Luciano Kulczewski, arquitecto: Eclecticismo y procesos modernizadores en el Chile de la primera mitad del siglo XX

Esta investigación tiene por fin poner en valor la obra del arquitecto chileno Luciano Kulczewski, profesional que cumplió un rol clave y distintivo en la primera mitad del siglo XX, considerado como un período crucial para el desarrollo de la arquitectura nacional, ya que es el momento en que se produce el advenimiento de la modernidad en el país. Si bien su figura goza de un gran reconocimiento, solamente una parte de su obra es (re)conocida por la historiografía nacional. Su labor en el libre ejercicio de la profesión, como asimismo los distintos cargos administrativos y políticos que desempeñó en su vida, hacían suponer un corpus más amplio, como finalmente se pudo constatar en este estudio. El amplio catastro documentado permitió fehacientemente identificar el rol y el significado que esta obra cumpliera en la transición que hizo posible dejar atrás los valores impuesto por el Academicismo, para incorporar los procesos de modernización en los distintos ámbitos de la arquitectura. Por tanto, el quehacer de Kulczewski se reveló como ejemplar y paradigmático. Una de las ilustraciones más elocuentes a este respecto fue la precursora realización de edificios en altura para uso residencial. Esta tipología lo obligó a trabajar con nuevos materiales y técnicas constructivas, junto a la necesidad de introducir las modernas tecnologías que estos portentos arquitectónicos requerían para su funcionamiento, como era el uso de ascensores y los sistemas de calefacción centralizada. El estudio del contexto urbano de sus obras permitió dar cuenta también de los procesos que estaban convirtiendo a las principales ciudades del país en urbes ‘modernas’. En este ámbito, destaca la nueva concepción urbanística que llegaba vinculada a los barrios-jardín, que contrariamente a lo establecido por el urbanismo tradicional, implicó inéditas maneras de articular la ciudad y el empleo de nuevas tipologías residenciales. Estas concepciones de ciudad encontraron eco principalmente en las urbanizaciones que se estaban realizando en las nuevas comunas de la capital, contexto elegido por el arquitecto para llevar a cabo algunos innovadores conjuntos habitacionales, hoy considerados modélicos, y que estaban destinados a un nuevo estrato social empoderado y demandante: la clase media. Su particular preocupación por las cuestiones sociales, las que entraron en crisis con el devenir del siglo XX, lo llevaron a desarrollar una activa vida política, que culminó con un importante puesto administrativo en el primer Gobierno Radical que tuvo lugar en el país. Desde esa posición, pudo gestionar y dar solución apropiada a la urgente necesidad de viviendas obreras que requería el país, creando los primeros edificios colectivos destinados a este grupo social. Esto a la vez supuso un acercamiento más sustancial a las nuevas propuestas vinculadas al Movimiento Moderno. En conclusión, su quehacer hizo eco de los estilos vanguardistas y modernos que arribaron provenientes de Europa, pero reconociendo las realidades propias del país, de tal forma que la apropiación, y no la reproducción, fue su sello. En este proceso de adecuación al medio local, los modelos foráneos se desprenderán de muchas de sus principios rectores originales, lo que sumado a la impronta de un imaginario propio y original, convierten a sus creaciones en un caso singular en el contexto del la arquitectura chilena. ABSTRACT This research aims to add value to the work of Chilean architect Luciano Kulczewski, a professional who accomplished a key and distinctive role in the first half of the twentieth century, which is considered as a crucial period for the development of the Chilean architecture, since it corresponds to the arrive of Modernity in this country. While his figure is widely recognized, only a portion of his oeuvre is known (or acknowledged) by national historiography. Because of his work as a freelance professional and another administrative and political position he held in his life, it is possible to assume a larger corpus, as it was finally confirmed by this study. The copious documented cadastre allowed convincingly to identify the role and significance that this work fulfilled in the transition that made possible leaving behind the values imposed by Academicism, and thus to incorporate the modernization processes in the different fields of architecture. Therefore, the work of Kulczewski revealed itself as exemplary and paradigmatic. One of the most eloquent illustrations to this regard was the pioneering construction of high-rise buildings with a residential purpose. This typology drove him to work with new materials and constructive techniques, alongside with the need of introducing new modern technologies required by these architectonical advances for its operations, like the use of elevators and central heating systems. The study of the urban context of his work allowed also accounting the processes the major cities of the country went through in order to become 'modern' cities. In this context, it stands out the new urban conception linked to the idea of garden city, which was contrary to the practices of the traditional urbanism, and that implied new ways of articulating the city and that the use of new residential typologies. These urban notions were mainly echoed in the urbanizations that were made in the new districts of the city, scenario chosen by the architect for the concretion of innovative housing projects, nowadays thought as paradigmatic, and that were oriented for a new empowered and demanding social group: the middle class. His particular concern for social issues, which ones came into crisis with the arrival of the twentieth century, led him to take an active political role, culminating with an important administrative position in the first Radical Government that took place in the country. From that position, he could manage and provide adequate solutions to the urgent worker’s housing needs that required the country, creating the first collective buildings for this social group. This supposed a more substantial approach to new proposals of the Modern Movement. To conclude, his oeuvre was influenced by the avant-garde and modern styles that arrived from Europe, but with the proper adjustments to the local requirements, so that it is possible to say that appropriation more than reproduction was his hallmark. In this process, these features were transformed in order to get more flexibility for their adaptation to the Chilean needs that added to a personal and peculiar imaginary, which transformed his works into a unique case in the national architecture history.

