Research by design

This article proposes an open vision for the Brussels metropolitan city centre. It serves as a framework for a working method for developing design initiatives that are project-oriented and focus on testing, evaluating, adapting and implementing such a vision at different scales in the Brussels extended metropolitan centre. It summarizes the results of the international master class 'Zoom in | Zoom out-Brussels hypercentre: from pedestrian area to urban project' organized by the BSI-BCO and perspective.brussels in January and February 2018. The authors propose a detailed interpretation of the metropolitan centre as a hypercentre, based on an ongoing interdisciplinary research process within the BSI-BCO. They also present the working method research-by-design and the results of the project-based research conducted by the participants. This creates a more global vision for the metropolitan centre, based on three strategic guidelines: 1) expanding the perimeter with the circle-shaped metro-loop (line 2), the Brussels Canal Charleroi-Ant-werp and the central railway stations; 2) structuring the metropolitan centre around a network of public spaces that are beneficial for soft mobility and ecological system services; 3) developing support programs for a cosmopolitan urban culture. The chapter illustrates possible sustainable scenarios for the spatial and programmatic structuring of the future metropolitan centre, of which the pedestrian zone will be a part.

La rehabilitación de vivienda social desde una perspectiva ambiental, es una necesidad urgente. Un gran porcentaje del parque de viviendas sociales existentes, no responde a sus condiciones ambientales locales específicas. Sin embargo, pese a esto, igualmente existe un enorme potencial de adaptación y rehabilitación bioclimática que es necesario aprovechar para mejorar las condiciones de vida. La relación entre energía y espacio de transición en la vivienda es fundamental y debe ser reclamada por la doble funcionalidad que estos espacios poseen, pudiendo ser integrados como una extensión del espacio doméstico y aumentar sus funciones socio-espaciales y ambientales. Bajo esta lógica, nace el proyecto Prótesis Bioclimáticas, desarrollado mediante un método de investigación vía diseño (research by design), donde se descubre una gama de patrones locales de adaptaciones espontáneas, que utilizan distintas estrategias de diseño para resolver problemas bioclimáticos. Éstas son las que dan inicio a un concepto de micro-arquitectura que integró la idea de una prótesis como un elemento técno-complementario a las funciones naturales de la vivienda original.

Context: The design of academic conferences, in which settings ideas are shared and created, is, we suggest, of more than passing interest in constructivism, where epistemology is considered in terms of knowing rather than knowledge. Problem: The passivity and predominantly one-way structure of the typical paper presentation format of academic conferences has a number of serious limitations from a constructivist perspective. These limits are both practical and epistemological. While alternative formats abound, there is nevertheless increasing pressure reinforcing this format due to delegates’ funding typically being linked to reading a paper. Method: In this special issue, authors reflect on conferences that they have organised and participated in that have used alternative formats, such as conversational structures or other constructivist inspired approaches, in whole or in part. We review and contextualize their contributions, understanding them in terms of their connections to constructivism and to each other. Results: While this issue is of relevance across disciplinary boundaries, contributions focus on two fields: that of cybernetics/systems, and that of design. We identify the way that conference organization is of particular importance to these fields, being in self-reflexive relationship to them: the environment of a design conference is something that we design; while a conference regarding systems or cybernetics is itself an instance of the sorts of process with which these fields are concerned. Implications: Building on this self-reflexivity and, also, the close connection of design and cybernetics/systems to constructivism, we suggest that conference organization is an area in which constructivism may itself be understood in terms of practice (and so knowing) rather than theory (and so knowledge. This in turn helps connect ideas in constructivism with pragmatic fields, such as knowledge management, and recent discussions in this journal regarding second-order science. Constructivist content: As a setting for the creation of new ideas, the design of conferences is of importance where we understand epistemology in constructivist terms as a process of knowing. Moreover, the particular fields drawn on - design and cybernetics/systems - have close connections to constructivism, as can be seen, for instance, in the work of Ranulph Glanville, on which we draw here.

The authors reflect on the academic bachelor and master programs of architecture. From the perspective of higher education policy in Flanders, Belgium, they examine the intrinsic challenges of the academic educational setting, and the way architectural education can fit in and benefit from it, without losing its specific design oriented qualities. Therefore, they unravel the process of architectural design research, as a discipline-authentic way of knowledge production, leading to the identification of a number of implicit features of an academic architectural learning environment. The disquisition is based on educational arguments pointed out by literature and theory. Furthermore, the authors analyze whether this learning environment can comply with general standards of external quality assurance and accreditation systems. Doing so, they reveal the Achilles' heel of architectural education: the incompatibility of the design jury with formalized assessment frameworks. Finally, the authors conclude with an advocacy for academic freedom. To assure the quality of academic architectural programs, it is necessary that universities maintain a critical attitude towards standardized policy frameworks.

The second report of the Brussels Centre Observatory (Brussels Studies Institute) collects 8 new contributions on the Brussels metropolitan city centre, after its pedestrianisation in summer 2015. It highlights new findings on air quality, mobility, freight and walkability.

This feeds into concrete suggestions to improve public space, economic dynamics and mobility solutions.

The BSI-BCO proposes to strengthen the pedestrian network between uptown and downtown, and between the two railway stations, Brussels North and Brussels South. 4 axes come to the fore.

