Visual Connections Research Articles

Urban Green Space Rehabilitation in Campo Grande, MS. An Overview of the Anhandui River Current Situation, Post Revitalization Project

Research has shown that Urban Green Spaces (UGS) can have a direct impact on urban health and well-being, being able to help combat urban ill and improve life quality. This short paper presents an investigation of the importance of urban greenery and how it can benefit life in the urban environment. Furthermore, it analyses the current situation of the Anhanduí river, located in the Brazilian city of Campo Grande - MS, after the revitalization project from 2018. Based on relevant literature review and systematic field assessment realised in person in January 2019, this review aims to identify if the main issues (erosion and landslide, flood control and water quality, lack of ecological, visual and functional connections, ecological degradation, loss of identity and native vegetation) encountered in the earlier research were properly solved. Preliminary evaluations indicated severe neglect at the river’s riparian zone, thus immensurable loss of original vegetation and delay in the construction sites.

Visual commonsense reasoning with directional visual connections

Visual commonsense reasoning with directional visual connections

FEATURES OF FORMATION OF VIEWING STREETS AND PLATFORMS OF LVIV

The article investigates the species streets and squares of Lviv, highlights the principles of their location and establishes their significance for the perception of the urban environment. Particular attention is paid to the formation of streets during the reconstruction. Emphasis is placed on the importance of viewing platforms for the formation of the city's silhouette and the perception of its image.
 Viewpoints are an integral part of the spatial composition of the city. With their professional location, the city acquires greater aesthetic perfection. The environment becomes more comfortable and attractive from an aesthetic point of view. Accordingly, the architectural value of the space grows, the city acquires compositional expressiveness, a unique image is created.
 At the beginning of the study, the viewpoints of the city were divided into two main groups: viewing streets and viewing platforms. Each of these groups is important for the formation of the overall composition of the city. Several viewing streets were explored and the focus was on their visual connections. Species sites in Lviv were analyzed in the following locations: Vysokyi Zamok mountain; the tower of the church of St. Olga-Elizabeth; Town Hall Tower; ferris wheel in B. Khmelnytsky Park. Their significance for the perception of the image of the city is determined.
 Lviv has a unique history and architecture. The location on a hilly terrain adds to the city's attractiveness and charm. For centuries, our architects have made sure that the city is perceived as a holistic compositional system with its dominants and visual connections.
 Now Lviv is being renewed and developing at a very fast pace as a European city. Therefore, it is very important that the new building does not distort what was created by many generations of architects, but only adds attractiveness and individuality.
 View points are important for the formation of the attractiveness of the image of the city, so special attention should be paid to the preservation of existing view streets and areas and the organization of new ones. During the formation of species points, the following features should be taken into account:
 1) When forming new elements of the city it is necessary to take into account the location of existing viewing streets and areas. It is very important that the new objects do not obscure the existing visual connections that have been formed over the centuries and play the most important role in the perception of the image of the city.
 2) When building the areas under inspection - to coordinate the form with the environment. So that the high-rise buildings of the new areas do not distort the view of the city from the historic environment.
 3) When placing new observation decks, take into account the orientation relative to the sides of the world, so that the observer can inspect the color picture, not just the silhouette.
 The spatial organization of viewpoints will not only improve the aesthetic qualities of the city, highlight individual features, improve the perception of the image as a whole, but can also be used to attract tourists.

FREE SPACE AS AN ELEMENT OF OPEN-AIR MUSEUMS’ EXHIBITION

In the area of architectural heritage preservation, the leveling of monument objects’ environment is an important problem. The essence of the monuments is laid not only in their material structure but also in a historically formed environment and spatial configuration that exhibits their historical and cultural content, enriches artistic properties.
 Open-air museums are specific institutions that are characterized by the use of not only monumental volumes and structures but also the free space between them. Cultural landscapes - lands of estates and residences, parks in palace ensembles, territories of monastic complexes, industrial landscapes, memorial places, and archaeological complexes become elements of the exhibition. Features of exhibition space organization in open-air museums are not sufficiently highlighted in scientific literature.
 Depending on the selected exhibition concept, a set of activities of the museum is determined and the museum zoning occurs. The use of free spaces is divided into two levels depending on the scale – urban planning and architectural. The urban planning level is responsible for the environmental design of the overall space of the ensemble or the complex of monuments. The architectural level of open-air museum formation envisages the organization of existing buildings, structures, and areas between them.
 On the urban-planning level, it is important to ensure the convenience of the visual perception of the complex: to reveal the most interesting fragments of the environment and visual connections, to emphasize the basic aesthetic, associative, symbolic, and practical properties of cultural landscapes within the open-air museum. On the architectural level of organization, free spaces become the basis for many activities - various educational, cultural, and entertainment events.
 Free space in museums serves as an exhibit, an element of activity processes and various events, and also serves as a basic tool for detecting and emphasizing the characteristic features of exhibited complexes and ensembles.

