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Architecture, City, People, and Structure

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A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Architectural Design, Urban Science, and Real Estate".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2021) | Viewed by 48161

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Barbara Gronostajska

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Architecture, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland
Interests: universal design; housing architecture; architecture for seniors; multifunctional spaces; design for people with disabilities
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Prof. Dr. Romuald Tarczewski

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Architecture, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland
Interests: structural systems in shaping forms of contemporary architecture; structural topology; membrane and pneumatic structures; shell and spatial structures; management of information exchange in the investment process (BIM); structures
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Dr. Joanna Jablonska

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Architecture, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland
Interests: architectural acoustics; public use building design; hotel design; theory of architecture; education in architecture; NEB
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Buildings on “Architecture, City, People, and Structure” is based on the four domains mentioned in the title, whose interactions and mutual influence affect human life and living and make their intersection a crucial research theme. Hence, the Special Issue consists of four main subjects:

Architecture:

The architecture of tomorrow—21st-century solutions in terms of pro-ecological and sustainable development;
Universal Design as an integral direction of contemporary architecture;
Innovation in architecture—temporary architecture (disasters), mobile structures in the city of the future, pop-up architecture, parametric design;
Living city skin—responsive architecture, kinetic architecture, interactive facades;

City:

Energy-efficient and autonomous cities;
Virtual reality—digital cities;
Living cities—the use of biomimetic and bionic solutions in shaping cities;
Application of Universal Design as an attempt to eliminate barriers in the 21st-century city;
Urban adaptation to the requirements during an epidemic threat;

People:

Contemporary problems of single-family and multifamily housing based on pro-ecological and sustainable development assumptions;
The housing architecture of tomorrow;
Cohousing as a response to nowadays needs of multifamily architecture;

Structure:

Modern materials in architecture;
Reusing and recycling in shaping 21st-century architecture;
Low-tech and high-tech in 21st-century architecture;
Wooden structures in contemporary architecture;
Modern constructions systems in shaping architectural objects.

Prof. Dr. Barbara Gronostajska
Prof. Dr. Romuald Tarczewski
Prof. Dr. Joanna Jablonska
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

architecture
structure
universal design
city of future
architecture of future
sustainable development
living cities
urban and architectural additivity

Published Papers (12 papers)

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29 pages, 18736 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of Certification Systems for Architectural Solutions in Green Office Buildings in the Perspective of Occupant Well-Being

by Magdalena Grzegorzewska and Paweł Kirschke

Buildings 2021, 11(12), 659; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11120659 - 17 Dec 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5001

Abstract

The green building certification system has long-lasting benefits by improving building efficiency and sustainability. The ultimate goal of such classification is to promote the preservation of the global environment as well as the occupants’ well-being and their health. In this paper, we present examples of buildings that have been designed and built in Poland and have been certified with BREEAM, LEED and WELL. Our study investigates human factors in certification systems and examines the WELL Building Standard as a supplement to other green systems, which will probably be the most popular in the future. The green building movement should prioritize pro-human factors and the associated environmental beliefs to improve indoor environment quality for users’ needs. We present this matter on the example of the Polish office space market, providing statistics and analyzing the architecture of six certified office buildings from Warsaw, Poznań and Wrocław. They are a representative sample of buildings designed following the certification regime. It was demonstrated how this aids in improving work comfort, enhances the program of office spaces and the organization of service spaces within buildings, which increases the rank of this architecture and positively affects the urban environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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22 pages, 2288 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Architectural Education in the Current of Deep Ecology and Sustainability

by Ewa Cisek and Anna Jaglarz

Buildings 2021, 11(8), 358; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11080358 - 17 Aug 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3354

