Architecture, Structures and Construction最新文献

Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH) is known as ‘Bara’ and is the largest public hospital in Africa and the third largest in the world, with approximately 3,200 beds. It has 407 buildings and operates on a 24-h basis. Hospitals have experienced hazardous fires, which can result in loss of life, pollution, and property damage. The purpose of this study was to investigate the current fire protection systems at CHBAH to determine whether they can protect the hospital community during fire outbreaks. The research questions for the study are as follows: 1. What is the current state of the hospital regarding fire protection systems? 2. What is the current international practice of safety at hospitals? 3. What is the best practice regarding the maintenance of the fire protection system at hospitals? 4. What are the perceptions of hospital staff about hospital fire protection systems? This study used a mixed-methods research approach with cross-sectional analysis. The population consisted of the hospital community, which included top management, specialists, doctors, nurses, administration staff, and general workers. The sample comprised 280 respondents, 130 observed buildings, and six interviews from top management at CHBAH. Methods used to collect data: questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and observations. The results from questionnaires, observations, and interviews indicated that the maintenance and functionality of fire protection systems at CHBAH were compromised, related to hospital fire safety and compliance with South African National Standard Codes, the City of Johannesburg Bylaws, and other relevant codes to the hospital.

This paper examines the evolving role of engineers in mid-twentieth century Belgian church construction, highlighting how their responsibilities were shaped by shifting institutional structures, economic constraints, and evolving professional hierarchies. Through three case studies—Saint Pius-X (Forest, 1962–1970), Notre-Dame de Stockel (Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, 1962–1967), and Saint-Rita (Harelbeke, 1963–1967)— this paper reconstructs how engineers were appointed, how their roles evolved, and how their contributions intersected with procurement and oversight mechanisms. The findings reveal that engineering authorship was neither linear nor monolithic. Engineers operated within a fragmented decision-making network, where their influence depended on financial, procedural, and regulatory factors. At Saint Pius-X, prefabrication embedded structural expertise within manufacturing, minimizing the role of independent engineers. At Notre-Dame de Stockel, the lack of early oversight led to instability, eventually necessitating SECO’s intervention. Meanwhile, at Saint-Rita, the engineer played a key role in execution but had limited influence on the design, with SECO again ensuring technical precision. More broadly, the study situates these cases within mid-century construction trends, where prefabrication, standardization, and external quality control reinforced a shift from individual expertise to distributed decision-making. By reassessing the role of engineers not only as technical experts but as negotiators within complex construction landscapes, this paper offers a more nuanced understanding of authorship and collaboration in post-war architecture.

Form-finding, the process of determining an equilibrated geometric configuration based on boundary and design conditions, is a key technique in design, yet no comprehensive tool has fully met the demands of practice. This paper introduces a robust and adaptable form-finding method, using a decomposition framework based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers. It breaks large optimization problems into smaller, manageable subproblems, coordinating their solutions to achieve global results. The method balances Dual Decomposition and Augmented Lagrangian techniques while enforcing geometric constraints and equilibrium conditions, ensuring structural stability. Integrated into the parametric CAD environment Grasshopper, this approach enhances accessibility for designers. The paper outlines the algorithm’s mechanics and demonstrates its application through design examples. It provides performance evaluations, highlighting its capabilities and limitations. The method’s ability to combine geometric constraints with equilibrium in a flexible and yet simple to implement optimization framework represents a significant advancement in form-finding.

