Rapid demographic change and the ongoing process of dechurching are bringing about significant transformations in Germany’s sacred building landscape. Strategies for managing churches no longer in regular liturgical use vary considerably. In some locations, buildings are quickly disposed of, sold, or demolished, whereas in others efforts are made to reuse them in ways that remain as close as possible to their original function. This applies to both Catholic and Protestant churches. As former parishes are merged into larger pastoral units, individual buildings are often assigned specialised functions: children’s church, youth church, city church, book church, cultural church, vespers church, ecumenical church, columbarium church, to name but a few. These adaptations are sometimes accompanied by substantial architectural interventions, and sometimes not. Churches frequently combine multiple uses under a single roof. Hybrid use opens the church to the urban environment, which benefits from its prominent location. Conversely, the community gains from shared use by other organisations and groups, both financially and socially. From a theological perspective, this represents an opportunity for a new mode of being in the world in the era of the post-popular church.
Architectural drawing and design, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
Throughout the realm of aesthetics there is the general sentiment that kitsch is inherently immoral. Although kitsch itself is a relatively ambiguous term, objects falling into this category are charged with a negative ethical stigma due to their being sentimental and manipulative. In this paper, I articulate the shakiness of the claim that kitsch is immoral by first comparing three accounts of kitsch to demonstrate how the term “kitsch” can be applied (or denied) to various aesthetic objects. I then argue that the charges of sentimentality and manipulation create further ambiguities regarding kitsch. I conclude that although certain objects can be kitsch, to categorically denounce kitsch on an ethical basis is too strong a claim.
Jean-Sébastien Dessureault, Félix Clément, Seydou Ba
et al.
The field of interior home design has witnessed a growing utilization of machine learning. However, the subjective nature of aesthetics poses a significant challenge due to its variability among individuals and cultures. This paper proposes an applied machine learning method to enhance manufactured custom doors in a proper and aesthetic home design environment. Since there are millions of possible custom door models based on door types, wood species, dyeing, paint, and glass types, it is impossible to foresee a home design model fitting every custom door. To generate the classification data, a home design expert has to label thousands of door/home design combinations with the different colors and shades utilized in home designs. These data train a random forest classifier in a supervised learning context. The classifier predicts a home design according to a particular custom door. This method is applied in the following context: A web page displays a choice of doors to a customer. The customer selects the desired door properties, which are sent to a server that returns an aesthetic home design model for this door. This door configuration generates a series of images through the Unity 3D engine module, which are returned to the web client. The customer finally visualizes their door in an aesthetic home design context. The results show the random forest classifier’s good performance, with an accuracy level of 86.8%, in predicting suitable home design, marking the way for future developments requiring subjective evaluations. The results are also explained using a feature importance graphic, a decision tree, a confusion matrix, and text.
Who is "beautiful" and who is "ugly"? My concept is one of the most controversial aesthetic concepts throughout history. For thousands of years, the goal of art has been to create a sense of beauty; In order to explore the nature of perception and spiritual pleasure. So desiring beauty and mobilizing ugly is a right for every human being, and it is certain that the taste and enjoyment of beauty varies between individuals. Because of the different ideologies, the culture of beauty was not fixed, as was the culture of ugliness. What is beautiful for some people is ugly for others, but the more a person elevates his thought beyond the limits of form and avoids the superficiality of vision. And looking at the inner features of things that seem ugly, he found a hidden beauty within them. The concept of ugliness cannot be separated from the concept of beauty, but rather it is an integral part of it. If beautiful always has specific standards and studied standards, while ugly is linked to the penetration of all these standards and standards, “there is no limit to ugly”, as soon as you set a standard for beauty, a similar standard to ugliness appears. As if he automatically reveals himself to enhance beauty. That is why contemporary arts have paid much attention to this concept, as it is an “aesthetic” concept that can express multiple artistic, social, political and philosophical visions, hence the idea of research based on entering into the depths of the ugly and treating the vision of “untouchable” things through the heart and the mind, and getting out of it with aesthetics, the criteria of “bad” become, and it carries with it many readings and interpretations that determine what these things are. That the work of art is the construction of one kidney and that each part is given a different significance.