Abstract

As a result of the experience and scientific research of the authors on the deep ecology and sustainability process, academic courses were created that are run at two stages of educating architecture students. The authors aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness and quality of the courses as well as the rationality of the assumptions and educational methods adopted for their implementation. One of them was the survey method, as a didactic and scientific experiment and didactic tool. The innovative educational methodology presented in the work may be implemented by other educators at architectural universities in order to improve the quality of teaching design in the spirit of pro-ecological and sustainable development. The result is a long-term action which constitutes a tool to combat the ecological crisis. It consists of bottom-up activities, both in the open landscape (ecovillages) and in the urban context (housing complexes with elements of urban farms and environmental education parks). This is connected with the application of the educational system from the pre-school level in the place of residence up to in-depth academic education. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

21 pages, 5581 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Function and Potential of Innovative Reinforced Concrete Prefabrication Technologies in Achieving Residential Construction Goals in Germany and Poland

by Paweł Kirschke and Dagmara Sietko

Buildings 2021, 11(11), 533; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11110533 - 11 Nov 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5677

Abstract

This paper presents the role and potential of housing built using innovative reinforced concrete prefabrication technologies. The subject was presented by investigating the share of such buildings in the achievement of housing goals in Germany and Poland, where they currently constitute one of the most dynamically developing housing sector branches. The phenomenon has been presented via comparative analyses of selected designs by manufacturers from the sector and development companies. Prefabrication is essentially based on optimising architectural and structural solutions and leads to lowering financial and material cost; decreasing project completion time. At present, these goals are achieved by systematising the design and construction process and using the potential offered by building information modelling technology (BIM). This enables coordination between design specialisations and reduces the number of errors, increasing manufacturing and assembly efficiency. Innovative prefabricated technologies are solutions that are either new or are considerably improved in terms of technical specifications, components and materials, that use the latest software, are easy to assemble, durable, energy efficient, can be disassembled and reused and have a low carbon footprint and can be considered aesthetically pleasing. Contemporary prefabricated housing architecture is a combination of innovative technological solutions that enables constructing sustainable architecture and emphasizes the aesthetic features of structural solutions and solutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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15 pages, 5416 KiB

Open AccessReview

Modernist Projects of Community-Based Urban Farms in Residential Areas—A Review of Agrarian Cooperatives in the Context of Contemporary Urban Development

by Aleksandra Nowysz

Buildings 2021, 11(8), 369; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11080369 - 20 Aug 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5068

Abstract

This paper concerns the issue of food systems in the context of urban development. It describes relevant residential area ideas that integrate cities with food production, such as agrarian cooperatives. In the first section, modernist projects of residential areas linked with urban farms are reviewed, considering cooperative movement and the Industrial Revolution. This review shows that the aim of these historical projects was self-sufficiency and sustainability, based on local food production and broad areas covered by vegetation. They are considered to be a contemporary residential model. The second part of the paper discusses contemporary projects of farms within estates. The study demonstrates that the production of goods under urban agriculture goes beyond private goods, such as food produced for market or own use. The examples discussed show that urban farming performs key functions in residential architecture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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11 pages, 3852 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Learning Statics by Visualizing Forces on the Example of a Physical Model of a Truss

by Kajetan Sadowski and Szymon Jankowski

Buildings 2021, 11(9), 395; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11090395 - 04 Sep 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2691

Abstract

The article presents a new didactic tool helping in teaching the structures of students of the Faculty of Architecture. It is an attempt to solve the problem related to the difficulties in teaching structural systems among students of architecture. In the beginning, examples of Graphic-Statics tools supporting an intuitive understanding of the construction work are presented. Then a physical model of the truss was implemented, which responsively presents the values of internal forces using the colors of the luminous bars. The main part of the article describes the design elements of the truss model and presents how it works. Then, the influence of the model on the education of architecture students was checked by means of a questionnaire study. The results showed the great educational usefulness of the proposed solution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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21 pages, 4339 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Urban Agriculture as Functional Hybrid Unit—Issues of Urban Resilience

by Magdalena Grochulska-Salak, Aleksandra Nowysz and Anna Tofiluk

Buildings 2021, 11(10), 462; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11100462 - 09 Oct 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4355