Ícones urbanos na cidade de Natal: arquitetura e desenvolvimento urbano na cidade do sol e mar

Natal has come through major changes in the last 150 years, since the actions of city beautification, in the 19th century, until the present day, when such transformations start to have the objective of including the city in the competition for the attraction of the capital flows and consumption, domestically and in a foreign sense. It is thought that the first initiatives aimed at increasing tourism in Natal occurred in the 1960s, however, it became apparent that only from the 1980s was there a significant increase in tourist activities in Natal and the Metropolitan Region, especially on the east coast of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, leading to an expansion of the labour market, the significant increase of foreign investment, territorial changes of great impact and the production of buildings primarily intended for the hotel industry and second residence for European tourists. Since then, the incentives for tourist activity in the state have been maintained and even increased, based on tourism aimed at natural beauties, local cuisine and events, which transformed the tourist activity in one of the main sources of foreign exchange for the city of Natal. In the early 21st century, the construction of high-rise condominiums, monuments (including the designer ones), such as the Parque da Cidade, designed by Oscar Niemeyer, were already established. Also, shopping centers and, in order to host the World Cup, the new football stadium, the Arena das Dunas, among others, which were aimed at local and foreign consumers, especially European, stood out in the city. It is understood that these new buildings, monuments and also renovations and restorations that were deployed in the city of Natal aimed at constructing a new identity for the city, within the process of capitalist development and urban spectacle. It is considered that the monuments and the iconic buildings are attributes of the cities aimed at selling locations as goods, establishing a new urban environment, a new role as cities, which aimed at seeking greater autonomy from the nation-state. In this research, it was sought to analyze the architectural object, that is, buildings and monuments built or restored in Natal and its relevance to the city marketing promoted by the city itself. It was found that, indeed, such buildings and monuments are inserted in contemporary architectural production as a basis for increasing the competitive nature of Natal. In addition, they reveal a capitalist mode of production, supported by public resources, operating in the production of urban space with a view to repeating the hegemonic model of a competitive city

Vertigo Rising

Sole-authored publication. Five essays on fear of space, irrational gravities and falling, based on the writings of Flusser, Kafka and the Capek brothers. 'Vertigo Rising' was commissioned as a parallel text to accompany a show of the same name at Five Years, (a London Gallery located in a high rise block).

