Color plays a fundamental role in architectural design, influencing both perception and emotional response within a built environment. Beyond its aesthetic and psychological impact, color is also an essential tool in architectural representation, shaping the way ideas, concepts, and spatial intentions are communicated. From hand-drawn sketches to advanced digital renderings, the evolution of representational techniques has transformed how architects visualize and materialize design solutions. This paper explores the intersection of color, perception, and representation in architecture, analyzing how chromatic choices affect spatial experience, cultural interpretation, and design communication. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the study examines historical and contemporary examples, technological advancements, and material innovations that expand the possibilities of color application in both built space and architectural drawing. By bridging perception and expression, this research highlights the crucial role of color in architectural practice, not only as a design strategy but also as a medium for articulating spatial narratives and engaging with users.
Yona Friedman’s vision of employing Urban Agriculture to eliminate the city’s dependence on the countryside by liberating agricultural land from exploitation is more pertinent than ever. In a world where cities are sustained by food produced in increasingly remote locations and the environmental impact of the agri-food supply chain grows ever more unsustainable, it is imperative to reconsider the relationship between urbanised areas and food production. Advances in soil-free cultivation technologies present new opportunities to integrate productive vegetation into urban and residential spaces. If deprived of utopian connotations, this approach invites reflection on the need for innovative design paradigms that integrate the built environment with cultivated spaces, fostering widespread and symbiotic interactions to promote sustainable regeneration.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Architectural drawing and design
In this study, the effect of weather conditions on on-street parking variables is examined. In this context, data sets consist of 17 variables such as parking capacity, employee personnel, off-duty personnel, turn-over rate, first-hour parking price, daily parking price, number of transactions, number of cash transactions, average cash parking duration, 0-15 min parking duration, average parking duration, number of subscription, parking subscription price, daily transactions of subscription, subscription parking duration and income on the on-street parking spaces in the Anatolian Side of Istanbul for two years (2017-2018). In this study, turnover rate, parking duration, cash parking duration, and parking income variables are investigated by multiple regression analysis with dummy variables. Daily general weather data during this period are classified into 11 categories as sunny, cloudy, partly cloudy, light rain, rain, short-term heavy rainfall, heavy rainfall, light snow, light snowfall, snow, and a heavy snowstorm- as dummy variables. Based on the estimation results, it is found that both sunny and light snow + light snowfall + snow + heavy snowstorm weather variables decrease parking duration by 0.528 and 1.293 min, respectively. Moreover, results also indicated that the same variables increase cash parking duration by 1.21 and 3.29 min, respectively. Both sunny and cloudy + partly cloudy weather variables increase parking income by 719 TL and 580 TL, respectively. Light snow + light snowfall + snow + heavy snowstorm weather variable decreases parking income by 1143 TL.
Da qualche anno a questa parte annoto sulla lavagna con il gesso tre lettere, una maiuscola e due minuscole di cui una contrassegnata da un numero all’apice, legate da un segno di identità: E=mc2. Un’equazione che spiazza ritualmente i miei studenti, in quanto pensano che io faccia riferimento alla celebre formula della relatività ristretta teorizzata da Albert Einstein nel 1905, in cui “E” indica l’energia relativistica totale di un corpo, “m” la sua massa relativistica e “c” la costante velocità della luce nel vuoto.
Sergio Moral Saiz, Inmaculada Oliver-Faubel, Isabel Jordán Palomar
BIM technology is gaining ground in different disciplines outside new construction. This is the case of architectural surveys of heritage buildings, a methodology known as HBIM (Historic Building Information Modeling). With this tool, which facilitates the architectural survey, an information model of the property is obtained with less error and greater accuracy than with conventional technologies. With the high degree of information that this methodology allows, the different historical phases of the church of La Sang of Llíria, of which there are no three-dimensional graphic representations to date, are modelled. A point cloud obtained with a laser scanner is used as a base. The intention is to involve the use of BIM tools in the dating and representation of historical phases of the property, to expose its advantages in obtaining simulations of the phases, to date them within a specific period and to relate the information.
