Search results

With around 40% of global waste attributed to the built environment sector, architects play a significant role in how resources are consumed, produced and wasted. UK architectural educators have made good progress to embed climate emergency issues in design curricula but the challenges of resource use and waste, and the opportunities afforded by circular economy design principles are less well-considered. The purpose of this paper is to provide new insights on how to introduce circular design principles to early-stage architectural design students within university curricula.

The study described took an experimental approach to designing design project briefs across several interlinked studio design projects for 1st-year Architecture students. Structured as a case study, each section describes the project, learning objectives, teaching methods and project reflections informed by a qualitative assessment of student development, outputs and feedback gathered through a questionnaire and focus group.

Introducing circular design early is highly beneficial to the development of knowledge on sustainability issues, critical design thinking and creative solution generation. Examples of beneficial teaching approaches include building systems thinking, facilitating collaboration, supporting learning-through-making, using simple analogies and referencing best-practice examples.

This research builds on limited existing circular design literature for built environment fields and through practical insights fills a significant knowledge gap on ways to introduce a complex and dynamic topic such as the circular economy to early-stage architectural design students as they develop fundamental discipline-specific knowledge, skills and competences.

The evolution of digital construction within Industrial Revolution 5.0 emphasises the harmonious integration of humans and technology, value-driven technology implementation, adaptive leadership and user-centric design solutions. This shift necessitates architects to enhance their soft skills to navigate the transition effectively. Failure to demonstrate these skills may confine architects to passive roles as technology consumers rather than innovative leaders. While existing research predominantly focuses on the technical aspects of digital construction, this study investigates how architects effectively manifest their soft skills within such dynamic contexts, addressing a critical gap in the current literature.

Employing an interpretive phenomenological approach, the research engaged 14 individual architects practicing in architectural consultancy practices (ACPs) in Malaysia through semi-structured interviews and written exercises to unveil their experiences.

Thematic analysis revealed six primary themes: “analytical and critical thinking,” “digital communication,” “diversity in leadership styles,” “emotional intelligence,” “ethics and professionalism,” and “curiosity and agility.”

Furthermore, the developed thematic map serves as a foundational resource for human resource practices aiming to design upskilling and reskilling programs that focus on nurturing soft skills. Emphasising soft skills, these programs are designed to thrive in the digital construction era and beyond.

These shared experiences significantly contribute to the theoretical understanding of soft skills within the digital construction context, providing novel insights into their practical application when addressing real-world implications.

This study aims to develop a production-oriented approach for optimal mass-customisation of floor panel layouts in cross-laminated timber (CLT) buildings. The study enables meeting building clients’ unique floor plan requirements at an optimal cost and simultaneously enhances manufacturers’ profit by minimising material and manufacturing process waste.

The present research uses a hybrid approach consisting of field data collection, mathematical modelling, development of a Genetic Algorithm (GA) and scenario analysis. Field data includes engineered timber production information, design data and building code requirements. The study adopts the Flexible Demand Assignment (FDA) technique to formulate a mathematical model for optimising the design of mass timber buildings and employs GA to identify optimal production solutions. Scenario analysis is performed to validate model outputs.

The proposed model successfully determines the load-bearing wall placement and building spans and specifications of floor panels that result in optimal production efficiency and the desired architectural layout. The results indicate that buildings made of a single category of thickness of panels but customised in various lengths to suit building layout are the most profitable scenario for CLT manufacturers and are a cost-effective option for clients.

The originality of the present study lies in its mathematical and model-driven approach towards implementing mass customisation in multi-storey buildings. The proposed model has been developed and validated based on a comprehensive set of real-world data and constraints.

This paper focuses on a project to work on the digital library of Arab children's culture for sustainable development (DLACSD).

This project claims to link the past, present, and future by creating a platform that can grow to include not only works by adults but by children who inspire adults with their imagination and the joys they bring to the world.

This project addresses in phases the different aspects of the problem of the lack of material for Egyptian/Arab children at different stages in Arabic on the internet (with copyright law in mind). It is time to fill this gap by having a rich repository of stories, plays, games and songs for children in Arabic in a digital library to enrich the life of the child and to inform the world that much that is worthwhile is available in Arabic for parents, teachers, and children to enjoy.

