Category: On Architecture 2024

The Transition of Scale: New Approaches in Examining Spatial Sensations from Urban Vegetation in the Context of Interior Architecture
Šejla Župljanin, Relja Petrović

https://doi.org/10.60152/3hltdfjz

Abstract: In current times, people are spending more time indoors than outside due to the combined effects of industrialization, globalization, and rapid urbanization. In fact, recent studies assert that contemporary lifestyles result in individuals spending the majority of their daytime time indoors. Many public institutions, jobs and services have transitioned to online spaces, making it so that humans barely have to leave the “comfort” of their homes. But what does that comfort represent and how can we measure it? In this research, our goal is to discover if by using artificial intelligence as a methodological approach to analyze human emotions and behavior, we can further explore how interior architecture can affect human wellbeing. With all of these spaces slowly transitioning from exterior to interior, we find it important to examine this issue. Through our study of comfort parameters in interior architecture, vegetation has been identified as a significant factor. Numerous studies have previously demonstrated its beneficial effects on human psychological and physiological health. There is a noticeable gap in the literature regarding its impact on interior architecture, though, as the majority of studies have concentrated on outdoor green areas. By using experimental methodology alongside a literature review, we aim to contribute to the understanding of emotional reactions to the presence of vegetation in indoor spaces, and how these insights can be integrated into the architectural design process.

Keywords: interior architecture, artificial intelligence, well-being, comfort, vegetation

How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):

Župljanin, Š. and Petrović, R. (2024) ‘The Transition of Scale: New Approaches in Examining Spatial Sensations from Urban Vegetation in the Context of Interior Architecture’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 259-268. 

The Influence of Media on the Transformation of Public Space – Considering the Future of Park of Friendship
Dragana Kocić, Petar Mitrović, Dragana Konstantinović

https://doi.org/10.60152/6iyarcyq

Abstract: In the contemporary world, much is discussed about the influence of media on people’s lives. However, the direct impact of the media on the creation of living public spaces is less discussed. The availability of different web platforms, freedom of speech, reporting methods, and the direct translation and transmission of political thought to the public lead to changes – new agendas – and the formation of opinions and attitudes that directly impact the built environment. Thus, media discourse becomes an old/new tool for forming the identity of a place, city, and state. Media discourse has changed and become more influential in the former Yugoslav states. The transition of post-Yugoslav society was accompanied by the transformation of the built environment, which was supported by various media narratives. This research begins with the assumption that reality is not singular but comprehensive and socially constructed, and that media plays a fundamental role. The media’s influence in constructing and deconstructing public space will be illustrated through a case study of Park of Friendship (Park prijateljstva) in Belgrade. From the Avenue of Peace and the Eternal Flame to a future-oriented space focusing on museums and contemporary design, the Park’s evolution reflects how media narratives and present-day societal needs shape its identity. These media discourses not only document but also participate in the creation of public perceptions, transforming spaces in line with emerging cultural and political agendas. At the same time, media exert a massive influence on the globalization of architecture. This often manifests through the promotion of architectural works and the dissemination of imagery, whether through photographs of actual buildings or visualizations of future projects. By circulating these representations on various platforms, media help create a positive economic climate, fostering development and revitalization of previously overlooked or less popular spaces. Thus, media platforms act as catalysts in global architectural trends, influencing both local urban transformations and broader aesthetic and economic movements in architecture. The media today are more influential than those from 40 years ago and are considered social agents that intervene in the construction of public representations of space. Contemporary lifestyles involve frequent changes in the urban landscape and demands for change. What is the role of the media, what kind of media agents are present, what are the most influential ones, and whose agents are they, are just some of the questions this research tends to address.

Keywords: Architecture, public space, media, media discourse, narrative, transformation

How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):

Kocić, D., Mitrović, P. and Konstantinović, D. (2024) ‘The Influence of Media on the Transformation of Public Space – Considering the Future of Park of Friendship’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 235-243. 

