bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Regional design
Authors: Balz Verena
Published: November 2023

In recent decades the Netherlands has seen an increase in the use of regional design-led practices in national indicative planning. Despite this, the interrelations between design and planning decision making are not well understood and attempts to involve the expertise and ambition of designers in planning have had unclear outcomes. This paper elaborates on the role and position of regional design in indicative planning. It is argued that design in this realm resembles discretionary action, implying that design both influences, and is influenced by, prevailing planning rationales. An analytical framework is developed on these grounds and applied to a set of regional design initiatives that evolved in the context of Dutch national plans between 1988 and 2012. Significantly, the analysis reveals forms of discretional control that shape the creative design practice, of particular importance being the flexibility of planning guidance and the resulting room for interpretation. In theoretical terms, the article contributes to the discussion of how design – as an explorative search for solutions to problems in a particular spatial context – and design theory can contribute to an understanding of the multiple planning experiments emerging in this post-regulative era.
The institutionalisation of a creative practice
Authors: Balz Verena
Published: November 2023

This chapter discusses the organisational setting of regional design in the realms of spatial planning and territorial governance. As a starting point, it argues that rules on how imagined design solutions function in an abstract, simplified ‘planning world’ are an important regional design product. When focusing on these rules, regional design practice resembles discretionary action. As such, it aims to improve planning decisions by judging the implications of planning frameworks when applied to particular situations. This implies that the involvement of actors in design practice requires careful consideration. As in any form of legitimate rule-building, a critical distance between those who initiate practices and conduct design, and those who judge the quality and relevance of design outcomes is essential. On the basis of these considerations the chapter investigates regional design practices that occurred between the 1980s and 2010s in the context of Dutch national planning. It shows how they transformed from being a form of professional advocacy, criticising planning, into a practice that was pragmatically used to implement a national planning agenda. The chapter concludes by discussing this institutionalisation of a creative practice in the Netherlands, reflecting upon the implications of these outcomes for territorial governance in particular.
Introduction to the research
Authors: Oikonomopoulou Faidra
Published: November 2023

Innovations in glass technologies and engineering over the last decades have altered the way we perceive glass. Combining transparency, durability and a compressive strength exceeding that of concrete and even structural steel, glass has evolved in the engineering world from a brittle, fragile material to a reliable structural component with high compressive load-carrying capacity. At present, the structural applications of glass in architecture are constantly increasing, yet with a considerable geometrical limitation: although glass’s fabrication boundaries have been continuously stretching so far, glass structures are still dominated by the limited shapes which can be generated by the combination of the virtually 2-dimensional, planar elements produced by the float industry. Whereas glass panels in float production can stretch more than 20 m in length, the width is restricted to 3.21 or 4.5 m and the maximum commercial thickness is only 25 mm (Lyons 2010; Schittich et al. 2007; Patterson 2011).

Cast glass can overcome the design limitations imposed by the 2-dimensional nature of float glass. By pouring molten glass into moulds, solid 3-dimensional glass components of almost any shape and cross-section can be obtained1. Such objects can be shaped to form repetitive units for free-form full-glass structures that do not buckle due to their slender proportions, thus taking full advantage of the high compressive strength of glass; a solution little explored so far. Discouraging factors such as the meticulous and time-consuming annealing process required, the to-date non-standardized production, and the corresponding high manufacturing costs, have limited cast glass to only a handful of realized architectural applications. Consequently, there is a lack of engineering data and a general unawareness of the potential and risks of building with cast glass as a structural material. The loadbearing function of cast glass in architecture remains an unmapped field.

Scope of this research is to explore the structural potential and limitations of solid cast glass components and introduce cast glass as a promising construction material in architecture, indicating both the potential and limitations of this alternative production process for glass in buildings. To achieve this, the research focuses on the development and experimental validation of two new design concepts for selfsupporting envelopes made almost entirely of cast glass components: adhesively bonded and interlocking cast glass components.
Interlocking cast glass components
Authors: Oikonomopoulou Faidra
Published: November 2023

