Weaverbird: Topological Mesh Editing for Architects

Design and computation consultant Giulio Piacentino is the developer of WeaverBird. Here he describes how the plug-in ‘gives architects more geometric control and allows them to create complex surface structures that join in orderly ways, yet in arbitrary configurations’.     

光纤之父——华裔诺贝尔奖获得者高锟的科学思想与方法研究

被誉为“光纤之父”的香港中文大学校长高锟教授是第八位华裔诺贝尔自然科学奖获得者,由于他在光纤材料和传输研究方面取得的突破性成就,开创了人类光纤信息通讯的新时代。本文从高锟成长的历程探讨了东西方教育对他日后科学研究和技术创新的影响,分析了他在光纤通信研究方面取得杰出贡献对人类开创信息时代的意义和价值。最后,研究了高锟的科学思想和方法的三大特点：重视直觉,学会基于问题的思考,激发超越逻辑的灵感;关注创造,善于独树一帜的思维,追求另辟溪径的探索;强调方法,既要脚踏实地地研究,也要高瞻远瞩地看路。     

China's Macro-Planning Policies: Architectural Catalyst or Constraint?

China is undergoing one of the most intense and rapid processes of urbanisation in the world today. It also has one of the most centralised planning systems, which is driven by a Soviet-style, five-year plan. Edward Denison looks at the relationship between China's highly systematised planning process and the high-density, standardised form that urban development typically takes. Amidst this formal context, he locates a ‘whisper’ of change afoot for architects.     

4D Printing: Multi-Material Shape Change

How might 4D printing overcome the obstacles that are hampering the rolling out and scaling up of 3D printing? Skylar Tibbits , Director of the Self-Assembly Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), describes how the Lab has partnered up with Stratasys Ltd, an industry leader in the development of 4D Printing, and is making the development of self-assembly programmable materials and adaptive technologies for industrial application in building design and construction its focus.     

Astronauts Orbiting on Their Stomachs: The Needs to Design for the Consumption and Production of Food in Space

The sustainable and convivial habitation of Space requires the provision of a ready food supply that does not have to be transported from Earth. Architect and space researcher Sandra Häuplik-Meusburger highlights how important it is that Space Architecture fully accommodates and abets the consumption and production of food.     

Questions of Taste

Charles Holland of FAT picks up the Post-Modern baton from Venturi Scott Brown and Charles Jencks and raises the neglected topic of taste. Though the way architecture is experienced by people is bound up with taste, it remains an area of discomfort for architects – tied up with awkward discussions of privilege and class. Holland shows how in FAT's Islington Square housing project the DIY taste of the residents was not only embraced, but fully accommodated. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contextual Counterpoint

In recent decades, conservationists and planners have co-opted contextualism, reducing it to a tool for enforcing urban conformity. Here Charles Jencks reclaims contextualism as a dynamic design strategy. He identifies four different contextual treatments that as well as ensuring continuity are potentially transformative. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

从传统走向未来——印度建筑师查尔斯·柯里亚

印度建筑师查尔斯·柯里亚是世界知名的建筑大师。在40余年的建筑实践中,他走出了一条独具印度特色的当代乡土建筑之路。为发展中国家的建筑师树立了一个攀登世界建筑高峰的榜样。本文以传统和现代为切入点,从文化价值的角度出发,结合查尔斯·柯里亚深邃的建筑思想和人生哲学,对其作品及其创作手法进行深入的剖析,从而全面地解读查尔斯·柯里亚是如何地“能轻而易举地把过去重新转化为一种卓越非凡的作品。”     

试论狄更斯对中国现代文学的影响

查尔斯.狄更斯是最早被译介到中国的欧美作家之一,自20世纪末以来他的作品几乎全部被翻译引入中国,深受中国文坛和读者的热爱与追捧。受西风东渐的影响,我国不少知名现代作家都受到狄更斯的影响,比如林纾、老舍、张天翼等人。探讨狄更斯对中国现代文学作家在创作文学作品中的影响,剖析其在中国被广泛接受的深层次原因,为研究中国现代文学和文化的发展提供有益借鉴。