Application of parametric design and digital fabrication: the solution for the current crises and emergencies

During the next decades the construction will have to face many problems that never had inferred, it must reinvent itself to adapt to the new needs that it currently demands because it consumes too many energetic resources, it generates excess of CO2 emissions, consumption of natural resources and every day the construction is more expensive. The United Nations 2030 Agenda announced the objectives for sustainable development, this to try to mitigate the effects of climate change; The Coronavirus pandemic made humanity reflect on the emergencies that we must face and left us reflecting that we are not prepared for an emergency or crisis; These are key points that we must address to develop the new architecture. If we analyze the history of architecture, we can see that technology and science has always been a catalyst for humanity and has generated great solutions to the problems that befall us, this should motivate us to use technology and software in our favor. Therefore, we must prepare and generate new solutions, innovations and technology that focus on solving the new needs that architecture demands. The question is: how we can solve these problems? The answer is through digital fabrication and parametric design. It is important to emphasize and make it clear, we cannot continue to build as we have been doing in the past century, our practices and approaches must change, and it is urgent to rethink the role of the architecture today.

In the name of housing

In his 1925 book Groszstadtbauten, Ludwig Hilberseimertalks about the relation of city form to that of the smallest single architectural unit; a room within a house. This commentary is validated by the fact that the residential fabric of any city comprises most of that city’s built form. For most people, this means the form of housing. This essay focuses on the history of architecture relating to housing in the city of Mumbai. The tie between Mumbai’s form and its inhabitation. Looking specifically at the architectural form of these projects, they become instructive both through the breadth of their variations, as well as the depth of their spatial and formal engagements. Building on the history of housing in Mumbai since the early-nineteenth century the essay presents a typology of housing inhabited by ordinary people and their immediate spatial ecologies which facilitate a specific manner of compressed living. These types are commentaries on technology, lifestyle, and culture are all situated within the particularities of their respective time. Nevertheless, these unique armatures still seem to gravitate around certain emergent commonalities that could provide an armature for the design of collective housing models in the future.

Egy modern finnugor építészet felé •

Vargha Lászlóban (1904–1984) az utókor elsősorban a néprajztudóst tiszteli, jóllehet szakmai pályája kiterjedt a muzeológiára és az építészettörténetre is. E három tudományterülettel életszakaszonként eltérő mértékben foglalkozott. Tevékenységét mindhárom diszciplína esetében áthatotta a finnek építészete iránti érdeklődés. Cikkemben életútját e szempontból vizsgálom, felhasználva a Szentendrei Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeumban őrzött archívumát. Fiatalkorának meghatározó élmenyei kötődnek a finnekhez. Személyes visszaemlékezése alapján Vargha a finn építészettel és művészettel gyermekkorában ismerkedett meg egy magyar folyóiratban. Pályakezdőként csereprogrammal jut el Finnországba és köt barátságot finnekkel. A második világháború idején közreműködik egy finnugor kiállítás összeállításában Budapesten és Kolozsvárott. Mindeközben gyűjti és jegyzeteli a finn néprajzi szakirodalmat. A háborút követően a nemzetközi kapcsolattartás lehetőségei szűkülnek, Vargha is csak később tér viszsza a finn kultúrához. A hatvanas években a helyszínen tanulmányozza a szabadtéri néprajzi gyűjteményeket – köztük számos északit –, melynek tanulságaival hozzájárul a Szentendrei Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum – svéd szóval: a skanzen – létrejöttéhez. Oktatóként az egyetemi órákon is tanítja a kortárs finn építészetet. Előadásokon, kiállításokon mutatja be itthon Finnország építészetével kapcsolatos ismereteit. Emellett szakmailag legkiemelkedőbb fellépései a finnugor kongresszusokhoz köthetők, melyekben visszatér egy őt korábban is foglalkoztató témakörhöz; melynek értelmében a magyar népi építészetnek létezik egy ősi, finnugor rétege. Sikereit árnyalja, hogy pályája végén több jelentős publikációs lehetőséggel nem élt. Egyéb érdemei mellett Vargha László kiemelkedő alakja a finn–magyar kulturális kapcsolatoknak, a finnekkel kapcsolatos kiemelkedő munkássága pedig önálló fejezettel gazdagíthatja pályája értékelését. László Vargha (1904–1984) is considered a prominent ethnographer in Hungary, albeit he was active in museology and history of architecture as well. During his career he had shifted between these topics. His contribution to all three disciplines was affected with a profound interest in Finnish art and architecture. My article investigates his professional career in the light of his appeal, using the sources preserved in his personal archive in the Hungarian Open-Air Museum. Vargha had determinative experience related to Finland during his youth. His first encounter with Finnish art was in the pages of a Hungarian periodical in his childhood. In an exchange programme he visited Finland and made friends with his peers. During the Second World War he contributed to an exhibition on Finno-Ugric peoples. The archives reveal that he had studied Finnish ethnographic literature in this period. Possibilities for maintaining international relationships were reduced after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Vargha returned to Finnish culture only after a significant interval. In the sixties he conducted a study trip to various open-air museums. Many of those destinations were in Sweden and Finland. The study trip contributed to the foundation of the Hungarian Open-Air Museum, which still borrows its name in Hungarian from the Nordic Museum: skanzen. As a university lecturer he introduced Finnish architecture to the curriculum. Vargha presented Finnish architecture in lectures and exhibitions across Hungary. He also participated in the International Congress for Finno-Ugric Studies, where he revisited the concept that an archaic Finno-Ugric layer is present in Hungarian vernacular architecture. Despite the possibilities offered and his thorough knowledge he failed to publish significant publications at the end of his career. Apart from his other achievements László Vargha was also an important character in the relationship of Finnish and Hungarian architecture, and his outstanding oeuvre related to Finland could enrich his professional evaluation.

