Back to Human Scale : Rethinking Human Spaces for Tomorrow
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Item Matter presences : the sensitive consequences of the mechanisation of the raw material(2022) Coll, Nuria AlvarezHeir from a culture marked by modern dualism, man seems to find himself, abstract from his environment. As a consequence, a large number of human creations today is considered by some authors as uprooted. Built with earth, vegetal fibers, stone, etc., vernacular architectures appear as an extension of nature, its colors, its materials, its forms and its textures. Most of the contemporary architecture examples, on the contrary, seems to have lost this link with the territory, the natural cycles and the human know how. Could the use of raw materials and the promotion of touch (and a more direct relationship to the world) be allies to create architectural spaces that reaffirm a better link with the body and reboot a genius of the site? This article questions the transformation of raw materials into building materials. Referring to the work of art in its mechanized reproduction, Walter Benjamin refers to the loss of aura. This concept is reinforced by the notion of the sacred developed by the anthropologist Michael Taussig who, when speaking of synthetic color, refers to the loss of the body of color. The passage by these two thinkers raises some questions to reflect on our sensible relations to the non-human in order to stop this relation of exploitation towards matter. To conclude, the paper presents a tactile experience entitled "Material Presences", developed within the framework of a creation research. This experience proposes to reflect on the presence of materials and the notion of aura: What does wood matter transmit to us according to its type of transformation? Does this transformation process change our sensory relationship to this material? Can we say that some have lost their aura?Item Architectural detail or the end of the virtual(2022) Pinto, Bernardo de Castro Norton VazArchitectural tectonics have become the central resistance, in the discipline of architecture, against the virtual simulations of reality that dominate our cultural landscape. Within that discussion, the study and critique of the architectural detail as a central aspect of architecture needs to be re-considered today, simply because it relates directly with materiality, physical materiality, of architecture. The enormous social-cultural transformations, since the turn of the century, triggered by the electronical and then digital innovations, have permitted the appearance of a virtual world that is competing with the physical role and subsequent meaning of the discipline of architecture. Alvin Tofler´s The Third Wave, Castells’ The Rise of the Network Society, Nicholas Negroponte’s Being Digital , all reflected the changes that are now a consummated fact: we have become more and more dependent on the non-physical, on the nonmaterial aspects of technology. Paraphrasing Negroponte, it is the shift from atoms (material and mass) to bits (digital). The construction of a virtual, nonphysical world, as the late phenomenon of the metaverse, the NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, confirm this tendency in the development of a nonphysical world. The challenge presented to architecture, as the discipline of the construction of meaningful physical environments, is that it cannot exist only in appearance. It needs to have existence, physical existence and permanence. The role of the architectural detail, present since the dawning of the discipline, needs to be re-discussed: The meaning of architecture, as it has always been, can be revealed within the understanding of the construction detail. The joint and the construction detail have evolved through history, from symbolic representations of nature, to metaphors of structural elements, to glimpses of the way buildings are put together. The advent of the digital revolution, and the changes of the architectural process, the appearance of the possibility of the “fold”1, and other algorithm processes of designing, triggered the disappearance of the edge and the joint, and detail has become surpassed, forgotten in praise of the seamless extension of the perfected architectural surface. To understand the role of architecture today is, to a large extent, to understand the meaning of the architectural detail.Item Perceptual and sensitive aspects of the urban ground : sound, thermal and somatic(2022) Germon, Olivia; Thiollière, PascalineSensory dimensions of urban ground have been little studied by architectural and urban research, forgotten behind their functional and ecological dimensions. It is nevertheless an essential element of the human scale of cities and contributes to the background of urban ambiances. In the perspective of drawing a new episteme of the urban ground, an element particularly linked to the whole bodily experience, we will evoke in this contribution mainly three sensory dimensionsItem Walking Santa Cecilia : a peripatetic experiment in reclaiming urban space(2022) Rainha, Eleonora AronisThis article is the summary of an experiment that proposes a way of analysing and acting upon public space. The experiment was done through the re-interpretation of the history of walking as an aesthetic practice and of the game of walking as put by the architect and philosopher Francesco Careri1. The investigation was divided into three parts; a theoretical, analytical and pr ojetual. This path sought to explore to what extent is it possible to apply the theories surrounding walking as an esthetic