How do atria affect navigation in multi-level museum environments?

How do people explore multiplex environments? What role do atria play in spatial navigation? These are critical questions for architectural design. However, few studies have examined the role atria play in visitors’ exploration of museums. Consequently, the relationship between free exploration and the design of atria in museums is not well understood. A pilot study in the Ashmolean Museum indicated that atria influence navigation. The Museum, therefore, lends itself as a case study to assess the impact of visual connections upon exploration and orientation. We present an experimental study with two conditions: a highly-detailed realistic virtual model of the building and a modified virtual model of the same building, eliminating the views crossing through the atria. Two hypotheses are tested: first, that visitors’ paths will be different depending on the amount of visual information they receive inside each experimental condition; second, that visitors’ ease of exploring and viewing the environment will also differ. Analysis confirmed that participants followed different paths in the two experimental conditions. Users visiting the exact model turned their heads around fewer times than users visiting the modified model. These findings suggest that atria play a significant role in nudging movement and affect the ease of navigation.

Biophilic photobiological adaptive envelopes for sub-Arctic buildings: Exploring impacts of window sizes and shading panels’ color, reflectance, and configuration

Northern building envelopes must provide efficient indoor-outdoor connections based on photobiological-psychological needs of occupants for positive relationships with the sub-Arctic nature, particularly daylighting and day/night cycles. Envelope configurations of Northern Canada’s buildings have not yet considered such requirements. Potentials of adaptive systems are also still limited. This research develops a fundamental model of adaptive multi-skin envelopes for sub-Arctic buildings based on main biophilic and photobiological indicators which characterize efficient indoor-outdoor connections. Biophilic indicators characterize the state of connections among occupants and outdoors which could stimulate biological-psychological responses. Photobiological indicators determine human-centric lighting adaptation scenarios for hourly lighting qualities and sufficient darkness in relation to local day/night cycles and daylighting. Biophilic performance of the proposed envelope was evaluated through 18 numerical models in terms of impacts of window and shading sizes on occupants’ field of views. Photobiological lighting performance was evaluated by experimental methods using 23 physical models at 1:10 scale. Surface characteristics of dynamic shading panels, including color, reflectance, orientation, and inclination, were studied for potential photobiological impacts in terms of melanopic/photopic ratios and color temperatures. Results show that the proposed envelope could (i) offer acceptable direct visual connections with the outdoor nature through efficient window sizes for biophilia, and (ii) modify daylighting qualities to address hourly/seasonal photobiological needs of sub-Arctic occupants. Challenges of the proposed envelope to implement under sub-Arctic climatic conditions are underlined especially in terms of energy issues. The research outcomes help architects and decision-makers to improve occupants’ wellbeing and healthy buildings in sub-Arctic climates.

Reconstructed Nostalgia

In chillwave, synthwave, vaporwave, and their respective subgenres, a common element is the thread of nostalgia, constant in each. This is the case for both the cover art used for these releases, as well as compositional techniques used in the music itself. Although these genres certainly approach nostalgia in different ways, they each rely on imagery that evokes nostalgic feelings or memories in a form of collective, imaginative self-soothing. The memories evoked, however, tend to rely on unrealistic depictions of reality and center on times and places that have perhaps only existed in the listener’s imagination. This article argues that the re-interpretation of cultural memory is an important structural feature in chillwave, synthwave, vaporwave, and vaporwave subgenres such as mallsoft and the associated Japanese “city pop” revival. Through a discussion of the visual and musical connections that draw these genres together, the concepts of nostalgia in music (as well as the related concept of “reconstructed nostalgia”) are explored. An examination of listeners’ narrative explorations of these genres posted online suggests that users engage knowingly and willingly with this “reconstructed nostalgia.” Ultimately, this forms a collaborative and collective universe used by listeners as a method of escapism, through both their own imaginations and online comments.

