Haptic learning of the masters. Training by experience in the beginnings of the modern architecture movement

[EN] Great Master of Modern Architecture such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier received not a university education in architecture but practical training through professional practice. In their teaching they always valued the experience they had enjoyed of direct and active contact with the material reality of the environment.A review of their formative experiences, and the way in which they integrated these into their subsequent educational proposals, offers us data for a reflection on pedagogical methodologies in schools of architecture. This is the aim of this article.[ES] Grandes maestros de la arquitectura moderna, como Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe o Le Corbusier, no recibieron una formación arquitectónica universitaria, sino una capacitación práctica mediante el ejercicio profesional. En sus enseñanzas siempre valoraron la experiencia de contacto directo y activo con la realidad material del entorno, de la que ellos habían disfrutado.La revisión de sus experiencias formativas, y su integración en las propuestas educativas que posteriormente defendieron, nos ofrece datos para una reflexión sobre las metodologías pedagógicas en las escuelas de arquitectura. Este es el objeto de este artículo.Salazar Ruiz, M.; Salazar Lozano, MDP. (2022). Desarrollo háptico de la visión gráfica. Educación por experiencia en los comienzos del movimiento moderno de arquitectura. EGA Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica. 27(44):164-173. https://doi.org/10.4995/ega.2022.15309OJS164173274

La arquitecta pionera estadounidense Lois Langhorst. Exposición de acuarela abstracta en la Galería Biosca de Madrid (1955)

In June 1955, several reviews were published in Madrid in magazines and newspapers about an exhibition of watercolors at the Biosca galleries. The author has an unknown name: Lois Langhorst; and the watercolor presented a marked and innovative abstract character. Among the names of the artists who exhibited in this gallery they hardly appear foreigners. The story behind this exhibition takes us to the construction of the American bases in Spain and from there to the trajectory of one of the pioneering American woman architects in the profession. This article aims to clarify the unknowns that this exhibition presents, delving into the complexity of being a female architect at the time. It seeks to expose Lois Langhorst's stay in Spain and the contacts that she and her husband, Frederick Langhorst, had with Spanish society in mid-century Madrid.En junio de 1955 se publican en Madrid varias críticas en revistas y periódicos sobre una exposición de acuarelas en la galería Biosca. La autora tiene un nombre desconocido: Lois Langhorst; y las acuarelas muestran un marcado e innovador carácter abstracto. Entre los nombres de los artistas que exponían en esta galería apenas aparecen extranjeros. La historia detrás de esta exposición nos lleva a la construcción de las bases estadounidenses en España y de ahí a la trayectoria de una de las arquitectas americanas pioneras en la profesión. Este artículo pretende esclarecer las incógnitas que presenta esta exposición, adentrándonos en la complejidad que tuvo en ese momento el ser arquitecta. Busca sacar a la luz la estancia de Lois Langhorst en España y los contactos que tuvieron tanto ella como su marido, Frederick Langhorst, con la sociedad española del Madrid de mediados de siglo

Desde la Embajada de Estados Unidos. La arquitectura moderna como herramienta política en España

The Agreements of Madrid were signed in 1953. In them, Spain started to be an ally of the United States of America. In those years, the Spanish public opinion was anti-American because of different reasons. The American Information Services used their available tools to show the population a positive view of their country, in order to obtain the need support to the renovation of the Agreements in a close future. The emigration to America of some of the great Architectural masters and the development of the technology and the industry, placed the USA in a leading role in the architectural field. As they were conscious of it, they used architecture as a political tool, showing in Spain an image of the modern architecture and the American cities really attractive. The aim of this article is to study the role of the American Embassy in Madrid and the entities that directly depended on it in the spreading of the American Modern Architecture in Spain. En el año 1953 se firmaron los Pactos de Madrid, por los cuales España se convertía en un aliado de los Estados Unidos. En esos años, la opinión pública española tenía un carácter marcadamente antiamericano. Desde los servicios de información estadounidenses se utilizaron las herramientas de que disponían para mostrar a la población una visión favorable de su país, que contribuyera al apoyo y la renovación de los pactos. El exilio a América de los grandes maestros de la arquitectura europea y el gran desarrollo de la tecnología y la industria daba a los Estados Unidos un papel protagonista en el ámbito de la arquitectura. Conocedores de ello, la utilizaron como instrumento político, mostrando en España una imagen de la arquitectura moderna y de las ciudades estadounidenses que poseía un gran atractivo. En este artículo pretendemos estudiar el papel que tuvo la Embajada de los Estados Unidos en Madrid ,y las entidades que de ella dependían, en la difusión de la arquitectura moderna norteamericana en España