In this chapter a novel, reversible all-glass system consisting of dry-assembly, interlocking cast glass components is introduced that can tackle the irreversibility, strict tolerances and meticulous construction process of the adhesively bonded system presented in Chapters 5 and 6. Thanks to the interlocking geometry, the proposed system can attain the desired stiffness with the aid of minimal, if any, metal framing. The integrity and structural stability of the assembly is provided by the shape and the arrangement of the blocks themselves. The use of adhesives is obviated in the system by employing a dry, colourless interlayer as an intermediate medium between the glass components. The deformation of the interlayer can compensate for surface asperities and dimensional tolerances, allowing for an even stress distribution. Moreover, the dry-assembly enables the structure to be dis- and reassembled, which is critical for a circular economy in the built environment. Accordingly, this chapter lists the key considerations and establishes the design criteria for the development of interlocking cast glass structures. Based on the established criteria, various component geometries, forms and interlocking mechanisms are developed. The interlocking forms are kiln cast in 1:2 scale and are comparatively assessed in terms of mechanical interlocking capacity, mass distribution, residual stress generation and ease of fabrication. In parallel, a literature research is conducted on different materials for the dry, transparent interlayer, concluding that interlayers of the polyurethane family (PU and TPU) present the highest potential for a building application. From the developed designs, osteomorphic blocks are selected as the most promising concept to be further investigated.
Building characteristics and energy use of energy-efficient renovated offices
Authors: Kwon Minyoung
Published: November 2023

Chapter 2 presented the physical and psychological satisfaction parameters for user-focused evaluation. In most renovation projects, the façade is a major consideration next to the HVAC system to optimise the performance of the building. Many studies reveal that façade renovation has a large impact on the energy efficiency. The aim of this chapter is to identify the characteristics of renovated offices, such as façade types, HVAC system, and sun shading, and compare the energy performance based on user typologies in renovated and non-renovated office buildings.

Section 3.2 describes an overview of façade renovation strategies based on literature. The renovation strategies are classified into four strategies: passive add-in, replacement, climate skin, and active add-in. Section 3.3 presents the criteria to select case studies. Section 3.4 describes the characteristics of four renovated case studies and one non-renovated case located in the Netherlands. The building information was collected through interviews with architects, a review of project documents, and a field survey. Cross-analysis was used to compare the renovation plan, physical conditions. Energy consumption of each office building was compared by different energy metrics in section 3.5. Section 3.6 discusses the limitation of the renovation projects and suggestions for the future study. The finding from cross-evaluation of case studies are described in section 3.7.
Evaluation of user’s thermal perception and satisfaction towards indoor environmental quality
Authors: Kwon Minyoung
Published: November 2023

Chapter 3 compared the building characteristics of renovated offices such as façade types and the HVAC system and energy consumption with different units. These physical building characteristics do not only contribute to energy performance but also to the indoor environment. For user satisfaction studies, a comfortable indoor environment is one of the primary conditions of the working environment. Therefore, it is important to identify the impact of indoor climate on user satisfaction in different office buildings (technical attributes of renovated office buildings). The purpose of this chapter is to identify the impact of indoor climate on user satisfaction, comparing how much they are satisfied with the indoor climate to temperature and relative humidity and how much the users can adapt the certain temperature.

Section 4.2 presents the data collection for 2 weeks in three seasons: summer, winter, and the intermediate season. Monitored indoor climate such as temperature, and relative humidity is compared in section 4.3. Section 4.4 compares the occupants’ thermal sensation, preference and satisfaction with physical measurements are compared in section 4.3. Lastly, the predicted optimal thermal conditions, and limitations are discussed in section 4.5.
The Impact of Design Parameters on Energy Demand for Office Renovation
Authors: Kwon Minyoung
Published: November 2023

Chapter 6 showed that the office layout and desk location were the most influential design factors for the thermal and visual comfort of users, and layout and orientation were most influential for psychological comfort in office buildings. Office design parameters were analysed to optimise user satisfaction in relation to indoor environmental and organisational quality in office buildings by showing predictable models. However, the predicted satisfaction models had not been tested in terms of energy performance. Therefore, this chapter evaluates the energy performance of the predicted models by computational assessment.a

Section 7.2 explains the energy simulation scheme, model typologies, and simulation parameters. Section 7.3 presents the comparison of energy simulation results based on three design factors such as office layout, orientation and WWR. The results present the differences of the energy demand according to the alternative office typologies and contribution of design factors. The annual energy demand of 24 models are compared on the basis of different model typologies, and present the most energy-efficient typologies in section 7.4.
User-focused design principles
Authors: Kwon Minyoung
Published: November 2023

Chapter 7 tested the energy demand of possible office typologies. However, the main aim of the thesis is to develop user-focused design principles for energy efficient office renovation. Therefore, it is important to compare the degree of user satisfaction of highly energy-efficient office typologies. Based on the results from chapter 7, chapter 8 introduces design principles that architects, and facility and real estate managers can use to select the combination of parameters with better user satisfaction during a conceptual design stage of office renovation. It contains a database of the different degrees of user satisfaction with thermal, visual, and psychological comfort, according to the combination of design parameters.