An Arthurian Knight in Ivory and Ink

Manuscript Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12577 and ivory casket Musée du Louvre, OA 122, and are two of three extant fourteenth-century visualizations of Chrétien’s Le Conte du Graal, produced in Paris circa 1310-1330. Although the objects’ shared era of production suggests similarities of iconography, artistic influences, and production methods, little research has been conducted regarding visual and cultural connections between MS fr. 12577 and OA 122. Through iconographic and stylistic analysis of the scenes each artisan depicted within his respective medium, I elucidate how the casket and manuscript’s imagery personifies Perceval’s dual nature, a young knight symbolic of the secular and sacred. As visualizations of Chrétien’s most religiously-minded legend, MS fr. 12577 and OA 122 exemplify the intertwining of the sacred and secular within fourteenth-century French romantic art, specifically within illuminated manuscripts and carved ivory, materials that through their refinement, rarity, and expense, signified leisure, luxury, and nobility. By examining these two opulent objects, I provide insights into their purpose and significance in late medieval France, especially cultural crossover between the porous realms of sacred and secular medieval life.

ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЙ ГОРОД В СОВРЕМЕННОЙ КУЛЬТУРЕ: КУЛЬТУРОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ДИСКУРС И ЮРИДИЧЕСКИЙ СТАТУС

The article aims to define the essence of the concept «historic city» in contemporary humanitarian knowledge. The article is based on analyzing the legal and culturological discourses on the historic city. Historical and cultural research method allows us to identify the reasons for the definition «historic city» to appear and trace the process of its development and transformation. The author focuses on the legal context in which the process of understanding the category of «historic city» goes through the search for and justification of unified criteria and signs of «historicity» of the city, determined by the value of architectural and urban heritage, and on assigning the status of «historic» to the city. There are certain criteria used for assessing historical and cultural value of a city. They are sign-markers of time, style and image, sign-symbols and sign-copies used for determining urban planning, historical, functional, architectural, aesthetic, emotional, artistic and scientific-cognitive value of the city historic environment. Apart from the subject of protection (valuable urban objects, planning, three-dimensional structure, compositional and visual connections), the legitimacy of the official status «historic city» is determined by such categories as protection zones and the boundaries of protection zones. The culturological discourse of the historic city is based on an a priori acceptance of the city as a unique phenomenon and then on its comprehensive integrative study. A defining characteristic of the historic city is the thesis of its integrity, the impossibility of «detailed» consideration. Scientists formulate the view of the historic city through the prism of this thesis in different ways: the city as a complex social organism with its own physiology, anatomy and psychology; the city as an integral socio-cultural formation, a complex self-developing system, represented in the material, spiritual and artistic culture; the Russian provincial historic city as a cultural universe, where two major problems come to the fore, i.e. the problem of the formation context and current existence of the historic city and the problem of personality. The author notes that the cultural discourse is more versatile and relevant, and should be taken into account in determining the legal status of the historic city.

АНАЛИЗ СОВРЕМЕННОГО СОСТОЯНИЯ И ПРОЕКТНЫЕ ПРЕДЛОЖЕНИЯ ПО ВОССТАНОВЛЕНИЮ ВИЗУАЛЬНЫХ СВЯЗЕЙ НА ОСИ БОЛЬШОГО КАСКАДА НБС-ННЦ РАН

Nikitsky Botanical Garden is one of the oldest botanical institutions in Russia. For more than two centuries of history, the appearance of the garden has repeatedly changed. A significant amount of work on the development of the territory dates back to the post-war period. In the late 40s, a staircase with a cascade of pools was erected, the structure of the axis of which is built on the principle of an enfilade with adjacent spatial elements that create a through expressive perspective. The appearance of the cascade changed in the following years. The conducted historical analysis and visual full-scale surveys of the Lower Park of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden along the axis of the Cascade Staircase showed the loss of the integrity of the visual connection between the spatial elements. The article proposes the concept of restoring visual connections. The territory of the object was divided according to the compositional principle into six zones. The space includes a number of viewpoints from which an overview of various parts of the landscape is revealed, consisting of viewing platforms, vegetation, water objects and other elements connected by stairs. It is possible to restore the connections between the viewpoints of the garden and the landscapes perceived from them on this object using the methods of arboristics and arboplasty. This will significantly improve the aesthetic appearance of the space, restore its integrity and a certain solemnity inherent in the formation.

Spatial clustering of orientation preference in primary visual cortex of the large rodent agouti.

