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.

Architecture of dwarf shrubs and dwarf subshrubs of the genus of Thymus L. and Scutellaria L. (Lamiaceae)

The structure of 24 species of Thymus and 12 species of Scutellaria was studied using the architectural approach. For the first time, an architectural unit was described, it is a branched sympodial axis. The architectural unit consists of sympodial axes n+1 order, formation shoots, branching shoots, ephemerous shoots. The wide distribution of species and development of species in contrasting habitat conditions is due to the diversity of sympodial axes and shoots that are part of the architectural unit. Depending on the type of branching and the spatial position of sympodial axes, six modifications of architectural unit were identified. It is established that the structure of mature individuals are formed due to the repetition one of the same modification of architectural unit or a combination different modifications of architectural unit. Each of the variants of the combination determines the type of life form (dwarf shrub or dwarf subshrub) and biomorph (monocentric, dense polycentric, sparse polycentric) and depends on the conditions of the ecotope. The identified modifications of the architectural unit and the variants of their combination determine the strategy for the development of dwarf shrubs and dwarf subshrubs in the development of Northern and Central Asia.

Architecture and life forms of Thymus jenisseensis (Lamiaceae)

Thymus jenisseensis is endemic to Southern Siberia. The structure of Thymus jenisseensis were studied with the use of an architectural approach. The architectural unit consist of branched compound skeletal axis of the 1st and 2nd order, and is repeated many times in the structure of adults. As a result of studying the architectural units of individuals growing in different sites of a coenopopulation, in the upper border of the forest belt (Tsagan-Shibetu, Republic of Tuva), differences were identified. An architectural unit consisting of branched orthotropic or ascending basisympodially accreting compound skeletal axes develops on a site of a dry riverbed; an architectural unit consisting of branched orthotropic or ascending acrosympodially accreting compound skeletal axes develops on a site of high-altitude steppe on a plain. The diversity of compound skeletal axes in the structure of architectural units contributes to the formation of two biomorphs (dwarf subshrub and dwarf shrub), changes in the vitality and duration of development of T. jenisseensis individuals. The identified features of architecture are morphological mechanisms of adaptation of the species to living conditions.

Ontogenesis and architectural analysis of Myricaria bracteata Royal in East Kazakhstan

The article presents research of Myricaria bracteata shrub ontogenesis and architecture under East Kazakhstan conditions. The study revealed that the specimen ontogenesis is complete and includes two phases of development: a primary shoot and a primary bush. The adult speciment structure is built due to consistent development of perennial orthotropic/skewed orthotropic skeletal axes was forming from the resting buds. Annually dying lateral vegetative and generative shoots are formed of branching resting buds located on these axes. The architectural unit of M. bracteata consists of 5 categories of axes: 1 – perennial orthotropic, 2 – perennial lateral skewed orthotropic, 3 – annual lateral generative bracteose, 4 – annual lateral generative frondose, 5 – annual lateral vegetative ones.

Bouwen aan jezelf door te bouwen voor een ander. Een architecturale analyse van de graven uit de noordelijke begraafplaats van Ayios Vasilios

Building on yourself to build for another: An architectural analysis of the graves from the North Cemetery of Ayios Vasilios. For this paper I have systematically examined the construction process of the tombs from the North Cemetery of Ayios Vasilios (Laconia, Greece) using a method called architectural energetics. This method of analysis translates an architectural unit into labour costs. The calculated workhours have been combined with a precedence diagram in order to closely examine the level of human interaction, rather than to just compare labour costs. The study concludes that the transportation of the building materials that were used for the tombs was the most labour-intensive task. It also concludes that the materials that came from farthest away seem to have played the biggest role in the creation of meaning in the funerary rituals. Furthermore, two distinct strategies of construction were identified, one that focussed on scale, using low-cost materials that would have been locally available, and one that focussed on elaboration, using high-cost materials that must have come from elsewhere. The high-cost materials are theorized to have been involved in the creation of social networks among groups.

FSRFNet: Feature-Selective and Spatial Receptive Fields Networks

The attention mechanism plays a crucial role in the human visual experience. In the cognitive neuroscience community, the receptive field size of visual cortical neurons is regulated by the additive effect of feature-selective and spatial attention. We propose a novel architectural unit called a “Feature-selective and Spatial Receptive Fields” (FSRF) block that implements adaptive receptive field sizes of neurons through the additive effects of feature-selective and spatial attention. We show that FSRF blocks can be inserted into the architecture of existing convolutional neural networks to form an FSRF network architecture, and test its generalization capabilities on different datasets.

Collagen IV and basement membrane at the evolutionary dawn of metazoan tissues

The role of the cellular microenvironment in enabling metazoan tissue genesis remains obscure. Ctenophora has recently emerged as one of the earliest-branching extant animal phyla, providing a unique opportunity to explore the evolutionary role of the cellular microenvironment in tissue genesis. Here, we characterized the extracellular matrix (ECM), with a focus on collagen IV and its variant, spongin short-chain collagens, of non-bilaterian animal phyla. We identified basement membrane (BM) and collagen IV in Ctenophora, and show that the structural and genomic features of collagen IV are homologous to those of non-bilaterian animal phyla and Bilateria. Yet, ctenophore features are more diverse and distinct, expressing up to twenty genes compared to six in vertebrates. Moreover, collagen IV is absent in unicellular sister-groups. Collectively, we conclude that collagen IV and its variant, spongin, are primordial components of the extracellular microenvironment, and as a component of BM, collagen IV enabled the assembly of a fundamental architectural unit for multicellular tissue genesis.

Spatial structure and development of Paspalum vaginatum (Poaceae): an architectural approach

Paspalum vaginatum Sw. is a perennial grass originating from tropical and subtropical regions worldwide that plays important ecological and utilitarian roles such as dune stabilisation and erosion control, and is used as a lawn and forage plant. The vegetative morphology of shoots was studied using an architectural approach with the aim of identifying constant features that characterise the architectural unit of this species, describing its developmental dynamics, and exploring the morphological basis of its extraordinary plasticity and adaptability to multiple ecological conditions. Plants of two ecotypes were cultivated in pots outdoors during two consecutive summers, and axes of different branching order were marked for periodical observations. Leaf typology, orientation and position of branches and occurrence and position of reproductive axes were considered. The basic growth pattern arises as a result of extensive plagiotropic growth of axes up to fourth branching order, which initially behave as stolons but can become rhizomes insofar the soil cover increases. Orthotropic floriferous axes up to fifth order develop at the axils of stolons, which can form ‘daughter’ clumps by basal tillering. Despite quantitative differences, both ecotypes share similar architectural features. Architectural analysis provides the basis to predict space occupation dynamics under different environmental conditions of growth.

The Treatment of the Architectural Unit above Openings of the Mamluk and Ottoman Facades in Cairo

<p>The facades of the Mamluk buildings have a common characteristic feature which is the use of lintels, nafis and relieving arches above doors and windows. The three elements together formed a unit with an important architectural function on the façades. This unit was also treated as a focal point of the façade. Therefore, it was richly decorated with floral and geometric decorations and was usually made of colored marble, joggles voussoirs or carved stones. As a result, that unit attracted the attention of pedestrians and added to the beauty of the façade.</p> During the Ottoman period the same unit was used on facades, however, due to financial and political reasons, the materials used differed and the decorations became modest. Nonetheless, the decoration of the lintel, nafis and relieving arch managed to mark the Ottoman facades with a different identity.