Tom 116 (2019): Zeszyt 6 (June 2019)

The safety and comfort of the housing environment concerns both its functional, spatial and social structure. Current tendencies in the design of housing areas typically do not take the latter factor into account. based on an analysis of the spatial structure of european housing areas, an attempt was made to determine a number of the principles of shaping space that beneficially affect the formation of informal social relationships. The research method was based on a case study of three housing areas and their spatial structure, in reference to the principles concerning the shaping of social spaces inside housing areas as described in co-housing schemes proposed by (Durrett and McCamant).

Research was undertaken in order to examine the ways colour has been coordinated in urban design in Poland and Slovakia – especially reasons and conditions under which colour planning started and thereafter operated. The methodology employed included an analysis of archival materials, interviews with designers and public officials as well as field studies. Five colour plans were analysed from the following points of view: the circumstances of their initiation, the methodology and process of their elaboration, the method and degree of implementation and their ‘life’ over the following years. The aim of this study is to compare and analyse the impact of individual colour plans in order to get an input for strengthening the professional and scientific approach to colour planning through lessons learnt from these examples.

The aim of the study is to determine the role of parish churches and adjacent parish facilities in a city’s spatial structure on the example of southern districts of Warsaw. The research includes a description of the parish structure development and characterisation of urban elements surrounding existing parish churches and architectonic elements of the ecclesial buildings which link them to the exterior space. Within the area analysed, initially rural settlements developed surrounding churches founded by Catholic religious orders or landowners and later have been included within the city limits. New ecclesial buildings were erected in parallel to the new residential area. The churches have an important influence on their urban surrounding form. Their influence often extends beyond their nearest surroundings due to the vertical elements of symbolical character, which are a clear reference point in the urban landscape.

A glass pyramid, a sphinx and a Medieval Excalibur, an Eiffel tower, a Statue of Liberty, a Ponte Rialto with an escalator and a canal sailed by gondolas with Mickey Mouse – these are the faces of Las Vegas. Kitsch, excess and chaos are concepts that form the universe of the semantics of Las Vegas. We can also attempt to understand this identity, distinct both in its unbridled form and the ideas represented by the city, by referring to Bakhtin’s concept of the carnival.

The aim of this study is to draw attention to the necessity of creating places revitalizing social life within the downtown public space. It is to underline the necessity of creating the scenographic background of the city life, through the creation of specified urban elements which have an impact on the city’s choreography. The study employs a multicriterial, original research method which allows the subject matter to be examined within the following aspects: spatio-compositional, semanto-perceptive, and socio-economic. As a result of investigation, the desired direction of the development activities has been achieved within the scope of the utilization of the trump areas for the creation of a creative public space and within the scope of the utilization of the deficit space for the creation of places – focal points of spatio-social activity contributing to the revitalization of the downtown area.

Alleys are one of the classical elements of open space topography as well as in cultural landscape and city space. These historical plant forms which have survived to our times require special conservatory attention – protective and maintenance works. In this study, one method of evaluating the condition of old trees is presented. The trees are the remains of the alley layout at the former manor house in Zemborzyce. In 2015, an inventory of alley trees was carried out and the internal structures of the examined trees were evaluated using sound tomograph PICUS. The non-invasive method used is especially recommended to evaluate the health condition of valuable, old trees. It allows us to examine each tree extensively and carry out individual procedures according to conservatory rules.

This article is an attempt to analyse the use of the sphere in contemporary architecture in connection with first historical examples of designing with the use of this solid figure. The strong form, introduced by architects as a shape with complex symbolism, conveys various ideas contained in design projects. At the same time, the sphere reflects the tendency towards elementarisation of form, replacing figurative architecture with abstraction. Such a phenomenon constitutes a peculiar paradox in connection with the fact that spherical buildings are some of the most famous examples of architecture parlante in the Enlightenment.

The European cultural heritage route of residences once belonging to the Radziwiłł family, located in the territories today belonging to Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland, is demarcated by ca. fifty sites exhibiting high artistic and historical values. The ongoing research contributes to determining the value of the preserved historical sites, as well as assessing the risk they face. Development of a protection method at the level of the structure of the building, but also increasing the social and ethnic integration, will contribute to the creation of collective memory and identity of Europeans. The castle in Ołyka [Ukrainian: Olyka], one of the three centres of the Radziwiłł family fee tail, is one of the most distinguished examples of residential architecture in Volhynia. It has not been scientifically documented to date, which could constitute a foundation for the development of the building restoration project. Preserved to our time in a very bad technical condition, it awaits protection of its architectural heritage.

This paper presents a sensitivity analysis related to the solution of a stationary, linear system of second order equations of motion obtained by the Finite Element Method. The Direct Differentiation Method was presented in this paper. The essence of this method is the explicit differentiation of the system of equations with respect to parameters. As a result, derivatives of vectors and matrices are obtained. The necessary material derivatives of vectors and matrices associated with the simplest 3D beam element are presented. Sensitivity analysis consists in searching for changes in physical quantities in relation to selected parameters. Ultimately, the sensitivity analysis comes down to calculating derivatives of specific functions with respect to parameters. Real and continuous design variables are considered.

This paper is a continuation of the first part [7] where basic relations and derivatives related to the sensitivity analysis of the standard 3D beam element have been derived. This part presents the sensitivity analysis of dynamic response of a flat frame using the Direct Differentiation Method for harmonic and seismic excitations separately. Harmonic excitations are typicaly found if some equipment is placed on the stories of industrial buildings. In that case the practical benefit of determining the structure response and its derivatives allows to determine, for example, the vibration comfort of staff and determine the impact of particular structural parameters on the level of comfort. With regard to seismic excitations, determining the response of a structure and its derivatives allows to determine the level of impact of individual parameters on the response.