practice to an actual instrument of transformation of urban spaces into a city made for the pedestrian, for the encounter and for the ludic use of time. Both a means and an end to a more humane city. The discussion was taken to the city of São Paulo as a case of study, and its public space, or lack thereof. A purposedly randomly selected neighborhood was chosen for the exercise – Santa Cecília, a neighbourhood that saw the abandonment of central areas in the 90’s due to security issues in downtown São Paulo. The instruments chosen for the experiment were crucial – not the conventional urban analysis ones, but walking in itself, translated into “corpografias” or bodygraphs, photography and subjective mapping. Along the delimited path nine voids, or urban situations that resulted from the analysis were chosen to receive chirurgical interventions; made through the understanding of both material and immaterial experiences. These interventions might improve the possibilities of people being in and relating to urban spaces, but most importantly this work aims to show a way in which urbanists could look at and interact with cities before proposing interferences in its dynamics; an analysis that comes from within the body and the streetsItem The other body in the same body : the elderly invisibility in the architectural design(2022) Moura, Tania Mara da SilvaThe aging of populations is generating reflection challenges for science and societies. Despite notable efforts in the technical solutions legislation and the population's awareness of the inclusion of the elders, it's easy to notice that in the design of buildings there are still difficulties in integrating the elderly into architecture. Western society is basing itself on young people, even though the elderly population gradually takes over in terms of the number of individuals. The patterns in the architectural design are embedded in dimensions and connections established by norms and regulations for a minimum space of human conformation. The standards that are considered ideal and unrealistic regarding the natural flow of human aging, ask the question of the non-visibility of the old body. What if the ideal body was one that has already crossed the barriers of time? If the core of the representations was in the body which remained alive, which slowly changed, but which still vibrates within a social core which persists in denying its existence? When they are designed to promote well-being, the buildings become fully appropriated by their inhabitants and become instruments of interaction for everyone, from children to the elderly. The building transposes its material function, expressing meaning and meaning to its occupation. Thus, it is necessary to develop more inclusive parameters where the elderly are taken into account, by inserting models of human representation that affect the population more broadly. Through bibliographical research and with a deductive method, this article intends to raise questions that seem ignored in the process of architectural design and evidences an invisibility of the permanence of the body of the eldest in the built environmentItem The “Old-Age Scale” : theoretical contributions from environmental gerontology(2022) Nascimento, Mariana Alves da Silva do; Niedoba, Simone; Bestetti, Maria Luisa Trindade; Castro, Luiz Guilherme Rivera de; Wanka, AnnaOlder adults were one of the groups framed as most 'at risk' during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, they were most affected by measures like social distancing that reduced or even completely restricted the use and occupation of the territory by seniors. This led many to social isolation, decreasing their chances to participate, enjoy, belong, and ultimately, exercise their right to the city. As restrictions are reducing and people are resuming social interactions outside virtual spaces, it is pertinent to recognize the importance of the built environment in old age and how the exchange between persons and environments can influence the well-being, autonomy, health, and even identity of ageing individuals. To this end, the studies and theories developed in environmental gerontology, a subfield within gerontology dedicated to investigating the relations between seniors and the environment in terms of social, physical, and psychological aspects, can be of great value to comprehending how older adults perceive, use, appropriate, and connect with spaces. That is, understanding the person-environment relationship from another perspective or scale: the scale of older people. Therefore, we seek to introduce in this paper three key theoretical frameworks and concepts of environmental gerontology. Aiming to contribute to expanding the knowledge about a growing population in many places, and a subject (still) little discussed within architecture and urbanism, we expect that being acquainted with these theories can nurture new research and practices in architecture, urban design, and urban planning that consider the old-age scale, promoting friendly environments for allItem The awareness of the past for an unknown future: the present act of the architect and the creative user in shaping spatial space(2022) Issa, RandArchitecture is yielded by use and design. The architectural realm is well known as a property of Architects “architecture is a heroic endeavor made by architects, guided by the masters” (Banham, 1975, p.3)*. Gropius articulated that the architect’s ultimate concern in designing buildings is represented in their human use and occupation. Therefore, questioning the architects’ perception of the users’ needs