Through reading samples of the works by Abdel-Tawab Youssef (1928–2015) by using the Dublin Core Elements, it will be informative to see how his writings address the United Nations Goals of Sustainable Development way before these Goals were discussed.

Writers for children, librarians, teachers, psychologists, literary critics, illustrators, and parents need a platform that makes material available to promote children’s culture in the Arab world and to introduce the world to what is of value for children in Arabic.

Currently, communication brings the world together and although the social media and the new technology have introduced problems that are serious, to say the least, collaborators on all levels must play an active role in redressing the social wrongs, especially those affecting children.

This ongoing project by members of a team who believe in interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity has taken the first step to create and develop (DLACSD).

Due to the complexity and diversity of megaprojects, the architectural programming process often involves multiple stakeholders, making decision-making difficult and susceptible to subjective factors. This study aims to propose an architectural programming methodology system (APMS) for megaprojects based on group decision-making model to enhance the accuracy and transparency of decision-making, and to facilitate participation and integration among stakeholders. This method allows multiple interest groups to participate in decision-making, gathers various perspectives and opinions, thereby improving the quality and efficiency of architectural programming and promoting the smooth implementation of projects.

This study first clarifies the decision-making subjects, decision objects, and decision methods of APMS based on group decision-making theory and value-based architectural programming methods. Furthermore, the entropy weight method and fuzzy TOPSIS method are employed as calculation methods to comprehensively evaluate decision alternatives and derive optimal decision conclusions. The workflow of APMS consists of four stages: preparation, information, decision, and evaluation, ensuring the scientific and systematic of the decision-making process.

This study conducted field research and empirical analysis on a practical megaproject of a comprehensive transport hub to verify the effectiveness of APMS. The results show that, in terms of both short-distance and long-distance transportation modes, the decision-making results of APMS are largely consistent with the preliminary programming outcomes of the project. However, regarding transfer modes, the APMS decision-making results revealed certain discrepancies between the project's current status and the preliminary programming.

APMS addresses the shortcomings in decision accuracy and stakeholder participation and integration in the current field of architectural programming. It not only enhances stakeholder participation and interaction but also considers various opinions and interests comprehensively. Additionally, APMS has significant potential in optimizing project performance, accelerating project processes, and reducing resource waste.

This study aims to conduct environmental comfort analyses of vernacular architecture to establish design principles for a more sustainable design domain. In the scope of this research, 47 individual Harran earthen houses, comprising 32 different types and six typologies are examined.

Environmental comfort is selected as an umbrella term for the analysis of thermal comfort, visual comfort, and natural ventilation performance criteria. The performance simulations are conducted utilizing ClimateStudio and SolidWorks software. These simulations yield values for thermal comfort, glare, daylight, solar radiation, airflow, and pressure, which are used to compare different Harran earthen house typologies.

The study’s results indicate that various environmental comfort standards are met by Harran earthen houses through passive systems, without the need for technology or mechanical equipment. In terms of thermal comfort, visual comfort, and natural ventilation performance criteria, a typology that has advantages in one criterion may have disadvantages in the others. Factors such as orientation, material selection, opening arrangement, and architectural form are found to have an impact on environmental comfort.

This study differs from previous Harran earthen house and environmental comfort studies by focusing on multiple performance criteria and conducting a typology-based comparison based on performance analysis. The results of the study are expected to provide valuable insights into the environmental comfort studies of Harran earthen houses, emphasizing their relevance and applicability in contemporary architectural and urban design.

Design plays an important role in the hospitality and retail industry. Hotels interior and exterior designs are an important part of hotel operations, and customers are paying attention to them more than ever. The industry is presenting its brand culture through the modern or unique design of its establishments. This chapter is exploring design and its effects on customer satisfaction and the choice of hotel. The chapter attempts to analyse customer psychology and the impact of external architectural style and internal decoration on customer satisfaction and decision-making, followed by investigating the impact of interior design on guest satisfaction. To achieve this, the chapter aimed to answer the following question: how do external and internal design of the hotel influence customer decision-making?

This paper aims to strengthen the connection between therapeutic built environments and tourism research and practice. While there is evidence in the importance of the Built Environment (BE) of cities, workspaces and health-care facilities to health, the BE of facilities for tourism in relation to health remains relatively unexplored.

