From text to theatre: An architectural reading of Heinrich Khunrath’s Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (1595, 1609)

The author looks at Heinrich Khunrath’s Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (1595, 1609) and the use of metaphor in the title of this book. A theosophical treatise without parallel, Khunrath’s Amphitheatrum is probably most famous for its copperplate engravings combining word and image in circular form. The text, on the other hand, is notorious for its highly idiosyncratic and largely impenetrable use of language. The title—Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom—seems comparatively straightforward in this respect. Yet, it is this title that raises an important question: Why does Khunrath refer to a work that is published as an “Amphitheatre”? This essay aims to answer this question by examining the spatial and material aspect of the book, or what we might call its architecture, as well as the historical context in which Khunrath published his magnum opus. In so doing, attention is shifted from the purely literary qualities of Khunrath’s writing (which have already been highlighted by others) to the architectural qualities that define the book as an “analogous space.” In addition, the author speculates on the role of drawing as a means to literally draw forth and visualize these qualities that allow the book to be viewed, beyond a mere metaphorical understanding of the term, as an amphitheatre in the medium of print.published or submitted for publicationOpe

Review: Smith, C. (2020), Progressive Studio Pedagogy: Examples from Architecture and Allied Design Fields. London and New York: Routledge.

N/A (this is a book review

Writerly Experimentation in Architecture: The Laboratory (not) as Metaphor

Within the last two decades, the use of the term laboratory or ‘lab’, as it is often abbreviated to, has become widespread in both the profession and in education. ‘Spacelab’, ‘Arch LAB’, ‘Laboratory of Architecture’ – these are but some of the names given to architectural practices today. Also, no self-respecting academic institution today lacks a ‘research laboratory’ or ‘lab’ of some kind, often set up in parallel to the conventional studio, but sometimes also as a substitute for it. In a more recent development, the laboratory has also been adopted as a place for exploring architectural themes through writing, as exemplified by the ‘Writing Labs’ set up at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. This development that has seen the laboratory become the very paradigm of conceptualizations of practice and research in architecture revolves, I argue, around a renewed interest in the notion of experiment and the spaces of experimentation. The question I want to raise in this article concerns the role of the laboratory as a metaphor in constructing spaces for writerly experimentation. For, outside the domain of science, how can a laboratory be understood as anything other than a (mere) metaphor

Thesis-Building: Architecture, Alchemy and the Constructive Moment(s) of a Doctoral Dissertation

This paper looks back at the long and sometimes difficult process of doing a ‘PhD’. It asks how certain ‘moments’ in the building of a doctoral thesis – moments of conception, of discovery, of despair, of truth, of revelation and of jouissance – inform the building of a thesis. By revisiting these moments, the paper traces the genesis of the author’s thesis on Architecture and Alchemy and explores the metaphor of construction encountered in the work of cultural theorist Walter Benjamin.Drawing on some of the historical sources of the thesis, in particular the emblem books of seventeenth-century alchemist Michael Maier (1568-1622), the paper argues that the above-named ‘moments’ in a PhD constitute an ensemble of impassioned investment, which can be known as the PhD-pathos. This paper, then, can be read as no more, or less, than a pathological guide to the PhD, where architecture and alchemy come into play as polar opposites in the process of construction and change that thesis-building is

Markers of mouse macrophage development detected by monoclonal antibodies

In this review, we present and discuss a selected panel of antibody-defined markers expressed during different stages of mouse macrophage d

Environmental influences on energy balance-related behaviors: A dual-process view

BACKGROUND: Studies on the impact of the 'obesogenic' environment have often used non-theoretical approaches. In this journal's debate and in other papers authors have argued the necessity of formulating conceptual models for differentiating the causal role of environmental influences on behavior. DISCUSSION: The present paper aims to contribute to the debate by presenting a dual-process view on the environment – behavior relationship. This view is conceptualized in the EnRG framework (Environmental Research framework for weight Gain prevention). In the framework, behavior is postulated to be the result of a simultaneous influence of conscious and unconscious processes. Environmental influences are hypothesized to influence behavior both indirectly and directly. The indirect causal mechanism reflects the mediating role of behavior-specific cognitions in the influence of the environment on behavior. A direct influence reflects the automatic, unconscious, influence of the environment on behavior. Specific personal and behavioral factors are postulated to moderate the causal path (i.e., inducing either the automatic or the cognitively mediated environment – behavior relation). In addition, the EnRG framework applies an energy balance-approach, stimulating the integrated study of determinants of diet and physical activity. CONCLUSION: The application of a dual-process view may guide research towards causal mechanisms linking specific environmental features with energy balance-related behaviors in distinct populations. The present paper is hoped to contribute to the evolution of a paradigm that may help to disentangle the role of 'obesogenic' environmental factors

Distinct mouse bone marrow macrophage precursors identified by differential expression of ER-MP12 and ER-MP20 antigens

The characterization of early branch points in the differentiation of leukocytes requires identification of precursor cells in the bone marrow. Recently, we produced two monoclonal antibodies, ER-MP12 and ER-MP20, which in two-color flow-cytometric analysis divide the murine bone marrow into six defined subsets. Here we show, using fluorescence-activated cell sorting followed by macrophage colony-stimulating factor-stimulated culture in soft agar, that precursors of the mononuclear phagocyte system reside only within the ER-MP12hi20−, ER-MP12+20+ and ER-MP12−20hi bone marrow subsets. Together, these subsets comprise 15% of nucleated bone marrow cells. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the macrophage precursors present in these subsets represent successive stages in a maturation sequence where the most immature ER-MP12hi20− cells develop via the ER-MP12+20+ stage into ER-MP12−20hi monocytes

Associations between Safety from Crime, Cycling, and Obesity in a Dutch Elderly Population: Results from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to investigate differences in associations between crime rates, cycling, and weight status between people living in low and high socioeconomic status (SES) neighbourhoods. In total, 470 participants in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam were included (age: 63–70 y). Body height and weight were measured using a stadiometer and calibrated weight scale, respectively. Cycling behaviour was assessed in a face-to-face interview, and neighbourhood crime rates were assessed using data from police reports. Men residing in high SES neighbourhoods cycled more than males residing in low SES neighbourhoods. Cycling was negatively related to crime rates among both men and women living in low SES neighbourhoods. Among men living in low SES neighbourhoods, more cycling was associated with lower BMI. Interventions aiming to prevent obesity in older people may consider aiming at increasing bicycle use in lower SES neighbourhoods, but neighbourhood safety issues should be considered