Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020095

Authors: Nuwan Dias Chethika Abenayake Naduni Kasthuri Arachchi Dilanthi Amaratunga Malith Senevirathne

Coastal urban environments are increasingly exposed to natural hazards, including storm surges, tsunamis, coastal erosion, and flooding, which threaten lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure. Despite their widespread use, conventional hard and soft engineering measures have often proved insufficient to address the escalating risks posed by climate change and rapid urbanisation. This study explores the potential of Nature-Inspired Solutions (NiS) as a complementary pathway to advance resilience in architecture, urban design, and planning. Unlike Nature-Based Solutions that utilise existing ecosystems directly, NiS draw design principles from both biotic and abiotic natural systems, offering innovative models for resilient settlements, coastal infrastructure, and adaptive urban planning. Using a mixed-methods approach that includes systematic and narrative reviews, semi-structured expert interviews, analysis of urban development plans, a panel discussion, and expert brainstorming, this research examines how natural coastal systems inform design interventions. Sri Lanka was selected as the primary case study context due to its exceptional coastal vulnerability, significant climate adaptation policy gaps, and status as a small island developing state representative of the coastal challenges faced by similar contexts globally. Furthermore, Sri Lanka was selected as the case study in accordance with the original research proposal submitted to the University of Huddersfield, which identified the country as a suitable context due to its significant vulnerability to coastal hazards, as outlined above. Field investigations in the Lunawa coastal area documented community-based adaptive practices emerging from multi-generational environmental observation. Analysis reveals how dune morphologies, root structures, living shorelines, and rock pool formations translate into architectural and engineering applications. Findings identify critical implementation challenges, including context-specific requirements, technical knowledge gaps, insufficient policy frameworks, limited practitioner awareness, and uncertainties about economic feasibility, as well as key enablers such as demonstrated ecological effectiveness and the potential of multifunctional infrastructure. The study demonstrates that embedding NiS into risk-informed planning and resilient urban design contributes to climate change adaptation, ecological sustainability, and inclusive governance, while highlighting persistent barriers that require strategic intervention. By bridging ecological wisdom and architectural innovation, NiS offers transformative opportunities to reimagine resilient coastal cities and communities facing escalating climate-induced hazards.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020094

Authors: Zorana Sokol Gojnik Iva Muraj Nikola Gilja

This paper examines the spatial integration of post-socialist churches and parish complexes within the modernist housing estates of Novi Zagreb. Constructed after 1990 in neighbourhoods originally planned without sacral programs, these buildings represent a specific form of post-socialist urban intervention. The study employs a qualitative, comparative approach, analysing five case studies through the parameters of urban context, volumetry, spatial composition, program, and public space interface. The analysis identifies a limited set of recurring typologies that define patterns of spatial integration within the existing urban fabric. The findings indicate that these complexes do not function as dominant urban elements, but instead adapt to the open, functionally organized structure of modernist planning. Their impact on public space remains limited, as they rarely generate new centres or clearly articulated urban nodes. At the same time, the results reveal a shift from singular religious buildings toward programmatically expanded parish complexes that incorporate social and community functions. However, this transformation remains largely internal and does not lead to a significant reconfiguration of the urban structure. The paper contributes to the understanding of post-socialist urban transformation by identifying typological patterns and interpreting religious architecture as a context-dependent urban actor.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020093

Authors: Muhammad Azeem Abbas Saheed Ajayi Adekunle Oyegoke Jamiu Dauda Hafiz Alaka

The construction industry is recognised globally as one of the most hazardous sectors. Effective hazard management necessitates identifying and communicating these risks early in the project lifecycle. Construction Hazard Prevention through Design (CHPtD) addresses this by incorporating safety information into the design phase that is often cumbersome and heavily reliant on reviewer expertise. The present work enhances hazard recognition and visualisation by automating the process using computational intelligence and building information modelling, aligning with the theoretical framework of CHPtD. The proposed tool provides detailed hazard information, including the nature of the hazard, its causes, and potential resolutions, empowering designers to make informed decisions and mitigate risks proactively. The tool’s performance is evaluated using a confusion matrix, demonstrating promising results with an overall accuracy of 84.77% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.83. While the tool shows strong performance in identifying several hazard classes, further refinement is needed to improve its ability to detect catastrophic events and manage traffic-related hazards.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020092

Authors: Ivana Bunjak-Pajdek Jana Kiralj Lacković Ivona Poljak Monika Kamenečki

This paper explores how children perceive and use outdoor spaces in their everyday urban environment, and which spatial characteristics encourage engagement, autonomy, and diverse play. This study was conducted using child-led sensory walks—an exploratory qualitative method in which children acted as active research guides—with ten children aged 6 to 11 in residential areas of Zagreb. Verbal comments, movement patterns, and play behaviours were recorded and analysed through thematic analysis. Following the walks, eleven public playgrounds were assessed from a landscape architecture perspective, integrating children’s observations with an expert evaluation of spatial organisation, shade provision, connectivity with surrounding green spaces, and potential for unstructured play. The results reveal a pronounced preference for natural and semi-natural spaces, where children exhibited longer stays, more diverse physical and symbolic play, and a greater sense of autonomy. These findings affirm the relevance of affordance theory and multisensory experience in understanding children’s spatial behaviour and demonstrate the potential of the sensory walk as a transferable research and design tool in landscape architecture practice. At a broader scale, they point to the untapped role that playgrounds—redesigned as genuine green infrastructure nodes—could play in advancing urban climate adaptation goals at the neighbourhood scale.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020091

Authors: Satrio Agung Perwira Bart Julien Dewancker Dimas Herjuno

This pilot study examines how experimentally induced emotional states interact with the visual properties of urban environments to shape comfort perception. A controlled laboratory experiment was conducted with 17 participants assigned to one of four emotional conditions (Fear, Anger, Sad, Happy) through audio-visual induction. Participants evaluated 73 building façade and 42 pedestrian streetscape stimuli from three urban areas in Kitakyushu, Japan (Wakamatsu, Tobata, Mojiko) using a multi-method framework combining fractal analysis (D, Λ), six pedestrian visual metrics, webcam-based eye-tracking (Visual Attention Score, VAS), and self-reported comfort votes. Emotion induction was effective for Fear and Anger groups and partial for Sad and Happy groups, with the latter attributable to experimental fatigue. Cross-method correlation analysis revealed that fractal dimension D significantly predicted comfort vote consensus (Spearman r = 0.369, p = 0.013), while VAS showed no significant relationship with comfort votes (r = 0.097, ns) or with fractal dimension (r = 0.015, ns), confirming that visual attention and comfort preference are independent dimensions. For building façades, the ‘Complex but Organized’ fractal profile (D ≥ 1.70, Λ < 0.60) was the consistent comfort driver across all emotion groups. For pedestrian streetscapes, low spatial enclosure and spatially integrated tree canopy were the primary comfort predictors. Multi-method synthesis identified five empirical paradoxes and three design principles: (1) target D ≥ 1.70 with Λ < 0.60; (2) prioritize spatially integrated canopy over visible greenery quantity; and (3) leverage civic legibility as an independent comfort pathway. These findings support the development of emotion-independent frameworks for urban comfort evaluation. Replication with larger, more diverse samples is recommended.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020090

Authors: Lucy Montague

High streets have become central to debates on urban resilience as retail-led regeneration models struggle to address structural changes in town centre economies. This paper examines how architectural and urban design approaches can support more resilient high streets by engaging with the economic and governance systems that shape urban adaptation. Drawing on comparative research and analysis of post-pandemic town centre change, it combines literature review, empirical evidence and spatial analysis. Findings show that many regeneration strategies continue to prioritise environmental improvement and retail recovery despite declining demand and unstable commercial property models. As a result, design-led interventions often produce visible change without addressing the conditions that determine long-term viability. Analysis of key built form typologies—including traditional shopfronts, department stores, post-war commercial blocks and shopping centres—demonstrates how spatial characteristics both enable and constrain adaptation. The paper concludes that high street resilience emerges from the interaction of spatial design, governance capacity and economic viability, and proposes a viability-responsive framework that prioritises adaptable structures, varied unit sizes and coordinated governance to support long-term urban transformation.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020089

Authors: Ana Isabel Lima Pacheco Isabel Clara Neves da Rocha Marques Ricardo Jorge Gonçalves Rocha

This article examines the evolution of computational paradigms in architecture through the articulation of a diachronic framework and a comparative analytical matrix. Moving beyond linear narratives centred on technological progress, the study proposes an interpretation of architectural computation as a layered ecology in which distinct regimes—symbolic, representational, informational, generative, and probabilistic— interact simultaneously. Based on a critical review of historical, theoretical, and technical sources, the study comparatively examines five major paradigmatic moments in the development of architectural computation. Instead of proposing these paradigms as discrete or sequential stages, the article interprets them as interdependent computational layers that continue to coexist within contemporary architectural practice. The findings indicate that the transition from rule-based deterministic systems to learning-based systems introduces a fundamental shift in the nature of architectural computation, moving design processes from controlled execution toward probabilistic exploration. In this context, artificial intelligence does not merely extend existing technical capabilities but reconfigures the relationships between designer, tool, and knowledge. The article concludes that contemporary architecture operates within a layered computational ecology in which multiple paradigms overlap and interact. This perspective allows computation to be understood not only as a set of tools but as an epistemological infrastructure that profoundly transforms architectural practice, its processes, and its critical frameworks.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020088

Authors: Caroline O’Donnell

This essay centers on the term “Ecological Design” in architecture, tracing its development from natural history and evolutionary theory to contemporary architectural theory. Beginning with the term’s biological origins in the work of Darwin and Haeckel in Europe, as well as Swallow in the U.S., the article charts how ecological thinking has shaped the evolution of architectural practice, from nineteenth-century analogies with nature to twentieth-century critiques of technologically driven sustainability and, finally, to contemporary shifts to post-human matters of care. The concept of the niche is proposed to support the translation of ecology into architecture, offering a generative model that pushes beyond normative site responsiveness. Instead, niche thinking considers design as co-evolution between the built form and the environment, structured by cultural and social practice.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020087

Authors: Cintya Eva Sánchez Morales José Carlos López Cervantes

Over the last decade, augmented reality (AR) has been widely adopted in architectural education, yet it is still often treated as a visualization add-on rather than as an operative design medium. This paper argues that AR becomes pedagogically meaningful when it is anchored to physical or graphic artefacts so that overlays function not as final images, but as reversible instruments for testing, adjustment, and spatial verification. Building on reflection-in-action as a model of situated design learning, the study examines two teaching experiences: one focused on the AR-based translation of complex two-dimensional graphic fields into three-dimensional hypotheses, and another centred on kinematic reasoning through equilibrium and iterative adjustment. The article proposes that error within AR-based workflows has a double pedagogical role: first, as corrective feedback, when mismatch reveals imprecision, insufficient legibility, or unstable alignment in the target; and second, as generative design feedback, when recalibration and reconfiguration trigger new spatial hypotheses or bidirectional transfers between physical and digital models. Evidence is based primarily on analytic observation of documented episodes and on visual documentation of process transformations, complemented by a background evaluative scaffold and supplementary student feedback where available. Results indicate that AR can (a) increase the material and graphic precision of the supporting artefact; (b) strengthen spatial and kinematic understanding by making intermediate states and inconsistencies visible; and (c) turn mismatch and recalibration into operative parts of the design process itself. The paper therefore reframes AR in architectural education not as a representational endpoint, but as a medium of verification, adjustment, and projective transformation.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020086

Authors: Nahedh Taha Al-Qemaqchi Ashna Abdulqader Hussein

Kindergarten toilet design influences children’s autonomy, hygiene behaviours, and psychological well-being. Yet systematic architectural evaluations in conflict-affected and developing regions remain scarce. This study conducts a comparative architectural audit of toilet facilities in ten kindergartens in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, assessing design features associated with child-centred principles. A literature-derived framework comprising four domains (Autonomy and Functionality, Health and Hygiene, Safety and Comfort, Aesthetics and Sustainability) was operationalised through 14 architectural indicators and assessed via a five-point rubric. Data sources included architectural drawings and systematic on-site observations. Overall design feature scores ranged from 3.1 to 4.3 (scale 1–5). While basic safety requirements were universally met, significant deficiencies emerged in inclusive design (accessible fixtures present in 3/10 facilities, 30%), advanced hygiene technologies (sensor-activated fixtures in 2/10, 20%), and aesthetic-environmental quality (mean score 2.4/5). Higher-scoring facilities demonstrated closer classroom-toilet proximity (≤6 m vs. >15 m) and distributed rather than centralised layouts. This study does not measure child outcomes or user experiences; it provides an architectural baseline. Current kindergarten toilet design in Erbil achieves functional adequacy but consistently fails to deliver inclusivity, technological innovation, and spatial quality. Policy revision beyond minimum compliance toward child-centred design standards is warranted, with priority given to accessible fixtures and classroom-adjacent layouts.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020085

Authors: Ömer Faruk Kaçmaz Emre Kishalı Nurdan Kuban Orcan

In multi-layered cultural heritage buildings at risk of earthquakes, preserving the authenticity of the heritage building while managing its seismic risk is crucial. However, in such buildings, the sources providing information about the historical process of the building are often fragmented. Due to structural weaknesses and external factors, these buildings suffer damage, leading to interruptions and breaks in their historical continuity. To ensure that a historical building is preserved for the future with all its values intact, it is necessary both to correctly understand the values that have accumulated layer by layer from the past to the present, and to learn from the structural weaknesses and damage that have occurred throughout history. Through the documentation and classification of the data obtained from archival research, this study aims to utilize historical research as a tool for tracing the continuity of structures and revealing earthquake damage mechanisms (specifically, parts exhibiting structural vulnerability). This approach is exemplified by the minaret of the Orhan Gazi Mosque in İzmit and is applicable to cultural heritage sites.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020084

Authors: Narjes Abbasabadi Teresa F. Moroseos Mehdi Ashayeri Christopher Meek

Retrofitting existing residential buildings is a critical strategy for achieving urban decarbonization while addressing public health disparities, particularly in communities disproportionately affected by environmental and socioeconomic stressors. This study presents a scalable urban building energy modeling framework that integrates physics-based simulations with machine learning to evaluate and prioritize health-driven retrofit strategies across residential building stocks. Synthetic datasets were generated through parametric simulations of representative building archetypes and retrofit scenarios, capturing variations in envelope performance, HVAC systems, infiltration rates, and ventilation strategies. Machine learning models were trained as surrogate predictors of building energy performance, enabling the rapid evaluation of retrofit impacts. A range of algorithms—including decision trees, random decision forests, gradient-boosting machines, support vector machines, k-nearest neighbors, and artificial neural networks—were evaluated. An artificial neural network implemented as a multilayer perceptron was selected for further analysis due to its strong predictive performance (R2 = 0.94) and ability to capture complex nonlinear relationships among retrofit variables. The final model used the Port optimization algorithm for stable convergence and improved generalization. The framework is applied to Seattle’s Duwamish Valley, a community experiencing disproportionate environmental and health burdens, and is generalizable and transferable to other cities with comparable residential building stocks across a range of climatic and environmental contexts. The results highlight retrofit priorities—particularly infiltration reduction, HVAC upgrades, and improved envelope performance—that deliver co-benefits for energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and occupant health. The results demonstrate that machine learning-enhanced physics-based UBEM can significantly accelerate retrofit evaluation while preserving the interpretability of simulation-based approaches. The proposed framework provides a scalable approach for identifying health-informed retrofit pathways that support equitable urban decarbonization.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020083