Section 8.2 explains the design principles considering user satisfaction and energy efficiency. Section 8.3 provides the overview of predicted satisfaction of 144 office combinations. Recommended office combinations based on energy efficiency are explained in section 8.4. Section 8.5 describes the process of application of the design principles: how can designers interpret and use the principles and predicted models for energy-efficient office renovation?
Conclusions
Authors: Kwon Minyoung
Published: November 2023

This research has explored the relationship between user satisfaction and design factors for office renovations considering energy efficiency. The findings of this research strongly support user-focused renovations of office buildings. My motivation for this research started from the consideration of comfort and satisfaction of building users and the focus on providing better and comfortable work environments for office users. The focus on user comfort and satisfaction is important, because literature shows that the increase of user satisfaction leads to the improvement of productivity and less absenteeism in workspaces.

This research has been conducted by applying diverse research methods and analyses, such as monitoring the indoor climate of office buildings, interviewing architects and facility managers, conducting user surveys, and conducting statistical analyses. This chapter presents the conclusions by answering the main research question and corresponding sub-questions of each chapter. This chapter also includes the general conclusions highlighting the scientific contributions to the body of knowledge of the built environment and limitations of the research.
Urban Renewal Decision - Making in China
Authors: Zhuang Taozhi
Published: November 2023

To meet the growing rigid demand of urban housing, urban renewal has played a significant role, which significantly promotes the urban prosperity in China. However, at the same time, many problems occurred through large-scale urban renewal projects. To avoid unintended consequences that occurred in urban renewal, how these decisions were made can be one key focus. To better achieve the goal of sustainability, this research aims to deepen the understanding of urban renewal decision-making in China and contribute to recommend strategies to improve the system. Based on the participatory decision-making theory and the characteristics of urban renewal, a conceptual framework is built to achieve the aim of this research. According to the research framework, this research firstly conducted an empirical study of stakeholders’ expectations in urban renewal projects. Eighteen factors are identified and compared among the main stakeholder groups. Secondly, this research explores the stakeholders and their participation in the decision-making of urban renewal in China. Stakeholder Analysis and Social Network Analysis are complemented as the research methodology. In the third step, transaction costs theory is adopted to improve the understanding of urban renewal decision-making process in China. Based on the results of the above three steps, the last step of this research systematically determines a set of strategies for improving urban renewal decision-making in China by adopting the Analytic Network Process. The findings of this research add new knowledge on the exploration of the decision-making of public projects and can be directly adopted by the authority in practice.
Energy in Dwellings
Authors: van den Brom Paula
Published: November 2023

Energy simulation models for buildings are widely used by policymakers, researchers and consultants as a tool to advice on the reduction of residential energy consumption. Previous studies have shown that there is a gap between theoretical building energy simulation results and actual energy use. The discrepancy between theory and practice is problematic, as for instance expected energy savings are often not achieved. This thesis shows that analysing specific household types and building characteristics can contribute to a better understanding of amongst others the influence of the occupant on actual energy consumption. The effectiveness of thermal renovations is dependent on both occupants and building characteristics, which means tailored advice on renovation measures is necessary. We also found that occupants and building characteristics are equally responsible for variances in actual residential energy consumption. To reduce the gap between theory and practice on a single building level, simulation models are improved using calibration methods. In the final part of this thesis, a method is developed to calibrate simulations on a building stock level, making building energy simulation tools more reliable for policymakers.
Towards an Architecture of Self-reliance
Authors: Smits Michiel
Published: November 2023

