Trans Structures Fluid Architecture And Liquid Engineering

The book introduces water as a building material to build unique, responsive-able structures and define a new paradigm for architecture and sustainable design.

Architecture is based upon the misconception that strong is stable, both in sense of energy and structure, as an unchanged state of microclimate would require more material or insulation. Trans-structures are the opposite: building elements with the response-ability to change according to external conditions in order to maintain stability in terms of structure and/or energy. In this type of building, any effect (structural or thermal load) would generate an immediate affect (a response of the structure). Energy and weight would be counteracted and on a total scale, change would not occur. Such buildings are always in transition from one state to another, unlike conventional structures.

Liquid Architecture challenges the idea of architecture as a fixed, inert container and reconceptualises it as a body whose boundaries are rather blurred and ever-changing. This book moves away from form as the primary driver of spatial protocols and explores what the built environment might look like when viewed through the lenses of a ‘wet ontology’ that is attentive to fluidity, flows and territorial dynamism. A reconfiguration of architectural materials and authorship is thus considered, leading, in turn, to an exploration of the ethical dimensions of co-designing with natural systems (of various viscosities) through liquid paradigms. The book examines a set of principles for practice-led discoveries that incorporate hybrid, mixed media with the author’s intersubjective relationship with liquid matter. Drawing from qualitative-based analytical investigation models, the text allows comprehension of the liquid phenomena via material contextualisation of an ever-becoming research setting. Through a practical and theoretical engagement with the ontology of liquids, the reader is exposed to a range of design-led experiments and creative propositions, visualisation systems, construction, and testing of physical models that collectively translate into a series of novel insights for architectural agendas. This book will be of interest to architecture and design research students and academics because it advocates the need for a more symbiotic and resilient approach to natural systems, which could benefit from the integration of regenerating material flows into our buildings and urban settlements.

With contributions from a diverse team of global authors, this cutting-edge Handbook documents the impact of the study of gender and sexuality upon the foundational practices and precepts of anthropology. Providing a survey of the state-of-the-art in the field, it is essential reading for academic researchers and students of anthropology.

Annotation This is the first of two volumes representing the proceedings of the July 2002 conference, and it is itself in two volumes (parts A & B). Approximately 400 papers discuss analysis, numerical methods, experiments in single-phase and multiphase flows, and applications. Topics include high speed jet flows; fluid measurement, instrumentation and machinery; cavitation and multiphase flow; advances in free surface and interface fluid dynamics; CFD applications in large facilities and in automotive flows; turbulent, vehicular, unsteady, three-dimensional, and environmental flows; supersonic flows in shock waves; fluidics; advances in fluids engineering education; flow instabilities and control; fundamentals and industrial applications; and wavelet application in fluid mechanics. There is no subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

This title analyzes the chemical reactions, structures and fundamental properties of supercritical fluid systems for the production of new compounds, nanomaterials, fibers, and films. It complies contemporary research and technological advances for increased selectivity and reduced waste in chemical, industrial, pharmaceutical, and biomedical applications. Topics include fluid dynamics, catalysis, hydrothermal synthesis, surfactants, conducting polymers, crystal growth, and other aspects and applications of supercritical fluids.