Ján Legény

Sustainability, beauty, and power are notions that hit our contemporary perception every day. However, they have been an integral part of architecture and urban planning in various forms since the ages. The paper presents their fundamental descriptions, followed by an assessment of their mutual relations and impact on architecture through a triangular architectural relation model developed by the authors of the article. Using the theoretical thought experiment, it highlights eight boundary models along with their main characteristics, in particular, the implosion, explosion, shared-control, utilitarian, no-control, supremacy, inside-forced, and outside-forced architectural related models. Such models can help predict future events, explain past events, make decisions, and plan strategies, or reveal problems and propose new solutions. Other applications include determination of the causes of certain results or finding out the responsibility and mechanisms that led to them. The authors are of the opinion that the mutual denominator of sustainability, beauty, and power represents ethics that should be forced in architectural education and practice.

One of the main targets of globally aimed strategies such as the UN-supported Race to Zero campaign or the European Green Deal is the decarbonisation of the building sector. The implementation of renewable energy sources in new urban structures, as well as the complex reconstruction of existing buildings, represents a key area of sustainable urban development. Supporting this approach, this paper introduces the solar-surface-area-to-volume ratio (Rsol) and the solar performance indicator (Psol), applicable for evaluation of the energy performance of basic building shapes at early design stages. The indicators are based on the preprocessors calculated using two different mathematical models—Robinson and Stone’s cumulative sky algorithm and Kittler and Mikler’s model—which are then compared and evaluated. Contrary to the commonly used surface-area-to-volume ratio, the proposed indicators estimate the potential for energy generation by active solar appliances integrated in the building envelope and allow optimisation of building shape in relation to potential energy losses and potential solar gains simultaneously. On the basis of the mathematical models, an online application optimising building shape to maximise sun-exposed surfaces has been developed. In connection with the solar-surface-area-to-volume ratio, it facilitates the quantitative evaluation of energy efficiency of various shapes by the wider professional public. The proposed indicators, verified in a case study presented, shall result in the increased sustainability of building sector by improving the utilisation of solar energy and overall energy performance of buildings.

Since the beginning of this century, STEM education has become increasingly important in preserving prosperity and economic competitiveness. Architecture has its own specific attributes. It overarches the STEM and HASS disciplines, and it should be perceived as a cultural phenomenon rather than as a field of study. The main objective of this article is to highlight the methodology based on the statistical method evaluating the correlation rate between the Bachelor’s student performance (SP) in design studio courses and STEM and HASS categories, represented by particular subjects of various areas of study. The relationship between the admission examination procedure and the academic performance of graduates in the DESIGN category was also analyzed. Although the level of knowledge and skills required based on the study results within the curricula was more significant in the HASS category, the direct correlation between subjects in the STEM category, especially engineering, and the qu...

Architecture as a discipline has the inherent potential of overlapping with areas that do not appear related to its own scope of functions at first sight. Along with town-planning, the discipline is closely linked with mass evaluation, mutual relations of buildings’ volumes impacting on the users’ and inhabitants’ everyday life. Contemporary IT technologies enable architecture to “materialise” in virtual space (to be performed in silico, i.e. on a computer or via computer simulation, transl. note) but the creative design process calls for the direct connection between the hand and the mind – using a “thinking hand” whenever one is in need of inspiration, as Juhani Pallasmaa argues. The idea is that, by suspending one’s critical faculties and letting one’s hand simply roam free, one’s fingers might fashion something unexpected. Besides sketching or modelling there exist other tools which can be applied in the design process. The aim of the article is to explain the relation between the Lego® set and architecture, urban planning and design, to identify its potential for creation, creativity, and design innovation, and also to justify it as a teaching tool.

History of Lego®

The Lego® Brick is a cultural phenomenon with its own history. It was designed by a carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen in Denmark during the Cold War that followed WWII. First patented on 28 January 1958, the use and popularity of The Lego® Group (hereinafter referred to as “the LEGO Group”) has grown exponentially through the decades. Taking its name originally by a derivation from the Danish phrase leg godt (meaning “play well”), Lego® mainly produced wooden toys. Following the trend of those years, the company’s expansion into the plastic toys segment took place between 1940 and 1949. It was not before in the mid-1950s that the company’s production predominantly consisted of plastic while wooden toys were discontinued in the 1960s. Today, the LEGO Group has developed a worldwide community of enthusiasts from a diverse set of age groups and backgrounds. AFOLs (Adult Fans of Lego®) and youngsters organize fairs where they display their Lego® MOCs (my own creation). By the way, this toy has its lovers also among artists, architects and designers.

