| 1. |
- Aghaei Meibodi, Mania, 1984-
(author)
-
Generative Design Exploration : Computation and Material Practice
- 2016
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Today, computation serves as an important intermediary agent for the integration of analyses and the constraints of materialisation into design processes. Research efforts in the field have emphasised digital continuity and conformity between different aspects of a building project. Such an approach can limit the potential for significant discoveries, because the expression of architectural form is reduced to the varying tones of one fabrication technique and simulation at a time. This dissertation argues that disparate sets of digital and physical models are needed to incorporate multiple constraints into the exploration, and that the way the designer links them to one another significantly impacts the potential for arriving at significant discoveries. Discoveries are made in the moment of bridging between models, representational mediums, and affiliated processes.This dissertation examines the capacity of algorithm—as a basis for computation—to diversify and expand the design exploration by enabling the designer to link disparate models and different representational mediums. It is developed around a series of design experiments that question how computation and digital fabrication can be used to diversify design ideation, foster significant discoveries, and at the same time increase flexibility for the designer’s operation in the design process. The experiments reveal the interdependence of the mediums of design—algorithm, geometry, and material—and the designer’s mode of operation. They show that each medium provides the designer with a particular way of incorporating constraints into the exploration. From the way the designer treats these mediums and the design process, two types of exploration are identified: goal oriented and open-ended. In the former, the exploration model is shaped by the designer’s objective to reach a specified goal through the selection of mediums, models, and tools. In the latter, the design process itself informs the designer’s intention. From the kinds of interdependencies that are created between mediums in each experiment, three main exploration models emerge: circular and uniform, branched and incremental, and parallel and bidirectional.Finally, this dissertation argues that the theoretical case for integral computational design and fabrication must be revised to go beyond merely applying established computational processes to encompass the designer and several design mediums. The new model of design exploration is a cooperation between algorithm, geometry, materials, tools, and the designer. For the exploration to be novel, the designer must play a significant role by choosing one medium over another when formulating the design problem and establishing design drivers from the set of constraints, by linking the design mediums, by translating between design representations, and by describing the key aspects of the exploration in terms of algorithms.
|
|
| 2. |
- Andersson, Jonas E, 1964-
(author)
-
Architecture and Ageing : On the Interaction between Frail Older People and the Built Environment
- 2011
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This doctoral thesis deals with the type of architecture that materializes when age-related problems become a long-term condition (LTC) and gradually restrain the individual’s ability to perform activities in daily life (ADL). Their life situation necessitates a support from relatives or municipal eldercare staff in order for them to continue to participate in everyday living. In addition, the architectural space requires a close adjustment to the personal panorama of cognitive or functional impairments. The habitat can be a flat appropriated many years previously or in a residential care home for dependent and frail seniors. Architecture for ageing with dependency demonstrates how space can be used either to affirm or oppress the older person’s attempts to maintain an independent life style. By use of design theory, case study methodology and a heterogeneous research strategy, this study uses a threefold approach—a retrospective, a contemporaneous, and a future-oriented approach—to explore frail older people’s interaction with the architectural space of residential care homes. This has resulted in seven papers that focus on aspects of these human interactions with the built environment. Based on twelve exemplary models, the research paper I concludes that national guidelines result in a homelike, a hotel-like or a hospital-like environment. Research paper II is a retrospective study that examines the use of architecture competitions as a socio-political instrument to define architectural guidelines. Research paper III focuses on dependent seniors’ spatial appropriation of the communally shared space of a ward in a residential care home. Research paper IV employs two environmental assessment methods from the architecture profession and gerontological research (TESS-NH) in order to evaluate the use of interior colouring when refurbishing two residential care homes while the residents remained in place. Research paper V displays a municipal organizer’s considerations to opt for an architecture competition as a means of renewing architecture for the ageing population. Research paper VI examines competition documentation of three municipal architecture competitions organized during the period of 2006 to 2009. Research paper VII, the final