arises especially in times of crisis. Hereby, users are a threat to architects in terms of spatial transformation and how the building can adapt to reflect changes in use, and who between the architect, owner, and user, has the authority and knowledge to alternate the occupied form/ space. As if Functionalism is the starting point for most post-war architects’ assessment of use; flexibility, polyvalence, and user collaboration. Nowadays, the global pandemic emerged the necessity of the creative user to give existing spaces new meaning, a change of use that is not merely dependent upon a physical change but a change in the perception of the user toward the occupied space and the needs through the time of crisis. This paper is to concentrate on the intertwining role of the architect – the creative user who is not defined as a passive in the architecture realm but as a reactive user following the three types of creativity: mental, bodily, and physical. An analytical study of how users would shape their own space if they have the choice through a fixed space to design their quarantine based on the Covid-19 lockdownItem Museum-house : the transformation of residences into sociocultural memory spaces(2022) Gonçalves, Renata Carlos de OliveiraThe present study proposes a reflection about the transformation process of houses that belonged to representative residents into museum spaces, as well as the relations established with the society and its surroundings. A space considered as a holder of socio- cultural memory represents the daily life and customs of a society during an era and it is able to expose beyond the material legacy of someone or some family. The representation of the daily life and customs of the residents and its interpretive programs promote a cultural understanding with the local community and visitors. The house is often seen as a connection of architectural legacy with memory, identity, and social representation (Bourdieu, 1989). Thus, the conversion of use is very interesting and attractive, but some difficulties are encountered, such as the adaptation of the program of needs accessibility, legibility and imageability (Lynch, 1960, p.10). The transformation of a space previously designed to be private and intimate considers conceptual issues of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Therefore, the fundamental principle of the museum-house is the treatment given to a private place that was not designed for exhibitions, but its collection is what fosters this event. Therefore, these are spaces created from the inside out, from the inner to the outer part, respecting the symbolic singularity of each collection and sometimes resulting in inviting solutions for new experiences depending on the methodology of the approach used in the mediation process. Thenceforth, it is possible to understand the ambiences perceived and realized by the individual and their experience of the spaceItem Artistic-architectural micro-narratives in the city(2022) Barbas, iSABELIn the current 'burnout society' (Byung Chul Han), or 'liquid modernity' (Zygmunt Bauman), or 'red fish civilization' (Bruno Patino), in which the individual finds himself immersed in a diffuse, confused, global, where the boundaries between the private and the public, work and leisure, the specific and the global, the material and the immaterial are diluted, producing a new kind of 'habitat', what role can perform ‘artistic installations’ and small-scale ‘architectural installations’ on public space, in the debate about the current society, that is also committed to emerging ecological values? Taking into account its small scale, economy of materials, costs and reduced times, compared to the 'disciplinary' urban and architectural operations established in city 'design' policies, and above all taking into account its 'power of communication', of more immediate and performative interaction appealing to 'new aesthetic senses' [expanded field of art/architecture], we propose to look at the 70's - decade in which a freer artistic intervention was democratized but also more objective and committed to new ideas about the 'Polis', about the need to reactivate its use value [work] to the detriment of exchange value [profit], producing 'playfully' (Huizinga) and 'phenomenologically' new spaces of interaction (Lefebvre) and the influences they can play today. Appealing to the 'participation', 'activation' and even 'co-authorship' of the inhabitants, this type of artistic intervention on a 'human scale' in the city acts, either by 'adherence' or even by 'confrontation' – which is also a form of contact –, a dialogue with the public, which is thus involved in the construction of new 'micronarratives' about the city; awakening new personal critical senses about the 'common space', underlining the importance of the 'micro' in the 'macro' which is, perhaps, a possible way to build a more ecological society. Keywords: Art-architecture Installations in Public Space / Critical and ecological art-architectural practices in the city / Mediation, participation and co-authorshipItem Dansbana! in the context: performative process for inclusive public space(2022) Selberg, TeresThe historical building typology ‘dansbana’ was important social spaces, especially among young people, in Sweden and the Northern parts of Europe, in the beginning of the 20th century. They were typically small-scale structures built of wood, a lot of times designed and constructed as a community activity. The music was played live, and the dance would be different kinds of steering dances, where girls were waiting to be asked out to