Glance Vs. Gaze

<p>This research investigates the phenomenology of vision in response to the following question: What is a way of looking through architecture that can cultivate a positive connection with the landscape? Two modes of vision the glance and the gaze are explored. This research argues that the glance allows one to see more of the landscape than the gaze. The predominance and negative implications of the gaze are highlighted and the position of the glance as an overlooked act of vision is established. This research proposes that the visual act of glancing, through strategically placed and sized window frames, is capable of creating an image that can connect the tourist with the landscape. The glance can then be used to promote landscape regeneration and tourist wellbeing. These ideas are tested in the design of a tourist retreat. The design of the tourist retreat provides the conditions necessary for seeing in particular ways. The visual performance of the tourist is carefully considered in the design. The tourist is treated as the subject and the landscape as the object. This research proposes the tourist’s relationship to landscape can be manipulated through a variety of frames. A comparison between horizontal and vertical frames is made that demonstrates the vertical frame can connect better with the landscape. The proportions of the frames are altered to suit the programme of the tourist retreat. In doing so the tourist retreat transforms the visual performance of the tourism, the tourist and the landscape.</p>

Glance Vs. Gaze

<p>This research investigates the phenomenology of vision in response to the following question: What is a way of looking through architecture that can cultivate a positive connection with the landscape? Two modes of vision the glance and the gaze are explored. This research argues that the glance allows one to see more of the landscape than the gaze. The predominance and negative implications of the gaze are highlighted and the position of the glance as an overlooked act of vision is established. This research proposes that the visual act of glancing, through strategically placed and sized window frames, is capable of creating an image that can connect the tourist with the landscape. The glance can then be used to promote landscape regeneration and tourist wellbeing. These ideas are tested in the design of a tourist retreat. The design of the tourist retreat provides the conditions necessary for seeing in particular ways. The visual performance of the tourist is carefully considered in the design. The tourist is treated as the subject and the landscape as the object. This research proposes the tourist’s relationship to landscape can be manipulated through a variety of frames. A comparison between horizontal and vertical frames is made that demonstrates the vertical frame can connect better with the landscape. The proportions of the frames are altered to suit the programme of the tourist retreat. In doing so the tourist retreat transforms the visual performance of the tourism, the tourist and the landscape.</p>

THE USE OF GLUE-FREE STUD JOINTS IN DOOR JOINERY MADE OF SOLID HARDWOOD

When working with solid wood products, various ways of connecting parts are used, both in length, width and thickness, as well as connections in the structure. One of the most common ways to connect parts is considered to be a spike–groove connection. It is used to fasten the details of window frames, doorways, various furniture elements, and the walls of wooden boxes. The joint on the spikes has good mechanical strength, convenient to use. Spike joints in carpentry and carpentry were invented in order to create a strong bundle of two parts without the use of additional metal fasteners. Since the compound has been used for a long time, it is not surprising that it has been modified and improved. Today, there are several types of such fasteners. In the furniture and carpentry industry, where the reliability of the connection is necessary, it is most popular. But knowing such properties of wood as hygroscopicity, in some cases, during the operation of the product, when the operating conditions change (increasing or decreasing the temperature and humidity of the environment), the wood swells, or shrinks. This leads to the appearance of such defects as cracking, divergence of strips, the appearance of cracks. The method of connecting solid wood bars proposed in the article is relevant.

Functionality analysis and natural ventilation of social housing in times of pandemic

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, inadequate spaces in terms of the dimensions of the environments and lack of flexibility for possible adjustments, not only accentuate health risks, but also interfere in the productivity of remote work and school performance. In this sense, social housing has an unsatisfactory performance in terms of functionality, mainly because they have small spaces and inadequate window frames to achieve satisfactory natural ventilation and reduce the contagion by coronavirus. The objective of this article is to analyze three single-family social housings, aiming to rethink spaces, focusing on some elements necessary to protect the health and well-being of the inhabitants. The method applied concepts of functionality and useful area, in addition to the requirements and criteria of the Brazilian bioclimatic zoning and performance standards, including the construction guidelines for single-family social housings (SH) reflecting on the need to adapt SH to guarantee well-being and inhabitants' health. Analysis results showed that low-income buildings are precarious in terms of functionality and do not allow adaptations due to the architectural design and technical specification of walls and window frames.

