential today.

Psychological attributes of house facades: A graph network approach in environmental psychology

The interaction between humans and their living environments is of ubiquitous nature, however the relationship between environmental psychology and cognitive neuropsychology has scarcely been explored. Environmental psychology has approached the human-environment relation through psychological concepts such as affordance, attachment, identity, safety, or aesthetic preference. Cognitive neuropsychology, on the other hand, frequently uses houses as stimuli in object- and face-processing research. This study combines concepts from the two disciplines (cognitive neuropsychology and environmental psychology) to explore the interrelation between the architecture of living environments, human cognition and emotion.Using network analysis, we aimed to examine the underlying relationship between self-reported psychological attributes, and to explore the role of differences between three countries in appraisals of house facades. To that end, we used 50 images of house facades selected from a well-controlled data set of Canadian houses (DalHouses). 305 participants from Denmark, Germany, and Canada rated the houses on 12 psychological attribute dimensions.Results showed the highest strength for the nodes “friendliness”, “likability”, “invitingness”, “safety”, and “freedom”, while “typicality” and “familiarity” were unexpectedly low in strength. In terms of cultural differences, the three countries diverged in some correlations, e.g. facelikeness and loneliness, loneliness and freedom, but not in others, e.g. typicality and safety. Similar to the DalHouses study, "facelikeness" was not correlated with “typicality” nor with “liking”.Taken together, the present results identify psychological attributes that cluster together and could be particularly important in the characterization of house facades on a universal level, but also specific to different cultural and geographical backgrounds.

Shape Grammar for House Facade along the Alley in Urban Kampung, Tambora, Jakarta

The shape grammar can reveal the socio-spatial uniqueness that moulds the geometric shapes and elements of the house facade in a dense area of the urban kampung. The façade tends to not have the exact pattern due to adjustment of daily activities and needs in Tambora Jakarta. However, the grassroots have formed the pattern of events along the alley that represents contexts like milieu, economics, and social conditions. The alley has overlapping layers between private and public activities, which contribute to the geometric shapes and elements of the façade in Tambora. The house facade depicts activities and relationships inside and outside that manifest in geometric shapes and elements of the facade. Hereafter, this research combines the shape grammar for the geometric pattern of the facade and the pattern language for the qualitative contexts. The first step is categorising the geometric shapes and elements of the facade and the socio-spatial aspects into defined shape rules. Then, mapping the pattern language of activities and needs between inside–house program and outside–the use of space along the alley to delineate spatial relation. The result intends to comprehend the correlation between the logic of the geometric shape and facade elements concerning the qualitative context.

Comparative analysis of the state of conservation of social housing facades in Pelotas/RS

The housing projects is the way most used by the Brazilian federal government to attend the housing demand of the low-income population. The low quality in the production process leads to a greater need for maintenance, which becomes critical due to the limited availability of resources for residents, influencing user satisfaction. In this context, this study aimed to compare the survey of data obtained in 2010 in the INQUALHIS project on pathological manifestations in newly built housing projects with the surveys of pathological manifestations carried out in 2016 and 2019 of the same housing projects, analyzing the evolution of the state of conservation of the facades. The housing complexes presented problems related to use and lack of maintenance. This study, in addition to serving to detect the pathological manifestations of the objects of study, verified the post-occupancy evaluation - higher incidences of pathological manifestations, led to greater dissatisfaction of residents with the facades of buildings due to their bad appearance. In addition, observing the types of manifestations incident on the facades of both surveys, it was possible to perceive that the survey carried out in the newly built projects already revealed a predisposition of the most incident types in each set.