On Dreaming Realities: Cultural critique, design speculation and full-scale mock-ups

This essay delves into the installation designed by Hans Hollein for the Künstlerhaus facade in Vienna in 1985. It serves as an illustrative case of material speculation in architecture, particularly regarding the incorporation of ‘historical’ elements in contemporary architectural practice. Through a close reading of this installation, realized in the context of the exhibition ‘Traum und Wirklichkeit, Wien 1870-1930’ (Dream and Reality, Vienna 1870-1930), I discuss how such speculation entails the physical replication of carefully chosen ‘historical’ forms and their reassembly in what would be best described as a ‘fragmentary whole.’ However, the reintegration of historical fragments into the present can manifest in diverse ways. I argue that in the installation that reshaped the facade of the Künstlerhaus, Hollein explored two contrasting modes while tracing the possibilities (and pitfalls) of their synthesis

On a Notion of Linear Replicator Equations

We show that replicator equations follow naturally from the exponential affine structure of the simplex known from information geometry. It is then natural to call replicator equations linear if their fitness function is affine. For such linear replicator equations an explicit solution can be found. The approach is also demonstrated for the example of Eigen’s hypercycle, where some new analytic results are obtained using the explicit solution

Monitoring the built environment: Developing a dynamic tool to optimise renewable energy use and energy efficiency at a community scale using GIS

Within the framework of the well-recognised need for a more sustainable future, a number of ambitious targets and energy policies has been set, regarding CO2 emissions and energy savings. As buildings are responsible for the 40% of the global energy consumption, it is crucial to optimise the contribution from renewable energy resources in the built environment, as well as to use the energy in the most efficient way. It is therefore necessary to enable the ability of in-depth monitoring in the built environment, at a larger scale than an individual building. This study investigates the role that monitoring can play with regards to encouraging renewable energy use and optimising energy efficiency in the built environment, by developing a dynamic tool that can be used both at an individual building level and at community level. A bottom-up methodology will be presented that incrementally aggregates buildings into a community level tool using a set of case studies. The number of buildings included within the tool will be gradually increased to collate information about a live monitoring experience of multiple buildings, located on different sites in South Wales. Besides new ways to use monitoring in the context of sustainability, the conclusions of the study cover a variety of aspects related to the monitoring process, including choice of sensors and meters, data management (collection, transmission, storage and processing), availability by other stakeholders, choice of platform to manage the monitoring data, and cost-benefit analysis