Large-Scale Buildings of the Resort Establishments of the Soviet Period and their Present State in Jūrmala City, Latvia

The paper presents a summary of large-scale buildings of resort establishments of Soviet period in Jūrmala, by analysing their typology, physical parameters, scenarios of the development, architectural stylistic and the present state of physical condition and authentic substance. The research reveals that half of the large-scale resort buildings are already irreversibly lost and the rest of buildings are seriously endangered due to the tendency of extensive rebuilding.

Expectations of Persons Accompanying Children for The Physical Environment at Ataköy 5, Kısım Children’s Park

This study aims to research the expectations of users who bring their children to a park of the neighbourhood scale. For this purpose, a survey was conducted randomly with 550 people in 2018. The scope of this task encompassed research entailed questions regarding the occupation, educational status, age of the users, their relation to the children, as well as the age and gender of the children they brought to the park. These research questions were tested with the analyses of the survey questions, which included matters such as security, maintenance, and adequacy of green spaces, all of which are thought to affect park quality and convenient utilization. When viewing the research result, it was concluded that the demand for better security, adequate green area, additional activities, and playgrounds was higher amongst the user group with university education.

The Biophilic Approach to Qualify the Inhabitant-Nature Relationship in the Domestic Space: The Case of the City of El Kala, Algeria

El Kala is a city on the edge of eastern Algeria, located in an exceptional natural landscape, classified as a world biosphere reserve in 1990 by UNESCO. The diversity of nature within the domestic space leads to research and study its place and value for the inhabitants and encourages to think about how to qualify the relationship between inhabitants and nature through the domestic space. This study is based on a biophilic approach, adapted to the architectural scale, based on a landscape and architectural analysis. The results obtained show that the observed biophilic design is only a means to build a relationship with nature by the inhabitants. The objective of this article is to highlight the contribution of the biophilic approach in determining the behaviour of the inhabitants of the city of El Kala.

A Quality Assessment Directory for Evaluating Multi-functional Public Spaces

Public spaces facilitate opportunities for social interaction and promote social life. The social-spatial complexity of public spaces can be explored through the relationship between built forms and users’ daily social activities. The contemporary needs of users have retrofitted or replaced the controversial public spaces such as streets, depriving the prime function of sustaining and facilitating social life. Thus, any factors influencing users’ social/public life impact the quality of public spaces. Also, contextualization and definition of public spaces necessitate an evaluation of their quality. The lack of a quality assessment directory (QAD) for evaluating multi-functional public spaces motivated us to address it. To achieve the aim, this research has conducted a systematic literature review applying the content analysis to explore the principles and indicators influencing and enhancing social interactions in multi-functional public space design and then performed a normalization analysis to measure the weight of each indicator. The QAD constitutes five criteria (C1 – Inclusiveness, C2 – Desirable activities, C3 – Comfort, C4 – Safety, C5 – Pleasurability), and forty-two (42) embedded sub-criteria. The research found that Inclusiveness (Wn C1 = 4.38) and Pleasurability (Wn C2 = 3.88) have received the highest weights. Also, the research found that the sub-criteria ‘Physical/visual connection or openness to adjacent spaces’ (Wn Sc.4.1 = 1.00), ‘Users of diverse ages’ and ‘Community gathering third places’ (Wn = 0.750) have received the highest weights. Using such a QAD, urban professionals can quantify the effectiveness and efficiency of public spaces’ environmental and physical qualities in promoting social interactions and sociability.

Ability of Architects to See Autopoietic Environmental Features

This article discusses the way of rating the competency of architects through their ability to recognize the autopoietic properties of architecture in developed urban projects. The following theoretical methods were used: abstraction, analogy, generalization and reasoning. Metalanguage of consideration (opposite to directive metalanguage) embedded in projects displays the fact, that a person is able to recognize such autopoietic features as connotations, memory traces, that are important for continuity of locus cultural identity.

