Romantic Visions vs. Rejection of Ideal Reconstruction

This paper is part of an ongoing project devoted to Aleksandar Deroko at the Faculty of Architecture at Belgrade University, that includes preparation of the special issue of SAJ (Serbian Architectural Journal), expected to be published in 2018. I would like to express my gratitude to Branko Mitrovic for initiating my interest in the problems presented in this paper, and the original stimulus to write about Deroko. We should like to express our gratitude to Graeme McConchie for his help with the written English of the article. Almost half a century after Romanticist fervor dwindled, a highly distinguished Serbian architect and architectural historian, Aleksandar Deroko, infused it with new life in his theoretical and design oeuvre. Significantly contributing to the history of 20th century architecture in former Yugoslavia, Deroko merged romanticist deep appreciation of history with the rationality of modern design methodology. Rastko Petrovic, a Serbian poet, diplomat, and art critic was Deroko’s faithful companion during his theoretical wanderings and ventures to the remote parts of the Balkans. The architect and the poet were both children of their own age. They personally knew Guillaume Apollinaire, James Joyce, Picasso, and were close to the Parisian Dadaist circle. On the other side, their approach to the study of the past deeply resonated with a romantic sentiment. Deroko’s particular methodological approach to architectural history and design was based on the deep understanding of tradition and on supposition that it is possible to accumulate knowledge of the elements of good design. This paper employs the example of the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, to explore the relations between Deroko’s romantic visions and ways of using tradition in the construction of modernity. Furthermore, the role Petrovic’s ideas played in development of Deroko’s design methodology will be examined. The writer’s novels and their content will be discussed to explain the union of romantic vision of remote, unapproachable medieval monasteries, with strong rationalism and realism in approach to preservation and protection of historical monuments. The paper will investigate contemporaneity of an argument that Deroko’s methodological approach to architectural history does not recognize innovation as a virtue, and raises the question that each epoch is characterized by a complex set of conflicting and harmonizing tendencies simultaneously.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Defining the methodology of integrated research in the process of digital documentation of architectural heritage: case study Lizori, Italy

The aim of this paper is to define the methodology of integrated research in the process of digital documentation of architectural heritage. The thematic framework of this work was stimulated by participation in a professional workshop in Lizori, Italy, held in June 2018. The paper presents a result based on the integration of traditional and instrumental methods of heritage surveying. This specific method of integrated research uses a variety of tools, in the process of morphological specifications of different parts of a historic building. The specific nature of architectural heritage requires the integration of different methods in order to achieve a high level of accuracy. The Lizori digitisation project, on the one hand, aims to present an almost unknown historical heritage through multimedia valorisation, and on the other, to set up an information tool for restoration, maintenance and valorisation

