Architecture

This study focuses on the spatial and mutable characteristics of the "mat-hybrid housing" (MHH), a specific type of public housing. Analyses were conducted specifically on the period between 1960 and 1980 and two particular case studies, namely, Nuovo Villaggio Matteotti in Terni, Italy, and Odhams Walk in London. The qualitative research design of this study is based on the methodology called AIFAD (an abbreviation for Archives, Interviews, Fieldwork, Analytic diagrams, and Drawings). The goal of this paper is to identify, define, and extract possible strategies for implementing MHH, which can improve urban growth through compact schemes. These objectives can be achieved by adopting the schemes in such manner as suburban sprawl is prevented, the densities of existing cities are intensified, the possibility of changing the concept of domestic space is tested, and the identity, history, and tenant participation in each city is strengthened. Through this approach, the MHH can be effected.

This paper shows a prototyping project carried out with first-year architecture students at the University of Alcalá. The project starts with the development of a 1 m 3 prototype associated to a micro-domestic space for each student, generating forty-five microarchitectures. The main objective for all students is domesticity. Students interpret their domestic intimate space developed in a 1 m 3 cube. The aim of this paper is to test the learning process on domestic layout through a prototyping approach. The approach is based on twenty-five previously selected architectural references, and proceeds through a process of co-design learning and design thinking to the translation and experimental approach of ten prototypes constructed at a scale of 1:1. This paper focuses on the learning process carried out with the DPM (diagram, plan, model) methodology and patterns generated by the students' architectural projects through the development of prototypes.

Un recorrido gráfico a través de las ciudades realizado por dos viajeras, dos arquitectas: Alison Smithson en coche en 1983, la autora del artículo a pie en 2017. Un recorrido a través de las ciudades in-visibles. Visibles por nuestra capacidad para apreciar la ciudad, en un principio, con determinantes in-definidos, un recorrido, una galería, una esquina, un encuentro, una calle, una plaza pública, un bulevar. Prefijo in-delante, ahora con determinantes posesivos, se apropian de la ciudad, por lo no visible que pasa desapercibido cuando el tiempo in-vertido es mínimo, si este aumenta, si la ciudad se toca, se huele, se saborea, se oye, las protagonistas se apropian de la ciudad. Dibujan su esquina, su calle, su pasaje, su encuentro, su galería, su plaza, su bulevar o su

Palladio's heritage has aspects that are interrelated with the vernacular architectural heritage of the Mediterranean, and it entails a collective knowledge. The aim of this research is to analyse his work and its evolution over time, paying specific attention to three architectural design elements: the patio, the portico and the atrium in relation to their proportions and ratios. This work will highlight how geometry shapes the space and the form of these three elements, producing architecture for well-being. The main results may constitute a possible new frontier of research where these three design elements make a connection between interior and exterior spaces, strengthen a greater visibility of the geometry, create "intermediate spaces" and enhance the idea of a "Continuous Monument". The paper will underline how mathematical factors such as proportions, ratios and constructive geometry, together with climatic reasons, are important in architecture for both its configuration and geometry and they are a constant in Palladio's heritage and his Mediterranean cultural influence.

In the 1990s in Berlin the Baugruppen movement developed an innovative housing project as a “typological” experimentation. Several case studies will be analysed based on the users’ needs, the self-made construction, affordable options, collaborative housing, and creative participation. Once this model has been known a potential alternative can be applied to the shortage of housing options in Europe. This paper analyses several case-studies realized in Berlin which could be defined as a compact “vertical village” or “vertical mat-building” by land consumption reduction. Adopting the theoretical approach of the Baugruppen, the case studies will be evaluated through five key points: common infrastructure, personalized spheres, variable volume, hanging gardens, and shared common spaces, to validate their “typological” experimental quality.

This research approaches an interpretation of Ca' Romanino. Understood as a dialectic and a priori "spur-of-the-moment" opera, Ca' Romanino is developed among landscape, architecture and philosophy. It was built in 1968 in Urbino by Giancarlo De Carlo for his friend, the philosopher Livio Sichirollo. It is an architecture that allows communication through the articulation and form of physical space. It is a "round table" based on dialectics where architecture is projected. This timeless project is a dialogue among those who dwell in it, encouraging reflection and reciprocity, and those who visit it, understanding it and interiorizing it only if one lives it.

