Het verhaal van een andere tekenwijze. De structuralistische architectuurtekening in Het Speelhuis van Piet Blom

Dutch Structuralism was an influential tendency in post-war Dutch architecture and urban design. Structuralist designs and buildings are made up of repetitive elements that can in theory be adjusted in both size and function. They take social relations as their starting point and have the potential to promote interaction between the buildings’ users. The way structuralist architects like Aldo van Eyck, Piet Blom and Herman Hertzberger drew broke with the tradition of previous generations. They adopted new forms of representation, the most striking being the so-called spreektekeningen (drawings annotated with speech bubbles), hybrid drawings and brightly coloured grids. This article explains the significance of these drawings by relating them to architectural education at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture in the mid 1950s and through analysis of the design method, the role of the drawing in the design process and the way the drawings were perceived. It will become clear that they were the result both of a specific design method and of the ambition to enable the architectural design to communicate with society in a new way. ‘The story of another way of drawing’ can be traced back to a deliberate deviation from the Dutch government’s bureaucratic regulations, which were designed to foster an efficient building process aimed at the rapid alleviation of the housing shortage. The grids and patterns, the bright colours and speech-bubble drawings were intended to present a different picture from traditional housing designs and can be interpreted as an alternative to that bureaucratic and pragmatic building practice. Although much has been written about the emergence and importance of Dutch Structuralism, the role and significance of these new forms of representation have not previously been studied. The different style of drawing is evident in Piet Blom’s design for Het Speelhuis en Woningenwoud in Helmond (1972–1978), which is the focus of this article. In the design file for this mixed cultural and residential project, the structuralist drawing appears in various forms and functions and during different phases of the design process. It is, as it were, a sampler of the new visualization methods. More particularly, in these drawings of Het Speelhuis scheme, Piet Blom combined two extremes of architectural representation: a mathematically designed order and an intuitive and subjective architectural impression. The mathematical drawings based on a geometric system were for Blom a means of getting a grip on the complex spatial designs he envisaged. He then supplemented his abstract patterns and grids with speech-bubble drawings and collages. In so doing Blom entered a different world – that of an individual desire, struggle, communality and sensibility – aimed at communicating his design in a more human and accessible manner

Effect of Perennial Ryegrass Cultivars on the Fatty Acid Composition in Milk of Stall-Fed Cows

Herbage provides bulk feed for ruminants and plant lipids, especially C18:3, are a major source of benefical fatty acids (FA) in milk. There are very few direct comparisons allowing a precise evaluation of the effects of the basal forage diet on milk FA composition. Grass quality differences can affect rumen metabolism and there could be opportunities to change the composition of ruminant products through choice of grass cultivar. To test this hypothesis, six cultivars were fed to dairy cows in a stall-feeding trial with fresh grass to evaluate the effect of grass cultivar on rumen VFA and milk FA composition during the growing season

Reduced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in chronic multi-site musculoskeletal pain : partly masked by depressive and anxiety disorders

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

An Observation Tool for EFL Reading Comprehension Teaching Strategies

The present study addresses the validation process of an observation tool for measuring the range of processes in which a teacher is involved when helping secondary school EFL learners comprehend reading input and when facilitating meaningful language output. The observation tool will be used in a professional development programme for scaffolding EFL reading comprehension in secondary schools

Intersectional Discrimination and Change in Blood Pressure Control among Older Adults: The Health and Retirement Study

BACKGROUND: Associations between multiple forms of discrimination and blood pressure control in older populations remain unestablished. METHODS: Participants were 14582 non-institutionalized individuals (59% women) in the Health and Retirement Study aged at least 51 years (76% Non-Hispanic White, 15% Non-Hispanic Black, 9% Hispanic/Latino). Primary exposures included the mean frequency of discrimination in everyday life, intersectional discrimination (defined as marginalization ascribed to more than one reason), and the sum of discrimination over the lifespan. We assessed whether discrimination was associated with change in measured hypertension status (N=14582) and concurrent medication use among reported hypertensives (N=9086) over four years (2008-2014). RESULTS: There was no association between the frequency of everyday discrimination and change in measured hypertension. Lifetime discrimination was associated with higher odds of hypertension four years later among men (OR: 1.21, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.36) but not women (OR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.86, 1.13). Only among men, everyday discrimination due at least two reasons was associated with a 1.44 (95% CI: 1.03, 2.01)-fold odds of hypertension than reporting no everyday discrimination; reporting intersectional discrimination was not associated with developing hypertension among women (OR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.70, 1.20). All three discriminatory measures were inversely related to time-averaged antihypertensive medication use, without apparent gender differences (e.g., OR for everyday discrimination-antihypertensive use associations: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.77, 0.94)). CONCLUSIONS: Gender differences in marginalization may more acutely elevate hypertensive risk among older men than similarly aged women. Experiences of discrimination appear to decrease the likelihood of antihypertensive medication use among older adults overall

Lower Nutritional Status and Higher Food Insufficiency in Frail Older US Adults

Frailty is a state of decreased physical functioning and a significant complication of ageing. We examined frailty, energy and macronutrient intake, biomarkers of nutritional status and food insufficiency in US older adult (age ≥ 60 years) participants of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (4731). Frailty was defined as meeting ≥ 2 and pre-frailty as meeting one of the following four-item criteria: (1) slow walking; (2) muscular weakness; (3) exhaustion and (4) low physical activity. Intake was assessed by 24 h dietary recall. Food insufficiency was self-reported as ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ not having enough food to eat. Analyses were adjusted for sex, race, age, smoking, education, income, BMI, other co-morbid conditions and complex survey design. Prevalence of frailty was highest among people who were obese (20•8 %), followed by overweight (18•4 %), normal weight (16•1 %) and lowest among people who were under- weight (13•8 %). Independent of BMI, daily energy intake was lowest in people who were frail, followed by pre-frail and highest in people who were not frail (6648 (SE 130), 6966 (SE 79) and 7280 (SE 84) kJ, respectively, P, 0•01). Energy-adjusted macronutrient intakes were similar in people with and without frailty. Frail (adjusted OR (AOR) 4•7; 95 % CI 1•7, 12•7) and pre-frail (AOR 2•1; 95 % CI 0•8, 5•8) people were more likely to report being food insufficient than not frail people. Serum albumin, carotenoids and Se levels were lower in frail adults than not frail adults. Research is needed on targeted interventions to improve nutritional status and food insufficiency among frail older adults, while not necessarily increasing BMI