Abstract

The aim of the research is to present a review of urban agriculture as synergic green and blue infrastructure solutions and to evaluate modern hybrid units with biomass and food production, and water retention in urbanized areas. The synergy between technologies of biomass production and water reuse provides the basis for the idea of self-sufficient urban units and sustainable agriculture. The research work defines the criteria and typology for urban resilience solutions. The analyses concern the correlation between production, management, retention, and reuse of water as a part of solutions for the model of a sustainable urban agriculture system in a compact city. The obtained results describe typology for cultivation and production in the modern city. Creating a resilient city connected with requirements posed by civilization concern changes in functional and spatial structure of the compact city. The discussion is supplemented with conclusions to the issue of synergy in urban planning, architecture, and engineering solutions. The article describes implementation technologies for city resilience in the context of agricultural production, energy and water management for the local community, and the ecosystem services in the city. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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27 pages, 6424 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Art in Post-Industrial Facilities—Strategies of Adaptive Reuse for Art Exhibition Function in Poland

by Michał Pieczka and Bogusław Wowrzeczka

Buildings 2021, 11(10), 487; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11100487 - 18 Oct 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 6169

Abstract

Along with the socio-economic changes in Poland after 1989 and the beginning of the industrial restructuring process, many industrial architecture objects lost their original purpose. At present, sustainable processes of reusing the building stock left over from the industrial period are proceeding. One of the possibilities includes adaptation to culture-related goals, where such activities have an established tradition in the world. The aim of the article is to analyze the adaptive reuse of post-industrial facilities in Poland for the functions of art exhibitions, such as museums, galleries, and art centers. The study was based on descriptive qualitative and quantitative research, in the following stages: identification and analysis of adapted objects; developing a typology of adaptive reuse strategies; questionnaire research aimed at institutions located in adapted facilities. The analyses show that the leading group of adapted facilities constitute former power plants, which ensure favorable exhibition conditions. The main result is the recognition of five types of adaptive reuse strategies implemented in Poland, resulting from a diversified approach to the historic substance, such as: the method of extension of an object; placing an exhibition; the character of the exhibition space, along with the type of intervention in the interior of a historic building. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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20 pages, 24564 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Evaluation of Useful Daylight Illuminance in an Office Room with a Light Shelf and Translucent Ceiling at 51° N

by Marcin Brzezicki

Buildings 2021, 11(11), 494; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11110494 - 20 Oct 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2996

Abstract

The present study investigates the issue of computer-aided daylight evaluation in an office room with a light shelf and dropped translucent ceiling. In this type of room, daylight is admitted from two sources: (i) a standard window in the wall and (ii) via a light shelf and clerestory window, which illuminate the plenum located above the working space. The light from the plenum is transmitted through the translucent ceiling into the office room. The present study is based on data obtained through a computer-aided daylight simulation by DeLuminæ (DL-Light, ver. 11.0.9, and DL-Instant, ver. 6.1.4) software using the Radiance engine and real weather data for Wroclaw, Poland, at 51st lat. N. An office room of 12 × 6 m with different shading and daylight distribution scenarios was simulated (Variants 1–5). Next, the useful daylight illuminance (UDI (%)) for the range of 300–3000 lx and daylight glare probability (DGP) were calculated. To further optimize the daylighting scenarios, an adaptive shading system was simulated, which was activated when the illuminance value dropped below 300 lx. In the final variant, Variant 6, mean UDI_300–3000 values were recorded to be above 80% for 95% of the area of the work plane. This allows the conclusion that a light shelf and translucent ceiling guide daylight deep into the room, improving uniformity and reducing glare when the standard window is covered by an adaptive shading system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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18 pages, 3249 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Commercial Buildings in Town. The Influence of Discount Shops on the Trade Structure of a Small Town

by Agnieszka Szumilas and Pawel Pach

Buildings 2021, 11(12), 585; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11120585 - 26 Nov 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2301