study, explores notions concerning the appropriate space for ageing found among a group of municipal representatives, and people from organizations defending older people’s right. It supplies a model for understanding the appropriate space for ageing. This study illustrates the absence of older people with frailties in the public discussion about appropriate architecture for ageing. During the 20th century, the multi-dimensional idea of an architectural space with a homelike appearance has been used to contrast the negatively charged opposite—the complete and austere institution. The overarching conclusion of this study is that architecture for dependent and frail seniors constitutes a particular type of built space that requires an extended dialogue involving dependent seniors, architects, building contractors and care planners in order to conceive appropriate architecture for the ageing society.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Bergdahl, Eva, 1965-
(author)
-
On Mixed Use in Swedish detailed Development Plans
- 2004
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The study is based on a programme of research into functionintegrated city environments. In-depth case studies have beencarried out on two planning projects in Karlstad andVästerås. The object of these case studies wasexplorative, the intention being to develop a clear idea of theconditions for function integration and how these aremanifested in detailed planning processes. The key concepts of the study pertain to both the localenvironment and the process of detailed planning. Functionintegration is defined as an action within planning. The resultof detailed planning is a physical environment. What theplanning process aims to produce is a function integratedenvironment. The object of study is function integration in theprocess of detailed planning. A function integrated environment needs to be experienced assuch from eye-level. From this perspective it should bepossible to distinguish the following elements in physicalspace in the local environment: residential housing, places ofwork and services, public space with attractive places, publicland which is structured to give the pedestrian a sense ofcontinuity and connection with surrounding areas. The starting-point here is that a function integratedenvironment is one of many local environments. It is a type ofenvironment for which there is ample justification for goodplanning. The contribution of this study to the city planningdebate is primarily empirical. It investigates experiences ofdetailed planning, and conclusions that may be drawn. Onecomprehensive thesis is that in practice, there is a tendencyin detailed planning to separate functions. This is part of theexplanation why planning projects that aim to produce functionintegrated environments can seem overly complex, demanding manyresources. Keywords:Mixed use, detaild development plan, function,integration.
|
|
| 7. |
- Bjurström, Patrick
(author)
-
Att förståskolbyggnader
- 2004
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Understanding School Buildingscompletes a study ofmodern Swedish school buildings and the ideas behind them. In aseries of case studies of seven schools built between 1953 and2001, changes in architecture have been found to reflectchanges in the ideas and practices of teaching and learning.The study has raised a number of questions, regarding currentdemands on school buildings. Problems and qualities of schoolbuildings demands on school buildings, problems and qualitiesof school buildings form the 1950s, 60s and 70s, problems foundand qualities lost in the process of changing such buildings,and the motives of architects involved in the design ofschools.In practical terms, the research method has includedobservations of buildings in use, interviews with directors,staff and pupils as well as architects, and the study ofliterature, documents and architectural drawings. Intheoretical terms, different perspectives of architecture havebeen discussed and applied, from the phenomenological approachof Norberg-Schulz to the space syntax theory of Hillier, frompractical, social use of symbolic meaning and aesthetics.Finally, some philosophical themes on art, architecture andsociety, from Dewey, Shusterman, Scruton and Sartre have beenintroduced.Partly diverging from the case study model of Yin, the studydoes not simply aim at verifying or falsifying a hypothesis. Ata point in the study, each case is explained in a morenarrative manner. In the final analysis, understanding schoolbuildings in shown to require a multifaceted view. A schoolbuilding must be seen in a historic/political perspective, as atool for teaching and learning and as the life-world ofteachers and pupils. In cases discussed, a school building isalso the object of strong pedagogical or social intensions ofan architect. In other term, a study of school buildings mustbe a study in pragmatist aesthetics.Keywords:School building, architectural theory, recentsocial history of architecture, intention, experience,pragmatist aesthetics
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
- Bodin Danielsson, Christina, 1969-
(author)
-
The Office - An Explorative Study : Architectural Design's Impact on Health, Job Satisfaction & Well-being
- 2010
