Architectural Studies

The history of human knowledge and thinking has proven that the theories, philosophies and approaches from the dawn of civilization to the present day are characterized by a relativity that is closely associated to time and place, and to the history and evolution of cumulative knowledge. While, Architecture is the mirror of its era, at all times in a specific societal context. The heritage, which architecture’s identification and distinctiveness are based on must continue and preserved to guarantee the continuity of the identity of societies. Sometimes we lose hope not needed, when touring the city of Sulaimani, finding an architectural composition linked to the city or connects us to it, is very rare. As if the place has no identity, nor historical roots. Architects were borrowing from architectural products that are outlandish to the local environment, even a literal copying of components. Consequently, the urban products emulate a completely different environment from the existing environmental or social realities. Despite the attempts of a small number of architects to use some of the elements of heritage to create a link between traditional architecture of the city and contemporary architecture, most of which were not at the required level. Due to the scarcity of full knowledge of the effects of architectural heritage elements on the concept of architecture.
From that perspective, this paper will explore and examines the impact of the use of most significant heritage elements in contemporary architecture of Sulaymaniyah. To determine the intellectual and philosophical dimensions of using the elements to promote a modern heritage architecture that simulates time and sustain continuity and achieve communicative impression with the historical and heritage background of local architecture. Several contemporary local buildings analyzed as samples, from different areas of Sulaimaniyah, built in the period (2003-2014).

Architects must be able to express their ideas clearly to communicate their designs. At the same time, graduate professional degree programs demand advanced critical literacy and academic writing skills. Competence in this domain for high school graduates in South Africa often falls short of the expected proficiencies of first-year students at the tertiary level. To address this gap, an embedded writing course was integrated into the first-year Design Studio and History of Architecture course. This intervention adopted the approaches provided by writing-intensive pedagogy, successfully improving students’ written expression, and their ability to engage with their architectural studies in deeper and more critical ways.

In April 2016 a Fixed Handout Workshop was held at the University of Cambridge. Its aim was to encourage early-career Latinists to reflect on the impact that their varying academic influences and different methodological preferences have on the research they produce. In particular, the workshop tested the strengths and limits of each scholar's intertextual practice. The participants delivered papers that were based on a prearranged selection of thematically connected passages, yet although several groups were presented with identical sets of Latin quotations, the papers they produced—and additional texts they adduced—varied widely.

The present workshop aims to continue this exploration of interpretative methodologies in a slightly altered format. We invite Classicists and scholars from other disciplines (especially Renaissance Studies, Art History, Philosophy, Architecture, Mathematics) to each present a paper on the same passage, but to use a different, clearly stated methodological approach. By asking scholars from different schools-of-thought and disciplines to focus their attention on a particular moment in Latin literature, we aim to: a) measure the interpretive impact of different methodologies within the field of Classics; b) explore how texts take different shapes under the lens of disciplines outside the Classics; c) test in concrete terms the interpretative potential of an interdisciplinary dialogue.

The passage we have selected for the workshop is Vitruvius' De Architectura III.1. While discussing the role of symmetry in the composition of temples, Vitruvius introduces the image of a well-formed human being (ad hominis bene figurati membrorum exactam rationem), from which proportional relations and principles of good measure are derived. The passage was famously the basis for Leonardo da Vinci's interpretation of the " Vitruvian Man " , and continued to attract the attention of early modern exegetes and contemporary architectural specialists alike. With its textual, visual, philosophical, and scientific features, De Architectura III. 1 has an obvious and distinct interdisciplinary potential.

EN: In 2018, the authors performed architectural research of
the tower in Wisłoujście Fortress, in Gdańsk, in connection with planned conservation works. For the first time, methodological architectural studies of the oldest structure of the complex were undertaken—focusing on the tower-lighthouse, which was erected in 1482, and which was extended in the sixteenth and twentieth centuries.
The results of the research and verification of historical  and archaeological sources allowed to identify six main  stages of the structure’s construction. It was established  that the current entrance to the tower is a secondary one, and the form that is placed at the top of the tower (battlements) is an ahistorical creation built at the end of
the 1950s, with no historical justification. The results of  the research—despite the new findings—indicate more  uncertainties about the history and especially the transformation of the fortress, that have not been discovered  yet. The study also proved the necessity to continue the  analysis of the fortress by means of architectural and archaeological research, along with archival research.

PL: W roku 2018 zespół autorski wykonał badania architektoniczne wieży w Twierdzy Wisłoujście w Gdańsku w związku z planowanymi pracami konserwatorskimi. Pierwszy raz podjęto metodologiczne badania architektoniczne najstarszej struktury zespołu – wieży-latarni morskiej wzniesionej w 1482, a następnie rozbudowywanej w wiekach XVI–XX. Wyniki badań oraz weryfikacja źródeł historycznych i archeologicznych pozwoliły zrekonstruować 6 głównych etapów budowy. Ustalono, że obecne wejście do wieży jest wtórne, a forma jej zwieńczenia (krenelaż) jest ahistoryczną kreacją zrealizowaną pod koniec lat pięćdziesiątych XX stulecia, nieznajdującą historycznego uzasadnienia. Wyniki badań – pomimo nowych ustaleń – wskazują na wiele dalszych wątpliwości na temat historii, a zwłaszcza przekształceń twierdzy, które do tej pory nie zostały rozpoznane. Dowodzą też konieczności kontynuowania analiz twierdzy poprzez badania architektoniczne i archeologiczne w powiązaniu z badaniami archiwalnymi.