UNDERGROUND WELBECK: INTAGIBLE SPACES John Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland (1800–1879)

The life of the 5th Duke of Portland is a story about the mental obsession to find a haven of absolute stillness, a worry-free place, and somewhere to feel safe (Pl L1/2/8/3/13: Four letters to Fanny Kemble, 1842–1845. In these letters, the 5th Duke refers to the subsoil as “shelter” and the “only safe place”, found in Manuscripts and Special Collections, Archives Nottingham University). Perhaps it is there, in the space that unfolded away from the visible world, that he found the strength to overcome his difficulties and to understand the scale of space and its intangibility; he was aware of the relationships and interaction between the human body, inhabited space, and the mind, and this information helped him in his hiding process. After his appointment as the heir to his immense estate, a series of investments on an unprecedented scale began almost immediately, which have been considered, both technically and conceptually, to be pioneers of domestic and landscape architecture during the nineteenth century. Welbeck Estate represents the construction of a double city, one that is visible and another that is concealed, but it is also a reflection of how our body and our mind interfere, dialogue, and create an architectural space that is framed in a cognitive process. Space and time were unfolded and folded into themselves in order to build this fascinating scenery, which represents the duke’s life.

Adoption of Sustainable Supply Chain Management for Performance Improvement in the Construction Industry: A System Dynamics Approach

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) involves the managing of information, materials, cash flows, and collaboration among enterprises along the supply chain, integrating sustainable development goals. This research paper aims to determine challenges in SSCM adoption and to address related complexity using the system dynamics (SD) approach utilizing modeling and simulation techniques. This research identified challenges from the literature using content analysis. Causality among these identified challenges was determined using interviews and questionnaire surveys that led to the development of a causal loop diagram (CLD), which was used in the development of the SD model. Among the 19 shortlisted variables, CLD had IV reinforcing and II balancing loops. Moreover, CLD was used to build an SD model with two stocks, and a new stock named ‘project performance’ was added to envisage the cumulative impact of all stocks. The model was simulated for five years, and the results predict that the lack of top management commitment and corporate social responsibility adversely affects project performance. This implies that there is a need to improve numerous factors, in particular corporate social responsibility and top management commitment, which would lead to the adoption of SSCM, thus leading to a performance improvement for the construction industry (CI). The model was validated using boundary adequacy, structure, and parametric verification tests, which showed that the developed model is logical and approximately replicates the industry’s actual system. The research findings will help the CI practitioners to adopt sustainability principles in terms of the supply chain and will not only enhance productivity and performance but will also help in the minimization of delays, promote long-term relations, and reduce communication gaps and project complexities.

Performance Evaluation: Identifying Barriers and Enablers for Landscape Architecture Practice

Performance evaluation is crucial for environmental design and sustainable development, especially so for architecture and landscape architecture. However, such performance evaluations remain rare in practice. It is argued that the concerns over potential negative evaluations and a lack of funding are the two main barriers preventing the undertaking of performance evaluations. This research investigated how these two barriers were overcome in practice by studying 41 evaluation cases in the New Zealand landscape architecture field, as well as several international and architectural case studies for comparison. A range of enablers for performance evaluation practices were identified by this research, including funding sources and models that were not documented by existing literature, as well as two strategies for handling the risks of negative evaluation. All of the identified enablers share the same underlying logic—the benefits and costs of an evaluation should be well-regulated by certain mechanisms to keep the benefits of an evaluation greater than, or at least balanced with, the costs, for all the parties involved in the evaluation.

The Role of Landscape Design in Cultural Rural Areas. A Didactic Exercise to Experiment a Research-by-Design Process Applied to an Italian UNESCO Wine Site

Rural landscapes all over the world are subject to great transformations, first being the continuous and slow depopulation of towns and villages. It is a dramatic phenomenon that causes devastating consequences for environmental systems and for the tangible and intangible heritage of entire territories. The situation becomes more ambiguous when it comes to cultural landscapes, especially those internationally recognized as exceptional (i.e., inscribed on the UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage List). In this case, the risk is to abandon agricultural production in favor of consumerist tourist economies, which can damage the territorial authenticity. In this paper, we question the role of the landscape design in strengthening territorial resilience. In particular, a composite and interdependent action has been proposed between landscape design and implementation of a multifunctional agriculture model, oriented towards tourism. To undertake this investigation, a master’s thesis work on Landscape Architecture has been examined as an opportunity to test the research-by-design method through the didactic process. The application case is the Italian UNESCO site of Vignale Monferrato, a depopulated rural village, characterized by abandoned land and buildings. The paper concludes by outlining replicability application scenarios for the proposed model.

Applying FABRIC as a Tool to Understanding Architectural and Landscape Icons in a Time of Travel Restrictions

Iconic architecture and landscape architecture are most often understood through photographic media that mediates between the idea and the reality for those learning to design. The drastic lockdown responses to COVID-19 and the limitations on local and international travel highlighted the importance of the visual and the potential of the virtual. However, visual media can also be understood as systems that go far beyond a strict representation of an object. In this climate where publicity, politics, and perception play ever more crucial roles, representations of iconic architecture and landscapes increasingly blur the boundaries between the imaginary and the tangible. This paper examines the experience of iconic architecture and landscape in four iconic European cities (Paris, Barcelona, Seville, and Lisbon) as seen through the eyes of fifty postgraduate architecture, interior architecture, and landscape architecture students from New Zealand. It compares their understanding of a building or landscape from its photographic image before engaging with the physical reality. Students were asked to first identify iconic architecture and landscape, then closely analyze and document the essential qualities which established its pre-eminence. A subsequent visit to each of the places provided the opportunity for comparison and the testing of the realities and fictions of the icons themselves. Our research finds that today’s architecture students are savvy and sophisticated consumers of technology. It also presents FABRIC, a conceptual framework that offers additional scaffolding for educating design students through experiential learning in a time of travel restrictions.