Living in a metal shed. Quonset Huts on Naval Station Rota

[EN] During World War II, and even in the years that followed, thousands of American soldiers lived in prefabricated semi-cylindrical metal huts that could be dismantled and reused: Quonset Huts. Their singular design and their multiple uses made Quonset Huts an American military design icon. The daring construction system made it possible to manufacture them in the United States and take them across the Atlantic, armed with a comprehensive instruction manual. The Seabees, American soldiers posted to Spain to build the Naval Station Rota, set up a provisional camp in 1959 comprising fifty-three Quonset Huts. Assembling them in Spain provided housing for 500 soldiers and they were fitted with all types of facilities for their functions.  This text aims to shed light on this unknown case of prefabricated dwellings in our country, contextualising the history of their design, construction and installation, and analysing the repercussion of this constructive experiment in the early days of prefabricated construction in Spain.[ES] Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, e incluso en años posteriores, miles de soldados estadounidenses habitaron unas naves metálicas semicilíndricas prefabricadas, desmontables y reutilizables; los Quonset Huts. Su singular diseño y su apabullante multiplicidad convirtieron a las Quonset Huts en un icono del diseño militar norteamericano. Su audaz sistema constructivo permitía fabricarlas en Estados Unidos y levantarlas al otro lado del Atlántico gracias a un completo manual de instrucciones. Los Seabees, militares norteamericanos destinados en España para la construcción de la base Aeronaval de Rota, formaron un campamento provisional en 1959 de cincuenta y tres Quonset Huts. Su montaje en España permitió albergar a 500 militares y dotarlos de todo tipo de instalaciones para el desempeño de sus funciones. Este texto pretende arrojar luz sobre este desconocido caso de vivienda prefabricada en nuestro país, contextualizar la historia de su diseño, construcción e instalación, y analizar la repercusión de este experimento constructivo en la, por aquel entonces, incipiente historia de la construcción prefabricada en España.Salazar Lozano, MDP.; Cidoncha Pérez, AJ. (2021). Habitar una bóveda metálica. Quonset Huts en la Base Aeronaval de Rota. VLC arquitectura. Research Journal. 8(2):91-116. https://doi.org/10.4995/vlc.2021.13423OJS9111682Alexiou, Alice Sparberg. The Flatiron: The New York landmark and the incomparable city that arose with it. New York: Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's, 2010.Bureau of Yards and Docks. Cruisebook. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 1. Mississippi: BuDocks, 1959-1960-1961.¾ Cruisebook. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 6. Davisville: BuDocks, 1960.¾ Cruisebook. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7. Mississippi: BuDocks, 1965.Castro Santana, Melissa. "Construcción, Arquitectura y conflicto. Prefabricación y sistemas constructivos surgidos de la tensión bélica." Trabajo Fin de Máster, Universitat Politècnica de València, 2014. https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/49729. Accessed April 30, 2021.Davis, Ian. Arquitectura de emergencia. Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 1980.De la Hoz, Rafael, and José María García de Paredes. "Viviendas ultrabaratas en Cordoba." Revista Nacional de Arquitectura, no. 135 (1953).Decker, Julie, and Chris Chiei. Quonset Hut, Metal Living for a Modern Age. Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-56898-654-8Department of City Planning, City of Los Angeles. Survey LA Citywide Historic Context Statement. The Quonset Hut, 1941-1965. Los Angeles: Office of Historic Resources, 2015."For your information." U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps Bulletin 13 (February 1959).Garner, John S. World War II Temporary Military Buildings: A Brief History of the Architecture and Planning of Cantonments and Training Stations in the United States. Washington: US Army Corps of Engineers, 1993.Great Lakes Steel Corporation. Erection Instruction for the 20' × 48' U. S. Navy Quonset Building. Michigan: Northern Design, 1951."Housing in Rota, Spain." Civil Engineering Corps Bulletin 20, no. 5 (May-June 1965).Naval History & Heritage Command. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 6. Historical Information. September 1964. RG5, Series I, Spain. US Navy Seabee Museum, Port Hueneme."Navy Seabee Unit arrives at Rota, plunges into immediate training schedule, 5 February 1958." RG 5, Series I Spain. United States Navy Seabee Museum, Port Hueneme, California.Moreno Barberá, Fernando. "Proyecto de viviendas unifamiliares." Informes de la Construcción, no. 35 (1951).Noval Melian, Agustín, and Francisco Ortega Andrade. "Calculando el pasado. La bóveda del palacio de Ctesifonte." Revista de Edificación RE, no. 20 (June 1995).Pozo Municio, José Manuel, and Javier Martínez González, eds. La arquitectura norteamericana, motor y espejo de la arquitectura española en el arranque de la modernidad (1940-1965). Pamplona: T6 Ediciones, 2006.Rabasco, Pablo. "El sistema Ctesiphonte: evolución de la estructura catenaria." Informes de la Construcción 63, no. 522 (April-June 2011). https://doi.org/10.3989/ic.10.009Rogers, J. David. Nissen and Quonset Huts. Rolla: Missouri University of Science and Technology. UMR. Accessed March 31, 2020. https://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/umrcourses/ge342/quonset_huts-revised.pdf.Salazar, María del Pilar. "Un impulso transatlántico. Canales de influencia de la arquitectura estadounidense en España. 1945-1969." PhD diss., Universidad de Navarra, 2018. Accessed April 20, 2021, https://dadun.unav.edu/handle/10171/60062.Seabee Museum and Memorial Park. "Quonset Huts." Accessed April 30, 2021. https://www.seabeesmuseum.com/visit/quonset-huts.Thomas, Adam. Soldiers of the Sword, Soldiers of the Ploughshare. Quonset Huts in the Fort Collins Urban Growth Area. Colorado: Historitecture L.L.C., 2003