This article presents an analysis of a collective housing project designed by the architects Emilia Bisquert Santiago, Carmen González Lobo, Jose Miguel de Prada Poole and Ricardo Aroca in the Arturo Soria neighbourhood in Madrid in 1975. This project is noteworthy for its architects’ preference for designing flexible and adaptable spaces, both in the interior distribution of the homes spaces and in the common spaces of the building itself. Their main aim was to eliminate the rigid spatial segregation that was a dominant feature of Spanish housing estates promoted by the OSH (House Building Union) during the Franco Regime (1939–1975). To understand this idea, this research proposes a comparison between a Housing Estate promoted by the OSH in 1956 and the Arturo Soria building designed in 1975. The article explains and analyses the different architectural strategies that the architects proposed to achieve that flexibility and adaptability: a permanent structural ‘infrastructure,’ an intermediate architectural system adaptable over time, and finally, a range of possible configurations for the individual dwelling. Another important issue is the relationship between the construction system and alternative development of both horizontal and vertical living space. Explaining this relationship could help shape the habitability of future homes, the development of a sense of community, the possibility of designing for tenancies of different lengths and needs and the management of constant changes to a collective society.

High costs of housing, duality of tenancy generating the impossibility to access
adequate housing, a high expenditure of salary dedicated to rent and building design
not linked to the real needs of the users are causing an urgent search for alternative
housing models. The empirical research presented in this article is intended to identify
alternative housing management and spatial distribution through democratic design
in an era of shortage in affordable housing provision. The article focuses on two
pioneers’ case-studies: “Casa Malta”, a multigenerational cohousing in Helsinki and
“Genossenschaft Kalkbreite”, a non-profit hybrid cooperative in Zurich, both
developed in 2010 decade. The main key points analysed are the human-centred
design through participative processes, the shared spaces and the housing policies
adopted. These two projects highlight their ability to create an affordable model for
urban development perceiving housing as a collective process, affordable living,
gender equality and reducing the speculation in housing as basic need. This research
aimed to identify the key points of these alternative approaches for housing

In the 1950s, the Madrid's targeted towns were projected as urban growth on the outskirts of the city of Madrid, characterized by the participation of the future user in the construction of housing. The Poblados Dirigidos were built to absorb the shanty towns of the 1950s in the capital. Three of the Poblados Dirigidos, Caño Roto, Entrevías and Fuencarral are analyzed, with the objective of focusing and deepening one of them. The Poblado Dirigido of Fuencarral, located north of Madrid. It was built in 1960 by José Luis Romany and Luis Miquel Suárez-Inclán. Today, 50 years later, a set of reactivation strategies is proposed, consisting of reducing urban overflow in the residential suburbs, increasing the density of housing, always preserving existing buildings. The analysis and action is based on three reactivation strategies related to its current situation. These actions consist in providing an accessible public space to reactivate the equipment generating urban continuity. Finally, the third strategy is based on updating the existing housing typology to the new families, adapting to the current needs and the aging of their tenants, allowing future changes and the non-degradation of their domestic spaces .. Different accessibility problems are solved In public and domestic spaces, relating architecture, society, programmatic diversity and spatial sustainability at various scales, from the urban to the domestic scale. Small strategies are proposed through urban continuity systems, such as accessible programmable paths with elevators, intermediate spaces that connect both sides of the building, and propose spaces with capacity for change and change over time.

The aim of the project is to reduce urban sprawl by increasing housing density while preserving existing buildings. Solving different problems of accessibility in public and domestic spaces, relating to architectural, social, programme diversity and building sustainably in different scales, from urban to ergonomic dwelling. Little strategies with urban continuity, such as, programmatic accessible walkways which connect both sides of the building and mutable spaces along time. The project is located in the Poblado Dirigido in Fuencarral, north of Madrid. It was constructed in 1960 by Jose Luis Romany and Luis Miquel Suarez-Inclán. To summarize in three strategies: The first one is to reactivate existing markets abandoned by generating activity plug-ins with equipments and showing public space at the surroundings. The second one is to preserve existing dwelling by improving the quality of domestic spaces proposing new commons and better privates spaces by adding flexible inputs to residential blocks. The third and principal one is to propose a growth in phases controlled by reactivating existing urban spaces at all scales. To summarize, the project in three phases, first phase to reactivate public space solving accessibility. Second phase to generate activity and plug-ins with equipments such as primary commerce reusing the existing markets. The third and last phase to create services by adding flexible space to residential blocks.

La serie di pubblicazioni scientifiche Ricerche | architettura, design, territorio ha l'obiettivo di diffondere i risultati delle ricerche e dei progetti realizzati dal Dipartimento di Architettura DIDA dell'Università degli Studi di Firenze in ambito nazionale e internazionale. Ogni volume è soggetto ad una procedura di accettazione e valutazione qualitativa basata sul giudizio tra pari affidata al Comitato Scientifico Editoriale del Dipartimento di Architettura. Tutte le pubblicazioni sono inoltre open access sul Web, per favorire non solo la diffusione ma anche una valutazione aperta a tutta la comunità scientifica internazionale. Il Dipartimento di Architettura dell'Università di Firenze promuove e sostiene questa collana per offrire un contributo alla ricerca internazionale sul progetto sia sul piano teorico-critico che operativo. The Research | architecture, design, and territory series of scientific publications has the purpose of disseminating the results of national and international research and project carried out by the

