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The Unbearable Lightness of an Open System: The Packaged House 1941–47
Get PDFOne of the many ways in which architecture is conceptually opened up is by adopting systems theory in building technology. In this context, open systems denote modular design and construction; a system of standardized, mass-produced parts that can be configured in various ways opens a field of possibilities. However, there is a significant gap between the high expectations for the implication of the open systems principle and its results.
This essay explores the potentials and consequences of openness in architecture through a historical case study. The Packaged House project (1941–47), designed by Konrad Wachsmann (1901–1980) and Walter Gropius (1883–1969), is a prefabricated housing system devised to meet the housing shortage in the US during and soon after WWII. It was an open spatial design system, a modular construction system and a commercial enterprise all in one. Although it was cultivated in the most favourable political and economic landscape for prefabricated building systems, the Packaged House failed to be widely reproduced. Drawing from the conflicting histories of the Packaged House, the discursive formation of the post-war dwelling, changing definitions of openness, and varied representations, this essay dissects the fantasies of the open building systems as well as their practical and symbolic features
Travel time, delay and CO2 impacts of SAE L3 driving automation of passenger cars on the European motorway network
Get PDFImpacts of driving automation on traffic flow and emissions are usually studied with traffic simulations using only few speed limits and traffic volumes. Without considering the real-world prevalence of simulated scenarios, it is unknown how the results translate to real-world conditions, such as a regional motorway network. The present study assessed the potential impacts of conditionally automated driving, described by stable vehicle motion control and longer time gaps, on the European motorway network assuming no changes in other influential factors, such as travel demand or vehicle fleet. Traffic simulations provided estimates of the effect magnitude per vehicle kilometre travelled (VKT) in representative conditions, and results were scaled up using map-, traffic- and weather-related data, accounting for the VKT per condition. Overall, the impacts of automated vehicles (AVs) on the European motorway network are likely small. Travel times and delay are estimated to increase by 0.8% and 1.3% respectively at a 100% AV penetration rate among passenger cars, and CO2 emissions to drop by 0.5%. While large reductions of average travel time (up to 8.0–10.4%), delay (up to 17.5–34.8%) and emissions (up to 13.5–15.0%) were found at high traffic volumes, most (86%) of the VKT accumulate at low traffic volumes, with small estimated effects. Thus, although beneficial in some conditions, the AVs considered in this study are not likely to support Europe’s sustainability goals. Findings advocate a comprehensive approach: Whereas impacts are likely greatest in heavy traffic, the prevalence of conditions must be considered in network level assessment
Dynamic analysis of the investment decision of electric vehicle charging facilities and the promotion effect measurement for electric vehicles
Get PDFThis paper aims to analyze the deep reason why there exists hesitation when investors decide whether invest in EV charging facilities (ECFs). To this end, a series of theoretic models are built and derived, and some enlightening results are got. The main results confirm that charging facility investors are insufficiently motivated to follow a moderately aggressive investment strategy in the early stages of EV development. For stimulating ECFs’ investment, the marginal conditions in which the investors choose active or conservative investment strategies to lay out charging facilities are analyzed, and the effects under different ECFs investment strategies are quantized in terms of driving the market development of EVs. Based on the findings, relevant policy suggestions are proposed. Finally, to verify the gained results, a case study in the context of China is given
BIVEC 2021 Special Issue Editorial Note
Get PDFThis Special Issue has its basis in the BIVEC-GIBET Transport Research Days 2021. The three papers reflect the broad scope of the BIVEC-GIBET, including several disciplines, all transport modes, and many research methods. What the research of BIVEC-GIBET has in common, is a focus on societally and policy relevant research
Curatorial Fieldwork as a Critical Practice: Learning from Post-Nostalgic Knowings in Freixo
Get PDFAs fieldwork is becoming a situated practice and an investigative process for the comprehension of places, the present paper proposes a new reading of the urbanscape of Freixo, a marginalized territory in Porto, Portugal. Learning from Post-Nostalgic Knowings and focusing on curatorial and artistic actions, we elaborate a new understanding of the invisibilities and conditions of this territory, by proposing a curatorial fieldwork. From context-specific approaches to new methods of fieldwork, we expand the reading of curatorial actions beyond the gallery and museum spaces, to create a dialogue with the site, its local community and the artistic interventions. ‘Curatorial Fieldwork as a Critical Practice’ navigates through shared experiences, proposing new expectations of a site and simultaneously revealing the strategies of its future
Addis Ababa’s sefer, iddir, and gebbi: Nuanced reading of complex urban forms
No full textThis research is motivated by the scholarly calls for new concepts and analytic tools for documenting, analysing, and theorizing complex urban territories such as those of cities in Africa. With implicit comparative intent, it takes the case of Addis Ababa city and its old and typifying places—the sefer, to develop and test a new architectural transdisciplinary research methodology referred to as the trinocular. By way of this methodology, it unearths and introduces sefer, iddir, and gebbi of Addis Ababa as not only socio-spatial phenomena but concepts and vocabulary for a located and nuanced reading of the city itself. Sefer are introduced as flexible boundary conditions that are primarily cognized by their dwellers—results of indigenous and autochthonous foundation and continued processes of self-actualization by communities that construct them. Iddir is unearthed as a form of social capital embedded in sefer that appears in the structures of relations among residents. And the gebbi as an urban spatial typology that constitutes the sefer’s morphology—the last frontier of communality just prior domestic spaces which, in many cases, can be a single multi-functional room.