In this article we consider ways of solving the problem of lacking practical experience in drawing and painting among the students of architecture departments. We propose a solution to this problem through creation of teaching methods aimed to develop a perception of of nature, compositional and technical skills and abilities. We study the principles of the approach to the plein air practice working program of the leading architectural universities in Russia, and also compare and analyze two approaches to the program: an interdisciplinary approach based on the relationship of architecture with the visual arts - drawing and studying architectural monuments and holding a plein air in the form of master classes by professional artists, with an emphasis on techniques and technologies of work in the plein air. Revealing the methodological features of building a program for mastering the universal and general professional competencies of an architect and designer: acquaintance with the monuments of architectural heritage, a creative research approach to the object of study, the development of compositional thinking and the basics of linear constructive drawing, the development of graphic techniques necessary for working on sketches of projects. Recommendations are given for the development of tasks for plein air practice for students of architecture, reconstruction, urban planning and design departments.
<p>In Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, reality and imagination are infused in an interplay of narratives. The story is about discovering the identity of Self, using a walled city as a metaphor for the subconscious. The novel weaves the stories of two characters, the external self and the internal self, each chapter flicking between the real and the dream, from conscious to unconscious. Murakami provides the reader with a contemplation on the nature of existence, being versus non-being. Dr William S Haney, Professor of Literary Theory and specialist on culture and consciousness, argues that the shadow in Murakami’s allegory is a representation of the mind. As the narrative unfolds, the shadow—stripped from its owner—slowly dies, causing loss of memory, emotion and desire. The relinquishing of one’s shadow in the allegory suggests a loss of the metaphysical aspect of Self. The Shadow is not merely seen as an immaterial entity; rather it is the sign of full corporeality. The Shadow grants meaning to existence, illuminating the reality that we cannot perceive the light without the darkness. This thesis is born out of a concern for the dearth of meaning in architecture in an age of uncertainty. In the modern contemporary sphere, we have become obsessed with the image, with rationalistic tendencies; with evermore light and luminosity, architecture has primarily been caught up in trying to order and rationalise the world. In this condition of objectification and reduction, architecture risks falling into a trap of homogeneity, thereby limiting itself to an empty datum of quantification. Thus, the unhygienic, the disorder and the chaos, the darkness that grants life its pungency, have been ‘relegated to the shadows’. Roberto Casati, senior researcher and Professor of Philosophy at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientique and an authority on shadow perception, argues that shadows avoid direct reading: “[t]he interaction of the two unequal brothers has been described in different ways, from the notion that shadows are ‘holes in the light’ through to the opposite idea that they are ‘the remaining representatives on earth of the cosmic darkness, otherwise torn apart by light’”. Viewed in this sense, Shadows can be seen as both corporeal operation—bound to the physical cycles of earth, moon and sun—and metaphysical entity, alluding to the primordial darkness before the birth of light and matter. The allegory of the Shadow in Hard-Boiled Wonderland can be seen as a rumination on the loss of the metaphysical aspect of Self in a contemporary cybernetic age. In Murakami’s novel, the shadow cannot enter the walled Town; it must be left behind in the Shadow Grounds, the threshold between inner and outer realms. The Gateway, as described in Murakami’s novel, becomes the provocateur for this thesis. Interpreting Murakami’s architectural and allegorical program of the Gateway and Shadow Grounds in relation to Penelope Haralambidou’s seminal article “The Allegorical Project: Architecture as Figurative Theory”, this design-led research investigation interrogates the use of the Allegorical Architectural Project as a critical method. Allegory provides a structure of thought whereby meaning is not grasped immediately, but rather through progressive discovery and continual