Environmental Architecture

Through architectural and engineering skills, humanity leaves its mark upon the earth. Urbanization started from Mesopotamia in west Asia where the Mesopotamian societies flourished. They evolved into various landscapes from the metal-rich highlands and elevations of southeastern Turkey to the Syrian deserts, from the woodmen of the Levant to the bogs of southern Iraq. Mesopotamian civilization, along with its architecture, survived more than three thousand years. The architecture of the Mesopotamian civilization is not only portentous in its outlook and proficient in planning, but it’s also considered rational and technical with respect to its environment.The civilization was very first of its kind, having technology and urban settlements that laid the foundation of future modern settlements. It considered the region's environment and climate as pivotal in the development of its culture and architecture.This study discusses how the people, consciously or unconsciously, shaped t...

Through architectural and engineering skills, humanity leaves its mark upon the earth. Urbanization started from Mesopotamia in west Asia where the Mesopotamian societies flourished. They evolved into various landscapes from the metal-rich highlands and elevations of southeastern Turkey to the Syrian deserts, from the woodmen of the Levant to the bogs of southern Iraq. Mesopotamian civilization, along with its architecture, survived more than three thousand years. The architecture of the Mesopotamian civilization is not only portentous in its outlook and proficient in planning, but it’s also considered rational and technical with respect to its environment.

The civilization was very first of its kind, having technology and urban settlements that laid the foundation of future modern settlements. It considered the region's environment and climate as pivotal in the development of its culture and architecture.

This study discusses how the people, consciously or unconsciously, shaped the land or landscape around them in relation to their environment. This study is both basic and applied, according to architectural research methods. By content, the research in this article is according to the process of design and construction and the data in this research will be analyzed morphologically and technically. The Mesopotamian people used mud bricks, aqueducts, wooden beams, Archimedes screw, courtyard and tripartite houses. The study in this article proves that all these constructions and the techniques used were according to their environmental and climatic conditions.

Urgent and far-reaching steps are necessary to reorient global economies to address the global environmental and climate emergency. Both IPCC and Paris Agreements commit industrialised nations to drastic reductions of their CO2 emissions so as to keep the rise in global average temperature to well below 1.5 °C. At the same time we know that the environmental emergency is not simply a matter of CO2 emissions, but of feedback loops between multiple metabolic rifts. The challenge is one that requires systematic transformations in planning for sustainable and just modes of coexistence across the planet, in such a way that is globally equitable, while able to both mitigate the impacts of climate breakdown, as well as creating reliable and dependable plans for the future.

Analysing the indoor climate of historic buildings is very complicated, involving different variables and uncertainties. This paper presents some reflections about an interesting case study, the eighteenth-century Villa Reale in Milan, which holds the civic collection of modern art. A nineteenth-century air heating system operates in the museum, generating an unsuitable indoor climate that presents risks to the collections and is not comfortable for users of the building. A research project was established by the Politecnico di Milano to examine environmental control in the museum. The assessment of existing conditions was based on an extended application of the concept of historical climate, an integrated approach which is particularly significant in this case study. Results from the monitoring and surveying activities are presented, focusing on the relationship of the building construction with the indoor and outdoor climate as well as on potential deterioration factors for the co...

KEYWORDS: Environmental program1, traditional house2, passive solar house3, bioclimatic design4, teaching methods and techniques5.

ABSTRACTQ
The following paper is a presentation of an environmental program titled "Considering the house of the past, I plan the house of today". The program examines the basic environmental principles of the traditional Greek house which can be applied to new houses -bioclimatic-, covering the needs of modern lifestyle. Is a proposal to raise the student community in the spirit of sustainable development, through an experiential education that uses alternative methods and techniques to make the learning process more efficient and attractive at the same time. This program is consistent with the general philosophy of the new curriculum of the teaching learning field for environmental education and sustainable development. Resulted from the need to create a different educational framework with innovative aspects and answers to everyday problems. ...

In recent years, the development of technologies that allow scientists to look deeper into bones, such as advances in molecular biology, DNA analysis, and toxicological procedures, has facilitated the prosecution of human rights violations. Still, the impact of exhumations and their instrumentality extends far beyond the remit of scientific or legal forums. In many cases, exhumations are performed in postcolonial contexts and in relation to histories of genocide, ecocide, and other forms of socio-environmental violence. In such contexts, to exhume is never simple; what comes from below carries an excess that is hard to define, contain, or control. Because of that, exhumations are always powerful interventions.

This paper explores monsoons as a set of atmospheric-orographic dynamics productive of water
resources and as a site of actionable concern for landscape practice. From study to representation to
design, the term “landscape practice” is used to describe a way of positioning environments as both
subject and object of concern. While monsoons are constituents of many geographies, dynamics,
materials and experiences, this paper focuses on the South Asian monsoon and its relationship with
the Tibetan Plateau. In this region, freshwater resources are dependent on the monsoon; however, as
rising global temperatures and rapid urban development significantly impact the behavior of the
monsoon and the Plateau’s ability to store freshwater, the monsoon—as a kinetic body of freshwater—
becomes the focal point of visual media productions and extractive technologies that
require a shifting of perspective from one that privileges land to one that centers the atmosphere.
The inclusion of meteorological and atmospheric material and dynamics within the space of
landscape practice, constructively challenges the spatial discipline’s engagement with exploitable
resources; and the monsoon provides a tangible site and set of conditions that is in urgent need of
this exploration.

Urgent and far-reaching steps are necessary to reorient global economies to address the global environmental and climate emergency. Both IPCC and Paris Agreements commit industrialised nations to drastic reductions of their CO2 emissions so as to keep the rise in global average temperature to well below 1.5 °C. At the same time we know that the environmental emergency is not simply a matter of CO2 emissions, but of feedback loops between multiple metabolic rifts. The challenge is one that requires systematic transformations in planning for sustainable and just modes of coexistence across the planet, in such a way that is globally equitable, while able to both mitigate the impacts of climate breakdown, as well as creating reliable and dependable plans for the future.

Micro-Ceasefire Under Shadow [MCUS] is an art experiment that aims to map the relation-ship[s] between city and sound by simulating the effects of transforming or zeroing [in simu-lation] the noise around its spatial configuration. Through this experiment the paper investigates the production and perception[s] of a sound micro-environment in the megalopolis. The [artificial] foliage of the sound tree is made by one modular leaf that propagates itself in 3dspace in innumerable interlocking configurations. The interlocking leaf for MCUS is inspired by the platanus leaf. The platanus tree is associated with enjoyment, relaxation and community gathering. At the same time, platanus in its different species is planted in many cities worldwide due to its ability to absorb the city noise through the volume of its foliage. This noise absorption quality of platanus in the city is what this Micro-Ceasefire wants to be. MCUS is not just one tree: It has been developed as a flexible mechanism, a parametric design that depends on: facts, needs, and desires and it can be transformed to innumerable formations in space. These parameters have been analyzed both computationally and empirically on how they affect its spatial form, the density of the foliage volume and its 3d representation including color variation, texture differentiation or material preference. Through this process, space, sound, form and color are all interconnected to produce a prototypical sonic micro-environment that will improve the urban sound and spatial quality by offering a unique sound and visual identity.