the dance floor. Dansbana! is an organization (run by the architects Anna Pang, Anna Fridolin and Teres Selberg), creating public spaces for dance with hands-on, dance-specific methods, founded to change statistics showing that young girls are heavily underrepresented as users of public spaces for activities. At the same time the concept of the traditional building typology ‘dansbana’ is updated to meet the needs and wishes of local dance communities and young girls in today’s contemporary world. Gender inequality is global and one of the biggest obstacles to sustainable development, economic growth and poverty reduction. This research aims to produce and communicate alternative methods to work together towards the SDGs, challenging norms within urban development and broadening the spectrum of how to execute practice-based research globally. Using the experiences from three projects by the organisation Dansbana! in the region of Stockholm, Sweden as well as their most recent installations in Istanbul, Turkey and Akron, USA this research aims at a) visualizing methods of inclusive and context-specific production of public space with young girls as focus group b) developing further the cross-disciplinary participatory methods used within the organization Dansbana! today c) expanding the role of the architect through playful, performative investigationsItem Sensory ecology: designing synergies between micro and macro-scales of experience in public environments(2022) Mace, ValerieThis study introduces ways in which designers can contribute to people’s ability to develop positive emotional connections with their environment, to design sensory spaces where people can flourish. It is situated in ontological design, drawing on the phenomenological theory of embodiment whilst advocating an ecological perspective to bring together spatial and human dimensions. Placing the sensing body as the primary means of perception, it examines qualitative interrelations between the microscale of experience, the scale of the body and its immediate surroundings, and the macro-scale of experience, the wider context of the physical and social environments. These complementary scales are examined through two interrelated principles, privateness and porosity. Privateness is enacted and characterised by people’s ability to define personal and group territories in the micro-scale whilst porosity enables them to maintain sensory connections with the macro-scale. This is first examined in a case study of the public interior of the Royal Festival Hall, a major cultural venue in London. This environment, where space and people converge, provides a rich field for exploration. This is followed by design experiments to test the findings from the case study. The outcome of this study feeds into a larger research project to contribute towards a sensori-emotional framework for spatial designItem 'Field work' : drawing lessons from urban agriculture to facilitate transitions towards sustainable cities(2022) Simon, SandrineBased on a research project focused on urban agriculture initiatives in Lisbon, this article explores the three dimensions (economic, ecological and social) of sustainability, in view of improving our understanding of what a ‘sustainable city’ may be. In particular, it describes how urban agriculture is helping i) to meet one of the most basic human needs for food; ii) to improve both people’s health - by tackling people’s diet – and the ‘environmental health’ of a city – and by introducing more ecologically-friendly agricultural processes that also help fight climate change and water problems; and iii) to tackle social cohesion issues – by facilitating exchanges and learning within communities. Three critical policy areas where ‘back to human scale’ can have a global impact are then investigated, using the lessons drawn from Urban Agriculture (UA): a) Education for sustainability – and how territorial and social learning can also have an impact on global citizenship education; b) Participatory governance – linking citizen science with urban governance, using ICTs; and c) Political ecology – including fighting climate change through new forms of activism such as ‘proximity and disruptive dissent’ and improving people’s awareness on the political dimensions of food production through alternative food networks dealing with food democracy. The article demonstrates the contribution that modest practical actions undertaken by individuals at neighbourhood levels could have at policy levels if advances in ‘participatory urban governance’, put forward by policy-makers and researchers, are to be taken seriously and better connected to the realm of ‘practical (field-) work’Item Working with nature to address the challenges of small towns: evidence from France(2022) Othmen, Marie Asma Ben; Trotta-BrambillaIn urban literature and practice, increasing attention is paid to the potential of working with nature in reducing exposure and vulnerability to climate hazards, including floods and extreme heat waves. Still, planners' perspectives on this approach have long been metropolitan and cities centered. This paper aims to surpass territorial hierarchies by considering the specific case of small towns. We apply an ecosystembased approach to rethink spatial planning practice at the scale of Rives-en-Seine, a small northwestern town in France. An interactive and multidisciplinary workshop methodology was used. The results highlight that while well-designed nature-based interventions can deliver multiple benefits and ensure small-town resilience, their practical implementation will require tools