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Volume 2 (1); June 30, 2013


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Original Research, B1

USING CASE STUDIES TO ASSESSMENT SCHEMATIC ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Zanzan Uji J, Sani B, Shaibu M, Maina A

J Art Arch Stud, 2(1): 01-07, 2013

ABSTRACT: Yellow and blue magic arrows represent hypotheses about the behaviour of daylight and/or air flow in and about buildings. In design studio projects we often see schemes with inspired, yet unvalidated, gestural sketches related to wishful green strategies. This paper provides an overview of The Green Studio Handbook, recently published as a resource for designers seeking clear guidelines for integrating green design strategies into the conceptual and schematic phases of design. The book contains a discussion of the integration of green strategies and how building form, orientation, and spatial layout are critical to the proper performance of certain green strategies; 40 green design strategies in six broad topic areas, each providing a catalog of information for common strategies that must be implemented at the schematic design phase; and nine case studies that show how various green strategies work together in a finished building. This paper provides excerpts of several design strategies and one case study and suggests a variety of ways that the book may be used.

KEY WORDS: Green Design, Case Studies, Education, Schematic Design

Original Research, B2

EFFECT OF THE THERMAL COMFORT IN BUILDING

Muchina G, Omondi M

J Art Arch Stud, 2(1): 08-15, 2013

ABSTRACT: This paper discusses some recent trends in worldwide thermal comfort studies and presents a proposal of research for this building through a series of questionnaire tables. A comprehensive study of thermal comfort in a naturally ventilated education building (88,000 ft2) in a Chicago suburb will be conducted with 120 student subjects in 2007. Two research methods used in thermal comfort studies are field studies and laboratory experiments in climate-chambers. The various elements that constitute a “comfortable” thermal environment include physical factors (ambient air temperature, mean radiant temperature, air movement and humidity), personal factors (activity and clothing), classifications (gender, age, education, etc.) and psychological expectations (knowledge, experience, psychological effect of visual warmth by, say, and fireplace). Comparisons are made using data gathered from Nairobi, Kenya.

KEY WORDS: Comfort, Temperature, Humidity, Ventilation

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Original Research, B3

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS AND ART HISTORIOGRAPHY

Gologlo M

J Art Arch Stud, 2(1): 16-27, 2013

ABSTRACT: Even though history is an ideographic science where the individuality of events is the main protagonist, the effort to guide historical research into a methodological context, is the necessary key to a better understanding of architecture at all levels, including the operational In this study the integration of historicism and the structural method is discussed as a solution to the problems of architectural historiography. Bearing the awareness of the traumatic influences that technological and social transformations create in the field of architectural design necessitates research in the direction of a more objective historiography. Only through the use of a more scientific method it becomes possible to find an identity, both historical and cultural, for a complex phenomenon such as architecture. It is through this process which involves two basically antagonistic philosophies that one may reach a satisfying solution to the critical problems of architecture, problems that due to the specificity of the discipline may not be adequately understood with the use of just one of the above mentioned philosophies. In order to reach this conclusion and propose such a solution, it is necessary first of all, to look into the history of historiography and the historiography of architecture, pointing out the similarities and differences between historiography in general and the more specific one dealing with our realm of concern. The individuality, causality and selectivity of the historical events identified as being the main principles of historiography are discussed at two levels; general and specific (architectural). It is through this analysis that the relevance of our thesis emerges. The above mentioned integration of two opposing philosophies implies the involvement of both the diachronic and the synchronic dimensions of time. The verifiability of the method requires the use of semantic models. These can be summarized as denotative, connotative and Meta—lingual codes which will enable the researcher to read and understand the architectural work beyond its factual appearance.

KEY WORDS: History, Art, Architecture, Structural Analyses

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Original Research, B4

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Rammal A, Yousuf N, Ibrahim M

J Art Arch Stud, 2(1): 28-34, 2013

ABSTRACT: Architectural practices in turn determine the nature of the physical constructs that result. If architects are contributing to environmental degradation by designing buildings that are inefficient and unhealthy, and a pressing need exists to advance more life enhancing, sustaining practices, then perhaps environmentally concerned architects ought not only work towards the creation of better performing, more resourceful building assemblies, but also to engage in basic reflection as to how design problems are expressed and the environmental receptivity such expressions reveal. Value-laden articulations of the task of the architect guide manners of working - the concerns, inspirations and procedures given priority. By tracing the lineage binding utterance to practice to making, we might come to recognize that even subtle shifts in articulation can alter outcomes dramatically. Through such newfound awareness, we are open and encouraged to re-examine the architect’s role, to new descriptions of architecture, and to the possibility of deeper atonement and constructive engagement with our world.

KEY WORDS: Cultural Design, Environmental Response, Furnishing

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