These concepts and vocabulary, it is argued, in both practical and metaphoric sense, should be the starting point of new urban imaginaries for Addis Ababa. Urban planning and housing projections thus, should draw inspiration from these notions, elements, and phenomena. Furthermore, lessons learnt from the trinocular and the findings are presented as new avenues for architectural research in similar, less-known, and complex urban conditions as the sefer of Addis Ababa
Mass Housing Neighbourhoods and Urban Commons: Values-based Governance and Intervention Framework for New Belgrade Blocks
No full textThe neglect of significance, deterioration and consequent devaluation of the post-war mass housing neighbourhoods are major challenges, both in the field of heritage conservation and management and in urban planning and design. The reasons for their deterioration are different, and interlinked with the socio-cultural discourse, as well as the spatial characteristics of these neighbourhoods. This doctoral research addresses the challenges of those neighbourhoods, focusing on New Belgrade Blocks, as one of the largest modernist post-war mass housing areas in Europe. The case is particularly important for the discourse on mass housing and ‘ordinary’ heritage management, as it encapsulates concepts, policies and practices developed in Yugoslavia, which are relevant to the contemporary discussions on community-driven approaches for urban planning and governance and participation in heritage studies. The doctoral thesis presents this legacy and reveals causalities and relations of spatial and socio-political aspects, policies, but also planning and design principles. Furthermore, it empirically studies and evaluates the blocks in the contemporary context, with the society (involving citizens), and within the current legal and organisational conditions. Eventually, it develops a framework for enhancement of the blocks, addressing the current and future societal and users’ needs, while preserving the identity and values of the blocks. The doctoral thesis provides different findings and perspectives, contributing to the current knowledge on integrated conservation, urban planning and governance of urban heritage, and in particular mass housing neighbourhoods. It shows co- dependence of those fields and offers an integrative and cross-disciplinary approach
On the Open Style of Architectural Reasoning
Get PDFThis article departs from Ian Hacking’s concept of ‘styles of reasoning’ to argue that open architecture is not necessarily an ontological, but rather a methodological category, and that in order to understand open architecture we require an appropriate style of architectural reasoning. Stanford Anderson’s approach to Imre Lakatos’s methodology of scientific research programmes in architecture is used to develop the idea that a precise style of reasoning forms an explicit understanding of architectural openness, and is elaborated further using Michael Hays’s notion of critical architecture as an alternative approach to open architecture, which is free from any predetermined logic. The article concludes with an attempt to identify similarities between the work of Anderson and Hays as a basis for an open style of architectural reasoning
Infinite But Tiny: Towards a Hybrid Architecture of Dwelling
Get PDFIn the midst of a new Covid-19 variant – Omicron – in winter 2021, the recently rebranded tech giant Meta announced the company’s vision for the ‘metaverse’: a ‘beyond universe’ of constant connection. Only a few days later, the Swedish furniture giant Ikea shared its latest version of the project Tiny Homes: an extremely condensed and cheap micro-apartment in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district. This paper investigates these two events, and discusses the progressive upscaling of the digital dwelling and the parallel downsizing of the physical dwelling. It argues that, beyond being a deadly epidemic, Covid-19 upended, overnight, not only traditional living and working practices, but also the spaces that determine and are determined by them. It canonised a flexible life by envisioning a new architecture of hybrid dwelling where people could shift in real time from their tiny physical spaces into an infinite digital space. Yet, this opportunity granted by the immersive, allegedly inclusive and democratic new virtual realm hides a strangely familiar set of relations. It facilitates the establishment of a new and broader economy of continuous worldwide accumulation in which constant connectedness, creation and production construct a highly ephemeral and economised hybrid space that transforms the traditional understanding of dwelling into a condition of uprootedness
Strategic investment strategy for software companies using a multi-criteria decision analysis approach
Get PDFStrategic investments are crucial for software companies as they determine the direction and growth of the businesses. Parallel to continuous improvements in information technologies, increased customer expectations, and competitive environments, deciding between new investment strategies has become even more important. Despite their prevalence, making these decisions is generally challenging, especially when there are multiple alternatives, conflicting objectives, and a group of decision-makers with different priorities. In this study, we consider this complex issue as a multi-criteria decision-making problem by focusing on a real-life case study from a software company that specializes in selling tools for online education and assessment. We propose a two-level methodology integrating the Best-Worst method (BWM) and Elimination and Choice Translating Reality (ELECTRE-III). In the first step, six criteria that play a role in software investment decisions are defined based on an extensive literature review and expert interviews. Then a group of experts compared these criteria by using BWM, and importance weights were calculated. In the third step, the ELECTRE-III method is utilized to evaluate a set of investment alternatives and provide a ranking. We conclude with insights for both researchers and practitioners who are concerned about strategic investment decisions