This research project focuses on how decisions made by practitioners, articulating rural housing in Sub-Sahara Africa, contribute to the decreasing level of self-reliance inhabitants have regarding their housing. Multiple case studies on Mt. Elgon proved that inhabitants have a significantly higher self-reliance level, comparing traditional to modern housing. To study this phenomenon in practice and to articulate suitable design support the Design Research Methodology was chosen. The research clarification pinpointed inhabitant capacities as the key-contributor to self-reliant housing. Household survey outcomes proved that large numbers of rural inhabitant’s desire housing which they have insufficient capacities for. Indicating that the inhabitants experience a disparity between existing and desired housing capacities, moreover an inability to bridge this disparity independently, and consequently require external help. Architect seemed most appropriate to offer this help as it consist of sociocultural, engineering and design tasks. Architects are not trained in inhabitant capacity evaluation and as no suitable design tools existed, this research project developed the required design support, its application requirements and the impact measurements. These were then tested in a pilot project on Mt. Elgon. The findings were used to evaluate the support’s impact and suitability. The support tool users found it suitable to assess and integrate inhabitant capacities into housing solutions. The impact shows that the support group families have sustained their family’s level of self-reliance unlike the control group. The developed technological design, with modifications, could be used not only in rural Kenyan communities, but also help others around the continent.
Mapping Landscape Spaces
Authors: Liu Mei
Published: November 2023

Landscape design focuses on the construction and articulation of outdoor space and results in landscape architectonic compositions. In order to communicate about three-dimensional forms and functions, vocabulary, representations, and tools (in terms of spatial-visual characteristics) are of fundamental importance for landscape architects to describe, interpret, and manipulate landscape spaces. While combining design vocabulary and landscape indicators, qualitative and quantitative mapping approaches, visual representation and interpretation methods, this research aims to provide a framework for describing, understanding, and communicating about spatial-visual characteristics in landscape design. A pilot study is used to explore the potential of specific mapping approaches, such as compartment analysis, 3D landscapes, grid-cell analysis, landscape metrics, visibility analysis, and eye-tracking analysis, which are employed to address spatial-visual phenomena like sequence, orientation, continuity, and complexity. Hypothetical design experiments are conducted to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of spatial-visual mapping in the design process. Interviews with designers are carried out to reflect on techniques for mapping spatial-visual characteristics in the daily practice of landscape architecture. This research opens a way in which to apply visual landscape research in the process of landscape design and supports the development of multidisciplinary approaches. By expanding the spatial-visual mapping toolbox, designers can engage in issues of landscape development, transformation, and preservation while providing realistic and instrumental clues for interventions in urban landscapes.
Land in Limbo
Authors: De Martino Paolo
Published: November 2023

Numerous actors have been involved in the planning of the port and city of Naples. National and local authorities—namely central government, the Region, the Municipality of Naples, and the Port Authority—act upon the port at different scales, according to diverging interest and by using different planning tools. Each entity has different spatial claims and contrastive views on what port city integration can be. Their diverse goals have led port and city to develop into separate entities, from a spatial, cultural, economic as well as administrative perspective. The different scopes of their planning are particularly visible in the areas at the intersection of land and water, where the relationship is characterized by waiting conditions across different dimensions and scales.
The separation between port and city in Naples originates from history. This PhD thesis looks at the past as a resource, sometimes as a problem in the way it produces inertia, but certainly as a heritage made of signs, traces, and cultures, written and rewritten on the urban palimpsest. Using and challenging the concept of path dependence—defined here as a resistance by institutions and people to change patterns of behavior and to repeat previous decisions and experiences—this PhD thesis argues that in order to overcome inertia, it is important to recognize the interests and spatial claims of all the stakeholders involved port city planning and to identify shared goals and values as a foundation for future design.
Space layout and energy performance
Authors: Du Tiantian
Published: November 2023

Studies have shown that space layout design can impact the building energy performance (BEP). However, its isolated effect on the BEP has not been identified yet. Performative computational architecture has proven to be effective to improve the BEP. However, only a few studies have tried to apply the performative computational architecture to space layout design. This research aims to investigate how space layout affects BEP, and to develop a computational optimisation method for space layout to improve the BEP of office buildings. Firstly, the mechanism on how space layout affects the BEP and how much energy is affected by space layout were identified through literature review and simulation. 11 layouts with different function allocations were simulated and compared. The outcome showed that layout variance affected lighting the most, and the maximum difference happened in Harbin, being 46% without shading and 35% with shading. As a follow-up, another literature review was conducted, which identified the functional requirements of space layout design, methods for automatic generation of space layout, and requirements for energy performance optimisation. In addition, a computational method was developed to optimise space layout design for energy performance improvement, regardless of functional requirements. As a result, the relationship between space layout and energy demands were recognised. In conclusion, space layout has proven to be a significant influence on the BEP, and conscientious design can improve it. For optimal energy performance, manual design of space layout is not feasible; in order to do that, a computational approach is needed.
Towards Self-Sufficient High-Rises
Authors: Ekici Berk
Published: November 2023

Population growth and urbanisation trends bring many consequences related to the increase in global energy consumption, CO2 emissions and a decrease in arable land per person. High‑rises have been one of the inevitable buildings of metropoles to provide extra floor space since the early examples in the 19th century. Therefore, optimisation of high-rise buildings has been the focus of researchers because of significant performance enhancement, mainly in energy consumption and generation. Based on the facts of the 21st century, optimising high-rise buildings for multiple vital resources (such as energy, food, and water) is necessary for a sustainable future.