Authors: Rozelin Aydın Fatma Seda Cardak

Post-disaster reconstruction generates extraordinary demand for construction materials, often necessitating the rapid deployment of temporary concrete production facilities. While these systems are operationally essential for rebuilding, their environmental and public health impacts remain insufficiently examined through structured and reproducible analytical approaches. This study develops an integrated qualitative-dominant environmental risk assessment framework combining systematic documentary analysis, environmental pathway modeling, semi-quantitative risk scoring, and comparative benchmarking against established environmental health standards. Focusing on the reconstruction process following the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes in Türkiye, the study identifies and evaluates major environmental exposure pathways, including particulate matter emissions, wastewater discharge, soil degradation, and noise pollution. A semi-quantitative risk assessment model based on probability, severity, and exposure duration is applied to classify the relative intensity of identified environmental risks under post-disaster operational conditions. The findings demonstrate that accelerated reconstruction processes, emergency regulatory flexibility, and rapid industrial deployment substantially amplify cumulative environmental pressures in already vulnerable post-disaster environments. In response, the study proposes an integrated governance and engineering framework aimed at reducing environmental impacts while maintaining reconstruction efficiency. Methodological transparency is ensured through explicit documentation of data sources, screening procedures, analytical criteria, and risk classification logic. The study also acknowledges the limitations associated with restricted access to primary field measurements in post-disaster environments and therefore adopts a triangulated documentary and comparative analytical strategy. The proposed framework offers a transferable model for evaluating temporary industrial infrastructures in post-disaster reconstruction systems globally.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020082

Authors: Zidong He Peter Aning Tedong Hong Ching Goh

Research on platformed placemaking has concentrated primarily on demand-side processes—how places are consumed, represented, and contested through platform mediation—while the supply side remains underexamined. This study investigates how professional actors interpret platform signals and translate them into spatial practice within heritage district regeneration. Drawing on interviews with 35 planners, designers, and operators involved in Beijing Road and Yongqing Fang in Guangzhou, and complemented by field observation, the analysis identifies four strategic dimensions through which professionals configure heritage spaces for platform visibility: variety design, technological interaction, regional characteristics, and serialized activities. To systematize the processes underlying these strategies, the study proposes professional translation as an analytical framework organized around three interconnected dimensions: platform decoding, spatial–temporal encoding, and professional routinization. The study contributes to platformed placemaking scholarship by systematically documenting and analyzing the interpretive labor through which platform signals enter professional spatial practice, extending existing frameworks from consumption-oriented analysis toward the production side of platform-place dynamics.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020081

Authors: Chathuranganee Jayakody Dilanthi Amaratunga Richard Haigh

Public Open Spaces (POSs) are fundamental to sustainable urban development, yet their planning and design potential as resilience-generating infrastructure in coastal cities remains insufficiently explored. In tsunami-prone contexts, POSs can be reconceptualized as multifunctional spatial systems that integrate environmental sustainability with disaster-responsive urban design. This study investigates how POSs can be planned and designed as tsunami-responsive infrastructure to enhance coastal urban resilience. Using a grounded theory approach supported by a focused literature review, data were collected through 72 unstructured interviews with tsunami-affected communities, urban planners and designers, disaster resilience experts, sociologists, and coastal environmental planners, etc. The findings identify three resilience-oriented POS typologies: (1) evacuation-integrated open spaces structured as spatial corridors and elevated assembly landscapes; (2) protective and mitigative landscapes employing topographic modulation, vegetative buffers, and water-sensitive design; and (3) adaptive shelter-embedded open spaces designed as flexible civic grounds capable of rapid transformation into temporary refuge infrastructure. The study proposes an architectural and urban design framework that positions POSs as adaptive coastal infrastructure simultaneously serving everyday civic functions while supporting evacuation, mitigation, emergency response, and climate adaptation. This approach advances resilience-focused architecture and risk-informed coastal urbanism.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020080

Authors: Modeste Yaovi Awoussi Eugene Kodzo Anani Domtse Déla Komlan Gake Paolo Vincenzo Genovese Yao Dziwonou

Due to rapid urbanization, climate and socio-economic change, vernacular architecture in the Kara region of Togo is now facing mutations that threaten its existence. In the Kara region, new forms of housing, inspired by ancestral building practices and green technologies, are emerging as neo-vernacular architecture. This study aims to evaluate the overall performance of the CIDAP social hall, which is considered a model of neo-vernacular architecture. Through a series of both qualitative and quantitative tools, including the VerSus tool, the PTVA method and the calculation of the temperature difference ratio (TDR), the CIDAP social hall was analyzed regarding the criteria of durability, vulnerability to climatic hazards and thermal comfort. This work indicates that this building achieves a sustainability score of 88.33%. In terms of vulnerability to climatic hazards, the vulnerability index is around 0.392 for heavy rainfall, 0.389 for high heat and 0.309 for strong wind hazard. For thermal behavior, the TDR is of the order of 0.634. All these results reveal a satisfactory performance of the CIDAP social hall in terms of durability, vulnerability and thermal comfort.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020079

Authors: Alessio Dionigi Battistella

The accelerating climate crisis and resource depletion demand new architectural paradigms that move beyond linear models of production and consumption. While the concept of Intelligent Ecologies is often associated with digital and artificial intelligence systems, this study reinterprets it through the lens of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), vernacular architecture, and constraint-based innovation. Grounded in a critical reading of key references in ecological knowledge, vernacular studies, circular economy theory, and responsible innovation, the paper develops a conceptual framework tracing a trajectory from TEK to adaptive and circular design. Two architectural case studies, the ARCò kindergarten in Sant’Alessio (biological cycle) and the Parabase Elementa housing project in Basel (technical cycle), are analysed to demonstrate how natural and collective intelligence can be operationalised in contemporary practice. The findings show that circularity emerges not as an added sustainability layer but as the logical outcome of design under ecological and material constraints. The study concludes that Intelligent Ecologies should be understood as socio-ecological systems in which architecture participates in living processes through adaptive, regenerative, and temporally open strategies, thereby repositioning innovation as continuity with historically embedded forms of ecological intelligence rather than technological rupture.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020078

Authors: Jonathan Letzter

Building details are often treated as technical externalities, subordinate to form, image and architectural narrative. Reading details as liminal spaces reverses that hierarchy. The joint concentrates transitions between the inside and outside, public and private, exposure and protection, and these transitions are constructed as intervals, experienced through thickness, reveal, edge condition, shadow, touch, and the small resistances that accompany crossing. The article develops its analysis through archival hand-drawn detail drawings from the Azrieli Architectural Archive. It defines building details as both technical assemblies and threshold devices, points where architecture becomes accountable to perception as well as to climate, labor, regulation, and everyday use. A semiotic reading of large-scale sheets shows how line weight, hatching, notation, and layout encode priorities, marking boundaries between what must be precisely resolved and what may remain adjustable. The archive is treated as a laboratory of “detail families,” recurring junction types such as windows, stairs, and envelope edges that reveal office-specific languages of joining. Two case studies, by the architects Ram Karmi and Arieh Sharon with Eldar Sharon, show how micro-variations in depth, overlap, and edge control tune thresholds, producing perceptual tipping points where comfort can shift into irritation, calm into unease, and openness into vulnerability. Although grounded in a local archive, the argument addresses a broader condition of contemporary practice: standardization and digital production chains can relocate authorship and responsibility away from the joint, precisely where buildings most affect everyday conduct. The paper proposes a liminal literacy of detailing as both a historiographic method and a design ethic aimed at making threshold decisions legible, contestable, and accountable in present-day workflows.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020077

Authors: Eleni Margariti Vasilis Vlachokyriakos Abigail Durrant David Kirk

This work involves the building occupants of a smart building during a period of hybrid working, with the purpose of co-designing data-rich workplaces that support wellbeing. Through the design of a custom card-kit based on PROWELL Model of Workplace Wellbeing Assessment, this work provides insights from an online 90 min co-design workshop with six building occupants utilizing the card-kit to speculate on the design of data-driven physical interventions that support workplace wellbeing. Transcript data from the video-recorded workshop were thematically analyzed, producing findings namely framing novel socio-technical dimensions for biophilic and biomimetic designs in the built environment. Contributing to discourses on Human-Building Interaction (HBI) research, findings were synthesized into a design agenda and considerations for supporting wellbeing in the hybrid workplace that utilizes physical feedback and passive sensing. Composed under the premise of co-creating smart environments together with their occupants, the proposed agenda highlights areas of critical research interest for HBI, Biophilic Design and Soft Robotics in the built environment.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020076

Authors: Aysegul Ozlem Bayraktar Sari Wassim Jabi

Graph-based spatial analysis methods are widely used to evaluate accessibility, visibility, spatial hierarchy, and movement-related properties of architectural floor plans. However, these analyses are often conducted using standalone tools and separate simplified models, which can delay design feedback and introduce additional data preparation steps. This paper presents a BIM-embedded computational workflow for configuring, computing, and visualising spatial graph analyses within Autodesk Revit using Dynamo, Python scripting, and the Accessibility and Visibility Analysis (AVA) package. The contribution is not the development of new graph algorithms, but the documentation of a reproducible workflow that sequences existing tools, graph construction settings, metric configuration, spatial measure computation, and 2D/3D visual feedback within a modelling environment. The workflow is demonstrated through a two-storey residential case study and supports accessibility, visibility, centrality measures, visual step depth, shortest path, isovist, object visibility, and activity-based origin–destination analysis. Particular attention is given to incorporating vertical circulation connections into level-based accessibility graphs for selected cross-level movement analysis. Building on prior AVA–DepthmapX verification by the authors, the paper focuses on workflow transparency, reproducibility, and multi-level accessibility representation. The findings indicate that BIM-embedded spatial graph analysis can support iterative, performance-informed design evaluation.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020075

Authors: David Anderson Sandra Carrasco

The growing scale and duration of global displacement driven by complex humanitarian crises pose significant challenges for humanitarian shelter and settlement planning. Refugees and displaced persons often live long-term in settlements and collective accommodation initially intended as temporary, which are frequently characterised by overcrowding, limited privacy, inadequate infrastructure, and uncertain living conditions, heightening psychological distress. Despite the recognition of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in humanitarian response, the role of the built environment and its impact on MHPSS remains underexplored. This study utilises a systematic-informed review of academic and grey literature to examine how healing architecture can support humanitarian settlement planning, with a focus on the wellbeing of displaced communities. Literature was identified through searches in Web of Science and Google Scholar, alongside selected publications from United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations, resulting in a total of 34 documents included in the analysis. The paper addresses three research questions: What mental health challenges are most common among displaced populations? What healing architecture strategies are most relevant, and how do they influence mental health? How and under what conditions can healing architecture strategies contribute to humanitarian settlement planning to support wellbeing? Studies were identified through database and repository searches, appraised for quality, and synthesised using thematic analysis. Findings highlight key design strategies, including access to private and communal spaces, connection to nature, and culturally responsive layouts. Although the analysis identified contextual and methodological limitations in humanitarian settlement planning, integrating healing architecture offers practical pathways to enhance wellbeing through participatory and inclusive design.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020074

Authors: Christopher Bamborough Matthias Hank Haeusler Michael J. Ostwald Mohsen Kafaei Yousef A. Y. Thaher Daniel Oteng Jane Burry Mark Burry Tim Schork

This qualitative research investigates the adoption of Circular Economy (CE) principles in contemporary Australian architectural practice, referred to as circularity, to address climate change, resource scarcity, and increasing demands for built-environment resilience. The Australian government’s 2035 national circularity target, which aims to double 2024 levels, will have profound implications for architectural practice. This research examines the current and future ability of practices to adopt circularity. It addresses two specific knowledge gaps: (i) how circularity is currently being adopted by architectural practices in Australia, and (ii) what factors restrict or undermine this adoption. To address these gaps, the research draws on insights developed from focus groups and interviews (n = 33 participants) with professional Australian architectural service providers and closely related design and engineering practitioners. Qualitative data collection captured empirical evidence on the barriers, challenges, and opportunities for circularity, followed by NVivo-based Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) that iteratively and inductively identified emerging themes. The findings indicate that architects’ and associated practitioners’ adoption of circularity in Australia is evident but constrained by short-term project horizons, fragmented responsibilities, limited procurement infrastructure, and uncertainty about material supply and skilled labour. The paper concludes that, despite some conceptual ambiguity and structural limitations in current practice models, adoption remains fragmented and selective and offers actions for architects and other stakeholders to address logistical infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, legal contracts, and barriers stemming from a short-term economic value mindset.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020073

Authors: Lourdes Royo Naranjo Gema Carrera Díaz Aniceto Delgado Méndez Virginia Rodríguez Díaz

This research addresses the latent disconnect between citizens and World Heritage sites, analysing how intensive tourism and declarations focused on monuments (1980s–1990s) have created a distance that makes managing these heritage sites very difficult. The main objective is to propose and validate participatory methodologies that restore social bonds and strengthen urban governance. The identified knowledge gap lies in the lack of operational tools that allow the theory of participation to be put into actual practice, overcoming the current methodological void in assessing social and economic impacts. Under the methodology of the WHATS-UP project, an action-research approach is employed that combines ethnographic work, mapping of key actors, and participatory workshops with shared walking tours in the Alhambra and the Alcázar. This data is integrated into Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) to map social perceptions of values and risks. The results show that, although tourism has led to alienation and gentrification, the participatory process succeeds in rescuing “invisible values”, such as memories and traditional trades, that are absent from official narratives. In conclusion, the study proposes a consensus-based co-management model between institutions and the community, transforming heritage into a resource for urban cohesion and resilience. This integration of methodologies, which combines collective mapping with safeguarding plans, enables progress toward protection strategies that are more effective and better reflect contemporary social realities.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020072

Authors: Yacine Merad Lahcene Bouzouaid Kamal Youcef

Architectural and urban quality, or spatial quality, is inherently difficult to objectify due to its subjective nature. Traditional surveys can identify general trends but lack numerical precision. This study proposes a “qualitative quantification” model that transforms subjective judgments into measurable values and tracks their evolution throughout the production process. Based on evaluation criteria decomposition and Hanrot’s MATEA framework, the model measures a large set of indicators related to the spatial quality of the built environment, including accessibility, density, visual comfort, functionality, maintenance and several other aspects. It generates a conceptual and graphical radar evaluation scheme, integrating production stages with quantified indicators. Applied to the outdoor spaces of 40 collective housing estates in Biskra, southeastern Algeria, the model objectively confirms the poor spatial quality perceived subjectively by residents and other stakeholders. Results reveal negative evaluations in design, construction, use and maintenance reflecting systemic deficiencies and governance challenges. This approach contributes to post-occupancy evaluation and sustainable urban development assessment, providing a reproducible framework for quantifying and visualizing spatial quality throughout architectural and urban production, enabling planners and designers to identify weaknesses and monitor improvements over time.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020071

