Virtual design studio (VDS) has been a part of the discourse of architectural pedagogy for the past two decades. VDS has been showcased as a potential educational tool in schools of architecture often in controlled, pre‐designed experiments. However, the global COVID‐19 pandemic has forced most schools to move their design studios into virtual space. This article aims to explore the potential advantages and shortcomings of VDS during the COVID‐19 quarantine from the perspective of students in a department of architecture. The study investigates three aspects of VDS namely, participating students’ evaluation of the virtual studio experience, the effectiveness of VDS in achieving the studio’s expected learning outcomes and the evaluation process for final design projects. Some 360 students from eight consecutive design studios participated in the study. The results indicate improvement in students’ ability to conduct independent research and in learning new computer‐aided design (CAD) software. Furthermore, the study finds VDS to be much more applicable for third‐ and fourth‐year students. The results also show a significant decline in background informal peer learning among students. Further studies are needed to address the implementation of a more immersive social experience in VDS.
It is common for the original use of heritage buildings to become obsolete which in some cases can result in them becoming vacant and subject to deterioration. Adaptive reuse is an essential policy for achieving sustainability as it keeps a continuous building life cycle and avoids building destruction. It is one approach to sustainability where it retains the tangible and intangible values, resilience of the original building materials, and reduces waste and time. The decision-making criteria for compatible new use includes several criteria that affect sustainable development: economic, environment, social, legislative, and architecture. Several Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods have been established in order to aid the process of cultural heritage preservation. This research aims to present an assessment model to support the establishment of appropriate new use by employing an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The decision-making software used was Expert Choice 11. The administrative hospital in Kyrenia, Cyprus, was selected as the case study in this research. Using the application of AHP with the participation of different stakeholders (experts and locals), a more compatible use as a community centre is proposed and supported by the research methodology.
This article aims to explore whether or not digital space assumes the role of the spatial urban grid when movement of people is restricted under quarantine. The era of Web 2.0 and the increasingly easy access to mobile devices and the internet has created alternative virtual space for urban socio-spatial interactions. The article addresses these concepts in three parts. First, it adapts a theoretical framework that can address the emerging digital public and spatial restrictions. Second, it explores the possible inflation of digital space. Third, it questions the possibility of transfer of spatiality into virtual space. The finding shows significant inflation of digital space after quarantine, but no significant spatial characteristic can be identified among those interactions. The study emphasizes the importance of adapting existing theories for evolving urban challenges.
Informal urbanism has become a widespread form of urbanisation, particularly in the context of the global South. While there is an emerging body of knowledge focusing on the morphologies of informal settlements, the incremental transformations of emerging settlements have remained underexplored. Drawing on a case study of an emerging settlement in Nigeria, we map the emergence and incremental transformation of access networks and buildings. This is an exploratory study focusing on the morphogenesis of emerging settlements to explore how the incremental production of space works. We adopt urban mapping and typology as key methods. Following the analysis of emerging access networks, this paper identifies three primary types of change, namely add, alter, and remove, and further develops a typology of emerging junctions by specifying four types of T, Y, X, and Mixed shape junctions. The incremental transformations of buildings primarily incorporate practices of addition and removal, among others. We also identify three forms of relation between the emerging access networks and buildings: access network first, building first, and co-production. We argue that moving towards developing adaptive design interventions relies on a sophisticated understanding of the process of morphogenesis in emerging settlements.
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