This research suggests “self-sufficient high-rise buildings” that can generate and efficiently consume vital resources in addition to dense habitation for sustainable living in metropoles. The complexity of self-sufficient high-rise building optimisation is more challenging than optimising regular high-rises that have not been addressed in the literature. The main challenge behind the research is the integration of multiple performance aspects of self-sufficiency related to the vital resources of human beings (energy, food, and water) and consideration of large numbers of design parameters related to these multiple performance aspects. Therefore, the dissertation presents a framework for performance optimisation of self-sufficient high-rise buildings using artificial intelligence focusing on the conceptual phase of the design process. The output of this dissertation supports decision-makers to suggest well-performing high-rise buildings involving the aspects of self-sufficiency in a reasonable timeframe.
Chinese Notions of Public Space
Authors: Sun Wenwen
Published: November 2023

This thesis investigates the understanding and implementation of public space in the reformed Chinese context, particularly from the perspectives of urban design and architecture, by referring to the complex process and result of transculturation (transculturación). It delineates how public space as a Greco-Roman originated concept traversed the urban and architectural cultures of post-reform China, merging and negotiating with the local conditions, and evolved into a new phenomenon in Chinese urban design and architecture. By analysing public space as a cultural phenomenon, carrying specific meaning, through specific concepts and designs, this doctoral research develops an interpretative framework within which the meanings and transculturation of public space in Chinese urban design and architecture can be understood and elucidates potential for future urban design and architectural practices. Theoretically, it moves beyond the conventional research on public space that is primarily based on Western thoughts, an Indo-European notion, and a Greco-Roman tradition. Practically, it paves the way for future development of the design of public space, highlighting the cultural, social, and spatial dynamics in Chinese cities vis-à-vis the related political, economic, and governmental conditions within the context of ongoing globalisation.
Advancing Transparency
Authors: Rammig Lisa
Published: November 2023

Glass is transparent and that differentiates it from most other building materials. As a result it has played a significant role in the development of architecture, given that its use is not only driven by its functionality as a protective layer, but by its ability to transmit light and hence define spaces. The use of glass has typically brought designers, engineers and builders to the limits of their abilities, whether this was driven by the processing and handling of the material, or the limitationin the understanding of its design capacity. The transparency of the material is of incredible value but it also poses challenges when working with glass; The way it is connected is always visible. As a result, the connections and connectivity of glass are one of the most important considerations when designing with it, both technically and architecturally and in particular for structural applications. In the past century, glass has increasingly been used as a structural component. However its inherent brittleness typically still requires opaque metal connections to transfer load. These connections define contemporary glass architecture – firstly, because they are immediately apparent in a transparent structure and, secondly, as they are part of the engineering design language. However, designers and architects are still aiming to increase the transparency of glass enclosures and structures, leading to a demand to further reduce the visibility of structural connections within the glass. This research aims to address the connectivity of glass through experimental testing of heat bonded glass-glass connections that form a fully transparent atomic bond. Applications for transparent connections are addressed through case studies that explore various novel transparent bonding techniques.
Climate Change and the Resilience of Collective Memories
Authors: Aktürk Gül
Published: November 2023