Drawing as a Methodological Tool For Reading The Cityscape
Snežana Zlatković

https://doi.org/10.60152/f7cgvl5y

Abstract: This research begins from the assumption that reading the cityscape can contribute to the improvement of drawing as a methodological tool. We recognize the understanding of complex spatial changes that are reflected through the cityscape as those that, through drawings, can reveal values for the initial stages of subsequent design processes. We investigate whether and how the drawing can follow and analyze the speed of changes that are happening in front of us, primarily in the extreme density of the built structure, but also in parallel through the ephemerality of the elements that change in the appearance of the city. We are interested in whether the transformation of drawings on the historical brink of the technological revolution of architectural tools during the past three decades hides an unexamined starting point, or an undiscovered potential of drawings to act between all the qualities of an analog way of thinking in relation to digital possibilities. We conduct research from the current condition of the city to the aesthetics of the dissolution of the city in order to establish aesthetic elements for the process of reading the cityscape. Extracted aesthetic elements, line – movement, rhythm – distortion of multitude, color – interaction, transparency – active condition will indicate the construction of a new analytical process. The layering of the city through the methodology of research by drawing will reveal the transformability of the procedure and the redefinition of drawing as a contemporary methodological tool. The sequences of the conditions of the city, which have been examined through a multitude of experiments, will shed light on the chronological development of the tool, but also reveal the values of the identified problem. After the building of the drawing by means of analog-digital mapping of the series of micro and macro atmospheric conditions of the cityscape, new specific layers of space are produced. In their deposition, an excess is created that moves the drawing from its static role to the dynamic development of the tool.

Keywords: condition of the city, phenomenological reduction, aesthetic elements, reading the cityscape, drawing, methodological tool

How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):

Zlatković, S. (2024) ‘Drawing as a Methodological Tool For Reading The Cityscape’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 218–228. 

Contribution to the Establishment of Green infrastructure as an Equal Element of the City Morphology in the Service of the Future City
Aljosha Shopar

https://doi.org/10.60152/1ofm7wkz

Abstract: The rapid urbanization that began with the Industrial Revolution and continues to this day has dramatically increased the pressure on urban dynamics. From this fast and substantial enlargement of our cities, a new city element has emerged. This element, which is the primary motive and focus of this research, is called “green infrastructure”.The main goal of this study is to try to make a paradigm shift, at least by a small increment, in our traditional perception of our cities by changing it from ”grey” to ”green” (blue). This task should be achieved with the theoretical defining of the term Green infrastructure as a spatial constituent, through a description and classification of its elements, their arrangement, and values within the city morphology. As far as we can reach in our history we can see that the city has existed as a system of irreducible complexity with all its parts arranged in their place. City elements by association are integrated into entities of higher complexity and quality, of a higher order (emergence), so the room emerges into a house, the house into a block, the block into a quarter, and the quarter into a city. The discussion about green infrastructure and its application in a city by examining case studies will highlight and strengthen its rightful place among other city elements. This applies both to the transformations that take place within the built city structures and to the newly planned city spaces. This approach positions the green element within the city morphology making it a dynamic part that instigates added value by introducing new socio-cultural activities that upgrade the existing urban system. By gaining equal status with other city elements, the notion of green infrastructure is becoming yet another segment of urban complexity. In its journey, it has come a long way being coded as a green luxury until the late XIX century, implemented as a green necessity in the early planning stages of modernization, and established as green leisure in the late XX century. This paper aims to acknowledge a new scenario for the future city, in which the green infrastructure rethinks its previous connotations in a new ‘green’ approach that engages productivity as a major concern, and thus creates a concept that further enhances relations between the elements of the contemporary urban morphology.

Keywords: Green Infrastructure, Urban Morphology, Urban Complexity, City Elements

How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):

Shopar, A. (2024) ‘Contribution to the Establishment of Green infrastructure as an Equal Element of the City Morphology in the Service of the Future City’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 68–81. 

From Past to Future: Urban Development Strategies for Tetovo
Vlera Thaci, Marija Petrova

https://doi.org/10.60152/l2ez5adw

Abstract: Cities are subject to continuous transformations. Their residential architecture from different periods, with different typological and morphological origins, is the basis for diverse changes. The growth of Macedonian cities peaked in the 19th century but was disrupted by 20th-century wars and the transition to socialism. This process led to westernization and modernization, introducing new residential architecture. Today, there is a need to upgrade Macedonian cities within the modern socio-political system of the 21st century, leading to rapid and spontaneous expansion. The paper focuses on the city of Tetovo, a case study of Macedonian cities and its stages of development. Tetovo, which had a modest character in the 19th century, underwent a significant transformation in the second half of the 20th century by constructing new residential blocks of high-rise buildings and towers. However, this modernization slowed down at the end of the 20th century. Nevertheless, Tetovo’s boundaries continue to expand today with the emergence of informal settlements consisting of low residential structures, thus adding a new layer to its urban fabric. This research aims first to investigate the vertical growth of Tetovo from the second half of the 20th century – through the construction of residential towers and then the expansion of the city today – through the informally built low residential structure on the edge of Tetovo. On the methodological level, this paper aims to define the characteristics of the two different models of urban development—vertical expansion and surface expansion—through an overview of the chronological and spatial growth of Tetovo. After comparing the characteristics and qualities of these two ways of city growth, this paper aims to offer a significant model for the development of Tetovo. The underlying assumption of this research is that while changes are an integral part of the image of the city of Tetovo and our everyday life, they should not be uncontrolled and spontaneous. On the contrary, urban transformations can be guided and planned through a new growth model in Tetovo. This model envisions a harmonious coexistence of vertical patterns of settlement with the contemporary needs for a low-rise residential structure defined by the character of informal communities. Such an approach could create opportunities for the densification of the city of Tetovo, aligning with its historical image and the modern needs of its inhabitants.

