The Future Is Now? Parametric Design and Technology in Design Process

I did not want to be an architect, I wanted to be a painter. I’ve never seen myself as an architect in the strict sense of the word. The thought process beyond my work is more similar to that of a visual artist. For example, I’ve always said that when architecture is successful, it turns into sculpture

New Milan Trade Fair

Free standing fluid like glass canopy runs entire site. It dramatically flows down to the ground level in a parabolic vortex fashion. Rhomboidal glazing panes were utilized on the flat portions and triangular panes were used to make the curveshttps://openscholarship.wustl.edu/bcs/1167/thumbnail.jp

Prosopopea, allegoria e forze tematiche nei romanzi di Chrétien de Troyes

Based on a definition of allegory which combines personification (subject) and metaphor (action), the paper discusses some key-episodes of Chrétien de Troyes’ Chevalier de la Charrette and Chevalier au Lion so as to show when the combination is truly functional to the development of an allegorical framework. At the same time, it will be shown that all presented cases denote the emergence, on the surface of the text, of the thematic drives that support the dramatic development of these romances, in order to clarify the crucial relevance of given episodes. Typically, Chrétien makes use of allegory when it comes to summarizing in categorical terms the details of a dilemma, that is when the protagonist is required to take responsibility for a dramatic choice or when he finds himself in an apparently paradoxical situation resulting from choices he previously made. Textual evidence will show that Chrétien makes use of the abstractum agens in order to emphasize congruence between matiere and sen, that is the situations described in respect to the thematic framework that substantiates his romances.Sulla base di una definizione operativa del concetto di Allegoria quale combinazione di prosopopea (soggetto) e metafora (azione), si rifletterà sulle differenze tra alcuni passaggi del Chevalier de la Charrette e del Chevalier au Lion di Chrétien, allo scopo di individuare quali siano i casi che configurano la presenza di vere e proprie personificazioni e in quali casi esse si dimostrino davvero funzionali alla definizione di un quadro effettivamente allegorico. Allo stesso tempo, si mostrerà che tutti i casi presentati denotano l’emergere sulla superficie del testo delle forze tematiche che supportano l’impianto drammatico dei romanzi in questione e spesso mirano a chiarire lo spessore critico di determinati passi nodali della narrazione. Tipicamente, Chrétien sintetizza in termini categoriali gli estremi di un dilemma di fronte al quale il protagonista si trova a dover compiere una scelta drammatica, oppure quelli di una circostanza apparentemente paradossale in cui finisce per trovarsi a causa di scelte precedentemente operate. Sulla base di una serie di evidenze testuali, si concluderà che Chrétien impiega l’abstractum agens al fine di evidenziare la congruenza tra matiere e sen, cioè la congruenza delle situazioni descritte rispetto all’intelaiatura tematica che sostanzia la narrazione romanzesca

Embodied Semantics 150 Years After Broca: Context-Dependent Negation in Novelistic Storytelling

Abstract: The present study capitalizes on recent advances in neurophysiology concerning the involvement of the sensory-motor system in language recognition and understanding during reading and listening so as to explain the various roles played by negation in novelistic descriptions since the medieval origins of the genre. Textual evidence from a famous medieval verse novel, Chrétien de Troyes’ Chevalier de la Charrette, demonstrates that negation does not simply complicate the processing of a given description. Indeed, negative descriptions can be completely understood only if fully integrated in a complex context which entails the conceptual representation of the negated state of affairs.Keywords: Embodied Semantics; Negation; Narrative Description; Ecology of the Novel; Medieval Verse Novel.La semantica incarnata 150 anni dopo Broca: la negazione contesto-dipendente nella narrazione romanzescaRiassunto: Questo studio approfitta delle ultime scoperte nel campo della neurofisiologia circa il coinvolgimento del sistema senso-motorio nel riconoscimento e nella comprensione del linguaggio durante l’ascolto e nel corso della lettura silenziosa per spiegare il senso variabile e articolato della negazione nella narrazione romanzesca fin dalle origini medievali del genere. Evidenze testuali estratte da un famoso romanzo medievale in versi, il Chevalier de la Charrette di Chrétien de Troyes, consentono di illustrare come la negazione non si limiti a complicare il processo di comprensione di una data descrizione. Infatti, il senso delle descrizioni negative può essere compreso nella sua complessità soltanto se completamente integrato in un contesto che implica di necessità la rappresentazione concettuale dei fatti e delle circostanze negate.Parole chiave: Semantica incarnata; Negazione; Descrizione narrativa; Ecologia del racconto; Romanzo medievale in versi

A novel progressive grid generation method for free-form grid structure design and case studies

Due to its high structural efficiency and aesthetics, free-form grid structures have been widely used in various public structures. However, it is neither a convenient nor an obvious task for engineers to create a discrete grid on a free-form surface that manifests the architect's intent. This paper presents an efficient design approach based on Coulomb's law to generate well-shaped and fluent grids for free-form grid structural design. In the method, nodes of the grid structure are considered to be interacting particles in an electric field and are added to the surface in a progressive way. The nodal position is determined by Monte Carlo simulation and the grid is generated by connecting the particles that are already in equilibrium. According to the different ways of adding particles, two variations of the method are introduced in this paper: point-based progressive method (PBPM), and curve-based progressive method (CBPM). Case studies are provided to demonstrate the effective execution of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method can effectively avoid mapping distortion and generate grids with regular shape and fluent lines to meet the aesthetic requirements. Furthermore, the proposed method provides flexible control over the direction and size of the grid, which gives architects a more flexible choice