Before 1939. Refugee Architects in New Zealand

In 1939, a number of European architects found refuge in New Zealand from the National Socialist regime. Their subsequent practice led to the notion that their presence had a significant impact on New Zealand architectural culture – especially in transmitting ideas associated with modernist architecture. This paper investigates the European work of this heterogeneous group of architects, all of whom came as refugees to New Zealand. In outlining the biographies of these architects prior to their arrival in New Zealand, insights are gained into their diverse experiences, cultural backgrounds and multi-faceted set of skills. This adds to recent scholarship that discusses the ways in which architectural ideas associated with modernism entered New Zealand and analyses the topic from multiple viewpoints in which the transmission of ideas is understood as a multilateral discourse

Spaces for the elevated personal life. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s concept of the dweller: 1926-1930

Within the discourse that sought to develop housing during the inter-war era in Germany, standardisation was regarded as a means with which to create adequate solutions for the working class. Housing needs were subsumed into a set amount of common denominators that led to beliefs that the design of the house would alter and enhance the conduct of the inhabitant. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's declaration, in the Catalogue of the 1927 housing Exhibition in Stuttgart-Weißenhof, that standardisation, whilst suitable as a means, must never be the goal of architecture, enunciates his critical view of such normative solutions and attempts to coerce the dweller towards a prescribed way of living. In consulting the writings of a number of contemporary philosophers and critics, Mies was able to develop an alternative understanding of the dweller. The book Body—Soul—Unity, by the psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn, provided Mies with a way of thinking about the inhabitant not as a human being whose lifestyle had to be remediated, but as one who is confident and in harmony with the world. The concept of man and worldview as outlined in Body—Soul—Unity was one of the fundamental intellectual tools that helped Mies in developing his spatial designs of the late 1920s

Societal trends, mobility behaviour and sustainable transport in Europe and North America

This contribution describes the work of Focus Group three of the European Union network Sustainable Transport in Europe and Links and Liaisons to America (STELLA). It examines especially social and behavioural aspects of sustainable transport from a transatlantic perspective. Significant societal trends (e.g. the ageing of societies) are surveyed and their implications for mobility behaviour are drawn. The sustainability of this behaviour is considered along with constraints and drivers of this behaviour in Europe and North America. The contribution takes up relevant policy issues and concludes with a discussion of a transatlantic research agenda on social and behavioural aspects of sustainable transport

Rehabilitación de los deterioros inducidos por la terapia en pacientes con cáncer de mama

Among various side effects of adjuvant chemotherapy neuropsychological deficits have been described within the last two decades. A literature review shows that especially breast cancer women after adjuvant chemotherapy are suffering from these deficits. Against this background the need for special rehabilitation programms has been discussed to help the patients to cope with this sequelae, but there are only few attempts for special neuropsychological training programms for cancer patient. In the study presented we compared two types of neuropsychological interventions in a rehab setting against a control group with no specific training in a total of 96 female in-patients undergoing inpatient oncological rehabilitation. Most results of a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery improved significantly during the patients’ oncological rehabilitation in all three groups, whereas we could not identify a specific intervention effect neither between the two intervention groups nor between the treatment and control groups. In terms of the follow-up examination we found that clinically relevant neuropsychological deficits were still evident 6 months later in a small subgroup of patientsdéficits neuropsicológicos se han descrito en las últimas dos décadas entre varios de los efectos secundarios de la quimioterapia adyuvante. Una revisión de la literatura muestra especialmente que las mujeres con cáncer de mama después de la quimioterapia adyuvante sufren de este déficit. En este contexto se ha discutido la necesidad de programas de rehabilitación especiales para ayudar a las pacientes a hacer frente a estas secuelas, pero hay sólo unos pocos intentos de programas de entrenamiento neuropsicológico para pacientes con cáncer. En el presente estudio se compararon dos tipos de intervenciones neuropsicológicas en un centro de rehabilitación con un grupo control sin entrenamiento específico, con un total de 96 mujeres hospitalizadas realizando rehabilitación oncológica. La mayoría de los resultados de una batería neuropsicológica compresiva mejoraban significativamente durante la rehabilitación oncológica de las pacientes en los tres grupos, mientras que no se pudo identificar un efecto de la intervención específica ni entre los dos grupos de intervención, ni entre los grupos tratamiento y control. En cuanto a los exámenes de seguimiento se encontró que los déficits neuropsicológicos clínicamente relevantes seguían siendo evidentes seis meses más tarde en un pequeño subgrupo de pacientes

Visible outside view as a facilitation tool to evaluate view quality and shading systems through building openings

Viewing the natural environment from inside homes and workplaces has been recognized by a range of scholars as having an impact on improving health and well-being. Research has shown that a combination of outdoor elements – such as blue sky, sea view and greenery – is highly preferred as these elements are therapeutic for human wellbeing. However, installing shading systems is an important strategy for passive building cooling but it could affect our sense of connection to the outside environment. Most researchers evaluate view quality using qualitative questionnaires or quantitative methods by analyzing the geometry outside using 2D and 3D software which needs the outdoor environment to be fully built in the simulation accurately takes more time and may cause a system crash to run. This paper presents a new facilitation tool to quantify the visible outside view (VOV) by analyzing the outside view image by converting the view content into red, blue, and green (RGB) pixels using image processing technique. VOV measures the occupant's ray tracking percentage to the visible outside view content taking into consideration the blind factor of shading. An indicator start from 0 % to 100 % is given to quantify the outside view content including shading systems which then the overall VOV is related to the visible outside view quality as a factor of well-being potential (WP). The study found that the shading strategy should not be the same at all levels and shading devices in primary design stages considering the view to the natural elements positively affects occupants' wellbeing potential. These findings suggest that the proposed algorithm needs to be implemented with building energy and daylight simulation to produce more holistic systems. This will be the only way to get efficient and sustainable buildings highly connected with the human dimension