Abstract

Changes taking place in the spatial structure of trade in cities have been very dynamic in recent decades. The goal of the research was to determine the dynamics and direction of changes in shaping the traditional commercial structure of small towns, in the context of discount shops location. The subject matter of the research constituted more than ten towns in southern Poland. Traditional shops located there were analysed in terms of their location, the profile and length of their activity. Studies on global trade development processes are available, as well as detailed research results on individual trade assumptions. On the other hand, there is a research gap regarding studies involving the location of commercial buildings, especially in small towns. The research results are a valuable source of information for representatives of various scientific disciplines as well as city authorities. The presented research provides knowledge and constitutes the basis for further research for representatives of various research fields. The areas with the most intensive commercial activity in the last 30 years were correlated with the number of inhabitants. For a selected group of towns, their binding urban planning documentation was verified with respect to specifications facilitating or excluding the establishment of discount shops. The conclusions reached on the basis of the research do not confirm a popular view that discount shops have a negative effect on urban space. The performed analyses indicate that there is no simple relation between a discount shop location and the decreasing number of traditional shops in the investigated cities. The presented research results gain an additional advantage—they form an archive of the development of commerce structure in towns in the period starting with the fall of the centrally planned economy and finishing with the COVID–19 pandemic. The presented material forms a basis for further urban studies which will use the experience gained at this stage Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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18 pages, 4025 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Challenges of Spatial Planning in Poland in the Context of Global Climate Change—Selected Issues

by Anna Katarzyna Andrzejewska

Buildings 2021, 11(12), 596; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11120596 - 29 Nov 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2006

Abstract

Contemporary spatial planning struggles with many difficulties resulting from, inter alia, ongoing climate change. Ongoing environmental transformations pose many challenges for spatial policy across the entire globe. The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of climate change on urban spaces in Poland and to answer the question of whether planning practice promotes adaptation to climate change and, if so, to what extent. This paper uses a descriptive and comparative research methodology to interpret planning provisions used in selected local spatial development plans in terms of the arrangements that aim to prevent the negative consequences of climate change. The subject of the analysis is the content of general and detailed plans defined in the texts of the examined resolutions of applicable local plans in the Lower Silesia and Greater Poland voivodeships. This study assessed the validity of applying specific planning provisions. This interpretation was determined on the basis of a review of the current provisions in the Polish law, literature on the subject, as well as the author’s own professional experience in the field of spatial planning. The quantitative and qualitative research results are summarized in a table and also examined and described in detail. Examples of planning records that were used in the analysis of local plans are cited and compared. Finally, the adaptation challenges posed to spatial planning in Poland at the local level (communal) based on the obtained quantitative data on the issues were studied. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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29 pages, 11497 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Inside a Microapartment: Design Solutions to Support Future Sustainable Lifestyles

by Barbara Ewa Gronostajska and Anna Szczegielniak

Buildings 2021, 11(12), 654; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11120654 - 16 Dec 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3134

Abstract

The purpose of this study wass to assess the interior design solutions of residential microflats built in large European cities in countries from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A sample consisting of thirty representative microflats with a floor area below 35 m² was selected for the study. The flats were intended for either permanent or temporary occupancy and were built over the past fifteen years. The research field covered several large European cities, where demand for such units is high. Comparative analyses of different microflat interior design models were performed. The objective of the study was to determine which contemporary microflat interior design solutions (such as space layout, furniture layout, and design, color, and material design) are optimal and the most commonly used. Sets of design solutions applied in microflats were collected and documented. The study used a range of research methods, including a review of the literature, websites, field research, and comparative analysis. The set of presented interior design solutions and the conclusions drawn from the analyses can be useful to architects and interior designers who design microflats and residential units with greater floor areas, or flats where effective use of floor area is crucial (e.g., student housing). It is also worth mentioning that the existing literature on microflats focuses primarily on the United States and Australia and not Europe, and discusses the economics and ecology of inhabiting microflats. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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3 pages, 162 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Architecture, City, People, and Structure

by Barbara Ewa Gronostajska, Romuald Tarczewski and Joanna Jablonska

Buildings 2022, 12(3), 277; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12030277 - 01 Mar 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1649

Abstract

Architecture and structure are the basis for working, living, and resting for almost every human being [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture, City, People, and Structure)

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