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This doctoral thesis examines the office environment’s influence on employees’ perception oftheir workplaces, their organizations and their job satisfaction, as well as their health and wellbeing.It is based on an empirical study of 491 office employees from twenty-six companies anddivisions in large companies. Seven office types, defined by their architectural and functionalfeatures, are represented in the study group: cell-office, shared-room office, small open planoffice, medium-sized open plan office, large open plan office, flex-office and combi-office. Theresearch has its basis in architecture, although an interdisciplinary approach using organizationaland management theory, environmental psychology, and social and stress medicine has beenemployed. Qualitative (Articles I & V) and quantitative methods(Articles II & IV) were used.The thesis also contains an explorative, review article. Thus it comprises all in all five articles.Article I is an analysis of the importance of architectural quality for employees´ perceptionand experience of the office using Lynch’s method (1960) developed to measure inhabitants’perception of architectural quality in cities. The study shows that in the office the experienceto a high degree is independent of both the scale of the office and office type; instead it isdetermined by the quality of the plan layout combined with the quality of other design features.It also shows Lynch’s method to be useful in foreseeing where the elements that reinforce‘imageability’ will most likely appear in an office environment.Article II investigates employees’ environmental satisfaction focusing on:1) ambient factors; 2) noise and privacy; and 3) design-related factors. The results, based onregression models with age, gender, job rank and line of business as additional covariates,show office type as a factor with a statistically significant impact on satisfaction with the officeenvironment. Employees in cell-offices are prominently most satisfied, followed by those inflex-offices, cell-offices rate low only on social aspects of design-related factors. A major findingis the internal differences between office types where employees share workspace and facilitieswith lowest satisfaction in medium-sized and large open plan offices.Article III is a review article that analyzes the employees’ office experiences in two ways:1) by framing the physical work environment’s influence on employees into the model oforganizational theorist Davis (1994); and 2) by categorizing the office experience into twogroups based on the nature of the experience and problems related to them. The results of theemperical study presented in Article II are the basis for the discussion in this article.Article IV examines employees’ health, well-being and job satisfaction. A multivariateanalysis applied to the study sample and equivalent to that of Article II shows significantly higherrisks for ill health and poor well-being in medium-sized and small open plan offices, comparedespecially with cell-office. In medium-sized open plan and combi-offices the employees evincethe lowest job satisfaction. The best chance for good health status and job satisfaction is in cellofficesand flex-offices.Article V examines the office architecture´s importance for employees’ perception of theirown workplaces and organizations based on the two key components of architecture—theaesthetical and functional dimensions. The results show that overall the employees had positiveexperiences of their office environments. These mainly concerned the aesthetical dimension,whereas the negative comments dealt with the functional dimension. The aesthetical dimensionappears not only to set the agenda for employees’ perception of the workplace and organizationas a whole, but also for the perception of the functional dimensions. The functional dimensionswere only in focus when the workstation and its proximate area were discussed.
|
|
| 10. |
- Bonnevier, Katarina, 1970-
(author)
-
Behind Straight Curtains : Towards a queer feminist theory of architecture
- 2007
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis presents theatrical queer feminist interpretations of architecture staged within a series of architectural scenes: architect Eileen Gray’s building E.1027 in the south of France (1926-29); author Natalie Barney’s literary salon at 20 rue Jacob, Paris (1909-1968); and author Selma Lagerlöf’s former home and memorial estate Mårbacka, situated in mid-west Sweden and transformed between 1919 and 1923. Interpreted as queer performative acts, or enactments of architecture, these cases bring into play the interconnectedness of material container, the setting, the deeds and the actors. A broad aim of the thesis is to explore the role played by architecture in the social and cultural constructions of bodies, in particular in relation to gender and sexuality. Architecture is investigated as one of the subjectivating norms that constitute gender performativity. The thesis is thus not only about but also operates through enactment. It masquerades as a series of lectures written in the form of scripted drama. The aim of this formal experiment is not only to explicate and critique from a detached perspective but also to represent architecture in the process of being enacted. Architecture is investigated not only as a theoretical metaphor but also as a concrete material practice always entangled with subject positions. With this exploration into the queerness and the theatricality of architecture, Behind Straight Curtains seeks to affect both the analysis and enactment of architecture and contribute to an architectural shift towards a built environment that does not simply repeat repressive structures but attempts to resist discrimination and dismantle hierarchies.
|
|