Use of Photogrammetry in Documenting Ruins/Traces of Cultural Heritage Not Surviving to the Present Day: A Comparative Case Study

Preservation of cultural heritage is our duty, but there are situations where the heritage cannot be preserved. In this case, if ruins and/or traces of building remain, they should be documented. The aim of this study is to recommend simple, quick and easily-applicable solutions for documentation studies of ruins of cultural heritage that was not preserved. In the extent of this study, a cultural heritage that could not preserve its existence till today but whose place was determined thanks to its traces is dealt with. Iasos Ancient City Theatre, which is the focus of the study, does not exist but its ruins should be documented. For this particular example, photogrammetry was used instead of traditional survey technique that is quite difficult to be applied. As a method, two different photograph-based programs made for photogrammetry were used and after comparing according to 6 criteria, advantages and disadvantages were presented. According to the findings, it can be said that there is no dimensional difference between two programs and both can be applicable.

Compactness is Not Enough: Development and Trends of a Sustainable Urban Concept

The changing concept of sustainable development is changing the practice of designing sustainable urban forms. The article presents a variety of concepts of a sustainable urban form and their ambiguous assessment – the model of a compact city, if applied in all cases, can cost the quality of one’s environment and the quality of life. New bottom-up trends are emerging in theory and in practice of the 21st century, which focus on the urban planning process which is more inclusive in terms of society. The article discusses examples of the creation of a sustainable urban narrative for the development of a relationship with the community.

Reflection of Paradigm Changein Information Technology to Library Architecture: The Helsinki Oodi Library

Since the late-20th century, there has been a transition from an industrial society to an ‘information network society’. ‘The production, organization and dissemination of knowledge’ began to change rapidly at the start of the 21st century, whereas this situation was met by the more effective search, use and evaluation of all kinds of information by library users. This work has focused on how the paradigm shift in information technology differentiates the functions and architecture of the 21st century ‘next-gen’ libraries from the traditional sort. Constituting the sample area of the study, the Oodi Library and its architectural features was examined within the context of ‘new architectural design criteria’, such as accessibility, symbolism, spatial organization, access to collections, self-study and integration, both in situ and by means of literature research. In research, it was observed that libraries need to be designed in line with new architectural design criteria, keeping the digitalization of information and integrating new information technologies in the forefront. The paradigm shift in information technology with digitalization has been the catalyst that transforms the libraries of the 21st century into centres of intellectual life, while reinforcing their role as a symbol of education, equality, transparency and civilization.

Cultural Urban Catalysts as Meaning of the City

City is a network with clear organization and architecture. It also has permanent connections. Human senses, perception and cognition are the base points while understanding these connections. Hypothesis of this article proposes that concentration of creativity potential in strategically placed junctions (cultural nodes) would catalyse people flow between them naturally. Three main features of the cultural node are distinguished, and possible identification methodology is being proposed. This strategy leads to more extensive methodology research and appliance analysing city structure.

Approaches to Modernizing the Architectural and Planning Structure of Maternity Institutions in the Context of a Pandemic and a New Social Distance

The article discusses individual approaches to the formation of the architectural and spatial environment of maternity hospitals and perinatal centres contributing to social distancing. A ‘functional-spatial’ approach is proposed, in which the boundaries of spaces in the most active functional areas of the maternity hospital are changed: entrance area, reception of women in labour, area for relatives and visitors of the hospital, delivery of newborns, consultations in the polyclinic department of the maternity hospital. As a planning technique for distancing is proposed the formation of a system of space ‘soft borders’ using flexible, inclined, semi-cylindrical and ‘flowing’ translucent partitions. The second, ‘environmental approach’, is based on changing the scheme of communication and environmental situations in the internal environment of the maternity hospital due to the thoughtful arrangement of furniture and interior equipment, as well as due to light, colour and graphic navigation. Such a reorganization of the architectural and spatial structure of the maternity hospitals, based on the requirements of social distancing, preserves the value characteristics of the therapeutic environment.