Design and Manufacturing of Adaptive Facades in a Life Cycle Approach: A Survey on Challenges and Solutions in the Italian Building Industry

The market of Adaptive Building Skins has been growing at a slow but incremental speed, as these technologies ensure better indoor climatic comfort and more efficient energy management than traditional solutions. Nonetheless, if we acknowledge the building as a system of physical qualities oriented to overall environmental performance, the resource optimization has to be extended to considering a wider range of environmental impacts along the entire building life cycle. For this purpose, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method is recognized by stakeholders as the most world-renowned standardized tool for weighting environmental impacts. The aim of this study is to scrutinize the state of the art of LCA among stakeholders enrolled in the design and manufacturing of building and adaptive facades in the Italian market. Data have been collected throughout interviews and an online survey focusing on investigating the knowledge and experience level of participants. Results not only draw the attention to develop new market models by implementing sustainable building protocols concerning adaptive technologies, but also provided a positive assessment on the usability degree of a parametric design mapping based on a systemic and life-cycle-oriented approach to achieve environmental scopes and introduce competitive factors and boost innovation in the Italian building industry.

Preliminary Design Proposals for Dovetail Wood Board Elements in Multi-Story Building Construction

Adhesives and metal fasteners play important roles in the composition and connections of engineered wood products (EWPs) such as cross-laminated timber and glue-laminated timber in the building construction industry. However, due to their petroleum-based nature, adhesives can cause toxic gas emissions, while metal fasteners compromise the end-of-life disposal and reusability of EWPs. These issues adversely affect the sustainable material properties of EWPs. Numerous studies have been conducted in the literature on the technological, ecological, social, and economic aspects of EWPs in construction with different construction solutions, but no studies have been conducted to evaluate the technical performance of dovetail wood board elements (DWBE) in multi-story or tall building construction. This study focuses on adhesive- and metal fastener-free DWBE as sustainable material alternatives for ecologically sensitive engineering solutions. Various preliminary design proposals are presented for DWBE using architectural modeling programs as an environmentally friendly approach intended for use in the timber construction industry. The research findings are based on a theoretical approach that has not yet been practically tested but is proposed considering existing construction practices that need further investigation, including technical performance tests. It is believed that this paper will contribute to the promotion and diffusion of DWBE for more diverse and innovative architectural and structural applications, particularly in multi-story timber building construction, as one of the key tools in tackling climate change challenges.

Pavilions in Architecture Studio—Assessment of Design-Build Approach in Architecture Education

Pavilion construction projects are an emergent paradigm in architecture education. Nevertheless, their efficiency has not yet been assessed in terms of their added contribution to learning experience and pedagogical outcomes. This paper reviews the development, challenges and learning outcomes of the ‘Element Pavilion’ projects for Year One undergraduate architecture students and offers a quantitative and qualitative assessment over their impact on learning. A systematic analysis on students’ perceived learning outcomes using psychometric evaluation is presented here for the first time. The paper introduces a hypothetical pavilion project pedagogy model (HPPP model) which can be used and developed further by architects and educators. Analysis results and the model identify four aspects that students perceive as critical factors in pavilion design-build learning experience: construction, design process, engagement and participation, and teamwork.

Space Efficiency in Contemporary Supertall Residential Buildings

Space efficiency is one of the most important design considerations in any tall building, in terms of making the project viable. This parameter becomes more critical in supertall (300 m+) residential towers, to make the project attractive by offering the maximum usage area for dwellers. This study analyzed the space efficiency in contemporary supertall residential buildings. Data was collected from 27 buildings, using a literature survey and a case study method, to examine space efficiency and the main architectural and structural design considerations affecting it. The results of this research highlighted that: (1) central core was the most common type of design parameter; (2) prismatic forms were the most preferred building forms; (3) the frequent use of reinforced concrete was identified, compared to steel and composite; (4) the most common structural system was an outriggered frame system; (5) the space efficiency decreased as the building height increased, in which core planning played a critical role; (6) when building form groups were compared among themselves, no significant difference was found between their effects on space efficiency, and similar results were valid for structural systems. It is believed that this study will help and direct architects in the design and implementation of supertall residential projects.

A Beginner’s Guide to Developing Review-Based Conceptual Frameworks in the Built Environment

With the boom of industry 4.0 technologies and their adoption in the built environment (BE), conceptual frameworks (CFs) are increasingly developed to facilitate the adoption. It is becoming increasingly important to develop a standard or guide for new BE research entrants and aspirants who want to conduct a systematic literature review and develop such CFs. However, they struggle to find a standard and reproducible procedure to conduct systematic literature reviews and develop CFs successfully. Accordingly, the current study based on requests and inspirations from nascent BE researchers presents guidelines about conducting such studies. A simplistic yet reproducible methodology is presented that can be followed by BE research aspirants to produce high-quality and well-organized review articles and develop a CF. Using an example of big data-based disaster management in smart cities, the current study provides a practical example of conducting a systematic literature review and developing a CF. It is expected that this research will serve as a baseline for conducting systematic studies in the BE field that other fields of science can adopt. Further, it is expected that this study will motivate the nascent BE researchers to conduct systematic reviews and develop associated CFs with confidence. This will pave the way for adopting disruptive technologies and innovative tools in the BE in line with industry 4.0 requirements.