This discussion paper deals with the participation in the exhibition entitled The "Greater Number". This exhibition was the ghost stage of the Milan Triennale XIV in 1968. A scenario that could be perceived as an inverted "amarcord" today. The exhibition was organized with the Italian architect Giancarlo De Carlo in a leading role. The "Greater Number" defined the construction details, invited prestigious speakers, attracted international participants, designed the physical space, and called on the media. However, it did not take place. It was absent and occupied, a priori, by a citizen's movement, by a generalized and crystalline discontent on an international scale. In the face of the tangible crisis of May 1968, we now find the "intangible" one of May 2020. This is when the debate on The "Greater Number" and "participation" in the city arose again 50 years later.

This work uses parametric and semiparametric panel data analysis methodologies to test the hypothesis of the environmental Kuznets curve, in 186 countries in the period 1960-2019. The main results reveal the acceptance of this hypothesis in the relationships of CO2 emissions (kt) and economic growth (GDP) and urbanization (% population) in the parametric models. Using semiparametric methods, the polynomial relations of fourth degree between CO2 emissions and GDP and of third degree between it and urbanization are verified. The economic policy implications derived from these results seem to indicate the need to continue making efforts in the reduction of CO2 emissions, through greater efforts in innovation and research and development, in search of clean and less polluting energies. The relationship between CO2 and economic growth is a major challenge, in terms of achieving a flattening of this relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a benchmark analysis of European cities based on the estimation of a composite index of efficiency from the dimensions of the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor 2017 (CCCM). The study helps to initiate a new exploration path based on this information, using a segmentation criterion of countries according to their economic and demographic characteristics, in search of greater comparative homogeneity. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the metafrontier methodological proposal with data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been used to compare the groups of cities individually with their joint reference. Findings The results obtained indicate, from a greater control of heterogeneity, through the segmentation of the sample of cities and the metafrontier methodology, that the composite index (IEC3) through the enveloping data analysis methodology (DEA) is more robust than that obtained with the arbitrary assignment of CCCM weights. The analyses carried out make it possible to study and conduct more real and rigorous comparisons of the cities that experience the best practices, unlike other more distant ones. Reference to cities such as Paris, Louvain and Cork could serve as a basis for possible improvements. Originality/value It is important to bear in mind that the possible urban policies of a city and the creative strategies and their derived impact are different, because of the diversity in each city. These new comparability possibilities could serve as a tool for economic policy makers, companies and local managers to carry out learning and simulation processes in the improvement of creative cities.

José Antonio Coderch (1913 - 1984, Barcelona) y Giancarlo De Carlo (1919 Génova - 2005 Milán) mantuvieron una correspondencia, un diálogo y un respeto mutuo constante durante sus respectivas trayectorias y encuentros a través de la Triennale di Milano y el Team X. El proceso de proyecto de ambos arquitectos, aunque disímil en sus aproximaciones, es virtuoso en sus respectivas articulaciones proyectuales. Ambos dialogan con el lugar en el cual se insertan, siendo rigurosos y creativos en el detalle constructivo y atentos a las necesidades y el bienestar de quienes habitan sus arquitecturas. Tanto De Carlo como Coderch forman parte de una cultura arquitectónica con raíces en el Mediterráneo y ambos caracteres estaban inmersos en una esfera cultural entre el arte, la literatura, la arquitectura y el cine. Una esfera catalizadora que les permitió crear una arquitectura maestra pionera. En esta investigación se propone una conversación entre el arquitecto español y el arquitecto italiano, un diálogo entre sus procesos de proyecto, un análisis crítico del proceso a través del proyecto de dos universidades: la Ampliación de la Escuela de Arquitectura de José Antonio Coderch en Barcelona (1978-1885) y la Escuela de Magisterio de Giancarlo De Carlo inserta en el tejido del centro histórico de Urbino (1968-1978). La metodología de la investigación se basa en la puesta en escena de la correspondencia inédita mantenida entre ambos arquitectos desde mayo de 1960 hasta noviembre de 1984. Posteriormente, se realizará un análisis crítico paralelo de las universidades de ambos arquitectos, desde el proceso de creación hasta la solución tentativa escogida. La necesidad de este diálogo subyace en visibilizar los lazos entre países y arquitecturas, en este caso, entre dos pioneros de la tectónica Mediterránea. Cabe sin embargo preguntarse ¿Cómo se construye el conocimiento? y ¿Cuál es su proceso de proyecto? En esta charnela dialéctica es donde se encuentra la constelación pionera de la arquitectura moderna española.