Towards Night

Sixty artists explore the nocturnal. Curated by Tom Hammick. The evening hour too gives us the irresponsibility which darkness and lamplight bestow. We are no longer quite ourselves. – Virginia Woolf, Street Haunting: A London Adventure, 1930 Towards Night is an exhibition exploring the nocturnal through paintings, prints and drawings by over sixty artists. Drawing on the nineteenth century European Romantic tradition, the show surveys contemporary and historical connections to wonderment and dystopia at dusk, twilight, night and dawn. Towards Night juxtaposes key paintings and prints by Constable, Friedrich, Munch, Nolde, Palmer and Turner, some of the best known visionaries of the Romantic tradition with contemporary artists who work with the transformative aspects of nightfall to convey emotional responses of awe, anxiety and solitude, love and loss, revelry, insomnia, and journey’s end. The exhibition opens with direct and positive responses to the natural world; Marc Chagall’s exotic dreamlike evening in The Poet Reclining (1915) sits close to eighteenth century Indian miniatures depicting brightly painted figures offset against darkening monsoon clouds, and William Crozier’s Balcony at Night, Antibes (2007), of a plant, blue and iridescent against the cool night sky. As the exhibition progresses, the dystopias become darker and more disturbing, and the connections between artists and works intensify: Emma Stibbon’s Rome Aqueduct (2011) takes on a heightened sense of pathos alongside Caspar David Friedrich’s Winter Landscape (1811); Peter Doig’s cinematic Echo Lake (1998) conjures up an increased sense of contemporary angst; and Prunella Clough’s False Flower (1993), a magical tree defying brutalism by growing out of concrete, becomes more miraculous near Night Shift (2015) Nick Carrick’s tomblike high rise. Tom Hammick’s Violetta Alone (2015) and Michael Craig Martin’s Ash Tray (2015), reinforce hedonistic aspects of night-time revelry alongside Four AM, Betsy Dadd’s young woman drinking in the early hours of the morning and L.S. Lowry’s drunken people in a pub in The Crowd (1922). In the final room, a cluster of works explores dreams and insomnia, from Louise Bourgeois’ Spirals (2010) to Munch’s lovers embracing in The Kiss (1902). Tom Hammick, curator of the show said “This exhibition has grown way beyond its original conception, to become a magnificent survey of painting and printmaking from over two hundred years based around the central tenet of night. The exhibition is a kind of painterly response to the way figurative artists use their artistic heroes as starting points for their own work, both compositionally and emotionally.” Artists featured in Towards Night: Christiane Baumgarter, Michael Craig-Martin, Julian Opie, Will Gill, Merlin James, Howard Hodgkin, WillIam Scott, Patrick Caulfield, George Shaw, Stephen Chambers, Basil Beattie, Betsy Dadd, Christopher Le Brun, L.S Lowry, Andrew Cranston, David Willetts, James Fisher, Emma Stibbon, Vija Celmins, William Blake, William Crozier, Tom Hammick, Georgia Keeling, Helen Turner, Humphrey Ocean, Julian Bell, Craigie Aitchison, Mark Wright, Ken Kiff, Matthew Burrows, Andrzej Jackowski, Sarah Raphael, Nick Bodimeade, Nick Carrick, Mary Newcomb, Hurvin Anderson, Peter Doig, Phoebe Unwin, Danny Markey, Sara Lee, Simon Burton, Susie Hamilton, Marc Chagall, Alfred Wallis, Emil Nolde, J.M.W. Turner, Prunella Clough, Samuel Palmer, Louise Bourgeois, Caspar David Friedrich, Alex Katz, Ewan Gibbs, Susie Hamilton, Andrzej Jackowski, Amanda Vesey, Edward Stott, Gertrude Hermes, Rose Wylie, Sidney Nolan, John Constable, J.M.W. Turner, Emil Nolde, Hiroshige, Edvard Munch, Samuel Palmer, Eileen Cooper, Charles Neame-Spencer, Samantha Cary.

The impact of social housing on health in Glasgow and Baltimore, 1930-1980

This dissertation seeks to discern the impact of social housing on public health in the cities of Glasgow, Scotland and Baltimore, Maryland in the twentieth century. Additionally, this dissertation seeks to compare the impact of social housing policy implementation in both cities, to determine the efficacy of social housing as a tool of public health betterment. This is accomplished through the exposition and evaluation of the housing and health trends of both cities over the course of the latter half of the twentieth century. Both the cities of Glasgow and Baltimore had long struggled with both overcrowded slum districts and relatively unhealthy populations. Early commentators had noticed the connection between insanitary housing and poor health, and sought a solution to both of these problems. Beginning in the 1940s, housing reform advocates (self-dubbed ‘housers') pressed for the development of social housing, or municipally-controlled housing for low-income persons, to alleviate the problems of overcrowded slum dwellings in both cities. The impetus for social housing was twofold: to provide affordable housing to low-income persons and to provide housing that would facilitate healthy lives for tenants. Whether social housing achieved these goals is the crux of this dissertation. In the immediate years following the Second World War, social housing was built en masse in both cities. Social housing provided a reprieve from slum housing for both working-class Glaswegians and Baltimoreans. In Baltimore specifically, social housing provided accommodation for the city’s Black residents, who found it difficult to occupy housing in White neighbourhoods. As the years progressed, social housing developments in both cities faced unexpected problems. In Glasgow, stable tenant flight (including both middle class and skilled artisan workers)+ resulted in a concentration of poverty in the city’s housing schemes, and in Baltimore, a flight of White tenants of all income levels created a new kind of state subsidized segregated housing stock. The implementation of high-rise tower blocks in both cities, once heralded as a symbol of housing modernity, also faced increased scrutiny in the 1960s and 1970s. During the period of 1940-1980, before policy makers in the United States began to eschew social housing for subsidized private housing vouchers and community based housing associations had truly taken off in Britain, public health professionals conducted academic studies of the impact of social housing tenancy on health. Their findings provide the evidence used to assess the second objective of social housing provision, as outlined above. Put simply, while social housing units were undoubtedly better equipped than slum dwellings in both cities, the public health investigations into the impact of rehousing slum dwellers into social housing revealed that social housing was not a panacea for each city’s social and public health problems.