The paper conducts an exploratory search on architecture and tourism BE and narrowed it down to a scoping review on wellness tourism and architectural health impacts from 2010 to 2024. This would highlight lessons learned from the field of medical architecture, i.e. a cross-disciplinary field combining BE research, public health and health-care services research, to explore potential synergies of cross-pollination with the field of hospitality and medical architecture.

Principles and theories of medical architecture can be incorporated into the BE of wellness hospitality, tourism for ageing and pandemic preparedness.

The paper sets the basis of a novel cross-disciplinary collaboration between therapeutic architecture and hospitality for increasing the societal impact of the latter. This is particularly important in a post-Covid and an ageing society.

本文旨在加强治疗性建筑环境与旅游研究和实践之间的联系。虽然有证据表明城市、工作场所和医疗设施的建筑环境(BE)对健康很重要, 但与健康相关的旅游设施的建筑环境仍相对未被探索。

作者对建筑和旅游建筑环境进行了探索性搜索, 并将其缩小到2010年至2024年期间的健康旅游和建筑健康影响的范围审查。这将突出医疗建筑领域的经验教训, 即结合建筑环境研究、公共卫生和医疗服务研究的跨学科领域, 以探索与酒店业和医疗建筑领域交叉授粉的潜在协同效应。

医疗建筑的原则和理论可以纳入健康酒店业、老龄化旅游和大流行病准备的建筑环境中。

我们为治疗性建筑和酒店业之间的新型跨学科合作奠定了基础, 以增加后者的社会影响。这在后疫情时代和老龄化社会中尤为重要。

Este documento pretende reforzar la conexión entre los entornos construidos terapéuticos y la investigación y la práctica del turismo. Aunque existen pruebas de la importancia del entorno construido (EC) de las ciudades, los espacios de trabajo y las instalaciones sanitarias para la salud, el EC de las instalaciones para el turismo en relación con la salud sigue estando relativamente inexplorado.

Realizamos una búsqueda exploratoria sobre arquitectura y el EC turístico y la acotamos a una revisión de alcance sobre el turismo de bienestar y los impactos arquitectónicos en la salud desde 2010 hasta 2024. Esto pondría de relieve las lecciones aprendidas en el campo de la arquitectura médica, es decir, un campo interdisciplinar que combina la investigación de la EC, la salud pública y la investigación de los servicios sanitarios, para explorar posibles sinergias de polinización cruzada con el campo de la hostelería y la arquitectura médica.

Los principios y teorías de la arquitectura médica pueden incorporarse a la EC de la hosteleria para el bienestar, el turismo para el envejecimiento y la preparación ante pandemias.

Sentamos las bases de una novedosa colaboración interdisciplinar entre la arquitectura terapéutica y la hostelería para aumentar el impacto social de esta última. Esto es especialmente importante después de la crisis y en una sociedad que envejece.

This paper comprehensively investigates the lack of youth involvement in the intricate tapestry of urban policymaking in the Jordanian context. It attempts to present and illustrate the obstacles, challenges, hindrances and complexities facing engaging youth in urban planning in Jordan. Participants aged 18–24 were the primary focus of the investigation, as Jordan's population is predominantly youthful, with approximately 70% of the population under the age of 30.

The research methodology adopted in this study is a mixed-methods approach, which integrates both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analytical techniques to provide a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the research problem.

Youth involvement in Jordan's urban policymaking is limited and inconsistent. Most notably, the prevalence of adultism emerges as the predominant and most substantive impediment, exerting a considerable influence on constraining the agency of young Jordanians in shaping urban policy.

Detailed examples can be developed to offer discerning elucidations relevant to each frame of reference.

A total of 12 discernible barriers emerged from a systematic deductive thematic analysis of primary data.

This comprehensive inquiry highlights the pervasive gaps in support for youth participation in urban policymaking within the administrative framework and across Jordanian society. Subsequent quantitative analysis was employed to strengthen the external validity of the research findings, thereby enhancing the generalizability of the qualitative insights. By employing Jordan as a case study, this paper significantly contributes to the expanding corpus of scholarly work on planning processes and practices within the Global South and the Arab world.

This chapter introduces what a digital ID is, why it is important, how it works, the design choices, as well as how central banks can collaborate with other stakeholders in promoting digital ID infrastructures for use in digital financial services.