Non-invasive diagnostic tests for Helicobacter pylori infection

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) infection has been implicated in a number of malignancies and non-malignant conditions including peptic ulcers, non-ulcer dyspepsia, recurrent peptic ulcer bleeding, unexplained iron deficiency anaemia, idiopathic thrombocytopaenia purpura, and colorectal adenomas. The confirmatory diagnosis of H pylori is by endoscopic biopsy, followed by histopathological examination using haemotoxylin and eosin (H & E) stain or special stains such as Giemsa stain and Warthin-Starry stain. Special stains are more accurate than H & E stain. There is significant uncertainty about the diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive tests for diagnosis of H pylori. OBJECTIVES: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of urea breath test, serology, and stool antigen test, used alone or in combination, for diagnosis of H pylori infection in symptomatic and asymptomatic people, so that eradication therapy for H pylori can be started. SEARCH METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, the Science Citation Index and the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Database on 4 March 2016. We screened references in the included studies to identify additional studies. We also conducted citation searches of relevant studies, most recently on 4 December 2016. We did not restrict studies by language or publication status, or whether data were collected prospectively or retrospectively. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included diagnostic accuracy studies that evaluated at least one of the index tests (urea breath test using isotopes such as13C or14C, serology and stool antigen test) against the reference standard (histopathological examination using H & E stain, special stains or immunohistochemical stain) in people suspected of having H pylori infection. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently screened the references to identify relevant studies and independently extracted data. We assessed the methodological quality of studies using the QUADAS-2 tool. We performed meta-analysis by using the hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) model to estimate and compare SROC curves. Where appropriate, we used bivariate or univariate logistic regression models to estimate summary sensitivities and specificities. MAIN RESULTS: We included 101 studies involving 11,003 participants, of which 5839 participants (53.1%) had H pylori infection. The prevalence of H pylori infection in the studies ranged from 15.2% to 94.7%, with a median prevalence of 53.7% (interquartile range 42.0% to 66.5%). Most of the studies (57%) included participants with dyspepsia and 53 studies excluded participants who recently had proton pump inhibitors or antibiotics.There was at least an unclear risk of bias or unclear applicability concern for each study.Of the 101 studies, 15 compared the accuracy of two index tests and two studies compared the accuracy of three index tests. Thirty-four studies (4242 participants) evaluated serology; 29 studies (2988 participants) evaluated stool antigen test; 34 studies (3139 participants) evaluated urea breath test-13C; 21 studies (1810 participants) evaluated urea breath test-14C; and two studies (127 participants) evaluated urea breath test but did not report the isotope used. The thresholds used to define test positivity and the staining techniques used for histopathological examination (reference standard) varied between studies. Due to sparse data for each threshold reported, it was not possible to identify the best threshold for each test.Using data from 99 studies in an indirect test comparison, there was statistical evidence of a difference in diagnostic accuracy between urea breath test-13C, urea breath test-14C, serology and stool antigen test (P = 0.024). The diagnostic odds ratios for urea breath test-13C, urea breath test-14C, serology, and stool antigen test were 153 (95% confidence interval (CI) 73.7 to 316), 105 (95% CI 74.0 to 150), 47.4 (95% CI 25.5 to 88.1) and 45.1 (95% CI 24.2 to 84.1). The sensitivity (95% CI) estimated at a fixed specificity of 0.90 (median from studies across the four tests), was 0.94 (95% CI 0.89 to 0.97) for urea breath test-13C, 0.92 (95% CI 0.89 to 0.94) for urea breath test-14C, 0.84 (95% CI 0.74 to 0.91) for serology, and 0.83 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.90) for stool antigen test. This implies that on average, given a specificity of 0.90 and prevalence of 53.7% (median specificity and prevalence in the studies), out of 1000 people tested for H pylori infection, there will be 46 false positives (people without H pylori infection who will be diagnosed as having H pylori infection). In this hypothetical cohort, urea breath test-13C, urea breath test-14C, serology, and stool antigen test will give 30 (95% CI 15 to 58), 42 (95% CI 30 to 58), 86 (95% CI 50 to 140), and 89 (95% CI 52 to 146) false negatives respectively (people with H pylori infection for whom the diagnosis of H pylori will be missed).Direct comparisons were based on few head-to-head studies. The ratios of diagnostic odds ratios (DORs) were 0.68 (95% CI 0.12 to 3.70; P = 0.56) for urea breath test-13C versus serology (seven studies), and 0.88 (95% CI 0.14 to 5.56; P = 0.84) for urea breath test-13C versus stool antigen test (seven studies). The 95% CIs of these estimates overlap with those of the ratios of DORs from the indirect comparison. Data were limited or unavailable for meta-analysis of other direct comparisons. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: In people without a history of gastrectomy and those who have not recently had antibiotics or proton ,pump inhibitors, urea breath tests had high diagnostic accuracy while serology and stool antigen tests were less accurate for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection.This is based on an indirect test comparison (with potential for bias due to confounding), as evidence from direct comparisons was limited or unavailable. The thresholds used for these tests were highly variable and we were unable to identify specific thresholds that might be useful in clinical practice.We need further comparative studies of high methodological quality to obtain more reliable evidence of relative accuracy between the tests. Such studies should be conducted prospectively in a representative spectrum of participants and clearly reported to ensure low risk of bias. Most importantly, studies should prespecify and clearly report thresholds used, and should avoid inappropriate exclusions

Transforming the School of Architecture’s Asylum journal publication

What & Why is Asylum Transforming Quality Assurance Publication outcome Conclusion

Ephemeral Crossroads: seven lamps, six years, seven lux-pavilions

Building materials in the modern era have assumed significance in architectural theory which they had not possessed in the past. The change was no doubt due to the multiplicity of materials, newly minted due to the innovative industrial production, which imposed and invited new ways of building. John Ruskin (1819-1900) proved to have a great appreciation for the inherent qualities of building matter, its materiality and innovation by recognising the validity of the honest structure: Truth of the materials or rather honesty in the use of materials. However, the modern era has become the manifestation of the temporal, the momentary, the transitory, the ephemeral, the impermanent and as such this phenomenon is aligned closely to the innovation of materials/materiality within building practices. This paper deals with the manifestation of this modern paradigm in a series of lux architectural pavilions/folly over a period of six years: seven projects paralleling Ruskin’s Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849)

Enhancing local identity through fostering research-based education in architecture

This paper emerged from the strong belief in the importance of research-based education for enhancing local identity in modern architectural practice and education of young architects today. It proposes an alternative teaching approach, introduced at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade, in the academic years 2014/15 and 2015/16. The main argument presented in the paper is: In order to strengthen the role of architectural history in education and in the profession, content-based teaching should be replaced with pedagogical experimentations, having an emphasis in converting from teaching to learning

