Ephemeral properties and the illusion of microscopic particles

Founding our analysis on the Geneva-Brussels approach to quantum mechanics, we use conventional macroscopic objects as guiding examples to clarify the content of two important results of the beginning of twentieth century: Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen's reality criterion and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. We then use them in combination to show that our widespread belief in the existence of microscopic particles is only the result of a cognitive illusion, as microscopic particles are not particles, but are instead the ephemeral spatial and local manifestations of non-spatial and non-local entities

Spatiality and transpatiality in workplace environments

It is widely considered that the physical layout of workplace environments has an influence on social interaction and therefore the social structure of an organisation. However, there is little accordance among scholars from different disciplines on exactly how the relationship between space and organisation is constituted. Empirical studies often come to different conclusions: for example, on the influence of an open-plan office on communication patterns among staff, as many studies report increases as report decreases or unchanged communication behaviours. This evidence-base is further confused since few studies make a link between a profound spatial and an organisational analysis. We suggest that the inconsistency of results is for two main reasons: first, methodologies for operationalising variables differ significantly with each study tending to analyse a distinct notion of a phenomenon. This makes further comparative conclusions and predictive modelling problematic. Second, even where the same methods are used, contradictory evidence emerges, where one organisation reacts differently to another to similar spatial conditions. This suggests that, at the core of the problem, lies an apparent lack of understanding of the nature of the space-organisation relationship. This paper explores these phenomena by drawing on the results of various case studies conducted over the last few years in diverse organisational settings (a university, a research institute, and in corporate media companies). Two main lines of argument will be developed: first we will show that some influences of space on organisational behaviour seem to be generic. Understanding of these generic influences may be used to design spaces enhancing interaction and knowledge flow for any type of organisation. Second, we outline how organisations depend on context, culture and character, and may react to similar spatial configurations in a unique way. We will suggest why this may be the case, referring to Hillier and Hanson's notion of spatial and transpatial modes of social cohesion. The two underlying theoretical concepts, i.e. space as 'generic function' and spatial versus transpatial operations will be discussed concerning their application to, and meaningfulness for, workplace environments. Finally, inferences are drawn for the practice of evidence-based design

The world’s negligence globalisation, philosophy and the misadventures of space

Las descripciones de nuestra época como un tiempo de desespacialización, desterritorialización y desmaterialización tecnológica merecen ser discutidos con el fin de evidenciar la compleja genealogía de los cambios a los que se refieren. La filosofía contemporánea –especialmente a través de Bergson, Heidegger, Arendt, Schmitt, Foucault, Deleuze y Guattari– nos ayuda a hacerlo en por lo menos dos maneras: en primer lugar, exponiendo que el espacio y el mundo material representan una especie de obstáculo para las visiones que prevalecen en la modernidad, que le dan al ser humano una relación privilegiada con el tiempo y un derecho a separarse del mundo para dominarlo; en segundo lugar, mostrando las formas en que la espacialidad se presenta como una apuesta política irreducible tanto a las territorializaciones rígidas como a las desespacializaciones puras y sencillas. Desde este punto de vista, incluso las tecnologías telemáticas actuales son prueba de esta irreductibilidad re-espacializando al mundo con sus sistemas de rastreo, vigilancia, monitoreo, etc.The descriptions of our epoch as a time of technological despatialization, deterritorialization and dematerialization deserve to be discussed in order to bring out the complex genealogy of the changes to which they refer. Contemporary philosophy – especially the reading of Bergson, Heidegger, Arendt, Schmitt, Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari – helps us to do so in at least two ways: first, by testifying that space and the material world represent a kind of obstacle to the visions prevailing in modernity, that give the human being a privileged relationship with time and a right to separate himself from the world in order to dominate it; second, showing us the ways in which spatiality is presented as a political stakes irreducible to both rigid territorializations and pure and simple despatializations. From this point of view, even the current telematic technologies are proof of this irreducibility re-spatializing the world with their systems for tracking, surveillance, monitoring, etc

Against anthropocentrism: the destruction of the built environment as a distinct form of political violence

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Emergent Form from Structural Optimisation of the Voronoi Polyhedra Structure

In the course of the exploration of computational means in the architectural design process, in order to investigate more complex, adaptive geometries, the Voronoi diagram has recently gained some attention, being a three-dimensional space-filling structure which is modular but not repetitive. The project looks at the Voronoi diagram as a load-bearing structure, and whether it can be useful for structural optimisation. Hereby the edges of the Voronoi polyhedra are regarded as structural members of a statical system, which then is assessed by structural analysis software. Results seem to indicate that the Voronoi approach produces a very specific structural as well as spatial type of order. Through the dislocation of the Voronoi cells, the statical structure becomes more complex through emergent topology changes, and the initially simple spatial system becomes much more complex through emerging adjacencies and interconnections between spaces. The characteristics of the emerging form, however, lie rather in the complexity how shifted spaces and parts are fitted together, than in a radical overall emergent geometry. Spatially as well as a structurally, the form moves from a simple modular repetitive system towards a more complex adaptive one, with interconnected parts which cannot stand alone but rather form an organic whole