La capacidad creativa de los objetos geométricos -punto y línea- en la docencia de primero de arquitectura

El punto y la línea son elementos geométricos sencillos con una inmensa capacidad creativa. En el primer curso del Grado de Arquitectura, en el laboratorio de Geometría, se ha relacionado intencionadamente arte y técnica en varios ejercicios iniciales, de tal manera que el alumno pueda interiorizar el paso del conocimiento de los objetos abstractos a la práctica. Los ejercicios de la asignatura en 2020: “Sistemas de coordenadas” y “la música de la geometría” son dos muestras de docencia simultáneamente técnica y creativa. El ejercicio sistemas de coordenadas, consiste básicamente en el aprendizaje de los sistemas de coordinadas en el espacio euclidiano y su aplicación creativa en dibujo, trazo y color. El ejercicio “la música de la geometría” consiste en el aprendizaje de la línea y nociones geométricas propias del tema en paralelo a la introducción de disciplinas tangenciales a la geometría, como la música, además de su aplicación creativa en dibujo, trazo y color. Los resultados son dos ejercicios donde el alumno aumenta su capacidad creativa y su comprensión del objeto geométrico. Se trata de hacer más atractivo el conocimiento abstracto y ponerlo inmediatamente en uso

An architect's beginning. Chronicle of Sáenz de Oíza's trip through the United States and Mexico

[Resumen] Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza fue un pionero en España en su tiempo. Su desarrollo como arquitecto y su docencia quedaron marcados por un viaje que le llevó a recorrer Estados Unidos durante casi un año. En 1948, poco después de haber obtenido el título, ganó la beca Conde de Cartagena, lo que le permitió formarse en un país poco conocido por la mayoría de sus compatriotas. Gracias al hallazgo de las cartas que mensualmente remitía a la Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, se ha podido reconstruir su viaje paso a paso, los lugares visitados, los contactos realizados, sus temas de investigación, las dificultades que se encontró. De esta manera se puede entender la huella que le dejó este viaje, lo cual permite obtener enseñanzas para sacar el máximo rendimiento a los viajes que siguen realizando los profesionales de la arquitectura por el mundo entero.[Abstract] Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza was a pioneer in Spain in his time. His development as an architect and his teachings were marked by a trip that took him to the United States for almost a year. In 1948, shortly after obtaining his degree, he won the Conde de Cartagena scholarship, which allowed him to be trained in a country little known for most of his compatriots at that time. Thanks to the discovery of the letters that he sent monthly to the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts, it has been possible to reconstruct his trip step by step, the places he visited, the contacts he made, his research topics, and the encountered difficulties. In this way, it is possible to understand its mark, which allows us to obtain lessons to get the most out of the trips that architecture professionals continue to make around the world

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Annual Conference on Formative Research on EFL. Practices thar inspire change.

The conference papers of the Annual Conference on Formative Research on EFL. Practices thar inspire change collect pedagogical experiences, research reports, and reflections about social issues, language teaching, teaching training, interculturality under the panorama of the Covid-19 pandemic. Each paper invites the reader to implement changes in their teaching practice through disruptive pedagogies, reflect on the social and emotional consequences of the lockdown, new paths for teacher training and different approaches for teaching interculturality. We expect to inspire new ways to train pre-service teachers and teach languages in this changing times

Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to <90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], >300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years