Authors: Ingrid Farfan Renata Tubelo

Heritage buildings constitute a significant element of the United Kingdom’s (UK) built environment, with 460,000 listed buildings across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These assets present substantial challenges for national decarbonisation due to statutory constraints on fabric alteration and the need to consider whole-life carbon impacts. This study evaluates the impact of conservation-compatible retrofit strategies on the operational energy and carbon performance of Fitzroy House, a Grade II listed late-modern office building in Nottingham. Dynamic building simulation (IES Virtual Environment) was used to assess baseline performance and to develop two retrofit scenarios incorporating improvements to glazing, airtightness, roof insulation, and the introduction of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR). Climate resilience was evaluated using future weather files for the 2080s. Results are derived from comparative scenario-based modelling rather than calibrated predictions of absolute performance. Within this framework, the proposed measures can reduce annual heating demand by up to 68%, cooling demand by 60%, and operational carbon emissions by approximately 41% (district heating) to 64% (natural gas), relative to the as-built baseline under the most advanced retrofit scenario. Performance remains broadly robust under future climate scenarios, although cooling loads increase modestly. The findings demonstrate that, while meaningful reductions in operational carbon are achievable, retrofit outcomes are fundamentally shaped by conservation constraints, which act as an interpretive framework defining the limits and possibilities of intervention. However, results should be interpreted as indicative of relative performance improvements rather than fully generalizable or predictive outcomes, and embodied carbon impacts are not included within the scope of this study. The research provides an evidence-based pathway for improving similar late-modern listed office buildings while highlighting the limits imposed by conservation requirements and existing building fabric.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020070

Authors: Barbara Pierpaoli Edwin Gonzalez Meza

In a context marked by the Anthropocene, the climate crisis, and the contemporary blockage of political and projective imagination, utopias and dystopias re-emerge as fundamental critical instruments for architecture. Far from constituting evasive or unrealizable exercises, these constructions operate as epistemological and projective devices capable of exploring possible futures, revealing latent tensions, and questioning the ideological frameworks that shape the built environment. This article examines speculative design as a contemporary updating of the utopian and dystopian tradition in architecture, understood not as a normative model but as a critical method for imagining radical transformations of dwelling in response to the current ecological, social, and geopolitical urgencies. Drawing on a series of projects developed within the university context, it analyses how architectural speculation, enhanced by artificial intelligence tools, enables the exploration of alternative scenarios of urbanization, adaptive habitats, and new relationships between architecture, territory, and nature. The cases analysed show that the combination of utopia, dystopia, and emerging technologies fosters an understanding of architecture as an open, dynamic, and relational system capable of responding to contexts of high uncertainty. The article argues that the return of utopian imagination, now mediated by speculative practices and digital tools, constitutes a relevant contribution to the contemporary debate on new forms of urbanization, flexible megastructures, and sustainable architectural futures.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020069

Authors: Nasrin Golshany Hessam Ghamari Poojitha Gidugu Yash Pansheriya

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in shaping employee well-being, satisfaction, and work performance, particularly in hybrid workplace settings. This mixed-methods study examined how integrated IEQ conditions influence employee experience in a public-sector hybrid workplace through a case study of the WorkHub, a technology-enabled flexible workspace embedded within a large municipal utility. Quantitative data were collected from 93 valid survey responses using the Workplace Environment Satisfaction and Performance Questionnaire (WESP-Q™), and qualitative insights were obtained from a 90-min participatory think tank session with 24 employees. Results showed that WorkHub users reported significantly higher satisfaction across 15 of 18 environmental and spatial dimensions, including layout, thermal comfort, air quality, lighting, furnishings, cleanliness, and overall building experience. They also reported significantly stronger outcomes in collaboration access, work transition, focus support, work efficiency, workspace productivity, pride in work, and job satisfaction. Qualitative findings reinforced these results, highlighting technology integration, daylight, and spatial flexibility as key strengths, while identifying acoustics, thermal discomfort, and limited privacy as persistent challenges. These findings support a systems-oriented, human-centered approach to workplace design, demonstrating that integrated IEQ can enhance employee experience, collaboration, and organizational performance in hybrid public-sector environments.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020068

Authors: Seyedeh Maryam Moosavi Còssima Cornadó Reza Askarizad Mana Dastoum

This study addresses the critical challenge of translating the profound social, spatial, and cultural dynamics of the traditional introverted Persian house into more tangible design metrics for contemporary Iranian housing. Relying on qualitative data from twenty-four diverse expert interviews across architecture, urban planning, and policy, the research demonstrates a broad consensus that the notion of replicating historical form is unsustainable. Instead, it indicates that the introverted configuration is likely a context-specific ontological imperative—viewed here as a fundamental socio-spatial requirement—rooted in measurable performance, serving simultaneous social, cultural, psychological, and environmental paradigms. The main findings show that preserving cultural continuity requires a shift from aesthetic conservation to prescriptive configuration. This logic is synthesised into a consolidated socio-spatial framework, whose originality lies in introducing three regulatory design instruments: (1) the sequenced depth and filtration protocol for spatial arrangement; (2) the controlled visual and environmental parameters for façade performance; and (3) the cultural adaptability and resilience requirement for functional programming. The framework’s prescriptive metrics, such as minimum space syntax values and the visual filtering coefficient, provide regulatory bodies with the precise technical tools necessary to enforce cultural protocols like privacy and dignity in high-density urban developments. While these metrics serve as an operationally promising model, they represent a theoretical framework that requires further empirical validation in diverse contemporary residential settings before mandatory regulatory adoption. This framework offers a pragmatic pathway for safeguarding Iranian housing’s cultural identity, ensuring future developments are certified not only for safety and structure, but for their adherence to the fundamental socio-spatial contract of the Persian dwelling.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020067

Authors: Luca Trabattoni Margherita Capotorto

This study investigates the role of glamping within outdoor tourism as a potential tool for preserving and enhancing local landscape identity. Despite its rapid growth, glamping remains weakly defined within regulatory and design frameworks. The paper aims to explore whether a design-oriented approach can redefine glamping as a landscape-based practice rather than a purely market-driven phenomenon, with particular reference to the Italian context. The research adopts a qualitative research-by-design methodology, combining a critical literature review with the development of two pilot projects located in distinct settings: a natural hilly landscape and a rural agricultural context. These projects function as experimental tools to test spatial, ecological, and perceptual design strategies, focusing on settlement density, landscape integration, and experiential quality. The findings identify recurring principles that enable the codification of the glamping–landscape relationship, including low-density configurations, reversibility of structures, respect for existing morphology, and reinforcement of landscape identity. Landscape elements such as topography, vegetation, and visual relationships emerge as primary drivers of design. The study contributes to the discourse by reframing glamping as a landscape design practice, proposing a reversible and context-sensitive model of temporary inhabitation that supports sustainable tourism development.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020066

Authors: Carlo-Ferdinando de Nardis Mariangela De Vita Alessio Gabriele

This paper presents a systematic review, conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines, synthesising evidence on how visual and spatial features of classical concert settings—such as performer visibility, seating position and sightlines, stage layout, lighting, and vibrotactile cues—shape listeners’ engagement and judgments. RILM, APA PsycNet, PubMed, and Scopus were searched for peer-reviewed experimental studies that manipulated or compared visual/spatial dimensions and reported subjective or physiological outcomes relevant to live, non-amplified contexts. Titles, abstracts, and full texts were screened, and data were extracted and analysed with respect to study design, stimulus environment, outcome measures, and main effects. Heterogeneity across studies precluded meta-analysis; therefore, a narrative synthesis was conducted. A total of 23 publications—22 experiments and one meta-analysis—met the inclusion criteria: the reviewed studies primarily examined issues related to visual presence and spatial configuration. Most studies relied on laboratory or home-based audiovisual reproductions, with only one study collecting data in a naturalistic performance setting. The evidence is limited by methodological heterogeneity, the predominance of simulated environments, and variability in outcome measures. Overall, visual and spatial factors substantially shape classical music listening and the audience experience, underscoring the need for more field-based and methodologically standardised research.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020065

Authors: Md Shariful Alam Narjes Abbasabadi

Integrating direct air carbon capture (DAC) into buildings offers a promising pathway for reducing atmospheric CO2, yet the role of architectural design in enhancing passive carbon-capture performance remains underexplored. This study presents a computational framework developed to optimize architectural design and enclosure geometry for enhanced passive airflow, using mass-flow rate as a proxy for the comparative assessment of carbon absorption potential. Implemented within Rhino3D and Grasshopper using Ladybug and Eddy3D, the workflow integrates weather data and CFD simulation to compute segmented mass-flow rates through stacked capture trays. The framework simplifies traditionally complex CFD processes by introducing a custom segmented mass-flow calculation approach that enables comparative performance assessment during early-stage design. Results confirm the validity of the proposed workflow, revealing that façade rotation can modify total mass flow by up to 96.5%; seasonal wind variability can cause airflow to range from approximately 8.5 kg/s in January to 169.5 kg/s in May in Seattle. Spatial configuration can alter airflow by up to an order of magnitude and introduce substantial spatial heterogeneity within capture zones. This research establishes a performance-driven design framework that enables architectural geometry to actively enhance passive carbon-capture integration, positioning building design as a measurable contributor to climate mitigation strategies. Ultimately, this work bridges architectural design and carbon-capture engineering, supporting interdisciplinary approaches to scalable, climate-responsive building systems.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020064

Authors: Heba M. Abdou Nanees Abdelhamid Elsayyad Heba M. Hafez

This study presents a systematic review and an integrative interpretive synthesis of the architectural literature addressing sensory–interactive design strategies in early childhood learning environments that support children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Down Syndrome (DS), and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Following a systematic review conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines, twenty-nine peer-reviewed studies were analyzed to examine how environmental design variables may influence sensory load, cognitive processing, emotional stability, and behavioral engagement across neurodevelopmental profiles. Rather than remaining within conventional descriptive approaches, architectural variables—including lighting, color, acoustics, materials, spatial configuration, and environmental controllability—are reconceptualized as regulatory dimensions shaping child–environment interactions. The synthesis suggests that identical environmental variables may elicit divergent, and at times conflicting, sensory–emotional and behavioral responses among children with ASD, DS, and ADHD, highlighting the limitations of standardized design solutions. Accordingly, the study proposes the Sensory–Interactive Architecture Framework (SIAF), an analytical framework that links neurodevelopmental response patterns with sensory–emotional regulation mechanisms and environmental design variables as regulatory dimensions. The findings indicate that effective inclusive design does not rely on generalized sensory interventions but rather on the deliberate regulation of sensory variability through more legible, graded, and controllable spatial systems, thereby promoting learning engagement, emotional stability, and adaptive behavior in neurodiverse children.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020063

Authors: Huizi Deng Muhammad Azzam Ismail Dan He Yunlong Niu Raha Sulaiman

Children’s affinity for natural elements, or biophilic preferences, has gained increasing recognition as a cornerstone of family-centered sustainability. This study examines how parental factors, specifically environmental attitudes and in-home biophilic design plus guidance, directly shape children’s preference for nature-infused environments. A cross-sectional survey (N = 397) for parents collected data on household greenery, animal care, parental attitudes toward environmental responsibility, and the degree of child involvement with natural elements. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the analysis identified proactive parental mindsets and frequent biophilic home modifications as significant predictors of stronger child affinity for plants, water features, and other nature-inspired components. The findings highlight several key parental and environmental factors that contribute to the development of children’s biophilic preferences, underscoring the importance of coordinated efforts among families, communities, and policymakers to nurture children’s environmental consciousness. By highlighting how indoor greenery, small-scale animal care, and intentional parental support can foster early engagement with nature, this research offers fresh insights into the synergy between biophilic design and sustainable family practices. Emphasizing the potential role of home-based natural elements in enhancing children’s environmental awareness, the study concludes that nature-rich living spaces and holistic sustainability interventions are essential for empowering the next generation to shape a more sustainable future.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020062

Authors: Gledis Gjata Satoshi Yamada

Discourse on Japanese architecture relies on qualitative interpretation to link abstract concepts such as “ma” and “mu”, used here as illustrative examples of the conceptual register, with physical spaces, such as engawa, yet lacks quantitative, data-driven validation. This study addresses this gap by testing two primary hypotheses: (1) whether abstract Japanese architectural terms form a distinct, computationally recoverable conceptual layer, and (2) whether the corresponding concrete architectural devices cohere into a unified physical mesh rather than being fragmented into unrelated subclusters. We investigate this using a Natural Language Processing (NLP) framework centred on a fine-tuned BERT model, utilising an exhaustive Adjusted Rand Index (ARI) enumeration search over two-way partitions on a target vocabulary of 28 terms. Furthermore, a “definitional audit” compares a FULL corpus against a CLEAN corpus, stripped of explicit glossary-like sentences, to mitigate “shortcut learning”, allowing sensitivity at the conceptual physical boundary to be inspected. Both hypotheses are supported. A stable two-block structure appears across all evaluations, comprising a compact conceptual pocket {aware, ma, mu, wabi, sabi, and wabi_sabi} and a larger physical mesh integrating vocabulary for room, garden, and shrine. Interface structure concentrates in a narrow boundary corridor, most consistently along the engawa–shakkei linkage, with en acting as the principal physical-side interface hub under sparsified network views. In the definitional audit (FULL versus CLEAN), ikezuishi is the only recurrently unstable item, shifting sides under small, defensible changes in corpus cleaning and Japanese-aware sentence segmentation, which is best read as a sensitivity signal rather than a substantive change in macro-structure. Removing glossary-like definitions slightly tightens dispersion while preserving the backbone split, which supports definitional audits as a practical robustness check for distributional studies of architectural vocabularies.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020061

Authors: Vincenzo Sapienza Gianluca Rodonò Irene Di Stefano

The need to create more sustainable and energy-efficient buildings drives the search for new materials to be used in the construction sector. Paper and cardboard-based products can fit very well in this context. Specifically, this article aims to identify the main components for the Architecture and Engineering Construction sector, as well as the prototypes and buildings already constructed using systems that incorporate corrugated cardboard, attempting to gather the identified values found in individual studies for the main characteristics such as mechanical, thermal and acoustic properties. Due to the diversity of the samples (i.e., shape and type of cardboard), a direct comparison between the identified components and systems is not possible. However, the diversity of the products found demonstrates that there is a certain interest in this field.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020060

Authors: Liangyu Chen Zhen Chen Feng Dong

This article presents a systematic bibliometric analysis on academic research into Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in Architectural Conceptual Design (ACD). Based on a curated selection of publications indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases between 2010 and 2025, this article shows a study that maps the intellectual evolution, thematic composition, and methodological trends of the field. By using the software tool VOSviewer, this study generates a series of knowledge graphs, including Keyword Co-Occurrence and International Collaboration Networks. The findings from this study reveal a rapid acceleration in AI-related research focused on the conceptual design stage, highlighting its transformative potential for architectural practice. Through a critical analysis of bibliometric results, this study identifies dominant research emphases, emerging directions, and persistent frictions between academic approaches and industry adoption. This review article contributes to the theoretical consolidation of AI applications in ACD and provides a structured foundation for future ACD-related research and practice.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020059

Authors: Abdelfatah Bousbia Laiche Armstrong Ighodalo Omoregie Alaa Abdalla Saeid Ali Nur Dalilah Dahlan Zalina Shari Taki Eddine Seghier Khair Eddine Demdoum Thangaraj Pramila

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) significantly impacts people’s comfort, health, and productivity in buildings, and modern green rating systems are primarily focused on energy efficiency rather than the direct user experience. This paper analyses the relationship between IEQ and the perceived quality of life (QoL) of certified and conventional office buildings in Malaysia using a mixed-methods design. The questionnaires were completed by 162 employees working in four open-plan offices: two were certified under the Green Building Index (GBI) established in Malaysia, and two were traditional. This was supplemented by 14 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups. The factors of IEQ were divided into ambient, designed, and behavioral environments. It was statistically determined that behavioral factors, such as visual privacy, personalization, ergonomics, and control, exhibited the strongest correlations with overall QoL, compared to ambient factors such as air quality or thermal comfort. Green buildings performed better in terms of daylighting and esthetics than conventional buildings, though they did not always deliver higher occupant satisfaction. The results indicate that current green certification frameworks pay insufficient attention to occupant-centered aspects. The proposed research adds a validated IEQ-QoL framework that predicts the incorporation of subjective user experience into building performance indicators, which can be important for certification reform, post-occupancy evaluation (POE), and human-centered sustainable design approaches.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020058