This paper presents a design framework for free-form transformation of kinetic, spatial bar structures using computational design techniques. Spatial bar structures considered as deployable, transformable kinetic structures composed of straight, linear members, assembled in a three-dimensional configuration. They are often utilised in portable, mobile or transformable buildings. Transformable systems of spatial bar structures are mostly based on modification of primitive shapes (e.g. box, sphere, and cylinder). Each system is subdivided into multiple members having the same shape, the so-called kinetic blocks. Some diverse precedents made to develop other forms of transformation of these structures with some issues. This research project will investigate how a free-form transformation of spatial bar systems can be achieved, by redesigning the kinetic block in relation to architectural, technical parameters. In order to develop a physical prototype of the kinetic block, and assess its potential in enabling free-form transformation of a spatial bar system, a design framework incorporating parametric, algorithmic and kinetic design strategies is required. The proposed design workflow consists of three main phases: form-finding, stability validation and actuation.

The landscape architecture undergraduate programme at the University of Technology Sydney introduced landscape infrastructure as a subject into its curriculum in 2016. This subject contained two aims relating to the application of landscape infrastructure to an Australian context, extending beyond its North American origins. First, it aimed to identify and test the principles of landscape infrastructure that could be ‘generalisable’ and that exist outside of site specifics or a particular context. Second, it sought novel instances of its application in the Sydney region. Principles were distilled through an evaluation of relevant literature and were then tested through two exercises. The first required students to reimagine The GreenWay, a multifunctional landscape corridor in Sydney’s Inner West and part of a proposed metropolitanwide Green Grid network. Students then applied the framework of landscape infrastructure through design proposals in one of Australia’s fastest-growing urban centres, Parramatta. The findings of this research distilled and clarified the definition of landscape infrastructure; demonstrated the inherent capacity of landscape to act as the conduit for multifunctional, flexible, localised and synergistic infrastructural systems; and highlighted its potential for application in an Australian context. This work supports landscape infrastructure’s position to move beyond the integration of infrastructure within landscape and instead proposes that landscape itself is infrastructural.

M. Zamfir. & M.Mihaila (2017). Tematică vs. exerciii de arhitectură: tendine în arhitectura contemporană reflectate în atelierul de proiectare la anii iv-v, şcoala de arhitectură _ UAUIM /Theme vs. architectural exercises: trends in contemporary architecture reflected by architectural design studio, years iv-v, school of architecture _ UAUIM articol pentru/article for _ Rezumat: Adesea proiectele din cadrul atelierului de arhitectură sunt doar reacii succinte la tematica de an, atunci când aceasta direcionează prin limite stricte răspunsurile exerciiilor academice. Încălcarea unor limite tematice poate duce în acest caz la fluidizarea soluiilor sau la căutarea unor resurse arhitecturale mai nuanate, poetice sau bazate pe un anumit discurs arhitectural. Experimentarea unor teme mai particulare în formularea limitelor poate deopotrivă îngrădi imaginaia ca formulă de răspuns, şi obliga la analiza unor nuane dincolo de layerele spaiale obişnuite – de citire a contextului arhitectural. Completarea temei cerute la anii IV-V prin tematica de răspuns poate fi totuşi o soluie în formularea unui proiect integrat, dar şi foloseşte la inta finală a şcolii de arhitectură: formularea unui proiect complex coninând deopotrivă temă şi răspuns, şi bazându-se pe un studiu personal al autorului – student, şi al criticului – tutor. Articolul îşi propune să creioneze un discurs pe care arhitectura contemporană îl anună din peisajul exerciiilor din cadrul atelierului de la anii IV-V, şi sa conchidă asupra unor tendine cu plus şi minus, asupra unor maniere tematice. Discursul critic baleiază de la proiectele de an, comune ca temă tuturor grupelor la proiecte cu temă de atelier, care se încadrează în specificul didactic al departamentului Sinteza de Proiectare, de la proiectul de start din anul IV care face trecerea de la ciclul anterior exersat în cadrul departamentului Bazele Proiectării de Arhitectură la ultimul proiect din anul V care anună complexitatea proiectului de diplomă. Sunt investigate tipuri de teme, modalităi de abordare, de relaie cadru didactic-studeni şi studeni-studeni, rezultatele procesului didactic în relaie cu obiectivele propuse. Cuvinte cheie: atelier de proiectare, exerciiu de arhitectură, proces didactic, tematică, sinteza proiectării, discurs critic Abstract: Often, students' projects in the architectural design studio are only brief reactions to the thematic of the year, when this directs by strict limitations the replies of academic exercises. The breach of thematic limits in this case may lead to fluidization of the solutions or in finding more nuanced resources, poetic or based on some architectural discourse. Experimentation of some more particular themes in formulation of the limits can both restricts the imagination as formula response and compels the analysis of nuances beyond the usual spatial layers-of reading of architectural context. Completing the required theme in years IV-V by the response of thematic may still be a solution in formulating of an integrated project, but also used as final target of the school of architecture: formulating of a complex project containing both theme and answer, and relying on a personal study of the author-student and based on the tutor as critic. The article aims to create a speech which contemporary architecture announces from the landscape of exercises in the years IV-V, and to conclude over some tendencies with plus and minus, over some thematic manners. The critical discourse sweeps from year projects, common as theme to all groups, to projects with architectural studio design theme that are fit in the teaching specific of Synthesis of Architectural Design Department, from the start project from fourth year to the last project from fifth year that announces the complexity of the diploma project. There are investigated a few types of topics, ways of approaches, of relation tutor-students and students-students, and the results of the teaching process related to proposed objectives.