The urgency of the climate crisis has led to a critical re-evaluation of architectural construction practices. We propose integrating social and environmental aspects into sustainable architectural design, emphasizing resource efficiency by lightweight structures. Elastic grid structures that use flexible, linear elements to span spaces are typically lightweight and optimized for material efficiency, often resulting in repetitive patterns. Similar to elastic grid structures, in nature Weaverbirds bend and twist long, flexible strips to arrange the pattern of their nest structure based on their comfort in their surrounding environment. We explore possibilities aimed at balancing material resources with architectural, structural, and environmental considerations in the design of elastic grid structures. Inspired by Weaverbirds, this paper presents the design, simulation, generation and evaluation of a spatial grid structure with a bespoke combination of strip patterns to control glare, addressing a social aspect of sustainability. The realized structure presents the Asymptotic-Twist-Geodesic (A-T-G) Louvers as an alternative to conventional blinds for office and computer workspaces. The A-T-G Louvers combine two common strip pattern types: geodesic, where the profile is tangential to the surface, and asymptotic, where the profile is orthogonal to the surface, to achieve a more none-repetitive design. To ensure a smooth transition between these two patterns types, the continuous strip profile twists by 90° along its longitudinal direction. Results show an environmentally friendly, low waste lightweight structure that significantly improves indoor comfort, specifically glare. The realized A-T-G Louvers signal a reemergence of flexible grid structures with increased design freedom for sustainable lightweight architecture.

Construction workshops, in which architecture students create physical artefacts, have long been an important part of the architectural curriculum. One well-known type is the design-build workshop, where students participate from conceptual design to real building construction. Still, other types exist, such as model-building workshops to create and test structural systems. While construction workshops are essential in the architectural education of structures and construction, knowledge gaps remain regarding (1) the learning goals they provide, (2) the main characteristics of their learning environment, (3) the evaluation of the student learning, and (4) the interrelation of these factors.

This study conducts a pedagogical analysis of construction workshops using a mixed qualitative research method and triangulating data collected from a substantial literature review and interviews with 11 experienced workshop tutors across Europe. The top-down coding of the data was guided by the extensive workshop experience of the authors and theories of constructive alignment, project-based learning, experiential learning, game-based learning, and collaborative learning, with learning goals divided into skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values.

The findings map a wide range of learning goals that construction workshops can provide and identify the main characteristics of the learning environment. Additionally, this paper presents various factors that motivate student engagement and learning, as well as an analysis of the learning evaluation.

This research aims to enhance the understanding of the educational qualities and design of construction workshops, and calls for further studies on the impact of learning environments on learning outcomes.

This article presents a retrospective analysis of the practice-based research project Burned & Bundled – Unfolding the Will of the Material (2022–23), which explores the tectonic potentials of reed as a sustainable building material in present construction industry. The project resulted in creating full-scale building elements displayed at the exhibition Reset Materials – Toward Sustainable Architecture at Copenhagen Contemporary 2023. The research project was driven by the imperative not to use materials that are depleting resources or affecting ecological systems negatively. Thus, reed was investigated due to its relevance as a biogenic material. The tectonic and cultural dimensions of reed applied for construction have been emphasized, aiming to uncover both the opportunities and challenges associated with using the material in present-day architecture. The experiments included traditional craft techniques such as sowing and bundling in combination with prefabrication methods, resulting in innovative façade panels and structural arches. In addition, application of natural fire retardants to the facade panels, was conducted in collaboration with the Danish Institute of Fire and Security. In sum, the research highlights reed's potentials in contemporary building practices. The article situates this research within the broader context of architectural theory, particularly examining the development of a traditional craft within the contemporary construction industry – the evolution of a craft. When designing and experimenting with reed as a contemporary material rather than a relic of the past, the project contributes to a renewed understanding of reed’s relevance in sustainable architecture, advocating for its tectonic and tactile re-integration into present-day building culture.

This paper asks how digital workflows can help enable stone reuse that can give a low-carbon, resource efficient form of construction which carries forward elements of material culture. The potential is considered for this process to inform and enable an evolved architectural language and aesthetic of structural stone that relates to the provenance of the stones used. The focus of the paper is on the development of a workflow, design and production of a prototype structural stone trabeated portal cut from building stone from an historic demolished house at St Leonard’s Hill, Berkshire. The stereotomy of the historic stones is nested from the quarried blocks that they were originally cut from, and the stereotomy of the prototype portal blocks is the next step in this sequence of nested stone (re)cutting and (re)use. In this way, as the stones cycle through the built environment, all possible future stereotomy is nested within their current forms, and as these forms diminish, so the horizon of all possible future forms narrows. This is something considered in the nesting and cutting of the stones for the prototype, with some stone faces freshly cut and some left uncut, carrying forward their past form and character. This can be understood as fitting within the broad tradition of spolia with, in this case, both resource efficiency and cultural heritage being considered in the design of the stone recutting and reuse.