Authors: Doris Esenarro Jamil Perez Anthony Navarro Ronaldo Ricaldi Jesica Vilchez Cairo Karina Milagros Alvarado Perez Duilio Aguilar Vizcarra Jenny Rios Navio

In recent decades, the Ucayali region, the main territory of the Asheninka communities, has experienced increasing socio-environmental pressures associated with climate change, educational inequality, and territorial vulnerability in rural and indigenous contexts. In response, this research proposes the design of a sustainable agricultural school for the Asheninka community, conceived as an educational building that integrates biophilic strategies to enhance environmental performance and spatial quality. The methodological approach comprises a literature review, site-specific environmental analysis based on hydrometeorological data, and the development of an architectural proposal focused on sustainable building design. Digital tools such as Revit and SketchUp were employed alongside official climatic data sources to support design decision-making. The proposal includes twelve biophilic agricultural classrooms incorporating passive design strategies, rainwater harvesting systems with a capacity of 22.5 m3 per day per classroom, and photovoltaic-powered public lighting systems. Results indicate that the integration of natural ventilation, green infrastructure, and locally sourced materials contributes to significant improvements in thermal comfort, humidity control, and energy autonomy within the educational facilities. The architectural complex is complemented by green corridors and collective open spaces that reinforce environmental performance at the site scale. This study demonstrates that sustainable educational buildings adapted to local ecosystems and climatic conditions can function as effective infrastructures for environmental mitigation and resilient rural development, contributing to more sustainable forms of urban and rural living.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020057

Authors: Abdulrahman Alymani Mohammed Alsofiani Sara Mandou Zahra Alubaidan Noor Al Tuwaijri

This study presents one of the first empirical assessments of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) adoption within architectural academia and the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry in Saudi Arabia. Using a cross-sectional survey of 113 respondents—60 academics and 53 industry professionals—the research examines familiarity, current usage, perceived benefits, challenges, and future readiness for AI/ML integration. Results show high familiarity and strong perceived importance across both sectors, yet actual implementation remains uneven. Very large firms demonstrate the highest adoption capacity, while small and medium-sized firms face financial and organizational constraints. Academic institutions exhibit moderate familiarity but limited curricular and research integration due to faculty expertise gaps, restricted access to tools, and traditional pedagogical structures. Despite these barriers, both sectors consistently identify AI/ML as critical for enhancing creativity, efficiency, and industry preparedness. The study highlights organizational capacity as the primary determinant of adoption. It concludes with recommendations for curriculum reform, faculty training, industry–academia collaboration, and national policy frameworks to accelerate digital transformation aligned with Saudi Vision 2030. This research establishes a foundational baseline for future longitudinal and comparative studies on AI/ML integration in the regional architectural ecosystem.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020056

Authors: Mazin Al-Saffar

The form of a city evolves as the complexity of its systems increases. This study discusses how urban growth challenges have contributed to the deterioration of built environments and cultural heritage assets. It investigates how smart sustainable city (SSC) strategies have become significant policy instruments in regenerating Baghdad’s future built heritage and advancing the conservation of the city’s architectural heritage, infrastructure systems, and quality of life. The study aims to investigate how SSC methods can serve as the main element for managing complex urban data and advancing heritage, socio-economic, and environmental sustainability. The research employs mixed methods such as mapping, serial vision, and walking tools to survey Baghdad’s heritage centre (Old Rusafa) natural and built environment and cultural heritage condition. Together, these methods provide a comprehensive understanding of the heritage area’s physical and socio-cultural dimensions. It is argued that achieving smart urban heritage requires the adoption of sustainable strategies that promote the conservation of architectural heritage. Accordingly, the research outcomes enhance understanding of the smart sustainable city concept (SSC) impact on Baghdad city’s cultural heritage regeneration and allow for the creation of an Index Wheel, which provides city stakeholders with a range of strategies and indicators to conserve Baghdad’s built heritage sustainably.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020055

Authors: Vanja Spasenović Ana Nikezić

Spatial qualities are central to architectural reasoning; yet, in studio-based education, they often remain implicit rather than structured as a shared analytical framework. This study examines how a multi-scalar taxonomy of spatial qualities can function as a collaborative analytical language in studio-based architectural education. Situated in Košanćićev venac and Dorćol, two historically layered areas of Belgrade’s old town, this study integrates expert spatial analysis with a student questionnaire administered across bachelor and master study levels. Empirical testing was conducted to evaluate structural coherence, conceptual differentiation and the distribution of spatial qualities across detail, architectural and urban drawing scales. The findings indicate consistent internal stability, clear differentiation among constructs and statistically significant cross-scale articulation. Form- and composition-related qualities showed high usability, while interpretative constructs were more variable. Master-level students demonstrated greater engagement with cognitive and interpretative constructs, indicating a shift toward more conceptually grounded design reasoning without affecting overall structural coherence. These results suggest that spatial qualities can operate as a level-independent analytical language, supporting inclusive participation, shared interpretation and structured dialogue within the design studio. By positioning spatial qualities as a collaborative pedagogical framework, this study contributes to interdisciplinary communication and more equitable engagement in architectural education.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020054

Authors: Yasmin Ahmed Al-Razaz Osama Mahmoud Abo Eleinen Basma Nashaat

Public spaces (PSs) are vital to urban life, enhancing environmental sustainability, fostering social connections, and boosting public health. Cities have suffered from pandemics, which are becoming more frequent. Recent health crises have revealed significant shortcomings in public spaces’ capacity to preserve social support, safety, and functionality during pandemics. Despite urban resilience having developed as a critical concept for tackling such difficulties, its implementation in PS design remains limited, particularly in low- and middle-income contexts. The study’s main aim is to ascertain how ideas of urban resilience (UR) can be turned into measurable metrics to create and evaluate resilient public spaces during health crises. Several methods, including spatial analysis and questionnaire-based evaluations (n = 145), were analyzed using the Relative Importance Index (RII). This approach highlights key resilience factors, such as flexibility, accessibility, inclusion, and adaptation, that influence the effectiveness of PSs. The results indicate that “Safety & Well-being” emerged as the highest-ranked resilience dimension (RII = 0.636), suggesting that focusing on resilience in design can improve the long-term effectiveness of PSs by supporting social well-being, multifunctionality during crises, and compliance with health guidelines. By (1) translating urban resilience theory into clear PS indicators; (2) empirically assessing and ranking these indicators based on expert and user perspectives; and (3) developing a contextual framework specific to Egyptian cities and similar urban environments, this study advances existing research. These findings offer practical guidance for architects, urban planners, and policymakers to build flexible, inclusive, and resilient PSs capable of facing current and future challenges.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020053

Authors: Milinda Pathiraja

This paper examines the political dimension of architecture in developing and post-conflict economies by shifting the focus from representational aesthetics to the organisation of production. Drawing on critical theory and political economy, it contends that architecture is political not through explicit ideology but through its impact on relationships among labour, knowledge, material systems, and institutional authority. The paper challenges the historic divide between thinker and maker, rooted in Alberti’s ideas, and examines how frameworks such as critical regionalism often aestheticise marginality while overlooking construction labour and political economy. Empirically, the study analyses six architectural projects in post-war Sri Lanka from 2013 to 2023, employing a qualitative, practice-based case study approach. These projects are viewed as social processes, emphasising labour organisation, knowledge exchange, material choices, procurement, and tectonics. The results show how small architectural interventions can serve as civic and pedagogical infrastructures, revealing labour, redistributing expertise, and strategically engaging with state and donor systems. A normative framework is proposed to redirect architectural politics towards production rather than mere representation.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020052

Authors: María Luisa Nolé Anakin Pagan Antoni Montañana Carmen Llinares

In recent decades, bathroom design has undergone significant changes driven by technological advances, aesthetic trends, and social transformations. Despite their relevance to daily routines and quality of life, bathrooms remain underexplored with regard to how cladding materials influence users’ psychological experience. This study aims to analyze the effects of different bathroom cladding materials on perception, emotional response, and purchase intention. An online experiment was conducted using a single-factor experimental design with five types of cladding materials (ceramic, vinyl, wood, microcement, and natural stone). A total of 58 participants evaluated five virtual bathroom stimuli through self-report measures assessing perceived well-being, perceived stress, perceived functionality, perceived aesthetic preference, perceived cost, emotional valence, and purchase intention. Data were analyzed using nonparametric statistical tests. The results revealed significant differences across all perceptual dimensions depending on the cladding material. Wood and natural stone were associated with higher levels of perceived well-being and more pleasant emotional responses, whereas microcement was linked to higher perceived stress and lower aesthetic evaluations. In addition, affective variables—particularly aesthetic preference—emerged as the strongest predictors of purchase intention. These findings highlight the importance of bathroom materiality in shaping emotional experience and decision-making processes, and emphasize the role of cladding selection in promoting psychological well-being within domestic environments.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020051

Authors: Jinoh Park Michelle Boyoung Huh Marjan Miri Melissa Hoelting Samantha Flores Yashaswini Karagaiah Mahdi Afkhami

Open-plan workplaces are often associated with increased sensory exposure, which may present challenges for adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a condition characterized by atypical arousal regulation and sensory sensitivity. Although the Prospect–Refuge Theory suggests that spatial configuration may influence perceived security and attentional states, objective neurophysiological evidence in workplace contexts remains limited. This exploratory pilot study employed a mixed design to examine whether desk orientation and office enclosure were associated with differences in neural activity among adults with ADHD (n = 6). Four desk configurations were tested within each office setting, while two office types (Open Office and Enclosed Private Office) were examined between participants. Neurophysiological data were collected using portable electroencephalography (EEG), and power spectral density (PSD) across canonical frequency bands was analyzed during standardized cognitive tasks. Results indicated context-dependent spatial effects. In the Open Office setting, configurations providing both outward visibility and visual backing were associated with lower beta and gamma power relative to orientations lacking these features. In the Enclosed Private Office, orientation-related differences were not statistically significant. These preliminary findings suggest that desk orientation may influence neural indicators of cognitive demand in open-plan environments. Given the small sample size, results should be interpreted cautiously but contribute initial physiological evidence to neurodiversity-informed workplace research.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6020050

Authors: Keith Diaz Moore

Building on Gutman’s (1987) argument that architectural practice should reflect the nature of the problem, this article explores four eras of architectural practice: the Patronage Model, the Clientage Model, the Transitional Models, and Future Models. Each era is examined in relation to six “Questions of Praxis”: (1) What is the nature of the problem?, (2) What is the nature of the intervention?, (3) What knowledge is valued?, (4) What is the stance toward the problem?, (5) What is the continuity in the relationship?, and (6) What is the prioritization of professional obligations? Through a comparative analysis of questions 2–5—the analytic core of action-taking—alongside four drivers of change in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous world, yields 16 possible futures for architects. Further synthesis identifies five primary roles for architects of the future: systems-thinking designer (embracing complexity), steward (building trust amid volatility), facilitator (reducing ambiguity through shared meaning), curator (making sense of uncertainty), and strategic forecaster (transforming volatility into preparedness). These roles embody a care-based approach—prioritizing ongoing relationships over episodic interventions, collective capacity-building over expert prescriptions, and adaptive readiness over static solutions. This reflects the positioning of architecture as a public good, focused on strengthening social, ecological, and systemic foundations so communities not only withstand disruption but also adapt, learn, and thrive through it.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010049

Authors: Ashraf M. Salama Madhavi P. Patil Selma Harrington

Architecture exists at a moment of instability as economic forces narrow professional agency, as knowledge domains challenge disciplinary boundaries, and as calls for decolonisation and sustainability demand epistemological reorientation. Architectural education occupies a strategic position within these dynamics, simultaneously shaped by professional uncertainty and actively constructing alternative futures. This article examines contemporary architectural education as an experiential lens through which a perceptive understanding of how the discipline negotiates transformation can be developed. It draws on a global survey of 345 architecture schools across 159 countries, conducted by the Architectural Education Commission of the International Union of Architects (UIA), and investigates institutional responses to economic constraints, transdisciplinarity, technological transformation, labour precarity, and ethical imperatives. Employing a nine-dimensional framework and six thematic lenses to map global patterns, the findings reveal a convergence–divergence paradox where schools converge around studio pedagogy (78%), national accreditation (92%), and professional degrees (62%), while diverging substantially in thematic priorities. Near-universal engagement with allied disciplines (99%) and SDG integration (88%) contrast sharply with limited efforts at decolonisation (29%) and a health focus (26%), revealing selective adoption of key ethical imperatives. The analysis unveils systematic gaps between declared commitments and enacted practices, with high adoption rates masking shallow implementation, a pattern evidenced by the gap between near-universal SDG declarations (88%) and the persistence of individual-authorship assessment structures (76–78%). Regional patterns reflect resource stratification, reinforcing colonial or dominant knowledge hierarchies. The study concludes that architecture’s agency remains constrained where schools perform transformation rhetorically while reproducing conventional professional formation structurally.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010048

Authors: Linda Pearce

Architects and interior design (AID) practitioners have a professional responsibility to advocate and design for minority occupants, yet it is not always possible to consult with all future users due to commercial project constraints. In lieu of occupant engagement, this paper asks what self-directed inquiry might guide more inclusive strategic decision-making in AID practice? Taking a systems perspective, a novel framework for interpreting the occupant–building system is proposed. By deductively extending Shove, Panzar and Watson’s existing Social Practices Theory (SPT) operationalisation, their omission of space is remedied through integrating Reckwitz’s affective spaces of social practices. The framework changes the unit of analysis from the physical by describing occupancy as a social practice with three elements: material, the physical assemblage including human bodies and space; competences, the rules and habits of using the space; and meanings of space for occupant cohorts. The revised theory elevates the social to equal status of material, thus reinforcing their reciprocal relationship and making this explicit for AID practice. The framework is proposed as an interpretive sensemaking tool for AID practitioners to identify different spatial occupations beyond stereotypical expectations. It also offers a framework for AID practitioners to critically reflect on their agency in stabilising or evolving the spatialisation of culture. Three interpretations are demonstrated for contemporary Australian multicultural and inclusion scenarios. It is argued that this theory offers a framework for practice to enable strategic inclusive outcomes in projects with or without user consultation. Furthermore, in addressing the social practices of the built environment, this organising framework offers broader and holistic future built environment research and education.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010047

Authors: Guiomar Martín Domínguez

This article examines the Unité Pédagogique d’Architecture in Toulouse (UPAT) as a paradigmatic example of the palimpsestic architectures that characterize many contemporary university campuses. Conceived in the immediate aftermath of May 1968, the school emerged at a moment when pedagogical reform, political commitment, and architectural experimentation became closely intertwined. These conditions gave rise to a singular spatial organization based on a combinatory grid, intended to give architectural form to a democratic ideal of education grounded in openness, flexibility, and collective agency. The study adopts a historical–critical methodology based on the systematic analysis of primary and secondary sources, complemented by original graphic interpretations. This approach makes it possible to read the UPAT simultaneously as a didactic instrument and as an ideological manifesto, one whose ambitions were inherently marked by internal tensions and contradictions. A diachronic examination of subsequent extensions and transformations reveals how these founding intentions were progressively reinterpreted, constrained, or displaced in response to changing institutional, social, and cultural conditions. Taken as a whole, the evolving trajectory of this “manifesto school” illuminates the ways in which architectural ideals—particularly the pursuit of openness—are negotiated over time, offering a critical perspective on the reciprocal shaping of architecture, pedagogy, and institutional identity within the history of university buildings.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010046