combining ecological engineering and urban and architectural designItem Introduction of non-topological costs in syntactic analyses : the case of Gulbenkian estate(2022) Fernandes, Pedro AfonsoSpace syntax is a set of theories and techniques for analysing urban settlements and buildings. Focused on the study of the configuration of convex spaces, space syntax is based on the concept of topological depth, that is, in the number of steps to go from some space (or axial line) to every other space in a spatial complex. Typically, non-topological costs like stairs, ramps, accentuated slopes or walls are not considered in space syntax analyses, or are incorporated in an insufficient fashion, namely, with the arbitrary introduction of axial lines in order to increase depth. This article proposes an innovative method to deal with these costs that uses logic programming with Prolog language. In this way, it is possible to better understand the relative segregation of the Gulbenkian estate within its urban environment, the city of Odivelas near Lisbon (Portugal), noting that it was the largest public housing estate built within the scope of the resettlement plan for those displaced by the great floods of November 25-26, 1967, established by the Ministry of Public Works and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the late 1960s. Keywords: Space Syntax, Non-topological costs, Liveability, Logic Programming, Public housing estates, Great Lisbon’s floods of 1967Item Sonic urban furniture for vulnerabilities: experimental workshop in architectural design(2022) Nicolas, Remy; Flampouris, Petros; Psychogyios, Dimitris; Marchal, ThéoARCHITECTURAL DESIGNItem Urban planning dimensions of informal settlements in post-war Aleppo(2022) Aboasfour, YaraInformal settlements are considered the fastest-growing human gatherings and the most significant urban challenge facing different countries. In case of any crisis, the urban fabric of these settlements is usually the most affected area. This is due to their poor planning, construction, and infrastructure. Therefore, upgrading their environmental standards has become essential in meeting the challenge of crisis recovery. In the city of Aleppo-Syria, Informal settlements represent about 35% of the total housing units. Many are deteriorating, and most have minimal construction, urbanization, and services. During the Syrian conflict, these areas have become part of military fortifications and suffered severely from destruction and displacement. That has put all urban options back on the table for reconsideration in the prospects of future reconstruction. The housing theme is always considered a priority and an urgent need for the immediate urban and design response after the war. This process, however, should not be understood as returning to the pre-war situation. Accordingly, it is a significant opportunity that must be used positively to upgrade the reality of informal settlements and make their urban environment more resilient and sustainable for the future. The paper aims to identify the impact of informal settlements on the urban structure of Aleppo. It also aims to unveil the city-urban development needs to upgrade informal settlements' morphology in conjunction with Aleppo city’s growth during the reconstruction phase, and the different urban policies of intervention.Item Towards restorative city: rethinking public space design from ecological and biological perspectives to promote city and community wellbeing(2022) Hummeid, GhadirThe urban development of the city emerges from the constantly changing local circumstances. As human beings, we have an inherent tendency to cohort with nature. During the pandemic, people occupied public green spaces to be a haven. With the dramatic increase in the urban population of cities, cities are becoming more multicultural and heterogeneous environments. As the physical environment and the social behaviours generate each other. The paper will address the importance of designing public spaces as spaces that support human well-being. Social interactions and community cohesion are organically and iteratively developing inside safe public spaces. Thus, the paper will concentrate on developing concepts for prospering public spaces to inspire people's wellbeing and promote community cohesion through its design. Public spaces design impact people's sense of belonging and sense of place in the city, and those senses are related to the people's social and physical experience with the city’s structures, spaces, pedestrianization, including city blocks, street dimensions, walking aisles, building heights, and city ecological, biological components. Accordingly, this paper highlighting existing and new concepts to rethink the design of cities’ public spaces starting from understanding people's experience in those spaces from ecological and biological perspectives aiming to enhancing people's physiological, psychological health, and city’s life quality using ecological components and principles in public spaces design, urban mobility, considering space air quality, noise pollution, and place-based relationships (Biophilic dimensions). The paper highlights the lack of literature about Biophilic architecture and Restorative Environment concepts and applications in designing cities' public spaces specifically. Considering both concepts as potential solutions that can assist in improving city liveability and capabilities in enhancing and maintaining its social prosperity and its environmental resilienceItem Healthy living places: a pedagogical experience between health and architecture(2022) Neiva, Ana; Leão, TeresaThe