Bipolarity and Ambivalence in Landscape Architecture

Our discipline of landscape architecture contains bipolarity, not only in terms of landscape and architecture but also because the idea of landscape is both aesthetic and scientific. Furthermore, within landscape architecture there is a gap between design (as implied by architecture) and planning (implying land-use plan and policy orientation) on one hand, and a similar gap between design (associated with artistic activity, concerned with aesthetics as well as science) and research (considered as scientific activity Landscape architects often retain as much ambivalence between design and planning, as they do between design and research

Three types of children’s informational web sites: an inventory of design conventions

"Purpose: Research on Web design conventions has an almost exclusive focus on Web design for adults. There is far less knowledge about Web design for children. For the first time, an overview is presented of the current design conventions for children's informational Web sites. Method: In this study a large corpus of 100 children's international, informational Web sites from four different domains (science, pets, arts, and health) is analyzed. The instrument for analyzing the Web sites included categories on visual design, navigation and information architecture. Results: The design conventions identified in this study show that designers of children's informational Web sites often follow general Web design guidelines. This study also shows that there is still much confusion about how to design Web sites for children. A closer look at the data revealed three categories of informational Web sites especially designed for children, diverging from a classical to a playful design approach. Conclusion: An overview is presented of the current design conventions for children's informational Web sites. The identified design conventions should be further tested and validated as design standards for children's informational Web design. Further, the design of children's informational Web sites is determined by two dimensions of aesthetics; classical and expressive. In this study, expressive aesthetics results in playful visual design or in a total playful interaction design. The effects of playful design on children's affect and cognition will be an important topic in future research on children's digital search behavior.

MIRO: A Versatile Biomimetic Edutainment Robot

Here we present MIRO, a companion robot designed to engage users in science and robotics via edutainment. MIRO is a robot that is biomimetic in aesthetics, morphology, behaviour, and control architecture. In this paper, we review how these design choices affect its suitability for a companionship role. In particular, we consider how MIRO's emulation of familiar mammalian body language as one component of a broader biomimetic expressive system provides effective communication of emotional state and intent. We go on to discuss how these features contribute to MIRO's potential in other domains such as healthcare, education, and research

Adapting models of visual aesthetics for personalized content creation

This paper introduces a search-based approach to personalized content generation with respect to visual aesthetics. The approach is based on a two-step adaptation procedure where (1) the evaluation function that characterizes the content is adjusted to match the visual aesthetics of users and (2) the content itself is optimized based on the personalized evaluation function. To test the efficacy of the approach we design fitness functions based on universal properties of visual perception, inspired by psychological and neurobiological research. Using these visual properties we generate aesthetically pleasing 2D game spaceships via neuroevolutionary constrained optimization and evaluate the impact of the designed visual properties on the generated spaceships. The offline generated spaceships are used as the initial population of an interactive evolution experiment in which players are asked to choose spaceships according to their visual taste: the impact of the various visual properties is adjusted based on player preferences and new content is generated online based on the updated computational model of visual aesthetics of the player. Results are presented which show the potential of the approach in generating content which is based on subjective criteria of visual aesthetics.Thanks to all the participants of the interactive evolution experiement. The research was supported, in part, by the FP7 ICT project SIREN (project no: 258453) and by the Danish Research Agency, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation project AGameComIn; project number: 274- 09-0083.peer-reviewe

A Study of Biomimetic Architectural traits in a Pre-Medical School Complex in Nigeria: a Case-study of Faculty of Medicine, Kaduna State University (KASU) Complex, Kaduna

Biomimicry is an applied science that derives inspiration for solutions to human problems through the study of natural designs, systems and processes. Nature  can teach  us about systems, materials, processes, structures and aesthetics (just to name a few). By delving more deeply into how nature solves problems that are experienced today, timely solutions could be extracted and new directions for our built environments could be explored. This research examines Biomimetic design principles  in an attempt to identify the traits in the design of the faculty of medicine of Kaduna State University (KASU). Case study methodology was adopted for the research through a descriptive and qualitative analysis.  The findings suggested that, knowingly or unknowingly certain biomimetic attributes  had been  adopted in some aspects of the building design to achieve sustainability in the building. The  paper  recommends that a holistic approach to design and construction should always be adopted and biomimicy principles should always be considered in the design and planning of academic  facilities because it has  been shown to support the sustainable agenda. Keywords: Biomimicry; Faculty of Medicine; Nature; Sustainability; Kadun