Authors: Martin Uhrík José Carlos López Cervantes Cintya Eva Sánchez Morales Roman Hajtmanek Jakub Demčák Alexander Kupko

Generative artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in architectural practice and education, yet its role often remains confined to image production or optimization tasks. This study situates generative AI within a broader design ecology. It examines how structured human–AI interaction can support environmentally oriented architectural thinking in design education. The article presents an international design workshop as a research setting in which architecture students engaged with AI through a multi-agent workflow. This workflow combined large language models, diffusion-based image generation, 2D–3D translation tools, parametric modeling, and clay-based 3D printing. Central to the methodology is the concept of prompt choreographies. These are deliberate dialogs between human and AI agents, based on a language of prompts and AI-generated outcomes. Through this process, the design concept moves toward a final architectural proposal. The workshop addressed complex ecological challenges emerging from interactions among Earth’s spheres. These were conceived as environmental interfaces defined by behavioral continuity rather than typological form. Using qualitative, design-based evaluation criteria focused on environmental, spatial, and material aspects, the study identifies recurring patterns of human–AI collaboration. The findings indicate that generative AI supports architectural ideation most effectively when embedded in structured workflows that emphasize curatorial decision-making and reduce generative overproduction. While limited to a workshop-based educational context, the research offers transferable methodological insights for architectural pedagogy and conceptual practice. It proposes a process-oriented framework for designing with generative AI and outlines an emerging form of architectural literacy and multi-agent collaboration that warrants further empirical validation.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010045

Authors: Asit Kumar Mishra

School classrooms represent complex, interconnected systems where indoor environmental quality critically influences student health, cognitive performance, and educational equity. Yet traditional approaches operate in disciplinary silos, creating systemic failures in design, operation, and maintenance. This narrative review adopts a systems engineering framework to demonstrate how integrated interventions—spanning policy, design, technology, and operations—create resilient, sustainable, and healthy classroom climates. Amid escalating climate change impacts (rising temperatures, heatwaves, wildfires) and emerging threats (airborne pathogens, urban pollution), reactive measures like school closures prove pedagogically counterproductive. This review synthesizes evidence on natural, mechanical, and mixed-mode ventilation systems optimized through advanced control strategies, smart technologies, and health-centred policies. Key findings reveal that synergistic integration of Policy, Management, Construction, Operation, and Smart Technologies, in a systems engineering framework, outperforms singular strategies. Critical interventions include hybrid ventilation coupled with layered defences (HEPA filtration, UVGI), AI-driven adaptive controls using IoT sensors and Model Predictive Control to optimize energy while managing pollutant concentrations, and mandatory IAQ standards rooted in stakeholder education. By framing classrooms as interconnected engineering systems, this work provides actionable insights for architects, engineers, policymakers, and administrators, positioning future school design toward resilience, sustainability, and human-centred health outcomes.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010044

Authors: Heba M. Abdou Nashwa A. Younis

This study examines the perceived impact of sensory and interactive architectural design in inclusive learning environments on the sensory–emotional responses and behavioral–academic outcomes of children with neurodevelopmental disorders—namely Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder—during early childhood within the Egyptian educational context. Adopting a perception-based, non-causal analytical perspective, a descriptive–analytical, survey-based design was implemented using a validated questionnaire developed from an architectural–educational conceptual framework grounded in relevant literature. The study involved (N = 202) parents, teachers, therapists, and caregivers who evaluated the perceived influence of environmental design elements on children’s sensory responses, behavior, social interaction, and academic performance, based on observational and experiential assessments rather than objective environmental performance measurements. The results indicated high perceived impacts on sensory–emotional responses (84.8%) and behavioral–academic outcomes (82.0%). Movement–spatial attributes showed the strongest influence, followed by balanced natural lighting, calming colors, natural materials, and low-noise acoustic conditions, while natural elements and sensory gardens played a regulatory role in supporting emotional stability and social interaction. The study concludes that sensory- and emotionally responsive architectural design, when understood as a supportive component of the educational experience rather than an independent causal factor, and integrated with appropriate pedagogical practices, contributes to inclusive learning environments accommodating neurodevelopmental diversity, while informing the development of an applied, evidence-informed architectural design framework that translates perceptual–correlational findings into structured and operational design guidelines adaptable to the Egyptian educational context.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010043

Authors: Shameel Muhammed Hassam Nasarullah Chaudhry Izah Mae C. Santiago

The Hybrid Barjeel of the ORA House, designed for the Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 in Dubai, is a contemporary reinterpretation of the traditional windcatcher—Barjeel, integrating vernacular cooling principles with modern mechanical systems to enable passive precooling of intake air in hot, arid climates. This study aims to evaluate the thermal performance of several horizontal windcatcher configurations developed during the ORA House design process and compare them with the conventional vertical windcatcher typology. Numerical simulations were performed using Computational Fluid Dynamics to analyse airflow behaviour and thermal characteristics—factors that directly influence cooling loads and indoor air quality, and ultimately contribute to carbon savings and cost efficiency. The results show that the horizontally integrated windcatcher effectively reduces the temperature of the supply air, demonstrating its viability as a passive precooling strategy; however, the performance improvement relative to the vertical configuration is modest. Overall, the findings suggest that horizontal windcatcher designs offer an architecturally flexible alternative for contemporary residential buildings, enabling better morphological integration without compromising functional potential.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010042

Authors: Rama Ibrahim Al Rabady

Jordan’s masonry archaeology across limestone, sandstone, and basalt faces escalating threats from a disconnect between conservation and architectural education. Though Jordanian archaeology has evolved into a multidisciplinary field, architecture curricula prioritize technical training over the engineering complexities of endangered sites. This study argues that engaging future architects with ancient engineering as recoverable technical knowledge, rather than as objects for specialist intervention, is essential for cultivating advocates of archaeology. It aims to develop a constructivist framework for architectural archaeology that reorients education from mere intervention toward knowledge transfer through reverse engineering. A mixed-methods experiment with architecture students at Hashemite University engaged participants in deconstructing ancient techniques through digital documentation and structural simulation and then reconstructing this knowledge for contemporary applications. A four-domain framework operationalized object-laden epistemology (technical acquisition) and value-laden ontology (constructed advocacy). Findings revealed four transformative outcomes: science-making (recovering ancient engineering as legitimate knowledge); heritage-making (sites becoming living practice); temporality-making (past–present dialogue within presentism and futurism); and advocacy-making (students as ‘custodian-transmitters’ assuming professional stewardship). By integrating architectural archaeology into core curricula, this framework reaches future architects beyond specialized programs, addressing regional gaps in community support for endangered heritage while maintaining critical reflexivity regarding power and selection in archaeological discourse.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010041

Authors: Lynda H. Schneekloth Robert G. Shibley

Architecture, as a profession, discipline and practice, has played a vital role in designing, constructing and maintaining modern culture. The creative work of imagining and building places, infrastructure and dwellings for the complex activities of contemporary life has contributed to the global world we now inhabit. There are, however, indications that this edifice of modernity is cracking because of external and internal forces that undermine our global society. Climate change, species extinction, and worldwide threats to democracy and governance, along with new technologies, converge and reveal the uncomfortable possibility that modern industrial global culture and civilization may collapse. As a response, an expanding body of ‘stories of collapse’ has emerged to interpret causes, processes, and scenarios. This essay engages with key voices (Rees, Bendell, Lewis, Hagens, de Oliveira, and Macy), to describe in what ways architecture is complicit in this moment, and suggests what ethical and place-based responsibilities may be required of architects and placemakers as collapse unfolds.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010040

Authors: Snur A. A. Agha Fenk Dlawar Miran Nashmil Shwan Abdulrahman Siham Musheer Kareem

Residential buildings in Erbil City are increasingly facing challenges due to climatic extremes, rapid urbanization, and inadequate insulation practices. This study investigates the effects of insulation material type and placement on the thermal performance of external walls in both newly constructed and refurbished houses under the hot semiarid climate (BSh). Using integrated environmental solutions virtual environment (IES-VE) simulations, various wall systems—concrete, brick, and lightweight block—were assessed with different insulation types (expanded polystyrene (EPS), extruded polystyrene (XPS), rock wool (RW), and mineral wool (MW)) applied either internally or externally. Field surveys combined with numerical simulations demonstrated that external insulation significantly enhances thermal mass without diminishing insulation effectiveness, leading to greater energy savings and improved indoor comfort. Among all configurations, externally applied XPS on concrete and lightweight block walls achieved the highest resistance values (R-values) and the greatest reductions in heating and cooling loads. The results indicate that prioritizing the placement of external insulation can support the development of more energy-efficient and climate-responsive housing policies in Erbil. This research offers evidence-based recommendations for optimizing building envelope design in similar climatic contexts.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010039

Authors: Petr Kuklík Jiří Nováček Jiří Bečka

The increasing use of mechanical ventilation systems in energy efficient buildings introduces a significant pathway for acoustic crosstalk between rooms via air ducts. Air ducts connecting rooms can reduce airborne sound insulation, and therefore such systems can affect acoustic comfort not only through the noise they generate. This article focuses on a common situation where air ductwork located outside of ventilated rooms has branches leading into rooms (e.g., ventilation system in ceiling plenum in corridor connected to habitable rooms in apartment). The study provides new experimental data on sound transmission through ventilation ducts. Various materials (steel and glass wool pre-insulated ducts) and duct configurations were investigated. The results are presented by means of normalized level differences specific to the ventilation system, Dn,s, to facilitate their further use, e.g., for predictions of total airborne sound insulation between rooms according to ISO 12354-1:2017, which contains a prediction model enabling the combination of Dn,s,w of the system with Rw of the wall. The results show a significant variation in sound insulation (Dn,s,w) from 37 dB (for sheet metal system) to 73 dB (for glass wool system), which implies that sound-absorbing ductwork provides considerably higher acoustic comfort. The acoustic performance of traditional sheet metal ductwork was highly dependent on terminal elements and was often insufficient to meet common sound insulation requirements, whereas ductwork made of sound-absorbing materials provided consistently high insulation.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010038

Authors: Lamia Hakim Yasmeen Gul Emad Noaime

This study examines balconies in contemporary Parisian housing (2007–2020) as façade-threshold systems that shape architectural expression and offer qualitative environmental mediation potentials and socio-spatial capacities. The research combines (i) a selective bibliographic synthesis used to construct the analytical domains and criteria, (ii) field observation and photographic documentation, and (iii) graphical–morphological analysis of 33 housing projects. The corpus is organised into three balcony systems (individual, continuous/filant, and combined), and seven recurrent subtypes (symmetrical, asymmetrical, box-shaped, double-height, uniform continuous, variable continuous, and hybrid). Results show how variations in projection, depth, enclosure, and façade integration structure façade rhythm and threshold conditions, and suggest differentiated shading, exposure, and ventilation opportunities consistent with established passive-design principles. Environmental statements are therefore presented as inferential interpretations grounded in observable morphology, not as measured performance outcomes; no thermal simulations or post-occupancy measurements are undertaken. The contribution is a reproducible typological classification and comparative evaluation matrix that can guide future quantitative verification and support climate-responsive housing design under dense regulatory contexts.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010037

Authors: Muhammed Cemil Doğan Melike Kalkan Ayşenur Doğan

The transformation of public spaces to meet the need for shelter in the post-disaster situation is a practice observed in many countries. However, these temporary alterations are meticulously planned and executed within a defined timeframe following the disaster. This approach hinders the effective utilization of available space. The objective of the study is to reach design decisions by determining the adaptive use potential of sports facilities for temporary shelter in the post-disaster process. In addition, the study will reveal which adaptability strategies can be used to adapt spaces with different functions. The design decisions are reached by comparing sports facilities and temporary shelter needs programs based on eleven adaptability strategies (adjustability, versatility, transformability, scalability, portability, flexibility, expandability, dismountability, reuse, modularity, independence). The conversion of sports facilities into temporary shelters was achieved by employing adaptability strategies, thereby demonstrating the potential for a space with 15 different functions to undergo transformation. A transformability strategy has been employed, whereby changing rooms have been converted into laundry rooms, and grandstands into training areas. A scalability strategy has been employed to facilitate the reuse of cafe-restaurant areas as dining halls. The transformation of the playground into sleeping areas is facilitated by strategies of portability and dismountability. Flexibility and expandability strategies are employed in the transition from the first aid room to the infirmary area. A reuse strategy is employed for administrative units, parking areas, restrooms and prayer areas, ensuring that spaces with similar needs are utilized with minimal intervention. By examining a range of adaptability strategies, analogous adaptability applications can be developed for other public spaces. The study contributes a transferable, criteria-driven framework that supports decision-making for the adaptive reuse of public buildings in post-disaster contexts, offering a structured basis for extending similar transformations to other building typologies.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010036

Authors: Đorđe Alfirević Slobodan Marković Sanja Simonović Alfirević Tanja Njegić

This paper investigates the relationship between the typological organisation of residential interiors and the subjective experience of spatiality, formed through sequential, visually mediated movement. It examines whether perceived spatiality derives primarily from the mental integration of the dwelling as a whole through circular movement, or from immediately accessible visual relationships such as visual accessibility and perceptual depth. An experimental study was conducted in which participants with and without professional education in architecture and interior design evaluated four typologically distinct residential interior models (circular circulation, enfilade, branched structure, and open plan), presented through standardized screen-based animated walkthrough simulations designed to replicate continuous spatial movement under controlled visual conditions. Subjective evaluations were collected using eight bipolar semantic scales. Analysis of variance showed that typological structure had a statistically significant effect on all analysed dimensions of spatiality, while professional expertise did not produce significant differences. The results support the hypothesis that perceived spatiality is predominantly shaped by immediate visual accessibility and perceptual depth rather than by circular spatial connections requiring sequential cognitive integration. The findings clarify key perceptual mechanisms of spatiality and underscore the distinction between spatial flow as a structural property and spatiality as a perceptual category, with implications for residential design and further research.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010035

Authors: Torange Khonsari

The Institutional Review Board Statement and Informed Consent Statement need to be updated in the original publication [...]