The construction industry is a major contributor to global CO₂ emissions, necessitating sustainable alternatives for building materials. Additive manufacturing (AM) using wood-based composites offers an eco-friendly solution for thermal insulation applications. This study explores the thermal and mechanical properties of wood powder–carboxymethyl cellulose composites fabricated via liquid deposition modeling (LDM). Six formulations incorporating industrial wood waste from beech and oak, with varied particle sizes, were developed to evaluate their extrudability, structural stability, and insulation efficiency. Material characterization included thermal conductivity testing via the transient plane source method and compressive strength assessment following ISO standards. Results indicate that particle size and wood species significantly influence material properties. Finer wood particles yielded higher compressive strength, whereas coarser particles exhibited lower conductivity, enhancing insulation performance. The best-performing formulation (B2: beech wood, medium particle size) demonstrated a balanced thermal conductivity of 0.188 W/m·K and compressive strength of 3 MPa. To assess large-scale buildability, a 3D-printed block component (200 × 350 × 220 mm) was fabricated. A refined formulation with reduced water improved print stability, demonstrating the viability of LDM for producing rigid, lightweight insulation blocks. This research establishes a foundational understanding of AM wood composites for thermal insulation, offering insights into material formulation, printability, and structural behavior. The findings underscore the potential of bio-based AM in sustainable construction, paving the way for scalable applications of wood waste in energy-efficient building systems. Future work will focus on optimizing binder composition, refining printing strategies, and exploring reinforcement techniques to enhance mechanical properties while maintaining thermal efficiency.

The construction industry faces persistent challenges related to inefficiency, high energy consumption, and environmental impacts, necessitating innovative approaches to sustainable building practices. These challenges are further amplified in off-site construction (OSC) manufacturing of free-form components like façade panels, which demand extensive coordination, labor, and time due to their complex geometries and unique designs. This research addresses these issues by integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM) and robotic fabrication to develop a parametric methodology for optimizing façade designs in OSC. The methodology incorporates generative design to evaluate and select façade solutions based on minimizing solar radiation and façade area, while adhering to energy efficiency and sustainability criteria. A mock-up case study was used to validate the approach, utilizing BIM to generate a Building Energy Model (BEM) for energy performance analysis. The findings demonstrate significant reductions in solar radiation through the selected façade designs, highlighting the methodology’s potential to improve environmental performance. By incorporating digital fabrication and robotic manufacturing, the methodology mitigates the challenges of producing free-form components, streamlining production, reducing labor intensity, and enhancing accuracy. This research contributes a scalable framework for sustainable façade design and fabrication, advancing the efficiency and adaptability of OSC workflows.

Natural stone, recognised as one of the oldest, most resilient, and sustainable materials, has been largely overlooked in Switzerland’s transition to ecological construction methods. Current usages in architecture, often limited to facade cladding or interiors, generate considerable CO2 emissions due to intensive processing and long transport routes; however, if used in an unprocessed state, stone could achieve a markedly lower CO2 footprint. Despite its high compressive strength, only a minimal portion of the 300′000 m³ of Swiss stone extracted annually is used in load-bearing structures, with nearly 50% classified as residual waste. This research introduces two architectural strategies aimed at utilising the environmental potential of Swiss natural stone as load-bearing material. The strategies are based on observations in Swiss quarries and are introduced in this paper in four case studies, which were developed during two design studios at the ETH Zurich, Department of Architecture. The aspects extraction, processing, transportation, installation and disassembly are addressed in all four case studies. The first strategy employs large-format, minimally processed blocks, while the second incorporates residual ‘waste’. Both strategies focus on improving the efficiency of quarry operations while leveraging the ecological and aesthetic advantages of natural stone to its fullest potential.