Keywords: Tetovo, residential towers, Informal settlements, high-rise, low-rise, future prospect

How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):

Thaci, V and Petrova M. (2024) ‘From Past to Future: Urban Development Strategies for Tetovo’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 36–44. 

The Role of Cohousing Communities in Shaping Architecture
Aleksandra Milošević Pantović

https://doi.org/10.60152/z1imo32y

Abstract: This paper examines the role of cohousing communities in shaping contemporary urban spaces, focusing on addressing the challenges faced by modern cities. Through an analysis of the architectural and social dimensions of these communities and relevant case studies, the paper demonstrates how cohousing integrates into the urban landscape, emphasizing the importance of shared spaces in fostering social capital and inclusivity. The study reassesses how cohousing practices can be applied to the broader urban fabric to enhance social cohesion and sustainability within urban environments. The research aims to identify ways in which architecture can serve as a tool for creating communities that transcend the conventional individualism of residential spaces. This structure balances theoretical and practical aspects, illustrating how cohousing communities can actively contribute to the formation and redefinition of shared space in urban settings, thereby supporting sustainable development and social cohesion.

Keywords: cohousing, urban challenges, contemporary city, architectural design, sustainable housing

How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):

Milošević Pantović, A. (2024) ‘The Role of Cohousing Communities in Shaping Architecture’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 202–210. 

Back to the Future: Challenges of Experimental House Projects designed for Future Scenarios
Marta Grbić, Sanja Nikolić

https://doi.org/10.60152/k81s6ct1

Abstract: Prediction of new ways of living is repeatedly used as unlimited inspiration for architectural design through history. Narrowing down the range of the research in order to understand the flux of historical ideas for future living, we focused on the design of domestic environments imagined for various future scenarios and challenges. The aim was to create a clearly cross-examined overview of projects of houses dating from 1927 to 2009 by extracting and defining their aims, strategies and imagined future scenarios. We endeavoured to present the breakthrough radical designs, but also a series of Japanese capsule drawings. The focus was on compact and transformable spaces. Speaking of the concept of ‘home of the future’, its breakthrough showed up as a result of the twentieth-century revolutions and wars, with the birth of new after-war societies and their new needs; as a result of industrial and technological revolutions and as a result of architects’ eternal intrigue for tomorrow. The birth of television had been defining our living spaces from 1940s until the arrival of internet overtook that role. The ‘press button’ fantasies induce creation of labour-saving designs, which is nowadays realized  in fully automated smart houses. The mobile houses marked 1960s and 1970s. However, the sci-fi imagination from the movies in the same period also directly inspired configuration of ‘smart’ houses. Dramatic growth of population throughout the whole twentieth century made various space-minimising and flexibility-maximising strategies. On the contrary, many alternative projects activate emotional and psychological realm through surreal, idyllic and natural and dreamy shapes in homes. After all, we can say that our contemporary notion of domesticity appears through self-sufficiency, mini living, nomadism and efficiency. The ‘future’ preoccupation triggered some meaningful exhibitions, articles and books that gave the overview for published projects within this topic.

Keywords: experimental housing, house of the future, radical design, Japanese metabolism, mobile house.

How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):

Grbić, M and Nikolić, S. (2024) ‘Back to the Future: Challenges of Experimental House Projects designed for Future Scenarios’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 188–201. 

Graph-Based Problem-Solving and Representation: Levels of Deployment in Computational Design Process
Dragana Ćirić

https://doi.org/10.60152/7clkf2xv

Abstract: The paper addresses the question of the deployment of ‘dependency graph’-based problem-solving and representation methods. The question is observed in terms of decomposition levels of the computational design process and the subject of computation, or graph representation and modelling. Based on the stated criteria that firstly distinguish process graphs from object-based or formally congruent graphs, and secondly identify sublevels within the formed classes, the paper explains 1. two levels of the first group (1a. the level of a complete design problem-solving algorithm (metalevel process propagation graphs) and 1b. the level of smaller problem-solving clusters of methods (specific operations graphs, or sequential process propagation graphs)) and 2. specificities of the second group at the level of content that is to be modelled as a graph (subject-based graphs,  including formal network-graph congruency). The importance of determining deployment levels has been recognised in the need to clarify, in a systematised way, the graphs’ use, pursuing elaboration of each application level’s scope or problem-solving coverage, and complexity considering the subject of analysis and representation. The study supports the aim of developing new and optimised process workflows and better-informed conduct when approaching computational design problems and tasks, leading to a higher standard of performance at each scale and construction/design stage of the computational problem-solving path and representation.  In that respect, the stated arguments are supported by the examples drawn from the experimental case of dependency (network and navigation) graph application in the field of architectural and urban computing, defined and tested in Grasshopper. The structure and results of the thereby created graphs, based on the investigated subjects of transportation infrastructure design and analytics, dynamic localisation, and path-finding, are parsed in a way that best corresponds to the intended instructional explanation. The case study provides supporting evidence in the form of graph-based workflows and formal geometric outputs resulting from their propagation – i.e., it supplements arguments diagrammatically and provides illustrations of the stated points.

