Architecture, Structures and Construction最新文献

Post-earthquake (re)settlements are too often the results of political decisions, driven by the urgency of housing survivors in emergency. There is very limited evidence of strategic decisions made for the long-term wellbeing of the displaced communities. This has certainly been the case, for the post-earthquake reconstructions developed in the aftermath of the 2016 Muisne earthquake in Ecuador. Previous research has indeed demonstrated, through qualitative empirical research, the failure of the developed resettlements from both a technical and a social perspective. This paper aims to re-think the way to conceive (re)settlements with the aim to co-produce with local experts and inhabitants possible future scenarios. A first pilot case, that adopts design solutions at the urban and housing unit level, which are strongly connected to the local geographic and cultural context, is discussed. This paper presents and discusses the design evolution of the proposed pilot case, posing the attention to the urban development and the housing design, articulated imagining the (re)settlement as a new neighbourhood of the city, with a combination of private and public spaces, that will grow and be fully integrated to the consolidated city as population grow.

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is a welding process used to build up three-dimensional structures in steel. Like other Additive Manufacturing technologies, it allows for geometrically-complex structures to be fabricated which are otherwise unfeasible to manufacture using traditional methods. This research paper presents an integrated design approach to the use of WAAM in the context of large-scaled applications, focusing on column variants of gradually-increasing geometric complexity as basis for architectural constructions. It combines material behavior and process para-meter research together with a rudimentary digital twin model, with the aim of providing a digital tool to design architectural structures for WAAM. To achieve the desired geometries, necessary welding parameters are stored and applied to the digital twin model. This is complimented by multiple process-control checks, which are implemented during the printing process to ensure that an object is generated as planned. Finally, the structures are manufactured and are subjected to a critical evaluation in order to identify the possible future potential. The challenge of combining geometric complexity with manufacturing for large scale represents a next step in the integration of WAAM in steel constructions for architectural applications.

Abstract

Abstract

Biomaterials represent a potential means for the construction industry to reduce its negative ecological impact. These materials require substantially different approaches from conventional construction materials to maximise their potential. In this paper we have outlined four principles of biological design that we argue are central for the successful implementation of a new construction paradigm through biodesign. These principles are: Diversity, complexity and specificity (of form), durability through resilience, and feedback and adaptation. Diversity of material is necessary to maintain the sustainability of biomaterials when scaled up to construction industry volumes. Complexity and specificity of form enable high performativity of the built environments when using low-impact materials. Durability through resilience allows designers to work with materials that would otherwise be considered too weak. Finally, feedback and adaptation are core principles of biological design that allow plants and animals to constantly evolve in response to changing conditions, across multiple time scales, and to manage design in complex systems. In conclusion we have argued that many of these principles are found in vernacular architectural traditions, but that emerging design and fabrication technologies can enable broader implementation that can combine the benefits of modern and vernacular buildings practice.

The pedagogical position of this paper is that making at full-scale is not simply a means to an end, but is actually a powerful design tool that can provide specific feedback distinct from other modes of design inquiry. Particularly at the scale of the detail, the process of enabling the simultaneity of design and construction as a technique can illuminate and reveal the forces of mind and hand working together, embedding tectonic (The word tectonic used here refers to Eduard Sekler’s definition, as that which “…cannot be described by construction and structure alone. For these qualities, which are expressive of a relation of form to force, the term tectonic should be reserved.” This definition is distinguished from a Semperian understanding of tectonics, as pertaining exclusively to the frame and lightweight linear construction.) (Sekler, 1) qualities directly in the work itself. Instead of moving from general to particular; from abstract idea to physical manifestation, we begin with the physically constructed material joint as a generative origin. Detail Machines can facilitate an embodied and haptic mode of learning through making that connects students to materials and techniques of construction through active experimentation. This is in marked contrast to the highly abstract and codified representational tools and exceedingly scenographic techniques typically deployed in architectural design today.

Architect Jørn Utzon is known for his devotion to human well-being and his ability to integrate architectural and structural ideas. Yet, discussions in scholarly circles often emphasise his tectonic genius related to sublime formgiving and structural-material experiments. Less attention is given to how his sense of empathy and concern for the well-being of users influenced his design process. To address this absence, we explored how training students in a user empathic design process can be integrated in an architectural and engineering design approach.

First, we outline a theoretical framework grounded in the 1) scholarship on tectonic thinking by Jonathan Hale and Marco Frascari and 2) cognitive-neuroscientific understanding of how human beings interact with their surroundings in an embodied and emotional manner. Architectural experience is thus co-produced in an on-going meeting between structures, spaces, and human bodies. Secondly, we present a case study of an experiment with storyboarding as a technique to visualize the intangible aspects of designing for well-being and emotional experience. Placing the ‘body’ and ‘experience’ at the center of the design process calls for greater sensitivity to diversities within user groups. We argue for an adjusted tectonic design toolbox focused around translating experiences, emotions, and behaviors as a means of joining user-oriented, architectural, and engineering principles in the early design phases. This paper intends to spark a debate about ‘tectonics of well-being’ and to discuss whether storyboarding as a narrative design tool can help join structural-material genius with socio-cultural realms of human experience in tectonic design.

Understanding the long-term consequences of architecture on human well-being is essential to inform the underexposed social dimension of sustainability. In this context, architects are generally required to maximize the spatial capacities of architecture towards enhanced social quality and value. Consequently, we need to improve our methods for describing the impact of architecture across disciplines. It is our hypothesis, that tectonic theory provides a potential framework towards such interdisciplinary description by implying a critical discussion of the interrelations between architecture’s impact on people’s well-being by means of spatial gestures and the detailed prioritisation of resources in construction. As part of a research project investigating the social and socio-economic value of architecture by juxtaposing architectural, anthropological, and economic analysis, this paper investigates the anthropological dimension of those gestures. Using anthropological analysis, the paper critically evaluates whether and how the key intended spatial gestures identified by the architects (in our previous analysis of the architectural dimension) are experienced by the occupants of the building in the form of lived spatial gestures. Data collection involved 8 semi-structured interviews with the occupants of a mixed-use building complex in Denmark. In conclusion, the paper contributes to the understanding of architecture’s role and impact on human well-being, through the discussion of a tectonic framework describing the interaction between architecture and people as a spatial dialogue, in the form of constructed ‘gestures’ across the disciplines of architecture and anthropology. Hereby paving the way for positioning the question of human well-being related to the economic prioritisation of resources in construction.

The development of a thermal form-active composite, based on Oak-Paulownia-Flax materials is presented, including new knowledge and methods for material-driven responsive envelopes in an architectural scale. The study investigates, examines, and propose an experimental wood-textile structure that directly address questions on reducing embodied and operational energy in the built environment by a novel use of CO2 absorbing regenerative materials. Thermal-active wood bi-layers are combined with organic textiles to create a responsive and modular envelope element. This element is nested into a new lightweight load bearing BoxBeam-Zollinger structure, with flax textile surface connections. Both form active composite and load bearing structure is inspired by skin-on-frame material-structural concepts observed in vernacular boat cultures. The structure alone is measured to 1 kg/m², with a combined weight of the entire responsive envelope of 4.3 kg/m². The studies are based on experimental prototypes and computational simulation studies before a full-scale demonstrator project is constructed to test and disseminate the knowledge and methods for designing material efficient, thermally active architectural envelopes.