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010034

Authors: Stanka Ostojić Zoran Veršić Neda Mrinjek Kliska

Sunlight exposure is among the key factors in architectural and urban design. People spend more than half of the day in residential buildings, where sunlight exposure positively affects comfort, well-being, and some health problems. Insolation regulations and recommendations in many countries include criteria for minimum sunlight exposure of interior spaces to meet hygiene and technical standards and to enhance users’ comfort. This research shows a decrease in mandatory insolation criteria for residential spaces in Croatia since the end of the 20th century, which was the motivation for the assessment of European insolation standards. It provides a comparative review of current European recommendations and regulations and addresses the comprehensive issue of residential building insolation through the assessment of planning, urban and architectural design parameters. Research results show that regulatory traditions, climatic conditions, and planning cultures jointly shape national approaches to residential insolation. The research also shows that in the European countries analysed, insolation criteria are mostly mandatory at the national level. The insolation criteria assessed by this research range from urban standards, which refer to buildings, to apartment standards, which refer to rooms. The minimum window-to-floor ratio, with values ranging from 10 to 20%, and the minimum duration of sunlight exposure, with values from 1 to 4 h, were identified as dominant insolation criteria. Sunlight exposure criteria are necessary to protect residents’ hygiene rights, but should be adaptive to socio-economical, cultural and climatic contexts to support sustainable urban development.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010033

Authors: Titi Sari Nurul Rachmawati Mustika Sari Daniel Darma Widjaja Walter Timo de Vries

Green building incentives constitute a policy instrument for mitigating economic, technical, and behavioral barriers to the adoption of green buildings, yet existing studies remain fragmented across incentive types, stakeholders, and building life cycle stage. A coherent synthesis that explains how incentive strategies evolve and interact across these dimensions is still missing. This study addresses that gap through a systematic literature review guided by the PRISMA 2020 protocol. A total of 69 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2016 and 2025 were identified from Scopus and analyzed using thematic synthesis. The review maps temporal trends, incentive typologies, stakeholder roles, and implementation challenges across different regional and market contexts. The findings indicate that incentive effectiveness depends on alignment between life cycle stage, market maturity, and stakeholder capacity, rather than on any single policy instrument. Financial incentives remain critical in early market phases, while non-financial and regulatory instruments gain prominence as markets mature. The synthesis also demonstrates how evolutionary game theory has been increasingly applied to analyse dynamic incentive and penalty strategies under bounded rationality, offering a structured lens for adaptive policy design. By integrating life cycle perspectives, stakeholder interactions, and game theoretical insights, this study advances current understanding of these incentive designs. The results provide a foundation for more adaptive and context-sensitive incentive frameworks and identify clear directions for future empirical and comparative policy research.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010032

Authors: Agam Podi Kalindu Dhaneesha Mendis Chamindi Malalgoda

Urbanisation and climate change are intensifying heat risks in cities worldwide through the combined effects of global warming and the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. Elevated urban temperatures threaten human health, strain infrastructure, increase energy demand and exacerbate socio-spatial inequalities. While architectural and urban design decisions are central to the formation and mitigation of UHI, moving from UHI mitigation to heat-resilient cities requires linking physical interventions with governance capacity, equity, and adaptive learning over time. This paper, therefore, develops a conceptual framework for resilient and sustainable urban environments that embeds built-environment strategies within a broader resilience-oriented governance context. The study combines a narrative review of UHI mechanisms, impacts and mitigation approaches with a systematic review of local-government strategies implemented between 2015 and 2025. Following preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and a population, intervention, comparison, and outcome (PICO)-based search strategy, 100 studies were selected from Scopus and Web of Science and analysed thematically. The review identifies four main domains of local action: green infrastructure; cool and permeable materials; water-based and blue–green infrastructure; and policy, governance and technology. Within these domains, the paper highlights architectural and design-relevant interventions, including shade-oriented streetscapes, climate-responsive building envelopes, ventilation-sensitive urban form, and blue–green corridors, while also examining institutional, financial and social factors that shape implementation and effectiveness. The findings show that combinations of green infrastructure, cool materials and blue–green systems can reduce surface and near-surface air temperatures and improve thermal comfort, with co-benefits for public health, energy efficiency, biodiversity and liveability. However, implementation is frequently constrained by limited financial and technical capacity, fragmented institutions, context-specific trade-offs, and insufficient attention to equity. Building on these insights, the paper proposes a conceptual framework comprising ten components that connect context and drivers; assessment and diagnosis; intervention strategies; implementation mechanisms; enablers; barriers; equity operationalisation; outcomes and effectiveness; monitoring and evaluation; and feedback and iteration. The paper concludes that advancing from urban heat islands to resilient cities requires design innovation supported by enabling governance, equity-centred prioritisation, and iterative monitoring and learning.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010031

Authors: Ana García Sánchez Ana Torres Barchino Jorge Llopis Verdú

Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities Supportive Service Programs (NORC-SSPs) are one of the most popular models of aging in place. While the existing NORC literature focuses on the social and service environments of these programs, their built environments remain underexplored, particularly across housing tenures. This study is the first to explore the built environment, social integration, and socio-demographic factors among older people living in NORCs in New York, and their associations with health and well-being. The mixed-methods research included qualitative (interviews with NORC directors) and quantitative (151 resident surveys and an architectural assessment) data on 26 housing developments in New York, collected simultaneously using a convergent parallel design. The findings show that socialization and exercise improve the health and quality of life of NORC residents. The study also revealed that older people living in public housing have different needs than those in cooperative housing, namely a worse perception of their health and dwellings of a poorer physical condition. Therefore, the services offered by NORC programs should vary according to housing type, while management and NORC staff should improve coordination to address maintenance in public housing. Future research should examine interventions to improve the physical environments of NORC residents.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010030

Authors: Alba Ramírez-Saiz Camila Barquero Benjamin Büttner Andrea Alonso

Proximity-oriented urban models, such as the 15-min city, have been promoted to create sustainable, human-centered urban environments that support wellbeing. However, proximity alone does not guarantee accessibility, particularly for persons with disabilities. This paper explores how persons with disabilities experience and navigate Madrid (Spain) and Munich (Germany) under the proximity-oriented policies prism. Drawing on 114 semi-structured interviews (65 in Madrid, 49 in Munich), the study explores how urban form, design features, and environmental conditions shape access, movement, and engagement in public space. Findings reveal that key barriers, such as irregular paving and sidewalk obstructions, limit independence and comfort, while contextual factors such as climate, topography, and local cultural practices further modulate accessibility. Despite proximity, many participants remain reliant on cars instead of public transport due to these micro-scale barriers. By integrating proximity planning, inclusive urban experiences and universal design, this study highlights the need to move from “proximity as distance” to “proximity as accessible experience”, arguing that accessibility must be embedded as a structuring condition of proximity planning. Ultimately, these findings contribute to ongoing debates on sustainable built environments and human wellbeing, highlighting the importance of architectural and urban design in fostering equitable, healthy, and inclusive cities.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010029

Authors: Celia López-Bravo Blanca del Espino Hidalgo Aliza Sovani Valentina Galiulo

Many World Heritage Sites hold universal and exceptional values of a hybrid nature, combining cultural and environmental richness. Yet these complex dimensions are rarely recognised within their designation criteria, making it urgent to update their cultural valuation through the lens of social and environmental sustainability. In this context, water—as both a natural and a cultural asset—emerges as a fundamental element for understanding their natural–cultural capital. This study examines two World Heritage Sites in southern Spain—the Royal Alcázar of Seville and the Alhambra of Granada—which are particularly representative at the European scale due to their severe climatic conditions. The methodology is based on the analysis and mapping of their landscape conditions using historical cartography and Geographic Information Systems, together with a review of water-related attributes and values across their protection and management frameworks. As a result, their water systems are critically assessed within existing protection and management documents, a narrative approach to water as natural-cultural capital is proposed, and this approach is linked to the sites’ principal climate-related vulnerabilities and benefits. Overall, the study contributes to the international debate on biocultural heritage, supporting the need to update the water system approach applied to World Heritage Sites under conditions of climate stress.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010028

Authors: Riyan Mohammad Sahahiri Abdullah Alattas

This study analyzes the impact of 360° panoramic imaging on the documentation of heritage sites, using a SWOT analysis. A multi-method approach was adopted, combining a review of scholarly literature and institutional reports, expert interviews, user surveys, and hands-on testing of three widely used platforms: Kuula, 3DVista, and Pano2VR. The findings demonstrate that 360° imaging significantly improves visual engagement and spatial understanding, particularly in educational and public outreach contexts. However, challenges remain in terms of data integration, navigation, and long-term digital preservation. Platforms such as 3DVista and Pano2VR offer extensive features and advanced media integration, but their complexity and cost make them less accessible to smaller institutions. Conversely, Kuula was found to be more accessible and user-friendly, though it offers fewer customization options. This study adds to the growing body of literature by applying a SWOT lens to evaluate not just the technical capabilities but also the strategic usability of 360° tools in heritage documentation. It highlights key gaps in data management and cross-platform functionality, calling attention to the need for standardization and training. Future research should explore hybrid models that integrate panoramic imaging with high-precision technologies such as LiDAR and immersive media (VR/AR), aiming to enhance both accuracy and public engagement in digital heritage preservation.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010027

Authors: Shilan Tariq Ibrahim Hardi K. Abdullah

Contemporary housing design practices in Erbil’s hot–dry climate remain understudied with respect to indoor thermal comfort performance. This study evaluates indoor thermal comfort in traditional and contemporary dwellings in Erbil, Iraq, a hot–dry climate characterized by extreme summer conditions. An integrated methodology combining field measurements, locally calibrated climatic data, and validated computational simulation was applied to representative case studies. Indoor thermal comfort parameters were monitored, and a custom EnergyPlus Weather (EPW) file was developed to capture local climatic conditions. Year-round computational simulations were conducted using the Ladybug Tools workflow. Indoor thermal comfort was evaluated using the adaptive comfort model for the naturally ventilated traditional courtyard house and the PMV–PPD model for contemporary air-conditioned dwellings, in accordance with ASHRAE 55 Standard. Validation of the computational simulations against field measurements confirmed close agreement between the measured and simulated results. The findings indicate that the traditional house consistently achieved acceptable thermal comfort within adaptive comfort limits, while contemporary houses experienced persistent overheating and elevated discomfort indices. These results demonstrate that thermal underperformance in contemporary housing is primarily driven by architectural and envelope design rather than modeling uncertainty. The study highlights the effectiveness of vernacular, climate-responsive strategies and suggests their integration into sustainable house design in hot–dry regions.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010026

Authors: Dewi Septanti Iftekhar Ahmed Wahyu Setyawan Sarah Cahyadini Tisya Surya Narida

Urban kampungs in Surabaya, Indonesia, face layered vulnerabilities due to overlapping environmental hazards, socioeconomic precarity, and limited infrastructural support. Despite being central to the city’s cultural and spatial fabric, these communities are often excluded from formal risk governance frameworks and mischaracterized as homogenous informal settlements. This paper explores how multi-hazard risks, such as tidal flooding, electrical hazards, and social insecurity, manifest in three kampungs: Kampung Nelayan Kenjeran, Kampung Kue Rungkut, and Kampung Kota Ketandan-Kebangsren. Using qualitative methods including interviews, field observation, and participatory risk mapping, the study examines local adaptation strategies, collective resilience, and everyday practices that mitigate risk. The findings emphasize the value of a community-based risk analysis approach that centers on resident knowledge and social networks. Such bottom-up strategies not only complement existing urban policies but also offer contextually relevant insights for inclusive and adaptive resilience planning in rapidly urbanizing environments.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010025

Authors: José Carlos López Cervantes Cintya Eva Sánchez Morales

Over the last three decades, architecture has undergone a sustained digital transformation that has progressively displaced the ontology of the geometric generator, understood here as the primary artefact through which form is produced, controlled, and legitimized. This paper argues that, within one extended digital epoch, three successive regimes have reconfigured architectural agency. First, a digital model regime, in which computer-generated 3D models become the main generators of geometry. Second, a parametric code regime, in which scripted relations and numerical parameters supersede the individual model as the core design object, defining a space of possibilities rather than a single instance. Third, an emerging latent regime, in which diffusion and transformer systems produce high plausibility synthetic images as image-first generators and subsequently impose a post hoc image-to-geometry translation requirement. To make this shifting paradigm comparable across time, the paper uses the blob as a stable morphological reference and develops a comparative reading of four blobs, Kiesler’s Endless House, Greg Lynn’s Embryological House, Marc Fornes’ Vaulted Willow, and an author-generated GenAI blob curated from a traceable AI image archive, to show how the geometric generator migrates from object, to model, to code, to latent image-space. As a pre-digital hinge case, Kiesler is selected not only for anticipating blob-like continuity, but for clarifying a recurrent disciplinary tension, “ form first generators” that precede tectonic and programmatic rationalization. The central hypothesis is that GenAI introduces an ontological shift not primarily at the level of style, but at the level of architectural judgement and evidentiary legitimacy. The project can begin with a predictive image that is visually convincing yet tectonically underdetermined. To name this condition, the paper proposes the plausibility gap, the mismatch between visual plausibility and tectonic intelligibility, as an operational criterion for evaluating image-first workflows, and for specifying the verification tasks required to stabilize them as architecture. Selection establishes evidentiary legitimacy, while a friction map and Gap Index externalize the translation pressure required to turn predictive imagery into accountable geometry, making the plausibility gap operational rather than merely asserted. The paper concludes by outlining implications for authorship, pedagogy, and disciplinary judgement in emerging multi-agent design ecologies.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010024

Authors: Massimiliano Pepe Przemysław Klapa Andrei Crisan Ahmed Kamal Hamed Dewedar Donato Palumbo

Open-source software is transforming visualization-oriented digital documentation and conceptual BIM by lowering financial and technical barriers, enabling broader participation in the digitalization of the AEC sector. This study develops and validates a cost-effective Scan-to-BIM workflow that combines low-cost hardware with freely available software for 3D data acquisition, processing, and modeling. Photogrammetry and SLAM-based techniques generate accurate point clouds, which, once verified against terrestrial laser scanning data, can be integrated into open-source BIM environments. The workflow leverages COLMAP for 3D reconstruction and BlenderBIM for parametric modeling, combining geometric and semantic information to produce fully interoperable models. While open-source tools offer accessibility and transparency, they require supplementary validation in precision-critical applications and may involve trade-offs in accuracy, stability, and automation compared to commercial solutions. Application to a case study shows how efficient and rapid the process is, representing the trend for the scientific community.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010023

Authors: Vesna Perković Neda Mrinjek Kliska Ivan Mlinar

Josip Vojnović (Omiš, 1929–Split, 2008) is a prominent Croatian architect, primarily known in professional circles for organising the construction of Split 3, the expansion of Split during the 1970s. His professional career began with the design of primarily residential buildings and concluded with his position as a university professor. This article analyses the URBS 1 standard residential buildings constructed during the 1960s, which were intended to address the housing shortage in post-war Split. These buildings—the most notable part of Vojnović’s design work—were built in several locations throughout Dalmatia. Even at the time of their construction, they were recognised as a significant example of designed and executed standardised residential architecture. This research is based on archival materials from the State Archives in Split, the Archive of the Urban Planning Institute of Dalmatia–Split, as well as research in situ. The article examines the design of the standard building, including a functional analysis of the residential unit and all the floors, as well as a formal and compositional analysis of the façade. The URBS-1 buildings are an illustrative example of housing construction, due to their number, distribution and architectural features shaped by the economic, technological, social and cultural context of the time.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010022

Authors: Agustina Martire Aoife McGee Aisling Madden

This article examines how everyday architecture can advance spatial justice in post-active conflict cities through ethnographic and participatory design. Drawing on a decade of work by the StreetSpace studio in Belfast (2015–2025), the paper explores how architecture students and community participants co-design spatial strategies that enhance mixed-use mid-density living, inclusive mobility, and street-level accessibility. In a context where car dominance, segregation, and privatisation of public space continue to fragment urban life, the everyday street becomes a testbed for envisioning an equitable and community-centred city. The studio’s methodology is grounded in ethnographic engagement, informed by an embedded anthropologist, and includes stakeholder mapping, walking workshops, and collaborative drawing. These practices reveal lived experiences and shape community-driven briefs for housing, schools, public spaces, and multifunctional infrastructure. Anchored in spatial justice discourse and feminist theory (Jane Jacobs, David Harvey, Roberto Rocco, Phil Hubbard, Leslie Kern, and Caroline Criado Perez), the work positions the everyday as a site of architectural agency and proposes a contemporary vernacular that is socially embedded and climate-resilient. This work unfolds through complex and often contested processes that require sustained, iterative engagement with people and places. Meaningful collaboration is neither linear nor inherently caring; it frequently involves conflict, disagreement, and competing priorities that must be navigated over time. Through long-term relationships with government departments, local authorities, and NGOs, StreetSpace demonstrates how architectural pedagogy can nonetheless contribute to policy formation and more inclusive urban redevelopment by engaging in compromise, critical negotiation, and moments of care alongside friction and resistance. Through a series of collaborations and public events the project has contributed to the transformation of Botanic Avenue, informed studies of the East Belfast Greenways through contributions to Groundswell and participated in embedded public processes in collaboration with PPR, culminating in an exhibition at the MAC in Belfast in 2025.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010021