Vernacular heritage sites encompass customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions, and values that are innate to a particular place and time. Climate knowledge of the particular place and time is embedded in vernacular settlements and lifestyles along with other environmental, cultural, and societal determinants of the place. Rebuilt, restored, and adapted, vernacular settlements evolved with changing climate, cultural practices, community aspirations, and a gradual influx of modernization and urbanization. However, its legacy —as represented by traditional houses from the pre-industrial period that were built by laypeople— is challenged by climate and disaster risks, e.g., loss of lands, food sources, water resources, intangible values, and displacement. Although the impacts of climate change combined with anthropic influences have been recognized as a threat to cultural heritage by scholars, this underappreciated form of cultural heritage has not been the focus of the integrated understanding risks of climate and disaster discussions. The aim of this dissertation, therefore, is to reveal the deteriorations caused by changing climate and anthropic interventions on vernacular heritage at both spatial planning decisions such as urban development projects and at local level practices such as maladaptation from the case of Fındıklı of Rize in Turkiye. The factors behind the deterioration of vernacular heritage sites under changing climate and the ways to achieve climate resilience are analysed through interviews with local people, the observations of on-site visits conducted in January and July 2019 in addition to mapping.
How to Read (With) Benjamin: From Cultural History of Materialism to Materialist History of Culture
Authors: Healy Patrick , Radman Andrej
Published: November 2023

Footprint 18 investigates the following issues: what Benjamin understands by the ‘constellation of awakening’, how he conceptualises ‘dialectical images’, his deployment of montage, his refusal of a conception of either progress or decline, and his undertaking to show that the images belong not only to a particular time but attain legibility only at a particular time. Famously, according to Benjamin, image is that wherein what has been comes together in a flash with the now to form a constellation. With regard to the architectural theory Benjamin engaged directly with the tectonic tradition, especially the work of Bötticher. He posited the tectonic unconscious and the deployment of optical instruments as crucial for understanding the development which architecture carried from the luxus capitalist forms of commodity. In light of technical innovations in iron and glass, it expressed a form of projective dream work of the architectural around material realisations as products of the industrial revolution, with long consequences for the future.
Visual Vertigo, Phantasmagoric Physiognomies: Joseph Roth and Walter Benjamin on the Visual Experience of Architecture
Authors: Koller Stefan
Published: November 2023

This paper scrutinises Benjamin’s interest in the urban fabric of nineteenth century Paris, and compares it to contemporary writings on Paris and on (more generally) new forms of urbanism in the journalistic work of Joseph Roth. It argues that both authors come to terms with the modern city through a shared set of observations and concepts, particularly the concepts of ‘expressionism’, ‘physiognomy’, and ‘phantasmagoria’. The paper clarifies how Roth and other writers in (or immediately before) the 1920s developed such concepts, and how Benjamin’s The Arcades Project builds on these writers. It shows that Benjamin’s specific contribution to this body of literature is the invention of a secular mythology, with a clear application to architecture in Benjamin’s focus on the ‘boundless interiorisation’ of glass and iron construction. The paper concludes that Benjamin’s contribution to architecture is considerable when compared to the materialist orientation of his main sources in The Arcades Project (especially Boetticher and Giedion), but that the purported improvements on Benjamin’s distinguished predecessors of architectural non-materialism are by comparison less impressive.
Militarised Safety: Politics of Exclusion
Authors: Sarfraz Ayesha , Rafique Arsalan
Published: November 2023

Warfare and armed conflict have evolved radically with the advent of technology and perhaps most importantly, with globalization. Unlike the West, which has come to terms with violence through constant memorialization, multidisciplinary discourse and legislature, cities in the developing world lack audible intellectual trajectories. Therefore, studies on the merits of the non-Western conditions of conflict must take into account the complex structures of organization of society, politics, religion and ethnicities, as a result of the globalization of violence. Developing and less politically stable countries like Pakistan, on the other hand, are losing urban space through attacks from the perpetrators and yet more so from the state as the literal subtraction of the public realm gets framed as security measures Whereas international law states that during times of war, civilian rights can be legally suspended - in Pakistan that suspension has shifted into a state of temporariness without prescribed limits. This paper looks at urban space in the developing world as a dual site of the threat and the threatened while questioning the effectivity of security apparatus that have become the foundations for design of the contemporary city.
From Refugee Camp to Resilient City: Zaatari Refugee Camp, Jordan
Authors: Maani Nada
Published: November 2023

This project is about how architecture can transform a refugee camp into a child friendly city designed around existing social networks. The vision is to respond to the refugee crisis with long-term resilient solutions rather than reactionary ones.
G.E. Moore’s Principia Ethica and the complex of architecture
Authors: Gough Tim
Published: November 2023

G.E. Moore’s Principia Ethica of 1903 is generally regarded as a starting point of analytical philosophy.  It’s concern with analytical propositions, the pushing of analysis to an end point, its rigorous style, the clarity of its arguments and the precise demolition of the less-than-rigorous work of preceding philosophers provided a template for how twentieth century Anglo-Saxon thought might forge its own path. 