places where people inhabit determine their health and wellbeing. Architects, as designers of the physical characteristics of living and working spaces, and their surrounding urban atmospheres, can thus influence environmental conditions, social interactions, and the individuals’ downstream lifestyle factors. A person-centred training may help future architects to learn their potential as health promoters through architecture and urban planning and obtain the basic tools. The “Health, Wellbeing and Architecture” interdisciplinary course offered students (from the Medical and Architecture schools) a user-centred perspective, following a student-centred approach. By guiding students through the common contents of Architecture and Public Health in lectures with teachers and researchers from both fields, exposing them to the perspectives of inhabitants in field visits, and providing space to discussion, students learned to analyse real-world examples of neighbourhoods, discussed how housing conditions and neighbourhood characteristics could be influencing health problems, and proposed solutions to improve the users health and wellbeing. Students complemented technical architecture skills with public health evidence, and social participation to propose the design of healthier living environments. - 2 - Student- and user-centred approaches were key to facilitating dialogue among both areas’ students, teachers, researchers, and users. Their reactions and the technical outcomes were very positive, with students reporting to be able to think about health from a broader perspective and to think about architecture considering its impact on the health of its users. Bridging architecture and public health and centring teaching practices on students and users perspectives is fundamental to put people’s health and wellbeing as a priority for Architecture.Item Re-scaling living spaces : an analysis through a spatial empathy(2022) Thomaz, Barbara; Pinheiro, EthelThe immateriality of spaces and how it interferes in the actions of the body and in the spatial experience is as important as technical aspects involved in the conception of its physical dimension. However, when dealing with the spatial conception in Architecture is it is usual that quantitative measures are prioritized while the influence of the body in space is less explored. The present work is based on the idea of Spatial Empathy, which considers that the joint spatial experience arises from the multisensory, embodied and emotive encounter amidst space and place. The term Empathy first appeared in architecture in Aesthetic studies developed by Einfühlung, an approach from the second half of the 19th century. Einfühlung is the genesis of the concept Empathy and deals with the relationship between the subject and the object from the feeling fostered by the latter. Acording to Einfühlung’s theorists, the arts could be analyzed through Empathy due to a ‘dye’ that appears as a fusion between what is seen and what is felt. This understanding can be applied to urban spaces, which also have their tonality, their coloring, their ambiences. In order to collaborate with the study of urban ambiances, this article explores de ideia of Spatial Empathy as a means of analysis and understanding of lived spaces. The results of fields works showed that the body immersed in the environment can help to rethink public spaces and collective experiences, since it is on the human scale that the body interacts directly with the surrondings.Item Negotiating scale: experiencing, claiming, and walking public space: three examples in Milano(2022) Kanellopoulou, DimitraFrom the very origins of the city, human scale forged physical environment and imaginaries about built urban form. From the sinuous streets of medieval towns ingeniously adapted to human walking, to Haussmannian boulevards in industrialized Europe, human movement and practices, structure the matrices of public space infrastructure. The question of human scale was however underlined -in a more conscious way- among urban studies and humanities mostly after the second world war in a context of international criticism towards Modern Movement’s rigidity and remoteness from the scale of senses and perceptions of the individual. The quest to return to the city center and revisit values of walking in historical nuclei, marked a turn that will ultimately transform objectives and priorities in urban planning in the following years. Social sciences will nourish the debate by highlighting the imminent role of human walking and experience while studying the city. As a result, new methods of observation, mapping, analysis of daily practices within collective spaces have emerged and sow the ground for the development of new disciplinary approaches, focusing on emotions or atmospheres. The paper is structured as follows. In the first part, we retrace the evolution of the concept of ‘human scale’ within planning and design principles emerged after World War II. In a second part, we aim to examine – drawing on three case studies- the imminent role that walking has in actual debate on public space’s adaptability towards future crisis and investigate its unique characteristic as an urban practice weaving together human body experience, physical space and social interaction. Through direct observations and in situ interviews in three public spaces in Milano, the paper proposes to re-approach ‘human scale’ not as prerequisite in design process but rather as a robust tool (both for planners and citizens) of negotiating plural forms of urbanity in a global context of transition