interpretation of its ambiguous traits. Ambiguity in architecture has the ability to appear ever-changing, resist resolution and remain open to interpretation. The methodology of the investigation explores the spatial realm of the shadow through the critical and creative process of drawing. The principal aim of this thesis is to journey into the darkness, to embrace the shadow of the unknown, searching for a space in-between—between light and shadow, architecture and art, reality and fiction, the constructed and the imagined. Using Haruki Murakami’s Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World as a generator and provocateur, the research employs the notion of the shadow as both mythological entity and corporeal signifying process. Rather than seeking concrete conclusions, it posits a speculative allegorical architectural project that invites critical engagement and interpretation. It argues that architecture occupies the liminal position between darkness and light, the true place of human existence, and as such, the design of Shadow is essential to the meaningful design of architecture. The thesis investigation asks: how can the speculative architectural drawing be used as a means of interrogating the realm, and enhancing our awareness of, the shadow in architecture?</p>
<p><b>This thesis exhibits the visual medium of architectural representation destabilized and reinterpreted by locating blindness in architecture. What can blind drawing allow architects to see? </b></p> <p>As a primary medium of architectural representation, drawing is an agency through which architecture is conceptualised, developed and disseminated. Conventionally, drawings are generated and perceived through sight: they are visual projections. Such visual privilege reduces the subject of architectural representations to visible, physical elements of buildings, while invisible, and/or intangible aspects of architectural experience often lack consideration in drawing. The architectural design process can be described as the translation of architecture between the mediums of drawing and building. The context of representation describes this translation as shifting from conceptual to conventional drawing types. While the visual privilege constantly operates in both conceptual and conventional drawing, the differences between their visual languages enable them to describe different aspects of architectural experience. The main difference that this thesis explores is the strictly visual vocabulary of conventional drawing, and the ambiguous capacity of conceptual drawing, enabling it to reference both visual and non-visual aspects of architectural experience. </p> <p>This thesis places conceptual and conventional drawing in parallel, aiming to exaggerate their differences on paper, and what they represent in reality, highlighting where and how architecture risks being weakened during a course of translation. The first half challenges the visual privilege through blind drawing as an alternative mode of conceptual drawing, while the second half identifies invisible aspects of architectural experience that cannot be depicted through conventional drawing. In concluding the research, these differences also evidence opportunities offered by the dual capacity of architectural representation, which simultaneously depicts visible (and physical), and invisible (and intangible) elements. For example, a line as a wall, also defines invisible space either side of said wall – perhaps dotted by the warmth of morning sun and cooler patches of shadow cast by window mullions. This thesis addresses a shift away from the ingrained visual privilege thriving in architectural thought. While drawing remains an inevitably visual medium, the design process must consider both visual and non-visual aspects, equally incorporated by an architectural experience. To exploit the dual capacity of representation, such methods of drawing should encourage architects to draw as though they are blind.</p>
In oktober 2018 deden medewerkers van Monumenten en Archeologie Amsterdam (MA) een bijzondere ontdekking in een monumentaal pand aan de Recht Boomssloot 41 in Amsterdam. Op de begane grond troffen zij een relatief onbekend interieur aan van de Italiaanse architect-ontwerper Alessandro Mendini (1931-2019) uit 2001. Het betreft de voormalige woning van oud-directeur van het Groninger Museum Frans Haks (1938‐2006), die na zijn directeurschap in 1996 met zijn partner Johan Ambaum (1931-2018) verhuisde naar het pand. De begane grond werd door Mendini aangepast en uitgebreid met een serre-aanbouw aan de achterzijde. Haks woonde hier tussen zijn hedendaagse kunstverzameling. Ambaum woonde op de eerste verdieping tussen zijn negentiende-eeuwse kunst.
