1,720,962 research outputs found
In search of a possible dialogue between restoration and ruins. From ekphrasis to the ‘new whole’ evoked by the architectural fragment
Full text linkThe ruins, the buildings in the state of ruins, the architectural fragments that characterize a landscape are increasingly involved in planning interventions; however, these interventions often go beyond the narrow field of conservation, which has as its aim the transmission to the future of the values still existent from pre-existence, but also from that of restoration in its present meaning, to encroach on real compositional exercises where the new architecture does not enter into any relationship with the ancient. It is possible, however, to glimpse in contemporary work also a conscious attention to the aesthetic and historical values transmitted by the buildings to the state of ruins that in their transformation have found a new balance.
The relationship that is established over time with the environmental context makes the ruin ‘second work of art’ characterized by a new spatiality. This new spatiality will have to be considered both if there are still residual formal traces able to tell the historical past of the pre-existence (and also any relationship with other architectural emergencies, such as in the case of a fortified system to defend and control a given territory), both when the pre-existence in its fragmentary state has become a ‘new whole’
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The Production of (Public) Space in Rural Socialist Albania: Two Case Studies in the Drino Valley
Full text linkIn Albania, il socialismo si radicò dopo la fine della Seconda Guerra Mondiale, traendo spunto dai principi Marxisti-Leninisti sui quali costruire la nuova moderna società albanese. In quest’ottica, l’Albania socialista tendeva a dare priorità al futuro, seppur glorificando al contempo le radici del popolo albanese, promuovendo l’immagine di un paese moderno che, nell’intento di costruire il socialismo, aveva abbracciato gli sforzi e le sfide di un eroico progresso con l’obiettivo di trasformare profondamente la propria società e il proprio territorio. In questo contesto, accanto ai complessi cambiamenti politici, socioculturali e economici, il ruolo delle aree rurali nel dibattito politico albanese dell’epoca fu rivalutato positivamente, attribuendo ad esse un ruolo centrale nella propaganda ideologica del regime socialista. Il villaggio albanese, concepito come unità, e le comunità rurali subirono profondi cambiamenti in seguito all’introduzione degli innovativi mezzi di produzione economica socialista. Nuovi insediamenti rurali socialisti furono fondati e costruiti accanto a villaggi rurali esistenti, e raggruppati secondo le due principali forme economiche dettate dal regime comunista: le cooperative agricole e le aziende agricole statali. Questo contributo pone l’attenzione sulla progettazione e sul ruolo dell’organizzazione del qendra e fshatit, ovvero il centro del villaggio socialista inteso come spazio pubblico e come parte fondamentale del villaggio o del nuovo insediamento rurale, nel materializzare la svolta socialista nel processo di modernizzazione delle aree rurali albanesi. ---The Production of (Public) Space in Rural Socialist Albania: Two Case Studies in the Drino ValleyThe construction of socialism took root in Albania after the end of the Second World War drawing from the Marxist-Leninist principles on which building the new modern Albanian society. Socialist Albania tended to prioritize the future while glorifying the roots of the Albanian people, by promoting images of the country that had embraced heroic progress to deeply transform its society and territory. In this context, alongside the complex political, social and economic changes, the role of the countryside in the Albanian political debate of the time was importantly evaluated and pivotal in the socialist regime propaganda. In this sense, the Albanian village, conceived as a unity, and the rural communities, underwent profound changes depending on the innovative socialist economic means of production. New socialist rural settlements were established along existing ones and grouped according to the two main economic forms dictated by the regime: the agricultural cooperatives and the agricultural state farms. Within this context, this article proposes a focus on the design and planning of, and the role played by the qendra e fshatit, i.e., the village centre intended both as a public space and as a fundamental part of the village or the new rural settlement, in materialising the socialist turn in the modernisation process of the Albanian rural areas.The construction of socialism took root in Albania after the end of the Second World War drawing from the Marxist-Leninist principles on which building the new modern Albanian society. Socialist Albania tended to prioritize the future while glorifying the roots of the Albanian people, by promoting images of the country that had embraced heroic progress to deeply transform its society and territory. In this context, alongside the complex political, social and economic changes, the role of the countryside in the Albanian political debate of the time was importantly evaluated and pivotal in the socialist regime propaganda. In this sense, the Albanian village, conceived as a unity, and the rural communities, underwent profound changes depending on the innovative socialist economic means of production. New socialist rural settlements were established along existing ones and grouped according to the two main economic forms dictated by the regime: the agricultural cooperatives and the agricultural state farms. Within this context, this article proposes a focus on the design and planning of, and the role played by the qendra e fshatit, i.e., the village centre intended both as a public space and as a fundamental part of the village or the new rural settlement, in materialising the socialist turn in the modernisation process of the Albanian rural areas
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Comfort Conditions and Energy Consumption in Prefabricated Houses in Tirana
Full text linkThe prefabricated buildings were a momentary solution to the emergent housing problem in Albania during the 1980s. The modular structures were built in minimal costs by using Chinese technology and expertise. A considerable number of buildings were completed all over the country till the beginning of the '90s. These constructions represent today an important part of the housing stock which is seeking retrofit interventions. Due to their design, technology and also due to the lack of maintenance, the prefabricated housing blocks represent today one of the most problematical typologies in terms of thermal comfort and energy efficiency.