This paper argues that Moore’s notion of the “organic whole”, together with his concern for the goodness of human intercourse, are inherently architectural thoughts with implications for a non-formalist theory or ontology of architecture.  Moore’s emphasis on the intermixture of the work and the subject, his interest in the material quality of things, his championing of the possibilities of valuing the apparently mundane if seen within a broader context, his doubts about representational art compared to environmental beauty, and his valuing of the sociability of human intercourse all point to a rich concept of what architecture can be.  The paper will critique Moore’s central idea and will show that what he calls an organic whole is in fact misnamed.
Reconceptualisation of Architects’ Intentionality in Computational Form Generation: A Tripartite Model
Authors: Tüntaş Karaman Duygu
Published: November 2023

This paper attempts to create a theoretical framework to reconceptualise architects’ intentionality in computational form generation. Parallel to the increasing complexity of design problems and the increased realm of architects’ responsibility, the last two decades have shown that a vast amount of information can be managed and operated within the design process by using computational methods and associated technologies. This condition led to an expansion of the dominant mode in form computation that largely relies on data-driven forms as outcomes of pure calculations and rationalistic determinism. As an alternative, this study proposes a tripartite model as a basis to understand and assess design intentionality by unfolding and thereby reflecting on designers’ internalised processes. Initially defined in the field of computation, network and communication sciences for management and organisation of information, the proposed model – composed of centralised, partial and distributed approaches – is operational in responding to different forms and degrees of design intentionality within computational processes in architecture.
On Bigness and the Problem of Urban Form
Authors: Rabaça Armando , Martins Carlos Moura
Published: November 2023

The term ‘bigness’ refers to large-scale, mixed-use buildings and was introduced into the architectural vocabulary by Rem Koolhaas. Contrary to Koolhaas’s focus on the ‘generic city’ and the Asian context, this essay explores the role that large-scale buildings may play in establishing a dialogue between new areas of urban expansion and the formal and typological characteristics of European cities. By looking at three designs by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron in the light of the early twentieth-century debate on urban design and the skyscraper in Europe, the problem of bigness will be seen as a continuation of a discussion on urban form and type spanning more than one hundred years. Bigness will thus be seen as a tool capable of reworking and even continuing existing urban formal types, even if devoid of ideological and symbolic meaning.
The Explorative Strategy of Engagement: Atelier Bow-Wow’s Rebière Street Project in Paris
Authors: Nielsen Johan , Schoonjans Yves , Scheerlinck Kris
Published: November 2023

The project of Rebière Street in Paris is the first housing project of Atelier Bow-Wow outside Japan. In the framework of the Porte Pouchet renovation project, a portion of the street along the cemetery was declassified to reduce its width and to build 180 apartments in the resulting free strip. The different plots were assigned to several local and foreign architecture offices. This project is symptomatic of an emerging practice in architecture that sees offices with discourses based on local anchorage taking advantage of globalisation to propose cutting-edge spatial quality in remote locations. The close reading of the project with tools provided by the sociology of engagement allows valuable insights in the production of form in remote practice. If human primary relation to the environment coincides with a regime of engagement based on familiarity, in remote practice the relation to the environment and the local anchorage are de facto mediated. This mediation implies a systemisation of the design process. The legitimacy of this systematisation is by nature questionable and can be a source of doubt or anxiety. Addressing the design process in relation to the ideas of scale of confidence, seizure, adherence and the explorative regime of engagement this article examines how the attempts of Atelier Bow-Wow to deal with the remoteness of the site influence the production of form.
Transversing Formalisms
Authors: Kousoulas Stavros , Mejía Hernández Jorge
Published: November 2023

In the editorial introduction of this issue of Footprint, the question of architectural form is approached from a population of minor perspectives. Inspired by Bateson’s metalogues, the authors wish to bring forward multiple questions on architectural form instead of a single generalizing one: from ‘what is form’ to ‘how, when, where and why is form’. In this respect, they examine the ways for a possible reconciliation between the genetic and the generic, between the discursive outlines of various formalisms, opting for an approach that is both syncretic and transversal. Committed to architectural form, they conclude by claiming that it stands for much more than simply a concept. Form, in its ambiguity and heterogeneity, stands for a shared problem, one that brings together disciplines, schools of thought and variant methodological practices, turning therefore the discursive constraints of the past in productive chances for the future.
The Floor is not the Ground
Authors: Papamattheakis George Papam
Published: November 2023