Na het overlijden van Ambaum in januari 2018 als laatste bewoner van het appartement kwam het via de Stichting het Rijksmuseum Fonds in handen van het Rijksmuseum. Ambaum had dit fonds aangewezen als enige erfgenaam met als doel de aankoop van toegepaste kunst en nijverheid uit de negentiende en twintigste eeuw voor de Rijksmuseum collectie. Wanneer de nalatenschap de museumcollectie niet zou versterken, diende deze te worden verkocht ten behoeve van het fonds. Dit was het geval bij het appartement dat in de verkoop werd gedaan. Omdat het pand waarin het appartement zich bevindt vanwege de geveltop een rijksmonument is (monumentnummer 646), dienden de verbouwingsplannen te worden voorgelegd aan MA. Toen de medewerkers in oktober 2018 bij hun bezoek aan het pand daarin onverwacht het Mendini-interieur aantroffen, werden de plannen afgekeurd.
Op 26 februari 2019 – acht dagen na het overlijden van Mendini – werd het appartement opnieuw bezocht, deze keer samen met conservator twintigste-eeuwse kunst en senior conservator meubelen van het Rijksmuseum en de senior specialist historische interieurs van de Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. Het doel was een waardebepaling te maken met het oog op herbestemming. De interieurafwerking kreeg een hoge monumentenwaarde toegekend vanwege de structuur, de ruimtewerking, de interieurafwerkingen en de zeldzaamheid. Dit laatste bezoek en het besef van het gebrek aan kennis over het interieur vormden de aanleiding voor het onderzoek waaruit dit artikel is voortgekomen.
Op basis van literatuur- en archiefonderzoek en oral history schetst dit artikel de geschiedenis van het interieur en wordt het belang ervan aangetoond. Na een beknopte introductie van opdrachtgever Haks, ontwerper Mendini en hun relatie, volgt een analyse van het kleurrijke interieur waarin de ontwerp overwegingen worden geduid.
Het interieur moest een passend decor vormen voor Haks’ kunst- en design verzameling. Bovendien moest de vormgeving theatraal zijn, passend bij Haks’ uitbundige manier van leven. Het overbewustzijn van het kunstmatige karakter, de overdrijving als style statement in het gebruik van heldere kleuren en vormen, de glamour en de ironie geven het interieur een zelfbewuste neo-kitscherige lichtvoetigheid, beter aangeduid als camp. Tot slot wordt het interieur gesitueerd binnen de architectuurhistorisch interessante interieurkunst uit de periode na 1965.
Reconstructies van verdwenen gebouwen zijn nieuwe scheppingen, zonder eenheid van tijd, plaats en functie. Daarom zijn argumenten die voortkomen uit de theoretische grondbeginselen van de monumentenzorg – die het behoud van ouderdoms- en getuigeniswaarden en historische bouwsubstantie voorstaan – veelal niet op hun plaats. Toch schuilt er een gevaar in reconstructies, omdat ze de waarde van historische materialiteit relativeren. De ‘dissolution of the real monument’ (Glendinning 2013) is daarvan het gevolg.
Het brede begrip en de waardering van materiële overblijfselen uit het verleden zijn sinds de Nara Conference on Authenticity in 1994 gedestabiliseerd. Het authenticiteitsbegrip dient volgens Nara te worden beoordeeld vanuit de culturele context waarop het betrekking heeft. Binnen die context kan een monument niet alleen authentiek zijn op basis van geloofwaardige historische bronnen en materiaal, maar ook op basis van bronnen die getuigen van authentieke aspecten als functie, ontwerp, traditie en geestelijke of maatschappelijke waarde.
Deze conceptualisering van authenticiteit voert tot de verdringing van de materiële authenticiteit. Het prevaleren van conceptuele benaderingswijzen heeft een negatieve invloed op de manier waarop met het materiële erfgoed wordt omgegaan. Het devalueren van het wetenschappelijke, materiële bronnenmateriaal plaatst dat materiële erfgoed in een narratieve context, waarmee het kwetsbaar wordt voor ideologische beeldvorming.