Numerical modelling of braided fibres for reinforced concrete

Fire has been always a major concern for designers of steel and concrete structures. Designing fire-resistant structural elements is not an easy task due to several limitations such as the lack of fire-resistant construction materials. Concrete reinforcement cover and external insulation are the most commonly adopted systems to protect concrete and steel from overheating, while spalling of concrete is minimised by using HPFRC instead of standard concrete. Although these methodologies work very well for low rise concrete structures, this is not the case for high-rise and inaccessible buildings where fire loading is much longer. Fire can permanently damage structures that cost a lot of money. This is unsafe and can lead to loss of life. In this research, the author proposes a new type of main reinforcement for concrete structures which can provide better fire-resistance than steel or FRP re-bars. This consists of continuous braided fibre rope, generally made from fire-resistant materials such as carbon or glass fibre. These fibres have excellent tensile strengths, sometimes in excess of ten times greater than steel. In addition to fire-resistance, these ropes can produce lighter and corrosive resistant structures. Avoiding the use of expensive resin binders, fibres are easily bound together using braiding techniques, ensuring that tensile stress is evenly distributed throughout the reinforcement. In order to consider braided ropes as a form of reinforcement it is first necessary to establish the mechanical performance at room temperature and investigate the pull-out resistance for both unribbed and ribbed ropes. Ribbing of ropes was achieved by braiding the rope over a series of glass beads. Adhesion between the rope and concrete was drastically improved due to ribbing, and further improved by pre-stressing ropes and reducing the slacked fibres. Two types of material have been considered for the ropes: carbon and aramid. An implicit finite element approach is proposed to model braided fibres using Total Lagrangian formulation, based on the theory of small strains and large rotations. Modelling tows and strands as elastic transversely isotropic materials was a good assumption when stiff and brittle fibres such as carbon and glass fibres are considered. The rope-to-concrete and strand-to-strand bond interaction/adhesion was numerically simulated using newly proposed hierarchical higher order interface elements. Elastic and linear damage cohesive models were used effectively to simulate non-penetrative 'free' sliding interaction between strands, and the adhesion between ropes and concrete respectively. Numerical simulation showed similar de-bonding features when compared with experimental pull-out results of braided ribbed rope reinforced concrete.

Advertising, promotion, and the rise of a national building society movement in interwar Britain

This article examines the role of advertisement and promotion in the successful development of nationwide building societies in interwar Britain and the rapid overall growth of the building society movement. Major building societies are shown to have used extensive advertising to compensate for their initial lack of established national brands, promote home-ownership, and make savers aware of the attractive earnings and high security of building society savings. During a period when most building societies had very limited branch networks, extensive advertising increased the public profile of the major societies and thus assisted their rapid expansion via lower-cost modes such as agency networks.

Towards an integrated technology management across the rail supply chain extended to society: building the case study on high-speed trains

The present paper was prepared for the course “Project III”, with the supervision of Prof. António Moniz, reporting on the author speaking notes at the Winter School on Technology Assessment, 6-7 December 2010, as part of the Doctoral Programme on Technology Assessment at FCT-UNL.

Building high technology complete products for the markets of humanitarian organizations and developing countries

Tämä tutkielma käsittelee high-tech kokonaisratkaisun rakentamista kehitysmaiden ja humanitääristen organisaatioiden markkinoille. Tavoitteena on löytää ne komponentit joita case-yritys Mediburner Ltd:n polttouuni tarvitsee rinnalleen. Jotta täydentävien elementtien määritteleminen olisi mahdollista, pitää ensin selvittää keitä ovat asiakkaat, ja mitkä ovat heidän tarpeensa. Tutkimusmetodina käytetään kuvailevaa case-tutkimusta. Empiirinen materiaali kerättiin henkilökohtaisissa- ja puhelinkeskusteluissa. Niihin henkilöihin, joiden tavoittaminen oli aikaeron vuoksi hankalaa, otettiin yhteyttä sähköpostitse. Toinen tietolähde olivat dokumentit. Tutkielmassa käytettiin internetsivuja, sairaalajätehuoltoon liittyvien kansainvälisten konferenssien ja kenttätutkimusten raportteja sekä humanitääristen organisaatioiden suosituksia ja lehdistötiedotteita. Tulokseksi saatiin kymmenen tarvittavaa tukevien elementtien ryhmää: lisälaitteet, astiat jätteen keräilyyn ja tilapäiseen varastointiin, polttoaine, sähkö, logistiset ratkaisut, asennus ja käyttöönotto, huolto- ja korjauspalvelut, koulutus, help-desk –palvelu ja rahoitus. Lisäksi tarvitaan imago, joka konkretisoi tarjotun ratkaisun hyödyt. Yksi toimivan imagotyylin perusta voisi olla vastuullisuus.

