Making by Taking: An Investigation of Architectural Appropriation

The project contends that explicit appropriation can be a legitimate method of architectural production. The scope encompasses four canonical works of architecture: Villa Rotonda, Villa Savoye, Fallingwater, and the Farnsworth House. These works are appropriated as the basis of a retrospective analysis and as the foundation for a speculative, generative design strategy. Following the height of postmodernism, the notion of explicit formal appropriation was characterized in a negative light, seen as inauthentic imitation. However, an increasing number of contemporary artists and architects are utilizing explicit appropriation and historical reference as a primary method of production. This mode of thinking can perhaps can be traced to our contemporary network culture, where all material is appropriated, copied, pasted, and rehashed. Through appropriation, fidelity to the original is lost, and the intention for producing the copy becomes embedded in the product itself. Rather than postmodern, this project’s strategy of appropriation identifies with the atemporality of network culture. We are challenged by the notion of origin and, therefore, originality. Elements are freely appropriated from history and seamlessly incorporated into new contexts. Within this network culture, society is also consuming imagery at an ever more rapid pace, bombarded with images that discard history, context, and meaning. We are becoming more numb to form, and as we search for gratification through newness, everything has begun to look the same. The appropriation of form without content has become easier, encouraging an uncritical consumption and production of design. Exposure to high volumes of imagery has overtaken any critical, extended engagement with a single project. Projects are categorized and homogenized, denying a more critical and overarching understanding of architecture. The project manifests through two types of representation. Orthographic drawings fulfill the project’s intention of rigorous analysis and comparison. Through the flattening and abstraction achieved through orthographic projection, the drawings emphasize the seamless formal integration of the works. Logics inherent to the works are discovered once more as the projects are re-diagrammed, juxtaposed, and remade. Secondly, the project goes beyond abstract comparisons through the usage of quasi-realist representation. It utilizes appropriation as a generative method towards the creation of new spatial conditions. Here, the project begins to speculate on how contemporary culture might appropriate these past works. It attempts to exacerbate the dissonance between icon and reality and examine the dissemination of ideas from high-brow to mass culture. The project serves as a critique of the traditional understanding of architectural authorship and the contemporary production and consumption of architecture

Conditionality Measures in the EU: On Human Rights Violations of Migrants in the Western Balkans

The European Union (EU) has taken pride in its efforts to defend human rights, prioritizing them through treaties and emphasizing human rights as a requirement for third countries wishing to become EU members. The Lisbon Treaty’s conditions in Article 49 and principles in Article 6(1) highlight the necessity for the guarantee of democracy, rule of law and human rights. In addition, all EU member states have signed the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights. The European enlargement process integrated former Yugoslav countries Slovenia and Croatia, but there has been much concern that the European Union may be disregarding human rights violations towards migrants in the Balkans for the purpose of integration. Presently, the Balkan states with official EU candidate status are Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). There is a specific focus on Serbia and FYROM as they lead the main path of the Western Balkans route to the EU’s Schengen Area. Many human rights organizations have expressed discontent with these countries’ accession processes due to the belief that they have violated the rights of migrants wishing to enter the European Union. The EU identifies itself as a promoter and defender of human rights but should further consider the use of conditionality to influence candidate countries to improve the treatment of migrants in the future

Towards New Topical Treatments For Bacterial Infection

Soft skin and tissue infections represent the most common bacterial infections, however in some cases these infections fail to heal. The presence of surface-attached communities known as biofilms has been observed on >60% of wounds that fail to heal and adversely impact wound healing. However, many of the existing antibacterial agents used to treat non-healing wounds have limited activity against biofilms. This thesis sought to identify and characterise compounds with antibacterial and antibiofilm activity against significant wound pathogens. Initial experimentation sought to determine whether combining antibacterial agents could improve their antibiofilm activity. Synergism studies identified the combination of chlorhexidine and cetrimide, which displayed improved biofilm eradication against mono-species S. aureus and P. aeruginosa biofilms. Unfortunately, this combination had limited activity against more robust mixed species biofilm. Although this combination did not display improved activity against this mixed species biofilms, the methodology used in this chapter could be used in future to identify and evaluate other combinations with regards to their antibiofilm activity. The void in broad spectrum antibiofilm agents could be filled by repurposed agents. Bronidox (BX) and bronopol (BP) were identified as compounds that are able to eradicate mono- and mixed biofilms at concentrations that are regarded for safe use. Investigation into their antibiofilm mode of action (MOA) revealed that BP and BX are able to kill stationary phase bacteria, it was additionally shown that both agents target biofilm cells directly and that biofilm matrix disruption is a secondary MOA. Batumin displays potent antistaphylococcal activity (MIC= 0.0625 µg/mL) and may prove a useful topical antibacterial agent for skin infections; however its MOA is under debate. Initial studies revealed that the batumin exerts its antistaphylococcal effect through the inhibition of fatty acid synthesis. Characterisation of batumin-resistant mutants revealed mutations which were hypothesised to increase FabI expression and reduce susceptibility to batumin. Indeed, the over expression of FabI in S. aureus resulted in reduced susceptibility to batumin. Finally the inhibition of purified S. aureus FabI by batumin was confirmed in vitro. Batumin inhibited saFabI with similar potency to triclosan- another FabI inhibitor. The studies provide the basis to explore batumin further as a topical antistaphylococcal agent