Although transportation infrastructures occupy an important part of public space, they have apparently been lead astray by recent developments in logistics services. Despite the categorical difference between transportation and logistics, narratives of quality, security and standards accompanied by specific spatial patterns, have infiltrated our everyday mobility infrastructures. Space structure is defined by logistics-influenced ‘functional diagrams’ and is reduced to mere transitory settings. This essay is an effort to challenge the contemporary ‘fulfilment’-influenced, network-based perception of human transportation spaces, towards, instead, a relational, and effectively political, understanding of them. This is not to return to previous debates on the re-emergence of place and identity, but rather to seek possible strategies of interruption of that detrimental, endlessly intensified circulation imposed on public space. The essay is structured upon two competing ideas, conceptually represented by the notions of floor and ground. The floor is the most important element of logistics architecture, preparing a smooth surface for commodities circulation. By contrast, the ground embraces anomalies representing finitude, an important notion for the project of interruptions. The essay proposes a recalibration and balancing of both these forces, establishing an ecology that also encourages seemingly ‘unproductive’ relations, detours and other spaces of distractions, ideas that logistical architecture cannot even grasp.
Twenty-four Hours at Work
Authors: Sgolacchia Renzo , Retegan Alex
Published: November 2023

The deregulation policies implemented in the United States and the European Union in the early 1980s brought forth a significant rise in employment in the field of logistics but at the same contributed to a deterioration of work conditions in the industry – a paradoxical situation largely invisible to many in the age of online shopping. In recent years, a number of cinematographers showed interest in this type of work, depicting it in documentaries. Referring to one of these films, The Weight of Dreams (Francesco Mattuzzi, 2015), this review analyses the implications of the deregulation policies over work conditions, focusing on the relation between workers and space. As seen in the film, work in the field of logistics is a struggle between the desire for an efficient movement of goods and the desires of the humans who move the goods. This translates into an ambivalence of the space they use, which on the one hand, is planned for movement, but on the other, is appropriated by users with the illusion of a sedentary life.
Ambiguous Territory
Authors: Velikov Kathy , Dwyre Cathryn , Perry Chris , Salomon David
Published: November 2023

What can one do when the things and processes used to sustain oneself – physically, economically, emotionally – are executed at a scale and intensity whereby they become poisonous? Such a scenario describes certain addictions. An illustration of such an addiction on a planetary scale is exemplified by the neologism agrilogistics. This planned approach to the environment seeks to organise, divide, and manage the earth in order to increase the likelihood of human survival. From parasite-vulnerable monocrops to systemic biopolitical violence upon indigenous peoples, these conditions expose the dark and unwanted externalities to the logistical algorithm that we have only recently begun to understand as deeply intertwined with each other and within all life on the planet. What can art and design do to intervene in this positive feedback loop of economic growth and environmental catastrophe? Perhaps one thing we can do is to use visual, material, and spatial media to think the world differently by questioning the premise of anthropocentrism, establishing instead new conditions of relation between human and nonhuman and with it, new forms of kinship with other species. The exhibition Ambiguous Territory: Architecture, Landscape and the Postnatural assembles a shifting tide of practices, objects, and images by architects, landscape architects, and artists that points to ways of operating within this new paradigm.
Territories of Equivalence
Authors: Lyster Clare Louise
Published: November 2023

The production regimes of every era do not remain in the factory but permeate every aspect of a society including its architecture and design culture. Mechanisation transformed space, in particular the household into an efficient machine, with industrial components and standardised dimensions (from the bathtub to the streamlined kitchen), while military manufacturing efficiencies and emerging technologies allowed consumer goods (from TV sets to Tupperware) to fill the middle class suburban home in the post-war era.

This essay contemplates how logisticalisation, the latest incarnation of capitalist production, is permeating the design and conception of contemporary space through an exploration of the gadgets and objects that are increasingly used by the public as portals to the larger world of logistical flow. I refer to previous object-based theories of space in architecture as well as to Object-Orientated Ontology, a philosophical movement that elevates the meaning of objects as independent conscious entities beyond human agency. These serve to contextualise my own reading of logistical objects as manifestations that not only allow us intimacy with the larger and complex world of logistics, but more significantly, as dynamic shapers of new types of architectural and urban space, here characterised as territories of equivalence.