A “file-to-factory” process of computer technology is a way to both maximise efficiency throughout the building process, increase a building's performance, and be able to add interesting architectural possibilities throughout the design phase. The authors investigate a novel approach that produces a set of building trajectories rather than a set of buildings, yet yields a series of build-able examples of those trajectories. This paper evaluates how this series of stacked multi-storey timber buildings can be both incorporated within a file-to-factory process, and give rise to creating new innovative solutions throughout the entire design and manufacturing process.

This process is applied to a real Swedish project called Zembla. It redefines the notion of sprawl, turning it into a progressive tactics for linking the city fabric to rural areas. It is a post-sustainable file-to-factory-produced timber ground-scraper; soaring above ground and water, suggesting a new way of making city-sized buildings for the future.

A plug-in grid-shell structure is designed to contain a minimal amount of timber elements, beams make up the lattice, cross-laminated panels add structural support, surfaces come together to form the living capsules. Having the structure undulate across the topography and touching the ground in as few places as possible uses the dichotomy between landscape and urbanism, bringing the city to the people living in less densified areas. Each living unit is customised to its topological conditions within the grid.

The strategies for thermal regulation and environmental control found in nature are countless. In this article, a parallelism between animals and building energy systems is defined in order to identify and emphasize the immediate opportunities that biomimicry offers for future research. The motivation was the need to find alternative solutions to tackle problems mainly in the efficiency of heating, ventilation and cooling systems. Due to the wide range of possibilities offered by animals, this study is largely limited to the strategies that cold-blooded animals have developed through evolutionary adaptation to the environment.

The method used for the analysis is based on a solution-based approach. Firstly, different animal thermoregulation strategies are defined (biologicaldomain). Then the strategy is analyzed and classified into three categories. This classification is essential in order to formulate the parallelism with building systems (transfer phase). The final step is to identify the potential implementation (technologicaldomain).

This approach has been seen to be useful in creating new research opportunities based on biomimicry. In addition, suitable solutions arising from multidisciplinary team research are presented as promising answers to the challenges that building energy systems face nowadays.

The thermal environment and thermal comfort of a building are greatly affected by the design of the building interface form. Most contemporary architectural designs consider only the relations between architectural form and architectural beauty. Few studies on the correlation of architectural form and thermal comfort address the influence of architectural form on thermal comfort and thermal environment. These studies are particularly important for gymnasium architectures located in hot and humid areas, which have high requirements for thermal comfort. This paper presents an experimental investigation and an analysis of the effect of the building interface form of gymnasiums on thermal comfort in hot and humid subtropical regions durings ummer. Results showed that the influence of the top interface forms on thermal comfort is mainly dominated by the mean radiant temperature, which could be controlled to improve thermal comfort. The influence of side interface forms on thermal comfort is mainly dominated by air velocity, and thermal comfort could be improved by promoting natural ventilation on the side interface form design to reduce indoor heat. This research enhanced our understanding of the relation between the interface form and the thermal comfort of gymnasiums. In addition, this paper provides a theoretical reference for the sustainable design of gymnasiums in hot and humid climates.

This paper examines the role of urban landmark designin Seoul, after the structural adjustment in the late 1990s, in branding Seoul's image as a global city. The topic of urban branding through the use of works of well-known architects has generated much debate, with many arguing that this practice involves a mere culture of the copy, or a thin veneer for a neoliberal urban redevelopment agenda. The case study sites examined in this paper—Some Sevit (Floating Island), Dongdaemun Design Plaza, and Seoullo 7017—are examples of the “free-form” architecture commissioned by the Seoul city government in the hope of generating a “Bilbao Effect,” and thereby promoting tourism in the area. This paper argues that although contemporary urban landmarks in Seoul have the potential to become brandscapes, they do not all stop short at becoming mere copies or a temporary fad. Rather, the conditions under which each landmark is reproduced are deeply situated, and the gap between aspiration and reality brings in different results.