Operating Hardware Impact on the Heat Transfer Properties of Windows

Despite significant advancements in fenestration technology in the last two decades, the thermal transmittance of fenestration products is still significantly higher than that of walls. This corresponds to 60% of the total energy loss of a modern building envelope through the windows. Hence, further development and improvements of fenestration products are necessary. Increasingly stringent codes and standards for fenestration stimulate industry to work on improved solutions. Thus, it is crucial that assessment techniques are able to account for innovations accurately. The thermal effects of non-continuous hardware in window frames are currently ignored by international rating procedures. A preliminary investigation conducted by our team showed significant performance degradation in two of the three out-opening casement profiles caused by the presence of operating hardware. Frames with the structure made of vinyl and fiberglass consist of many air cavities that are penetrated by operating hardware made of highly conductive materials. In these frames, in order to have an accurate assessment, it may be required to employ three-dimensional modeling due to the convective nature of heat transfer within the cavities. However, in this study, we demonstrate that the three-dimensional (3D) effects of non-continuous hardware can be approximated accurately with simpler two-dimensional (2D) simulations. We then develop a simplified model based on weighted average capable of replacing the time- and computation-intensive 3D simulations with 2D simulations and validate it against market available frames and their corresponding hardware. Validation results show that our approximation technique results in discrepancies lower than 0.05 W/(m2K), or 3% of the total thermal transmittance. Thus, we conclude that simplified 2D simulation models may be used for predicting hardware impact in window frames with reasonable accuracy. As windows and glazing structures are becoming ever better thermally insulated, it is becoming even more important to be able to model the impact of the operating hardware on the total thermal performance in order to design the best windows possible and not let the operating hardware ruin an otherwise well-proven design, which is hence addressed in this study.

Negative Effects of Presence of Dorsal Diseases in Workers of a Metallic Industry in Mexicali, Mexico

An investigation of the negative effects in the health of workers of a metallic industry located in Mexicali city was made in which they suffered daily, of discomfort in the head, neck, back, and spine. This occurred when people of the manufacturing area of the industry that was evaluated developing operations that required great physical effort without adequate equipment and the industrial operations were repetitive. The analysis was made in 100 workers (30% women and 70% men) and were evaluated in the morning and evening shifts, which performed functions of lifting, loading, and gluing pieces of window frames for homes made of aluminum material. The aluminum frames had a weight of 20 kilograms with repetitive operations of until 50 lift for each eight-hour shift, generating the discomfort and pain. The study was from 2017 to 2019, and more than 50% of the workers in the manufacturing areas, in the two shifts of the company, suffered from discomfort and pain in the mentioned body areas, which caused the concern of management and supervision personnel.

Thermal enhancement of windows performance by means of innovative technologies

Thermal performances of window frames and glazing represent a field of growing research efforts - worldwide - aiming to reduce energy consumption and achieve indoor comfort. A combination of newly designed super-insulated window frames and innovative glazing technologies may enhance the performance of windows. Aerogel-based “thermal breaks” for window frames, coupled with high-performing glazing, may lead to significant energy saving. In this work, yearly energy use for heating and cooling were assessed in several locations, for building models equipped with innovative technologies, for glazing and frames. The results of numerical simulations confirmed the opportunities offered by new technologies.

Influence of climate, building and residential factors on radon levels in ground-floor dwellings in Montenegro

After year-long measurements with CR-39 detectors, nationwide radon survey was performed in 953 homes - 0.5% of all permanently inhabited dwellings in Montenegro. Influence of 11 factors (area, climate, type of house, year of construction, basement, foundation slab, number of stories, building materials, window frames, heating and smoking) and 35 their categories on the radon concentrations in 732 ground-floor dwellings was analyzed using descriptive, univariate and multivariate methods. Univariate analysis dropped influence of the two factors - heating and smoking. It reveals that, on average, radon concentrations in ground-floor dwellings differ at 95% confidence level in urban and rural areas, in family houses and apartment buildings, in houses with and without basement, and in dwellings with window frames made of wood and PVC/Al. In Cf climate zone they differ from those in Cs and Df zones. Only two pairs of construction periods differ in mean radon concentrations in dwellings: 1980-1999 with 1900-1944, and with 1964-1979. Houses with one, two or three stories have almost equal average radon levels, which are higher than in buildings with more than three stories. Mean value of radon concentrations in houses made of stone are higher than in houses made of concrete, or bricks, or wood. Multivariate analysis revealed that six of the analyzed factors - area, climate, type of house, presence of basement, number of stories and building materials simultaneously have significant relationships (p < 0.05) with radon concentrations in dwellings on ground floor in Montenegro.