Model Operations: Morphogenesis and the Design Process

Since the emergence of digital design techniques in combination with so-called responsive materials, the concept of organic forms in architecture seems to be gaining a new quality. The resemblance to an organism should no longer apply only superficially but be inscribed in the materiality as well as in the history of origin and functioning. This article addresses these new transformative effects between architecture and biology. They are presented primarily in relation to the structural architecture of the 1960s and the computational architectural systems since the 1990s. One focus of architecture is on dynamic forms that adapt themselves to their environment by means of flexible materials and generative algorithms. Here, architecture as technically animated matter no longer involuntarily competes with creative nature but is seen as part of a reciprocal relationship. This reciprocal relationship is specified by recourse to various architectural models. The models’ approaches suggest that organic-looking forms are generated by simulated biological processes. The article examines this claim of the models from the perspective of the history of architecture and design. It shows how, since the mid-twentieth century, a renewal of architectural design practice has been sought by reformulating morphological questions at the intersection of biological and cybernetic discourses.

The role of I. V. Stalin in the history of architecture

We have long regarded beating babies of avant-garde to be the most serious cultural crime, which threw the USSR back from the front line of architecture by 20-30 years and made them start from the beginning in 1960. If Stalin had seen a mainstream for architecture in that advanced idea and supported it, we would have had quite a different Soviet architecture today. His choice put an end to the constructivism utopia, according to which architecture would become a technical means of life organization. Ginzburg’s constructivism of the 1920s was a clear program of the common style and environmental standard, which could make an oppressive impression in the hands of third-rate doers. Unrealized opportunities of constructivism now don’t look so desirable. The paradoxicality of choosing academism and Stalin’s Empire style has probably another logic, a logic of reflexive frauds and false pretenses. However, if constructivism had remained as a general line for about 30 years, we would have had a kind of culture resembling Orwell more than anything else.

Architects and construction of religious buildings in Bessarabia (Second half of the XIX century - 1917)

Religious architecture in Bessarabia from the beginning of the XIX century to 1917 is the subject of special research, since many architects, who worked during this period designed the buildings of monasteries, Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran churches, chapels, houses of worship and synagogues. The creativity of such architects as Luka Zaushkevich, Alexander Bernardazzi, Leopold Scheidewandt, Karl Gasquet, George Cupcea, Mikhail Serotsinsky, Vladimir Tiganco, Lavrentii Lozinsky and others was especially vivid. Their heritage in church art is very diverse and worthy of careful study. On the one hand, the study opens new unknown pages related to the history of architecture and the creative practice in Bessarabia during the specified period. On the other hand, the newly discovered archival materials on this topic will be allow to reveal and supplement the authorship of many religious buildings in Bessarabia. The article examines both published materials and archival documents, some designs of religious buildings built in Bessarabia, due to which new facets of the talents of architects become more obvious and are of interest both for the history of architecture and, in general, for the preservation of the rich cultural heritage of the Republic of Moldova

Architecture as palimpsest : a strategy of intermediacy

In much of historic preservation work, artefacts are primarily seen as documents of their time and bearing little relevance to how we design buildings and cities today. Consequently, architectural interventions separate the old and new work, unintentionally distancing historic buildings from their evolving context. There are layers of inspiration embedded within an existing site that can enrich architectural creations. The history of architecture is the story of built forms that have been altered and re-created to make space for the continuation of life. This thesis seeks an archtictural strategy that not only complements but also challenges and reveals the history and material character of the original intent, in order to create greater meaning for the historic building. As a hypothesis, the thesis project presents a schema for the conversion of century old public school in the City of Toronto into a contemporary art museum that demonstrates this strategy, arguing that engaging with the existing work can lead to new insights and meanings.