Podgorica, known as the “city under the mountain,” rests at the intersection of five riversand is Europe's youngest capital. Over a 2000-year-long history, Podgorica has experienced turbu-lence. The city has suffered conquests, wars, nearly complete destruction in WWII, associated with war-related conflicts in the 1990s, and gained its independence at the beginning of the 21st century. Today, Podgorica is a vibrant, dynamic, and rapidly growing city, with current developments that reflect the consequences of post-socialist economic, institutional, social, and cultural transition. In this case study, the development of the built environment of Podgorica is presented in six stages: Roman, Ottoman, Principality of Montenegro and Kingdom of Yugoslavia, socialist, transitional, and contemporary. The study shows the influence of each period in the development of the city and highlights two major challenges of present-day architecture, that is, growing into a modern-day metropolis and the challenge of juxtaposing contemporary Podgorica with Titograd and old Podgorica.

Efficient interaction between art and technology enabled Islamic architecture to actively experience early globalization, but today's separation between these domains and technolo-gical hegemony have presented challenges to Islamic architecture. Accordingly, this research was aimed at illuminating art and technology interactions in Islamic architecture during early globalization when it flourished along with Christian architecture. To this end, logical reasoning and qualitative data analysis were performed in parallel on 12 chains of mostly worship-oriented artworks, such as mosques and churches. The results indicated that art and technology interactions in Islamic and Christian architecture were underlain by the same nature and sequential pattern of beginning from primitive technology and ending with innovative technology (art). The cultural and technological value of these architectural styles eventually crossed geographical boundaries. Therefore, the beneficial interactions between art and technology enabled Islamic and Christian architecture to participate in globalization through the conveyance of their value to other regions even as differences existed in the measures implemented for such transmission.

This article details the origin and development of one of the core groups of the Central Asian (Kazakhstani) medieval architecture – i.e. domed mausoleums; also it identifies the original traits of the medieval Kazakhstani mausoleums and their major locations centres. As determined by the authors so called “dual code' was used as per building of medieval Central Asian mausoleums one of which corresponded to the generalized image of domed tomb as per the new ideology(Islam), and the second one matched the existing local forms and their decorative elements. Subsequently following several major compositional types of the Central Asian (Kazakhstan) mausoleums were formed and later on became standard i.e.-central, frontal, portal-domed ones. They served as the foundation for numerous architectural ‘schools’ in Kazakhstan which developed further specific building structures, their details,elements’ proportions, facades’ divisions, décor, etc. In accordance with this, the genesis and main ways of forming the mausoleums on the territory of Kazakhstan was as follows-from single-chamber (central mausoleums, "facade" and portal ones) compositions up to multi-chamber ones, Also compositional features & specifics of the monuments of the main regional centres were revealed in the article.

Urbanization is a common and inevitable occurrence everywhere. While growth and expansion are beneficial for manypeople and businesses, there is apotential for loss of historical areas that are the heritage value to people. This paper investigates the effects of urbanization on the heritage buildings in the historical-heritage temple town of Kumbakonam in Tamilnadu, India. Heritage temple towns are frequent targets for the rapid transition to urbanization that is often accompanied by alteration of historical areas. The primary objective of this study was to identify how urbanization could change the heritage characteristics in a temple town. An ordinal regression model was used to analyze urbanization data from the heritage town of Kumbakonam. Our findings revealed specific physical, socioeconomic, and sociocultural factors of urbanization that caused identifiable and significant changes in the heritage characteristics of Kumbakonam. These factors play a significant role and wouldaid in the implementation of the Local Development Plan (LDP) for sustainable urban growth and preservation of the heritage character of Kumbakonam.

This study investigated the categories of generative and conservative offices by using syntactic theories and conducting a comparativean alysis of two different layout configurations. Generativity depends on several features that include but are not limited to spatial criteria. Generativity is also affected by aspects that extend beyond the physical, such as the symbolic relationship between the social organism of an organization and the internal structure of a workplace. Results show that no consistent relationship exists between spatial variables and behaviors even though the examined layouts satisfy an organization's basi ccultural require-ments, including privacy, territoriality, and hierarchy. Spatial parameters increase the potential for generativity, but such increase is not guaranteed without necessary changes in the attitudes, programs, and policies of organizations. Recognizing the limits of spatial variables requires evidence-based field research on office settings to determine operational and tailor-made solutions.