KINE[SIS]TEM’17 From Nature to Architectural Matter International Conference

With nature as a starting point, KINESISTEM’17 was the first International Conference held in Portugal aiming to share and debate research and design work related to the integration of natural geometries, mechanics and systems fundamentals applied to the scale, function and aesthetics of architecture. Four prominent guest keynote speakers set the pace of the conference: Manuel Kretzer, Alex Haw, Bob Sheil and Alberto Estévez. Gathering academics, students and designers, a significant set of research and practice works was presented and the interplay between diverse scientific fields was also a strong feature at the conference, with attendants coming from areas such as architecture, design, electronics, mechanics, computer science, biology and sociology. This report summarizes the KINE[SIS]TEM’17–From Nature to Architectural Matter International Conference hosted by ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa in June 19th–20th, 2017.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Pengembangan Multimedia Interaktif Untuk Meningkatkan Keterampilan Proses Sains Siswa Pada Materi Struktur Dan Fungsi Jaringan Tumbuhan Kelas XI IPA SMA Xaverius I Jambi

Research and development of interactive multimedia development model is adapted from Lee & Owens;the steps were analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The results of learningmaterials proportion analysis based curriculum: tissues: organs: totipotensi was 40%: 40%: 20%. Theresults of need analysis of science process skills indicated that students are lack of ability in terms ofgrouping and concluding skill. The analysis also reveals that students need multimedia, which isinteresting and aesthetics. In the design phase, developers create a storyboard based on the results of theanalysis. In development stage, we input all information in storyboard to the media. According to mediaexperts, the product is scored well and very well. Trials phase is conducted in a small groups and largegroups. The results of tests shows that the skills of students increased from 69.34 to 89.30, and knowledgeof students also increased from 75.7 to 91.9. The effectiveness of interactive multimedia structure andfunction of plant tissue seen by the changes in knowledge, performance, and the positive response ofstudents using interactive multimedia and facilitate students doing science process skills

Shifting Core and Slipping Foundation: An Uncertain Future of Landscape Architecture in European Universities

Faced with the dual and often conflicting necessity to be scientific and design practices the discipline of landscape architecture today is challenged to re-examine its core and intellectual foundation. There is a growing trend toward design as reflective practice. The discipline is maturing and needs autonomous theories and methods. Global and social externalities favor attention to landscape and landscape-based design. Landscape is not only an integrative and evolving concept and practice but also a trans-disciplinary cultural concern. Under such circumstances the core of landscape architecture is shifting and its intellectual foundation is questione

An Interview with Gernot Böhme

Gernot Böhme (1937- ) is a well-known contemporary German philosopher whose research interests cover classical philosophy, philosophy of science, theory of time, natural philosophy, philosophy of technical civilization, philosophical anthropology, ethics and aesthetics. From 1977 to 2002 he was Professor of Philosophy at Technical University of Darmstadt. Since 2005 he has been director of the Institute for Practical Philosophy (IPPH) in Darmstadt. Beginning in the late 1980s, Böhme developed the theory “ecological aesthetics of nature” (Ökologische Naturästhetik), which has already had a wide influence on current research in German-speaking countries. His major works in this area are (a) Für eine ökologische Naturästhetik (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1989); (b) Atmosphäre: Essays zur neuen Ästhetik (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1995); (c) Die Natur vor uns. Naturphilosophie in pragmatischer Hinsicht (Kusterdingen: SFG Servicecenter, 2002); (d) Leibsein als Aufgabe. Leibphilosophie in pragmatischer Hinsicht (Kusterdingen: SFG Servicecenter, 2003).\ud \ud As a response to the current environmental debate, Böhme's ecological aesthetics of nature is based on a general theory of perception (Allgemeine Wahrnehmungslehre). He emphasizes the concrete human bodily experience in a special environment and gives priority to the original coexistent relationship between human and nature. With this theory, Böhme attempts to underline the idea that humans are a part of nature. He argues that we should abandon modern practices that tend to control and exploit the resources of nature and instead should actively promote the integration of human and ecological elements.\ud \ud On January 28th 2014, Professor Böhme gave a presentation at the School of Arts and Design in Kassel (Kunsthochschule Kassel). On this occasion Dr. Zhuofei Wang interviewed him about the central ideas in his ecological aesthetics of nature. (Editorial note: Since little of Böhme's work is available in English, Contemporary Aesthetics encouraged Dr. Wang's proposal to interview Professor Böhme in order to provide scholars outside German-speaking countries an overview of Böhme's ideas.