The objective of the paper is to evaluate the energetic performance of the prefabricated buildings in Tirana, to understand the comfort conditions provided in them and the factors affecting the components of comfort. The research is based on data acquired on a survey conducted in May 2013 and measurements made on case studies. The results deduce preliminary conclusions about the potential of renovation and feasible targets in improving the comfort conditions in these buildings
The Fractal Dimension as Alternative Theoretical Tool to Examine and Develop Urban Patterns
Full text linkContemporary theories on urbanism admit the complex nature of the urban fabric. This means that reading and understanding urban facts requires a much more complex theoretical model than the Euclidian Geometry can offer. As Nikos Salingaros admits, we need to rethink the discipline of urbanism by involving algorithms as advanced developing tools. Urban patterns are produced by complex algorithms which describe their morphology and not just their geometry in Vitruvian terms. Especially in vernacular (self-grown) patterns is noted the presence of fractal algorithms as urban fabric generators. This research intends to identify and evaluate the fractal nature of Korça’s vernacular pattern by using the fractal dimension as measurement tool. By observing Korça’s pattern is easy to note the phenomena of the self-similarity and of a morphological hierarchy transmitted across the scales. Through a multi-scale analysis this research aims to verify the hypothesis of the fractal nature of this pattern. The self-affinity phenomena will be explored in the repetitive presence of specific planar motifs in different urban scales. Theoretically, the fractal dimension controls the dispersion of mass over a structure and in this case it gives information about the fragmentation scale of the build environment. The measurement process is done by the use of the box-counting method and the Fractalyse software. On one hand the research identifies the fractal nature of a self-grown pattern; on the other one it raises an important question: Can we list the fractal dimension as an additional parameter which gives more complete information about the urban morphologies
Rebuilding Identities. A Territory-based Approach to Face Abandonment in Drino Valley (Albania)
Full text linkDalla caduta del regime comunista, l'Albania ha affrontato processi di trasformazione che hanno profondamente segnato sia i centri urbani che i territori rurali. Le aree rurali hanno subito un progressivo abbandono, in gran parte a causa dei radicali cambiamenti nel sistema economico e nello status della proprietà terriera agricola, con conseguente prolungata crisi nel settore. Basato sui concetti di paesaggio culturale e governance di rete, questo articolo conduce un'analisi dei potenziali storici, culturali, economici e territoriali delle aree rurali. La comprensione del territorio, della sua morfologia, della struttura degli insediamenti rurali e della loro evoluzione nel tempo, ha costituito la base per la ricerca finalizzata alla costruzione di un modello di sviluppo sostenibile. Le identità locali, le catene economiche storiche e la morfologia del territorio sono state identificate come i pilastri di una potenziale strategia di sviluppo mirata a ripristinare le vocazioni naturali del territorio. Lo studio si concentra sulla valle del fiume Drino nel sud dell'Albania, una regione complessa che ben esemplifica i processi demografici e le dinamiche di trasformazione degli ultimi decenni. Questo lavoro è iniziato con il progetto "100 Villaggi", supportato dal governo albanese e dall'Agenzia Nazionale per la Pianificazione Territoriale e ulteriormente ampliato grazie a una collaborazione con il Politecnico di Torino e l'ETH di Zurigo. Più recentemente, con un focus sullo spopolamento e l'abbandono, la ricerca è stata supportata dal progetto RIBA Lost and Found, promosso dal Politecnico di Milano.Since the fall of the communist regime, Albania has faced transformation processes that have profoundly affected both urban centers and rural territories. Rural areas have undergone progressive abandonment, largely due to radical changes in the economic system and the status of agricultural land ownership, resulting in a prolonged crisis in the sector. Based on the concepts of cultural landscape and network governance, this article conducts an analysis of the historical, cultural, economic and territorial potentials of rural areas. Understanding the territory, its morphology, the structure of rural settlements and their evolution over time, has formed the basis for research aimed at building a sustainable development model. Local identities, historical economic chains and the morphology of the territory have been identified as the pillars of a potential development strategy aimed at restoring the natural vocations of the territory. The study focuses on the Drino River Valley in southern Albania, a complex region that well exemplifies the demographic processes and transformation dynamics of recent decades. This work started with the project "100 Villages", supported by the Albanian government and the National Agency for Spatial Planning and further expanded through a collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Turin and ETH Zurich. More recently, with a focus on depopulation and abandonment, the research was supported by the RIBA Lost and Found project, promoted by the Polytechnic University of Milan
- …