Keywords: Network Graphs, Diagrams, Design Process, Computational Design Methodology, Computational Problem-Solving, Algorithmic Thinking, Urban and Architectural Computation, Smart Cities, Intelligent Cities, Intelligent Architecture

How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):

Ćirić, D. (2024) ‘Graph-Based Problem-Solving and Representation: Levels of Deployment in Computational Design Process’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 171–181. 

BIM – search for information
Igor Svetel

https://doi.org/10.60152/d9q2h7tv

Abstract: The digitalization in the AECO (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations) sector is often heralded as a revolution in the way of working. However, it turned out to be a gradual evolution of the process. An industry accustomed to monolithic representations containing all necessary data for a certain project phase has a hard time changing its habits. The first digitalization step was creating those documents using a computer. The second step is BIM technology, which has the ambition to remain the final form of digitalization in the AECO sector. The IFC scheme, which represents basis of the openBIM concept enabling connection among all BIM applications, also represents one monolithic digital model. Conceived to represent one AECO project, the IFC scheme contains all data about the single project. Additional technologies such as Data Dictionary and Data Templates, which add more data structures to the basic model, have been developed to enrich IFC. Currently, the focus in the BIM community is on models containing all the necessary data that users require. Different kinds of information requirements define what data should be included in models. Most of the effort is focused on including the data in the model, and little on how the data will be extracted from the model. The fact that well-structured data does not represent the whole information is recognized in the ISO 7817 standard, which states that when creating the Level of information need, attention should be paid to who, when, why and to what extent will use information, although it does not specify how to use these prerequisites to search for information. The paper analyzes the ways to search BIM data structures from the simplest browsing using the BIM viewer to more complex techniques. Existing proposals are considered, and original ones based on the latest BIM developments are given.

Keywords: BIM, information, browsing, query

How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):

Svetel, I. (2024) ‘BIM - search for information’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 165–170. 

Phenomenology, Space, Architecture
Dejan Milivojević

https://doi.org/10.60152/f3v4zrix

Abstract: The study of the relationship between phenomenology as a philosophical method and phenomenology as an architectural method reveals that they contradict each other. Phenomenology does not imply hypotheses or theoretical generalisations. The method of phenomenological reduction and recording perceives space as a form of self-realisation, without any components of the objective or subjective in the traditional sense of their duality. Phenomenology is the truth in which space and being are perceived as one, and such a unity is phenomenal, i.e. present without temporal constraints. Architecture has different viewpoints. In architecture, space is embodied in the form. The architect has deserted the phenomenon of space in order to oppose it. Yet, there is the content in architecture, which is a phenomenological image (eidos). Thus, a place is created which we describe sensually given that volume, texture, materials, fenestrations, details, craftsmanship and technological perfection, horticulture, etc. are also present, but as the motives of everyday temporal space. Architecture is not space, but space as a phenomenon would not exist without architecture and subjective reality in general. The phenomenon of space is, thus originated from the process of individuation. This implies that the job of an architect is not to deal with designing the philosophy of architectural space; actually, we are talking about the geometry of assemblage. Nevertheless, dealing with philosophy is desirable because, as Vitruvius wrote, philosophy refines the architect. The paper examines what phenomenology is and how we understand it, as well as how it addresses the problem of space. Architecture is closely related to people and their living environment, and thus, to the problem of space. Investigating these questions, we turned to the founder of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl and his student, Martin Heidegger. Studying the perspectives of architectural practice in the second half of the 20^th century, we relied on two concepts: science of space and post-modernism. These two theoretical approaches differ greatly but share a historically justified and well-established method in the process of form constitution, which is an analytical procedure related to the geometry of assemblage. It is what reinforces our conviction of the need for further research into the geometry of the architectural form assemblage. Notable contemporary architects agree.

Keywords: phenomenology, space, architecture,Science of Space, Postmodernism

How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):

Milivojević, D. (2024) ‘Phenomenology, Space, Architecture’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 131–138.