Building distributed high availability system

Today’s commercial web sites are under heavy user load and they are expected to be operational and available at all times. Distributed system architectures have been developed to provide a scalable and failure tolerant high availability platform for these web based services. The focus on this thesis was to specify and implement resilient and scalable locally distributed high availability system architecture for a web based service. Theory part concentrates on the fundamental characteristics of distributed systems and presents common scalable high availability server architectures that are used in web based services. In the practical part of the thesis the implemented new system architecture is explained. Practical part also includes two different test cases that were done to test the system's performance capacity.

An optically coupled power stimulus isolation unit with high voltage and fast rise time output

Recent technological developments have created new devices that could improve and simplify the construction of stimulus isolators. HEXFET transistors can switch large currents and hundreds of volts in nanoseconds. The newer opto-isolators can give a pulse rise time of a few nanoseconds, with output compatible with MOSFET devices, in which delays are reduced to nanoseconds. Integrated DC/DC converters are now available. Using these new resources we developed a new electrical stimulus isolator circuit with selectable constant-current and constant-voltage modes, which are precise and easy to construct. The circuit works like a regulated power supply in both modes with output switched to zero or to free mode through an opto-isolator device. The isolator analyses showed good practical performance. The output to ground resistance was 1011 ohms and capacitance 35 picofarads. The rise time and fall time were identical (5 µs) and constant. The selectable voltage or current output mode made it very convenient to use. The current mode, with higher output resistance values in low current ranges, permits intracellular stimulation even with tip resistances close to 100 megaohms. The high compliance of 200 V guarantees the value of the current stimulus. The very low output resistance in the voltage mode made the device highly suitable for extracellular stimulation with low impedance electrodes. Most importantly, these characteristics were achieved with a circuit that was easy to build and modify and assembled with components available in Brazil.

First building of Orange Union High School, Orange, California, now Wilkinson Hall, Chapman University

Orange Union High School, located at 333 N. Glassell Street, Orange, California, 1905. Constructed in 1905 and designed by local architect, C.B. Bradshaw, image shows main building, now called Wilkinson Hall, which moved north prior to 1921. Acquired in 1954 and currently operated by Chapman University; it was renamed Wilkinson Hall in honor of J. E. Wilkinson, a former trustee, chairman of the board, and acting president. View shows front and south elevations across North Glassell Street.

Predicted impact of the sea-level rise at VellareColeroon estuarine region of Tamil Nadu coast in India: Mainstreaming adaptation as a coastal zone management option

Low-lying coastal areas are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as they are highly prone for inundation to SLR (Sea-Level Rise). This study presents an appraisal of the impacts of SLR on the coastal natural resources and its dependent social communities in the low-lying area of VellareColeroon estuarine region of the Tamil Nadu coast, India. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) derived from SRTM 90M (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission) data, along with GIS (Geographic Information System) techniques are used to identify an area of inundation in the study site. The vulnerability of coastal areas in Vellar-Coleroon estuarine region of Tamil Nadu coast to inundation was calculated based on the projected SLR scenarios of 0.5 m and 1 m. The results demonstrated that about 1570 ha of the LULC (Land use and Land cover) of the study area would be permanently inundated to 0.5 m and 2407 ha for 1 m SLR and has also resulted in the loss of three major coastal natural resources like coastal agriculture, mangroves and aquaculture. It has been identified that six hamlets of the social communities who depend on these resources are at high-risk and vulnerable to 0.5 m SLR and 12 hamlets for 1 m SLR. From the study, it has been emphasized that mainstreaming adaptation options to SLR should be embedded within a coastal zone management and planning effort, which includes all coastal natural resources (ecosystem-based adaptation), and its dependent social communities (community-based adaptation) involved through capacity building