SummaryAll rodents investigated so far possess orientation-selective neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) but – in contrast to carnivores and primates – no evidence of periodic maps with pinwheel-like structures. Theoretical studies debating whether phylogeny or universal principles determine development of pinwheels point to V1 size as a critical constraint. Thus, we set out to study maps of agouti, a big diurnal rodent with a V1 size comparable to cats'. In electrophysiology, we detected interspersed orientation and direction-selective neurons with a bias for horizontal contours, corroborated by homogeneous activation in optical imaging. Compatible with spatial clustering at short distance, nearby neurons tended to exhibit similar orientation preference. Our results argue against V1 size as a key parameter in determining the presence of periodic orientation maps. They are consistent with a phylogenetic influence on the map layout and development, potentially reflecting distinct retinal traits or interspecies differences in cortical circuitry.

MiR-29 coordinates age-dependent plasticity brakes in the adult visual cortex.

Visual cortical circuits show profound plasticity during early life and are later stabilized by molecular "brakes" limiting excessive rewiring beyond a critical period. The mechanisms coordinating the expression of these factors during the transition from development to adulthood remain unknown. We found that miR-29a expression in the visual cortex dramatically increases with age, but it is not experience-dependent. Precocious high levels of miR-29a blocked ocular dominance plasticity and caused an early appearance of perineuronal nets. Conversely, inhibition of miR-29a in adult mice using LNA antagomirs activated ocular dominance plasticity, reduced perineuronal nets, and restored their juvenile chemical composition. Activated adult plasticity had the typical functional and proteomic signature of critical period plasticity. Transcriptomic and proteomic studies indicated that miR-29a manipulation regulates the expression of plasticity brakes in specific cortical circuits. These data indicate that miR-29a is a regulator of the plasticity brakes promoting age-dependent stabilization of visual cortical connections.

The Representational Function of Clinic Design: Staff and Patient Perceptions of Teamwork.

This study empirically investigates the relationships between visibility attributes and both patients' and staff members' teamwork experiences. Teamwork among healthcare professionals is critical for the safety and quality of patient care. While a patient-centered, team-based care approach is promoted in primary care clinics, little is known about how clinic layouts can support the teamwork experiences of staff and patients in team-based primary clinics. This article measured teamwork perceptions of staff members and patients at four primary care clinics providing team-based care. Visual access to staff workstations from both staff and patient perspectives was analyzed using VisualPower tool(version 21). The relationships between teamwork perception and visibility attributes were analyzed for each entity: staff members and patients. The results showed that the visual relationships among staff members and those between staff members and patients have significant associations with overall perceptions of teamwork. While clinics providing more visual connections between staff workstations reported higher teamwork perception of staff members, patient perceptions of staff teamwork were inversely related to the number of visual connections between patients and staff workstations. The findings of the study provide implications for designing team-based primary care clinics to enhance the teamwork experience of both staff members and patients, which is also applicable to teamwork perceptions in other settings where both inhabitants and visitors are main user groups of the spaces. This study illustrates the representational function of space: Organizations can emphasize their values via layout design by regulating what they show to inhabitants or visitors.

A new concept of adaptive complexity

Animate systems can organize their complexities to stay alive. They run in easiest ways within specific boundaries to keep their existence and to maintain highest levels of interaction with their surrounding environments. They are (living) systems of emergent (adaptive) and evolved (survived) complexities. The focus here will be on adaptive complexities of their flexible structures. Man-made systems, like cities, are constructed and shaped by instant and accumulative human decisions. Metaphorical questions about the possibility of these systems to behave alike are re-raised. It is argued that their emergent (generative) processes according to optimal combinations of physical and visual connections would enhance their adaptivity. A different method, derived from space syntax, provides a new tool for detecting and estimating these adaptive complexities. It provides measurable dimensions, as sensitive indicators, of adaptive complexities and explains how their continual and generative (size-dependence) processes emerge. In (2D) systems, it is found that organized complexities have adaptive dimensions of fractal values approach to (DA≈1-2). Also, from results on the grounds, each existing urban fabric has a structure with a specific and comparable local and global adaptive dimension. More supportive researches and applications in various (2D) and (3D) systems are needed to develop the concept.