Andhini Wahyu Putri, Nugroho Darmawan Ari, Kurniawan M. Prasetya
Handling café business waste is essential for environmental protection, especially for organic food waste. After all, organic food waste decomposes quickly and produces methane gas, which has a pungent odor if not appropriately managed. This research analyzes and describes the waste management activities of specialty café businesses, starting with showing the development potential for managing by-product waste to increase added value and increase customer awareness. The research method used is descriptive qualitative analysis based on literature study, observation, interviews, and analysis of other supporting documents. The practice of waste management can positively impact the amount of waste generated from the café business because the amount of waste that must be submitted to the landfill can be reduced and provide by-products to increase income and café aesthetics. Waste management can be implemented by collecting and sorting waste and then processing it into by-products, one of which is by making eco-enzymes. The impact of this activity is that café businesses can educate employees and consumers to care more about the environment through simple waste management. The limitation of this study is that the research was conducted without a waste treatment trial process. Although this research is locally focused and qualitative, the results and methods of this research can be used to guide the implementation of wiser and more sustainable café business waste management.
Impacted canines, which play an important role in smile aesthetics and functional occlusion, can lead to dental and skeletal malocclusions. In this study the aim was to evaluate the relationship between impacted maxillary canines and malocclusion. A total of 151 patients comprising 101 females and 50 males aged between 13 and 33 years were included. The groups were divided based on age, gender, skeletal and dental classification, and sector classification. Angular and linear measurements were performed on lateral cephalometric and panoramic radiographs. In panoramic radiographs, the vertical distance of the impacted canine to the occlusal plane and the angle between it and the bicondylar plane were measured and sector classification was performed according to its relationship with the root of the lateral incisor. Skeletal classification was performed according to the ANB angle on lateral cephalometric radiographs and dental classification by molar relationship via the intraoral photographs. The Chi-square test analyzed independent qualitative and quantitative data using Kruskal–Wallis and Man–Whitney U tests. The statistical significance level was accepted as <i>p</i> < 0.05. According to the intraclass correlation test, an excellent positive correlation was found with 0.985 for canine distance and 0.993 for canine angle between the repeated measurements. The impaction of the maxillary right canine was significantly highest in females and lowest in males. The impacted canine angle was significantly highest in sector 1 and lowest in sector 4. Distance to the occlusal plane was significantly higher in dental Class II and sector 4. It was observed that there was a considerable relationship between impacted maxillary canines and malocclusion; bilateral impacted canines were more frequent in skeletal Class III, and the distance of impacted canines to the occlusal plane increased while their angles decreased both in dental Class II and from sectors 1 to 4.
Afsheen Mansoor, Zohaib Khurshid, Muhammad Talal Khan
et al.
Currently, titanium oxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>) nanoparticles are successfully employed in human food, drugs, cosmetics, advanced medicine, and dentistry because of their non-cytotoxic, non-allergic, and bio-compatible nature when used in direct close contact with the human body. These NPs are the most versatile oxides as a result of their acceptable chemical stability, lower cost, strong oxidation properties, high refractive index, and enhanced aesthetics. These NPs are fabricated by conventional (physical and chemical) methods and the latest biological methods (biological, green, and biological derivatives), with their advantages and disadvantages in this epoch. The significance of TiO<sub>2</sub> NPs as a medical material includes drug delivery release, cancer therapy, orthopedic implants, biosensors, instruments, and devices, whereas their significance as a dental biomaterial involves dentifrices, oral antibacterial disinfectants, whitening agents, and adhesives. In addition, TiO<sub>2</sub> NPs play an important role in orthodontics (wires and brackets), endodontics (sealers and obturating materials), maxillofacial surgeries (implants and bone plates), prosthodontics (veneers, crowns, bridges, and acrylic resin dentures), and restorative dentistry (GIC and composites).