Preservation issues and controversies : challenges of underutilised and abandoned places

Research and Enterprise Office at Unitec Institute of Technology focuses on opportunities, challenges, and problems in a wide variety of subjects. In 2019, a project of heritage digitisation in New Zealand was approved. The project aims to present vulnerable, underutilised, or abandoned historical heritage through a multimedia presentation on the one hand, and to set up an information tool for preservation, restoration, and maintenance, on the other. It aims to have both academic and practical value in advancing knowledge about heritage in New Zealand: to provide a means for establishing New Zealand's current state of knowledge in the practice of archiving heritage buildings; to be useful for the end-user; and to aid in learning about the built environment. This paper will present data collected in the first phase of the project. A literature review and data about New Zealand's current state of knowledge in the practice of archiving heritage buildings will be developed. International state of the knowledge in the field and the practice in Aotearoa New Zealand will be compared. The benefits of the project are expected to be wider than historical recording only and can be used for refurbishment of buildings, facility maintenance, etc

Relevance of Renaissance architectural theories today : together.

This paper will strive to identify and analyse the multiplicity of threaded knots which lurk under the surface of a mythologised Renaissance as characterised by monolithic classicism and untangling this to create a shared understanding or language. The first lens which makes Renaissance theoretical discussions relevant today is that of the establishment of general surveying: Since the Renaissance, architects have been methodically developing the discipline of surveying to understand their present-day paradigm. They sought the “Knowledge” to solve contemporary problems albeit that many of these are derived from personal aesthetic and architectural interests: Palladio intensively surveyed classical Roman temples to learn from them, to understand the Greeks knowledge of the visual representation as recorded by the eye to remediate it such that it is perceived as being correctly proportioned. The many theoretical statements as espoused in their treatises indicate that often as not they did not believe in the idea that an architect or an artist should work with the notion of pursuing an ideal progress in architecture. A sincere belief in the constant trans ¬ formation of the structure, its architectural elements and details, was independent of the previous ideas. People naturally have been learning from each other since time immemorial, in the past and the present together: correcting old mistakes and making new ones for next generations to resolve that which connects them with the Renaissance paradigm. The second lens which makes Renaissance theoretical discussions relevant today is that of the fundamental mechanism of representation of a building via the notion of “drawing”: the discovery of perspective and different visual examinations (orthographic drawings and / or axonometric). This new awareness of a geometrical nature of visual experience, and capability to mechanically reproduce images, is one which during the discourse of the Fifteen and Sixteenth Century resulted from the new awareness of the nature of visual experience. In that sense, Renaissance theoretical debates are very actual and relevant to contemporary architectural issues. Today’s interests of architects turn towards visual awareness in architecture, and, as a result of an influx of the digital revolution, discovering new tools for exploring spatial characteristics of architecture has become the primary preoccupation of the profession: Together

An alternative approach to teaching architectural history: Redrawing the pedagogical boundaries between architectural history and design studio with flexible and blended methods

Through the presentation of a case study this paper advocates for the use of flexible and blended learning techniques to teach architectural history in a way that reinforces the connections between architectural history and problem-solving to inform the students design work in studio. The paper seeks to emphasise the utility of employing digital pedagogies to strengthen architectural history and design studio connections whilst, critically, enhancing student learning. A description of the Critical Studies 1 (CS 1) course, the teaching approaches employed within it, and the impact on student learning is offered within the constraints of this short paper

Quoting Palladio

Palladio's treatise I quattro libri dell’architettura, first published in 1570, was well received and widely successful in its own time and afterwards. Palladio achieved a perfect balance of lucid text and meticulous woodcut illustrations. Having both intellectual and visual appeal, the treatise opened new ppaths for the dissemination of knowledge in architecture. However, an inconsistency can be found between what he wrote and what can be seen in his drawings. Furthermore, inconsistency exists between the text and drawings and Palladio’s buildings “as executed “. This particularly applies to one of the world’s most influential buildings – Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, widely known as La Rotonda. Many generations of visitors have written about the magnificence of the surroundings in which La Rotonda is located; and Palladio himself described the site as “one of the most pleasing and delightful that one could find “. However, his drawings of the Villa do not include any aspect of the location so highly valued and praised in the text. La Rotonda’s shape, symmetries, and axes are absolute and do not appear to derive from any aspect of the location. Also, although designed to be a perfect geometrical form with four virtually identical façades, porticos and broad staircases, La Rotonda on two sides cannot be approached at all. So, one of the most “quoted” buildings of all times in many ways confuses us if we want to learn how to translate architectural design principles into built form. Taking Palladio as its reference point, this paper will focus on methodological questions of quotation and evaluate misquotation as a legitimate tool in architectural history, theory and practice