Beyond Co-location: Visual Connections of Staff Workstations and Staff Communication in Primary Care Clinics

The importance of communication among healthcare providers has been long recognized, and many healthcare organizations are implementing team-based care, with emphasis on staff communication. While previous empirical studies in various settings illustrate the role of built environments in user communication, there is a lack of quantified interpersonal spatial metrics to predict interactions. This study investigates how interpersonal spatial metrics at different scales predict staff communication patterns by empirically studying four primary care clinics that provide team-based care. We found that staff members in clinics with higher visual connections among staff members reported more timely and frequent communication. We also found that staff members talked to each other more frequently when their workstations were visually connected. The findings of this study are expected to help designers and facility managers provide well-designed team-based clinic layouts, beyond just shared work spaces for team members, for improved staff communication.

Transformations of ground floors: effects on the perception of security and the occurrence of crime

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the effects of transformations of the levels of visual and functional permeability and the types of uses on the ground floors of buildings on the perception of security and the occurrence of residential burglary, theft in residence, pedestrian mugging, vehicle robbery, vehicle theft and theft of items inside a vehicle on selected blocks.Design/methodology/approachNine blocks divided into three groups were selected in Capão da Canoa, a Brazilian city that has been undergoing morphological transformations, including the replacement of buildings with residences and shops on the ground floor, with doors and windows facing the street, by buildings with a predominance of garage doors and blind walls on the ground floors. Data were collected through the application of questionnaires and interviews.FindingsThe results reveal, for example, that perception of greater security is related to the blocks with a greater number of functional and visual connections between the ground floor interfaces of the buildings and the open public spaces. In addition, the night period records the higher number of criminal occurrences, even on blocks with higher rates of visual and functional connections between the ground floor interfaces and the public open space and higher rates of residential and commercial uses on the ground floor of the buildings.Originality/valueIt is expected that the results of this paper will allow for greater knowledge and the revision of many urban guidelines regarding the effects of the transformations of ground floor interfaces from traditional to contemporary buildings in the perception of security and the occurrence of crimes in public open spaces and in neighbouring residential units. It is further evidenced the need to recognize the ground floor interface as an element of public interest, even if it belongs to a private property. Nonetheless, further research is needed on the relationships between the quantifications of the levels of visual and functional permeability, the different types of uses on the ground floor of buildings, movement of people and crimes in open spaces and buildings in different periods of the day.

Fetishizing the Foot: Mobility and Meaning in Indian Ocean Sandals

Fetishizing the Foot: Mobility and Meaning in Indian Ocean Sandals

The Impact of Multi-functionality in Promoting the Aesthetic Values of Modern Islamic Architecture

Relationship between function and aesthetic has been occupied researchers, philosophers, artists and architects considerably to define meanings and to show significance degree of mutual influences. This analytical research investigates – How multi-functionality improve aesthetic values of architectural forms in contemporary Islamic architecture. We have defined procedurally the concept of multi-functionality as a potential forces of generative centers and aesthetic as geometrical coherence of architectural form. The absence of clear relations between multi-functionality and how it can be used to improve aesthetic values formed a basic research problem. The main target of this research is to determine how designers can enhancing aesthetic values of forms by using different functions. We suppose that multi-functionality improve the aesthetic values of the architectural form by strengthening geometrical coherence. We selected Five projects of contemporary Islamic centers and sample of 20 person’s. Semantic differential scale was used to analyze variables. The research found that multi-functionality has a great role in supporting the aesthetic values of architectural form by defining physical characters, Identifying and intensifying its visual and physical connections.

The Importance of Video Visits in the Time of COVID-19.

The Importance of Video Visits in the Time of COVID-19.

The Digital Reconstruction of Leonardo’s Library


 The present article combines an individual, object-based approach with digital technologies with the aim to define the relation of verbal and visual inscriptions in Leonardo da Vinci’s technical-scientific and literary-artistic works. By conducting a comparative analysis of Leonardo’s folios featuring fables, emblems, and engineering projects,I identify the archetypes of this interaction in the books contained in his personal library and examine the convergence of his use of empirical, diagrammatic, and pictorial strategies toward the investigation of nature. The material component of this study consists in a series of analytical drawing tables which examine recurrent patterns, and textual and visual connections in Leonardo’s manuscripts. The identified patterns are subsequently cataloged and examined through the web-publishing platform “LILeo” created in collaboration with the Rutgers Digital Humanities Laboratory as part of my dissertation project. By digitally highlighting the interaction of elements on the space of the page, and enabling the layering of drafts belonging to similar projects in Leonardo’s works and sources, this study traces the formal patterns of the artist’s analytical thinkingin order to uncover the origins of his interdisciplinary research.