Authors: Yurika Mori

Design philosophy by Steven Holl shows his interest in the spatial experience aspect of architecture in the way people perceive space. This study focuses on the composition of spatial connections in 18 residential projects. The objective is to clarify the continuity of the living room through floor plan classification and matrix analysis, which is highly relevant in that it helps bridge the gap in understanding the functional and structural mechanisms inherent in architectural design theory, particularly in the projects. As a result, the residential projects can be classified into four categories in terms of continuity of living room, and it has a unique type of expression in their residential projects. This study is limited to analyzing only the first-floor plan and does not examine other drawings, such as sectional or elevation views, nor does it consider other residential projects. Therefore, the analysis has limitations. This study classified and discussed the continuity and spatial connections within the living room, thereby contributing to the discourse on design methodology in relation to architectural theory and phenomenology.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010020

Authors: Jelena Šćekić Marko Nikolić Aleksandra Milovanović

This study examines how the notion of value is defined, recognised, and operationalised within the four main approaches to cultural heritage preservation: the material-based, value-based, living heritage, and historic urban landscape approaches. Positioned within the broader discourse on the evolving understanding of cultural heritage—from fixed, expert-driven interpretations toward more contextual, socially constructed, and participatory perspectives—this research aims to address which value types are recognised, and how and to what extent they are operationalised by applying four main approaches to cultural heritage preservation. The methodology comprises four phases: (1) the identification, search, and selection of academic articles in the Scopus database, (2) sample overlapping and elimination of duplicates to establish a final dataset, (3) bibliometric analysis to determine publishing trends and disciplinary reach, and (4) content analysis to identify, classify, and compare value types across the selected approaches. The results reveal significant variation in how values are represented, as well as notable inconsistency in their direct inclusion in research processes. While cultural, historical, aesthetic, social, and economic values dominate across approaches, only a fraction of studies operationalise values through defined criteria or indicators. The findings highlight the absence of consensus in value interpretation and emphasise the need for more systematic, integrative, and operationalisable frameworks for treating values in the process of cultural heritage preservation.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010019

Authors: Simon Hatherley Craig Robertson Esfand Burman Dejan Mumovic

Non-regulatory environmental building standards have been used in the built environment for more than thirty years and have had considerable influence over building development and policy. This paper identifies a trend, following the Paris Agreement, towards a new generation of non-regulatory building standards and frameworks based on defining net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission performance. These standards and frameworks have been developed in response to the imperatives of the Paris Agreement and other contextual drivers. Post-Paris Agreement, net-zero GHG emission standards have the following characteristics: a threshold-based approach to achieving certification; the use of a small number of metrics (typically two: operational energy and embodied carbon); and compliance based on operational performance rather than predicted operational energy use with models used to replicate the building in use. This paper will discuss global non-regulatory, net-zero GHG emission standards comparing the relative requirements and highlighting commonalities and differences. The paper also compares the post-Paris Agreement, net-zero GHG emission standards with pre-Paris Agreement low carbon credit-based environmental building standards considering their role in the development of net-zero GHG building standards and the possible impact of performance-based standards on new buildings. This study is relevant for policy makers, designers, and building developers by identifying the developing global consensus around what constitutes a net-zero GHG building and theorises, in relation to their developmental context, the implications of widespread implementation of these standards.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010018

Authors: Úrsula Hernández Vélez Raquel Tardin-Coelho

In many Latin American cities, rapid densification, shrinking public land reserves, and growing spatial, social and biophysical fragmentation have heightened the urban significance of large, private, closed open spaces (COSs). COS, marked by restricted access and social homogeneity, operate as capsular urban models that limit socio-environmental integration, urban continuity and resilience. Far from being mere enclaves, the reconfiguration of COS emerges as a critical response to contemporary urban challenges with the capacity to reshape urban structures by generating new social and spatial connectivities. This article examines the transformation of COSs in urban contexts, such as golf clubs, into accessible public landscapes as hybrid open spaces (HOSs), a topic that remains underexplored internationally. For that, this research proposes a design-oriented, multiscalar framework (city and zonal/local) that integrates open and closed spatial programs within the wider urban open space system. Considering urban, biophysical, and sociocultural dynamics, and drawing on the concepts of accessibility, connectivity, diversity, and flexibility, the study develops guidelines and design strategies for hybridising private and public recreational and environmental uses to strengthen urban integration. Using El Rodeo Gold Club in Medellín as a case study, the work contributes to landscape architecture by advancing the transformation of underutilised COS into inclusive, multifunctional HOS, positioning COS as a strategic asset for sustainable urban environments. The framework can be replicable in other similar contexts.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010017

Authors: Natsumi Wada Silvia Maria Gramegna Asia Nicoletta Perotti

This study examines how the sense of home for people with dementia is shaped not only by physical settings but by dynamic atmospheric compositions emerging through memory, sensation, and everyday practices. Building on a preliminary literature mapping that identified three dimensions of home in later-life care environments—safe space, small world, and connection—we developed a multisensory co-design toolkit combining key-element cards and curated olfactory prompts. The study was conducted in a dementia-friendly residential care facility in Italy. Nine residents with mild–moderate dementia (aged 75–84) participated in two group sessions and six individual sessions, facilitated by two design researchers with care staff present. Data consist of audio-recorded and transcribed interviews, guided olfactory sessions, and researcher fieldnotes. Across sessions, participants articulated “small worlds” as micro-environments composed of meaningful objects, bodily comfort, routines, and sensory cues that supported emotional regulation and identity continuity. Olfactory prompts, administered through a low-intensity and participant-controlled protocol, supported scene-based autobiographical recall for some participants, often eliciting memories of domestic rituals, places, and relationships. Rather than treating home-like design as a fixed architectural style, we interpret home as continuously re-made through situated sensory–temporal patterns and relational practices. We translate these findings into atmospheric design directions for dementia care: designing places of self and refuge, staging accessible material memory devices, embedding gentle olfactory micro-worlds within daily routines, and approaching atmosphere as an ongoing process of co-attunement among residents, staff, and environmental conditions. The study contributes a methodological and conceptual framework for multisensory, narrative-driven approaches to designing home-like environments in long-term care.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010016

Authors: Aye Pyae Pyae Aung Kim Neil Irvine Alisa Sahavacharin Fa Likitswat Jitiporn Wongwatcharapaiboon Adrian Lo Detchphol Chitwatkulsiri

Rapid urbanization and persistent air pollution threaten the functional resilience of megacities in Southeast Asia, particularly Bangkok, where PM2.5 concentrations consistently exceed World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. To strengthen urban adaptive capacity, this study investigates the role of Nature-based Solutions (NbS), particularly urban green spaces, as resilience-oriented infrastructure for air quality management. Using data from 32 monitoring stations across the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and surrounding areas from 2021 to 2023, spatial and temporal trends in PM2.5 concentrations were analyzed through geostatistical modeling and inferential statistics. Although all sites exceeded the WHO PM2.5 guideline of 5 µg/m3, larger and more connected green spaces consistently exhibited better air-quality than the surrounding non-green urban mosaic. Areas with extensive vegetation, greater canopy cover, and more compact park geometries (lower perimeter-to-area ratios) demonstrated improved pollution attenuation capacity, while fragmented parks are more exposed to surrounding emissions. Integration of Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification further indicated that compact high-rise zones and high-traffic corridors exhibited higher PM2.5 levels due to reduced airflow and structural confinement. The study underscores the need to embed NbS within resilience-based urban planning to promote long-term environmental stability and public health recovery in rapidly urbanizing megacities like Bangkok.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010015

Authors: Irene González-Fernández Lucía C. Pérez-Moreno

Rethinking architecture is an urgent task for creating caring, democratic, and sustainable environments for older adults. In Spain, architectural design has historically been disconnected from the complex dimensions of care, leaving a critical gap in the discipline’s engagement with the implementation of community-based, person-centered care typologies. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the term caring architecture has rapidly proliferated in Spanish architectural discourse, in which care has become central to political debate and spatial strategies. In this context, this article develops a theoretical framework for transitioning from institutional architecture toward a caring architecture for older people. The study is based on a theory-oriented systematic literature review and critical analysis of key theoretical approaches that intersect architecture, urbanism, and the ethics of care. Through bibliometric, conceptual, and thematic analyses of eight selected publications, three dimensions of care ethics are identified: interdependence, economics of care, and eco-dependence. The research shows that these dimensions of care resonate closely with the democratic quintuple helix model and the sociocultural, economic, and environmental pillars of holistic sustainability. The alignment between care, democracy, and sustainability underpins the proposed conceptual framework of caring, democratic, and sustainable architecture for older people. This theoretical paradigm enables transitioning from institutional settings to built environments that promote well-being, community connectedness, and respect for both people and the planet.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010014

Authors: Marta Elisa Cecchi

When the breath of a passerby momentarily clouds the glass of a display window that distinctly withdraws from the urban continuum, it signals the presence of a perceptual threshold, an atmospheric interruption before resuming its path. This liminal space engages the observer not through physical entry, but through a multisensory activation. While the notion of atmosphere has been extensively theorised in architecture and environmental aesthetics, its implications remain insufficiently explored within retail design, particularly in the spatial and exhibit design perspective in the display window. Contemporary shop windows aim to engage passersby beyond mere product visibility; the need to articulate and design for atmosphere becomes more urgent. This article offers an atmospheric interpretation of the display window, understood not simply as a commercial interface or spatial facade but as a dioramic device in which all elements are staged in evocative micro-environments. Through the reinterpretation of selected historical and contemporary case studies, the research positions the display window as a privileged site for atmospheric experimentation. By framing window display design as an environmental and perceptual construct, the study contributes to the broader discourse on atmospheres, advancing the atmospheric paradigm as an operative approach for contemporary exhibit and spatial design practices.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010013

Authors: Mohammed Miloudi Ratiba Wided Biara

This research addresses the issue of architectural identity. The loss of architectural identity in recent Algerian architectural production is a well-established fact that is frequently criticized by both specialists and the public. While the concept of architectural identity is widely used, it is often based on an overly simplistic perspective, typically limited to a few formal and esthetic patterns. This study aims to analyze the problem of the loss of architectural identity by rigorously defining the concept and identifying the tangible factors that influence it. We selected the city of Béchar, focusing specifically on its recently constructed administrative buildings, to examine this issue. We hypothesized that these buildings denote a loss of identity. To achieve the study’s objective, we first developed a multidimensional model for building analysis based on a literature review. We defined three parameters: design references, climatic considerations, and the relationship with the urban environment. The results indicate a general loss of identity caused by the inadequate integration of these three factors. This research demonstrates that architectural identity can serve as a genuine issue, enabling us to address fundamental design problems. The creative valorization of precedents allows us to focus on ideas and principles rather than appearances. Integrating the climatic factor promotes building sustainability and reduces their energy consumption, particularly in challenging climates, like that of Béchar. Finally, urban integration can produce livable, attractive spaces.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010012

Authors: Zhonghua Gou

Sustainability is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of contemporary architectural discourse, central to the mission of this journal [...]

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010011

Authors: Reem Jandali Ahmad Taki Sahar Abdelwahab

This study explores the intersection of sociocultural factors, particularly privacy, with energy consumption patterns in residential buildings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While cultural values around privacy have long been recognised as influential in residential design, the impact of these values on energy consumption is underexplored. This research aims to fill this gap by examining how privacy needs, residents’ preferences, and open layouts affect energy efficiency, particularly in terms of natural light and ventilation. A mixed-methods approach was employed, including semi-structured interviews with engineers, data collected from 108 respondents via an online survey, a case study of a residential building in Riyadh, and building performance simulations using IES software. The study also assessed actual energy consumption data and indoor lighting as potential implications of privacy concerns, causing changes in behavioural control of systems (e.g., windows, blinds, lighting, etc.). It focuses on the relationship between privacy needs, energy use, and natural daylight distribution. The IES simulation results for the studied residential building show an annual energy consumption of 24,000 kWh, primarily due to cooling loads and artificial lighting caused by privacy measures applied by the residents. The findings reveal that privacy-driven design choices and occupant behaviours, such as the use of full window shutters, frosted glazing and limited window operation, significantly reduce daylight availability and natural ventilation, leading to increased reliance on artificial lighting and air conditioning. This study highlights the need for human-centric design approaches that address the interplay between sociocultural factors, particularly reinforcing cultural sensitivity, and building performance, offering insights for future sustainable housing developments in Riyadh and similar contexts.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010010

Authors: Ecem Kara Barış Dinç

In educational settings, it is crucial to comprehend and manage individuals’ social interaction behaviors through the physical environment. However, analyzing social interaction patterns manually is a time-consuming and energy-intensive process. This study aims to reveal the socio-behavioral implications of spatial features, based on the Affordance Theory, using artificial intelligence (AI). To this end, the study proposes a unified quantitative methodology that leverages diverse AI approaches. Behavioral data are gathered via systematic observation and analyzed using (1) Deep Learning (DL)-based Human Detection and classified by (2) Machine Learning (ML)-based Interaction Score Prediction approach. The behavioral findings were analyzed in relation to spatial data via (3) Spatial Feature Selection. As the study area, the ATU Faculty of Engineering building complex was selected, and behavioral data from 746 participants were collected in the complex’s open spaces. The results indicated that AI-based approaches provide a high degree of precision in analyzing the relationships between social interaction and spatial features within the addressed context. Also, (1) the existence and (2) the rotation of seating units and (3) shading strategies are identified as the spatial features that contribute to higher interaction scores in the educational settings. The study proposes an integrated and transferable methodology based on diverse AI approaches for determining social interaction and its spatial aspects, leading to a comprehensive and reproducible approach.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010009

Authors: Farzaneh Soflaei Mujde Erten-Unal Carol L. Considine Faeghe Borhani

Climate change and sea-level change (SLC) are intensifying flooding in U.S. coastal communities, with disproportionate impacts on Black and minority neighborhoods that face displacement, economic hardship, and heightened health risks. In Norfolk, Virginia, sea levels are projected to rise by at least 0.91 m (3 ft) by 2100, placing underserved neighborhoods such as Oakleaf Forest at particular risk. This study investigates the compounded impacts of flooding at both the building and urban scales, situating the work within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). A mixed-method, community-based approach was employed, integrating literature review, field observations, and community engagement to identify flooding hotspots, document lived experiences, and determine preferences for adaptation strategies. Community participants contributed actively through mapping sessions and meetings, providing feedback on adaptation strategies to ensure that the process was collaborative, place-based, and context-specific. Preliminary findings highlight recurring flood-related vulnerabilities and the need for interventions that address both environmental and social dimensions of resilience. The study proposes multi-scale, nature-based solutions (NbS) to mitigate flooding, restore ecological functions, and enhance community capacity for adaptation. Ultimately, this work underscores the importance of coupling technical strategies with participatory processes to strengthen resilience and advance climate justice in vulnerable coastal neighborhoods.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010008