Spectacular images of the Afghan Pamirs tend to convey an impression of extreme remoteness and to conflate endangerment in perceptions of Afghan Kyrgyz migrations. But how can endangerment sensibilities meet the aesthetics of strategic mobilizations without downplaying contestation? In mobilizing text and images, this essay intends to conciliate an aesthetic practice with analytical considerations.
New trends in the social life at crucial points mean applying to the past experience and looking for new development models. COVID-19 has marked a global transition to a new architecture and urban planning paradigm of the environment in accordance with the sanitary, hygienic requirements and rational forms. In accordance with the current challenges it becomes necessary to reevaluate the concepts of urbanism and disurbanism redefining urban planning, existing typology, structural and functional organization as well as to search for new ways of architecture and urban development. Urban structures and sociology are expected to be reconsidered leading to reduced capacity of all public buildings, disappearance of some of them and replacement by recreation zones. Inexhaustible ideas and resources of past design approaches may be featured in the buildings styles. We could predict appearance of significant signs of new ethics in the new aesthetics which will mark the arrival of the third global «superstyle» which features have been already seen in the rigid construction approaches, in the social movements activities. Methods of architecture education are expected to be modified: in particular, the importance of advanced techniques in the educational process will increase and teamwork in the architecture projects will became vital.
Aesthetic hedonism is the view that to be aesthetically good is to please. For most aesthetic hedonists, aesthetic normativity is hedonic normativity. This paper argues that Kant’s third 'Critique' contains resources for a nonhedonic account of aesthetic normativity as sourced in autonomy as self-legislation. A case is made that the account is also Kant’s because it ties his aesthetics into a key theme of his larger philosophy.
Raed Alelwani, Muhammad Waseem Ahmad, Yacine Rezgui
This research extends Hasan Fathy’s (1986) principle of vernacular architecture by focusing on the Rawshan through an investigation of two criteria: aesthetics and energy efficiency. The paper discusses the views of both the Saudi public and key decision-makers on reviving vernacular architecture in the context of Saudi Arabia’s rapidly developing economy, characterized by relatively high rates of energy consumption and CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. This research explores (a) the interaction in domestic buildings of Saudi occupants with their windows, and how these are perceived as an interface with the external environment; (b) awareness and knowledge of the use of shading elements (such as Rawshans) to reduce the use of artificial lighting while maintaining indoor privacy; (c) Saudi awareness of, and familiarity with, the Rawshan as a vernacular element and a secular architectural tradition; and (d) Saudi views on the revival of traditional architectural elements with a focus on the Rawshan. An online survey (<i>n</i> = 812) was conducted across Saudi Arabia complemented by interviews with expert decision-makers (<i>n</i> = 23) to (a) assess criteria such as privacy, aesthetics, daylight, ventilation, and energy consumption in Saudi residences and (b) investigate the level of acceptance of an optimized retrofitted Rawshan design.
En Frasier, el inteligente diseño de los escenarios no se limita a incorporar las cualidades de la buena arquitectura. Establece un vínculo con la cultura americana, tanto arquitectónica como social. En el contexto actual, cuando la presión de los medios de comunicación condiciona todo, parece necesario considerar la influencia de los medios audiovisuales por su especial relación con la arquitectura. Este artículo explora las relaciones entre arquitectura, interiorismo y sociedad a través del análisis de la citada serie.