“I was sitting, alone, in the compartment of the sleeping car when, due to a more violent shock than the train, the door on the adjoining toilet opened and a rather elderly gentleman, dressed as a chambermaid, with a travel cap on his head, entered my compartment. I assumed that he had taken the wrong direction in coming out of the toilet between the two compartments and that he had entered by mistake; I jumped up to explain it to him, but I immediately realised, to my great dismay, that the intruder was my image reflected in the mirror fixed on the communication door (...) I would not exclude that the bad impression I made was ultimately a remnant of that archaic reaction that perceives the double as disturbing. I still remember that I did not like the apparition” (Freud, 1919).
Mazin Al-Saffar, Afrah Bathsha, Ching-Hsing Chang
et al.
<p>According to the United Nations (UN), about 70% of the world’s population projected to live in urban areas by 2050. Therefore, cities are experiencing an enormous urban transition the world has ever seen, accounting for 80% of global carbon dioxide emissions, consuming over two-thirds of the world’s energy, and producing 1.3 billion tons of waste per year. Leaders, governments, architects, urban designers, developers, planners and business leaders need to make decisions and find solutions for how billions of urbanites will live in the future. Therefore, future cities will require new design principles to face their urban challenges and problems such as pollution, poverty, poor environment, land use management, green-house gas emissions and socio-economic and environmental risks. In this context, the case study area of this paper will be El Raval district, which is in a medieval quarter of Barcelona. This area considered as one of the oldest and a significant part of the city that contains many heritage buildings and unique traditional urban context going back to hundreds of years. The district has an influx of immigrants, which has transformed its label from an industrial neighbourhood into a residential one and low rents that have attracted many people of low income, making it a vibrant and multicultural community. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to address the implementation of innovative solutions, advanced technologies, ICT and IoT that might enhance people participation in the urban design processes and respond to urban futures challenges. The result of this research will lead to creating a platform to resolve the conflicting values of architectural heritage and smart cities principles, sourcing new sustainable technologies and the integration of the smart infrastructure systems.</p><p>DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.23.2019.14" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.23.2019.14</a></p>
Eight years after our digital journal was created, a little examination is not anything strange: it is a check-up of the present conditions of the group that started the experience. Nor it is redundant to mention the perspective that the disciplinary group the magazine has always been dedicated to, is nowadays examining. The wish, the choice we pursued during these years in the different issues – broadening as much as possible the research’ horizon outlined by the selected contributions – and the opening to an increasingly wider and more international group of researcher, give today the impression they reached an important goal. But the challenge for a further growth is still on, in the circulation and in the quality of the works to be published. It is not an impossible challenge, being that the advent of digital technologies has not yet exhausted its potentiality to innovate and develop procedures and tools.
In the world of Vitruvianism the study of historical architecture was completely different from what one would expect. What historiographers wanted to know had less to do with the reconstruction of a development than with reconstructing a pure beginning. All this with as a starting point the ten books on architecture written by the Roman Vitruvius in the first century BC. Writers of treatises such as Leon Battista Alberti and Sebastiano Serlio were not much interested in the history and historical development of ancient architecture, but rather in recovering the correct rules. Their manuals were lessons in building according to the directions of the classics. Although the Cours d’ Architecture by Jacques-François Blondel, of which the first part appeared in 1771, does offer a retrospective of the past, everything that does not fit in with the line leading towards his own time and particularly his own work is left out of consideration. The great exception to this tradition is Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach with his Entwurff Einer Historischen Architectur from 1721. This is the first illustrated description of architecture in all parts of the world. In addition, the book offers a survey of the studies available at that time. It is not clear why he did not include any reference to Gothic or Renaissance architecture, unless he meant his book to be a Wunderkammer in book form. It is remarkable that someone like Sir Christopher Wren, who had also studied the history of architecture, was so much less well-read than Fischer von Erlach. From a small tour of the writers on historical architecture between 1450 and 1800 it is obvious once again that this field of study could only develop after the limitations of Vitruvianism had been cleared away.