Authors: Tomasz E. Malec

Intensive development of recreational construction has taken place in the Beskid Mountains in Southern Poland over the span of several decades, especially in the villages of Szczyrk, Wisła, and Brenna, due to the proximity of the industrial Silesian agglomeration. These buildings, constructed mostly since the 1970s, are heterogeneous in appearance and often do not reference traditional timber-and-stone sustainable architecture; instead, they replicate the esthetics found in contemporary single-family houses throughout Poland or abroad. Inconsistencies in building regulations have reinforced this approach, leading to a decline in the quality of both architecture and landscape. Although this situation has been widely discussed in public media, publications on this topic remain sporadic. This article therefore applies qualitative research to discuss the role of cultural identity in modern recreational architecture in the Beskid Mountains as it has affected the well-being of the citizens of Silesia since the 1930s. The unique contribution of this paper to Polish architectural and heritage research is threefold: it provides a structured framework for understanding the development of recreational architecture as a process, it explicitly links empirical field observations to theoretical frameworks (Frampton, Norberg-Schulz, Rapoport), and it proposes a general pathway for culturally sustainable design in the region.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010007

Authors: Aleksandra Milovanović Mladen Pešić Jelena Ristić Trajković Milica Milojević Ana Nikezić Verica Krstić Vladan Djokić

Design studios remain a core component of architectural education, yet their pedagogical structure, alignment with international standards, and contribution to professional formation are often insufficiently examined. This study evaluates master-level design studios using a three-track analytical framework that integrates pedagogical innovation, alignment with the UNESCO-UIA Charter for Architectural Education, and the development of professional capabilities specified in the UNESCO-UIA Validation System. The methodology combines qualitative profiling and quantitative benchmarking, employing a structured six-parameter innovation framework, an ordinal evidence scale, and a cross-track correlation analysis. Learning and professional capabilities were assessed and analyzed through Pearson correlation matrices in JASP (0.95.4). Findings reveal that all studios share a common grounding in heritage- and environment-responsive learning, yet demonstrate distinctive pedagogical signatures shaped by thematic focus, design scale, and temporal orientation. Strong positive alignments emerge between context-driven learning and applied professional readiness, while structural gaps indicate capability areas insufficiently supported by studio pedagogies. The study demonstrates that bridging policy frameworks with pedagogical and professional capability assessments provides a replicable method for evaluating architectural curricula, offering insights for improving design-studio models and strengthening evidence-based educational practice.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010006

Authors: Yasemin Albayrak-Kutlay Murat Bengisu Emre Ergül

This study investigates the influence of three biophilic interior design variables: natural light, interior vegetation (vertical green wall), and biomorphic form (biomorphic wall panel) on affective and physiological responses in a design studio interior utilizing immersive virtual reality (IVR) and wearable biofeedback technology. This study was a within-participant 23 factorial design that included one baseline and eight IVR studio conditions. Participants experienced all conditions while reporting affects using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) valence and arousal scales, electrodermal activity (EDA), and skin temperature (ST). Cybersickness was measured with the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and presence was assessed using the Igroup Presence Questionnaire and Slater-Usoh-Steed presence measures (IPQ, SUS), while baseline anxiety (STAI) was controlled. The results demonstrated a significant primary influence of natural light on SAM valence ratings: conditions with natural light were evaluated as more pleasant than the non-variable and baseline condition, whereas interior vegetation and biomorphic form had smaller, context-dependent effects that were most evident when layered with natural light. Differences in SAM arousal ratings were modest and non-systematic. EDA did not differentiate, and ST showed only small shifts, indicating that during calm exploratory monitoring, subjective affect was more responsive. The circumplex findings guided to an activity-specific zoned interior rather than a single uniform design studio.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010005

Authors: Sebastián Astudillo-Cordero Julia Rey-Pérez Jessica Ortiz-Fernández Elena Jerves-Hermida Maria Eugenia Siguencia

This study presents the first systematic regional assessment of how the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach has been understood and applied in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) cities between 2011 and 2022. The HUL approach is framed as a socio-spatial perspective shaped by historical layering, cultural practices, ecological structures, and contemporary development pressures. A systematic review of academic publications and institutional gray literature (Scopus, Google Scholar, and municipal repositories) was conducted to evaluate both conceptual understanding and methodological implementation aligned with the six steps of the 2011 HUL Recommendation. Findings reveal a clear implementation gap: although awareness of the HUL approach has increased across the region, its practical application remains partial. Steps 1 and 2 focused on value identification and participatory engagement show the highest adoption, while steps 4 and 6 which require interinstitutional coordination and integration into statutory planning instruments exhibit limited progress. Academic and research institutions play a more prominent role than local governments in leading or supporting HUL-related actions, indicating persistent institutional and governance constraints. Results highlight the need to strengthen municipal capacities, integrate HUL-based diagnostics into urban planning systems, and consolidate participatory, interdisciplinary, and multilevel governance mechanisms to close the gap between conceptual uptake and operational implementation.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010004

Authors: Marwa Mansouri Azeddine Belakehal

This study investigates the traditional life within Al-Gh’deer Market Square, which constitutes a fundamental component of the vernacular urban fabric of Sidi Okba’s old city from a sensorial perspective. This oasis, located in the southeast of Algeria, is currently severely degraded and requires urban and architectural preservation. However, the sensory experiences that once characterised traditional urban life have not yet been systematically explored. The aim of this study is to fill this gap by analysing the historical atmospheres depicted in various literary and iconographic sources created by French and European explorers who visited Algeria during the colonial period. This research highlights each component of the “Al-Gh’deer” market square, which had a sensory impact on writers and photographers during their visit to Sidi Okba. This impact is revealed through the different tangible and intangible signals generated by these components, which were then felt and described textually and/or visually by the travellers. To this end, the thematic content analysis is used as a research technique in order to analyse this textual corpus, whilst the image formatting and staging constitute the method used for the iconographic corpus study. The first method makes it possible to detect the most relayed ambiences by travellers. This is revealed by the identification and computation of the associated words and/or expressions within the considered textual corpus. The second technique consists of the extraction of the elements generating the physical signals that should create a sensory relationship with the people within the scene or looking at it. The identified ambiences among the two corpora are crossed in order to determine the most felt ones in the marketplace as well as the various components generating them. The outcomes of this research work would serve as a basis for revitalisation initiatives within the frame of socio-economic and cultural development projects.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010003

Authors: Jieling Xiao Michael Butler

Trails in heritage sites are useful ways to engage visitors with the place. Sensory trails proposed in this paper, engaged with the sensory walking method, are designed purposefully to engage the multi-sensory features onsite with prompts to link to the historic sensory elements that have historic and cultural meanings to the heritage sites. Two questions are asked: (1) What process can we follow to design sensory heritage trails? (2) What criteria can be used to evaluate and guide the sensory features on site and from historic documentations? Taking design research as the overarching methodology, this paper reflects on the creation of two sensory trails, Sensing Beyond the Roundhouse and Sensing Around the Anglesey Column, following the Double Diamond framework developed by UK Design Council. An iterative design framework was developed, beginning with the identification of constraints and sensory opportunities through site observations, document analysis, and stakeholder interviews, which leads to interpretations of sensory features to shape storylines and route planning informed by user analysis. It is followed by representing the trails through sensory maps and other low-cost creative formats and then validating proposed trails with communities and stakeholders via pilot walks and feedback sessions. Four criteria are generated to assess sensory features based on engagement and authenticity: their contribution to the authentic historic atmosphere of the site; their ability to trigger imagination and evoke nostalgia; their distinctiveness and relevance to the site’s heritage narratives; and their capacity to encourage physical interaction and embodied engagement. The discussion part argues that sensory trails can be used as place-based strategies to inform urban planning and development around the heritage site through three pathways: catalyst for improvements and developments, connect isolated heritage sites, generate place-based knowledge.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010002

Authors: Ri Na Abdulaziz Banawi Behzad Abbasnejad

Naturally ventilated cavity walls (VCWs) retrofit conventional cavity walls with vents that enable buoyancy- or wind-driven airflow and reduce cooling loads during summer. When closed, they retain the thermal performance of traditional walls. Previous studies evaluated VCWs under steady-state conditions but did not capture regional, transient solar heating effects. This study assesses VCW performance across major U.S. climate types using a transient 3D solar heating model for east-, south-, and west-facing façades in four representative cities. Simulated façade temperatures were validated using published measurements and then applied to a regression-based energy model to estimate cooling load reductions. Results show 30–40% savings for east/west façades and 10–20% for south façades, with monthly reductions exceeding 1.0 kWh/m2 in all regions. On-peak savings (3–7 PM) were at least 1.5× off-peak values, indicating strong peak-shaving capability. Overall, VCWs offer a low-cost, climate-adaptive retrofit strategy that improves façade energy performance and reduces peak cooling demand.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture6010001

Authors: Dana Khalid Amro Malak Abu Nasser

Adaptive reuse of heritage buildings is a vital strategy for balancing cultural preservation with modern functionality needs. This study provides a post-adaptive reuse evaluation of Dar Al Saraya in Madaba, Jordan, a significant Ottoman-era landmark, to examine how adaptive reuse strategies influence interior environments and heritage value. The analysis employs Zhang and Zhang’s evaluation framework focusing on existing fabric, special character, and policy and value, operationalized through 15 factors. A qualitative methodology was adopted, integrating site observations, photographic documentation, and semi-structured interviews with heritage experts, municipal representatives, residents, visitors, and site staff. Fieldwork was conducted in two phases (November 2024 and October 2025) to capture evolving conditions and perceptions. Findings indicate that challenges in spatial reconstruction were few and well addressed, but gaps in adaptation and reuse function strategies created significant issues. These included a lack of coordinated policies and the failure of municipal authorities and property owners to sustain the building’s reuse and involve the local community in reuse decisions. Despite various initiatives, from a museum, hotel, cultural center and gallery to its recent adaptation into a café, these efforts lacked sustainability and inclusive strategic planning. Consequently, the café has faced difficulties since opening, leaving its future uncertain. These findings highlight the importance of post-adaptive reuse evaluation and of integrating policy, planning, and community participation into adaptive reuse strategies to promote sustainable, community-centred conservation.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture5040133

Authors: Duygu Gökce

Nature bonding (NB), alongside place identity and place dependence, is among the most frequently discussed and empirically validated contributing factors of place attachment (PA) within urban environments. While PA has been extensively studied through its psychological, personal, and spatial dimensions, the specific contribution of NB across these dimensions and spatial scales remains insufficiently understood. To address this gap, this study aims to demonstrate the importance of NB in fostering PA by highlighting the need for spatially sensitive urban planning that integrates natural elements across scales to enhance community satisfaction and well-being. Elmwood Village in Buffalo, New York, recognized as one of the top ten most livable American neighborhoods and part of the historic Frederick Law Olmsted-designed parkway system was chosen as a case study. A three-stage investigation was conducted using survey data. First, the three dimensions of PA—place, person, and psychology—were identified. Second, NB was categorized into three levels: attachment, enjoyment, and oneness with nature. Third, the variability of these bonds across three spatial scales—building, street, and neighborhood—was tested to assess their spatial relevance. The findings reveal that the strength and form of NB differ significantly across spatial contexts, shaping how individuals emotionally and behaviorally connect to urban places. By integrating NB into the spatial understanding of PA, this research provides a framework for urban designers and environmental psychologists to better interpret and enhance human–nature relations in the built environment.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture5040132

Authors: Sheng-Yang Huang

This study examines how connectionist AI reshapes architectural rationality, focusing on the under-theorised epistemic implications of generative technologies. It positions latent space as the convergent medium of representation, cognition, and computation to investigate how learning-based models reorganise architectural reasoning. Employing a qualitative hermeneutic methodology suited to interpreting epistemic transformation, and analysing four emblematic cases, the study identified a tripartite shift: representation moves from symbolic abstraction to probabilistic, feature-based latent descriptions; cognition evolves from individual, rule-defined schemas to collective, data-inferred structures; and computation reorients from deterministic procedures to stochastic generative exploration. In this framework, type and style emerge not as fixed classifications but as continuous distributions of similarity, redefining the designer’s role from originator of form to curator of datasets, navigator of latent spaces, and interpreter of model outputs. Ultimately, the paper argues that connectionism introduces a distinct epistemic orientation grounded in correlation and probabilistic reasoning, thereby prompting critical reflection on the ethical, curatorial, and disciplinary responsibilities of AI-mediated design.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture5040131

Authors: Stanley Okangba Ntebo Ngcobo Jeffrey Mahachi

This study investigates the factors that influence the acceptance of 3D concrete printing technology in South Africa. The purpose is to provide evidence-based insights to guide regulators in developing clear standards and certification pathways for 3DCP in South Africa. In a mixed-method research design, the study gathered data from professionals including architects, civil engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers, contractors, regulators, and local municipalities using a modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology framework, adapted to the institutional and infrastructure contextual nuances of South Africa. The findings indicate significant variability in awareness, exposure, and openness to 3DCP across professions and regions. Regulatory actors express caution due to the absence of national standards but also recognize the potential alignment with sustainable construction goals. Major enablers of acceptance include access to demonstrable case studies, technical training, and policy incentives. Barriers include a lack of local performance benchmarks, cost perceptions, and uncertainty regarding compliance pathways. By incorporating institutional variables such as regulatory clarity and policy maturity, the study advances a theoretical understanding of construction technology diffusion in the global south. The study offers a robust, context-specific model that can be adapted in similar economies seeking to balance innovation with regulatory oversight.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture5040130

Authors: Mohammed M. Gomaa Saleh Algethami Omar Ibrahim Hussein Ahmed Mohamed Abdo Emad Mohamed Hassanein

Egypt’s heritage villages are living cultural landscapes that remain largely undocumented and insufficiently protected under current national frameworks. This study develops the Enhanced Heritage Value Index (EHVI) a UNESCO-aligned framework designed to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the conservation readiness of heritage villages in Egypt. EHVI was developed through a mixed-method approach integrating conceptual analysis of UNESCO and ICOMOS standards, expert-based weighting of 31 validated heritage indicators, and community perception surveys conducted across seven villages in Luxor Governorate. The EHVI provides a scalable and replicable assessment tool that classifies villages into high, moderate, and low readiness levels, enabling decision-makers to prioritize conservation interventions. As Egypt’s first composite index tailored to rural heritage contexts, this framework bridges national policy needs with international heritage criteria and offers a strategic foundation for future UNESCO nominations and sustainable heritage management. This research fills a critical theoretical and practical gap by operationalizing the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) paradigm in a rural Egyptian context, thereby advancing heritage assessment methodologies beyond urban-centered models.

Architecture doi: 10.3390/architecture5040129

Authors: Nada H. Abdelraouf Amal Abdel-Latif Tamer ElSerafi

This research develops a city Branding–Competitiveness Index (BCI) that comprehend symbolic city branding elements with quantifiable aspects of urban competitiveness. It examines the effectiveness of branding strategies in emerging cities in MENA region to improve their competitiveness, focusing on King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia and New Alamein City in Egypt. This research employs a mixed-method approach that integrates systematic literature review, expert survey, and quantitative analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. The BCI was built considering primary categories, then improved through expert review to make sure it is valid and relevant to the practice, then utilized on the two case studies to evaluate its efficacy and performance. Results indicated that both cities showed relatively better performance in the infrastructure, environmental planning, and accessibility indicating that government-led development models work well on some level. But they achieved lower scores in social cohesion, cultural identity, and participatory governance, highlighting the gap between urban development and the lifestyle in cities. The BCI helped identify these disparities and showed indicative insights for enhancing branding strategy. This empirical BCI provides a guiding framework for policymakers and urban planners to evaluate the strategic planning for city branding, and sustainable competitiveness. The findings demonstrate the potential applicability of BCI to emerging cities, while acknowledging that further testing in diverse international contexts is needed.