Siti Nurul Rofiqo Irwan, Rohlan Rogomulyo, Sri Trisnowati
Utilization of land around a house as a pakarangan supports the quality and biodiversity of ecosystems. Utilization of pekarangan will develop a productive landscape in order to support food production for household and social interaction facility with neighbors. Mangunan Village has a category of marginal land because of the character of a dry land, rocky, far from water sources, and hilly topography. Therefore this village needs plants that can be adaptable for the environmental characteristics. The research aimed to identify the utilization of pekarangan, to find out the opinions of the people through the utilization of pekarangan and to reveal the linkage of plant functions in developing a productive landscape of pekarangan. Data were collected by purposive sampling with samples of 180 households spreading over six clusters of dusun in Mangunan Village. Variables of research were land area, species and quantity of plants, and people response in developing the productive landscape. Utilization of pekarangan in a wide variety of planting covering planting fruit crops (31%), herbal plants (20%), aesthetics plants (15%), and vegetables (15%). Mangunan Village has diversity index of pekarangan on medium rate (H’ 2.65) and evenness of species on stable position (E 0.32). Therefore, Mangunan Village requires more plants and species to keep a better ecosystem. Community in Mangunan Village was very enthusiastic in the utilization of pekarangan for provisioning food (59%). People require assistance to implement pekarangan functions because they have not enough knowledge on pekarangan plan. The plant functions had high linkage and low linkage in developing productive landscape of pekarangan.
<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>This paper will review the theory and practice of green belts as instruments of urban containment in a European context. It will point to the emphasis given to the compact city in the European Spatial Development Perspective. It will then review and compare some of the practices in different parts of Europe. Particular emphasis will be given to a comparison of policy and implementation in Scotland and the Netherlands.<br /></span>The analysis will show that green belts are used to pursue a number of policy aims:they are not exclusively a tool to manage landscape resources. Furthermore they have social and economic impacts as well as landscape impacts. There are also important questions about the relation between policy and implementation. Finally recommendations are made for a more active design and management approach to planning land at the edge of the city as part of strategic spatial planning practice. </p></div></div></div>
Architecture, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
In general, play areas are highly standardised place that include a set of standardised equipments alien to the reference context, poor in stimuli and incapable of triggering fruitful social relationships. Playing activities are often repetitive, boring and mechanical, contributing in a somewhat limited extent (and ever counterproductive) to the development of the child and nurturing a passive and poor approach to play. Adequate play facilities for disabled children are not common. This article highlights the strategic role of the play for the well-being of children and analyses playground in ethical, social and architectural terms. It claims that playgrounds should be genuine ‘work of architecture’ well-grounded within the reference socio-cultural, environmental and architectural context and in ‘dialogue’ with nature. They should be able to encourage encounters and mutual enrichment between children that come from different walks of life through solutions able to fun, ease tensions and stimulate creativity, expression and self-knowledge.
Architecture, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
Saskia Cousin, Géraldine Djament-Tran, Maria Gravari-Barbas
et al.
This article questions the development of alternative policies, from the perspective of the political uses of tourism and heritage in Plaine Commune - one of the last territories of the red (communist) suburbs of Paris. The tourist and heritage policies are historically linked to the construction of a communist alternative and are marked by a militant perspective. These policies have evolved since the entrepreneurial turn initiated by the communist reformers in the 1990s. Today they are marked by the disseminating paradigm of "creativity". The involvment of the intermunicipal structure as "Territory of Culture and Creation" within the Greater Paris reveals the ambiguities between entrepreneurial dynamics and the development of a typical suburban heritage. In the interstices of the "creative" metropolis, we study the construction of alternative tourism and heritage policies. These policies are characterized by their participatory dimension, their involvment within the social and solidarity economy and their construction for ideally all inhabitants. In conclusion, the categorization of policies as alternatives stumbles on ambivalent forms, while the heritage and tourism policy, firsta result of an alternative policy, has become one of its main vectors.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology
The discussion within gerontology of the relationship between older people and their environment (place attachment and ageing in place in particular) has been based on an assumption of familiarity with place. Yet increasingly older people experience unfamiliar environments. This can be through increased travelling as tourists and visitors to other towns and cities, through redevelopment of town centres or through cognitive decline, where the familiar becomes unfamiliar. This article reviews the conceptual frameworks underpinning the concepts of place attachment and unfamiliarity and questions the relevance of such concepts for understanding urban lifestyles in later life. We demonstrate that even in an unfamiliar environment older people can develop a sense of place through the aesthetics and usability of the environment as well as through shared memories. Consequently this has relevance for how we plan our environments to make them age-friendly.