Lego® in architecture design

The Lego® Architecture’s Edition, very popular mainly among architects, aims to celebrate the past, present and future of architecture through the Lego® Brick. From the beginning of 2009 until 2019, 45 sets with 10 special editions were released, including the Villa Savoye, Empire State Building, Sears Tower, Sydney Opera House, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Guggenheim Museum and many others. The latest edition – Lego® Architecture Studio – comprises white block sets, using primarily the smaller “plate” pieces rather than the larger “brick” pieces. This allows creating very compact, yet highly detailed replicas designed to scale. The main aim of this edition is to get young and old bricksmiths across the world over to thinking about the core concepts of architectural design.

The Lego® Company also supports many other projects and competitions, such as the Inspireli Awards, the world’s biggest global student contest in architecture, urban design, landscape and interior design, involving 136 countries around the world. This year was a very special one for the Faculty of Architecture, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia, and two of its students, Jana Hájková and Kristína Boháčová, who were awarded a special prize in the “Design a real project” section in October 2019.

In relation to design process, the Lego® set has many advantages such as modularity and variability with a high number of various types of elements which can be very quickly and easily assembled and disassembled. Among disadvantages, one can include mainly a high price.

Using Lego® for Medical Purposes

It is invaluable that the Lego® set is also applied to treat communication disorders of autistic children. The Lego®®-based therapy (also known as Lego® therapy) was originally developed by US psychologist Daniel LeGoff followed by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, and Dr. Gina Gómez de la Cuesta from the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre. Within this therapy, all persons involved take turns to play different roles – such as Engineer, Supplier, Builder – and immediately have a joint focus on the same thing. As a result, children work together, interact one with another and can learn without fear or anxiety. In 2019, the LEGO Group developed a brick version with printed letters and numbers from the Braille alphabet which are compatible with Lego®’s wider collection. Therefore, blind and partially sighted children can learn to read while playing with the Lego® set.

Impact of Lego® on Education Process

If one speaks about the positive effects of Lego® related to teaching architecture, urbanism and design, some specific learning approaches have to be mentioned. Many pioneers of this unusual teaching procedure are of the opinion that through Lego® sets students are able to:

Compare the difference between towers by differing heights and base sizes and discuss other ideas to improve building stability. Hence, they are learning the basics of architecture, engineering, physics and creativity;
Construct one or more Lego® models that can mimic a real-world software process that consists of many interrelated activities;
Learn about the need for flexible design to accommodate stakeholder needs;
Quickly and simply model the effects of large-scale urban-planning decisions – like through the CityScope project developed by MIT which enhances teamwork and intervention design using data-based physical and digital tools.
Therefore, the Lego® set can be enthusiastically embraced by teachers at the FA SUT who can become the AAFOLs (adult architect fans of Lego®) and who /will implement the sets along with contemporary information technologies into the early stages of the architectural, town-planning and design education process. After all, Lego® has inspired children and adults alike around the world to develop a spatial vision and a love for building, development and engineering, which represent crucial elements of our everyday life.

The paper focuses on the possibilities of the energy performance of buildings in relation to the production of greenhouse gasses during the construction and use of buildings. The discussion is aimed at the options the architects have when preparing the mass designs in the conceptual phase and the reconsideration of the indicator used in laws and regulations (the building shape factor calculated as): surface area to volume ratio of building. The argumentation is based on the exclusion of surface’s ability to produce solar energy, where this type of calculation is used in contrast to similar indicators, for example, Entwurfsgütezahl für Solarhäuser (EGZ) that includes also an approximation of the solar energy production ability of the object surface. The (shape factor) indicator of the surface area to volume ratio of building used in laws and regulations is thus an outdated method that only optimizes the thermal insulation properties, without any regard for active solar systems and carbon-dioxide imprint (generated during the construction and general use of the building). Simultaneous optimization of both aspects of the building form: the active solar gains and thermal-insulation properties could achieve further carbon-dioxide imprint minimization. The question is whether it is possible to create a similar indicator to the surface area to volume ratio – the solar factor of shape, which would simply connect architectural form with the potential of the object to produce solar gains, even before the effectivity of active solar devices is taken into account, and thus connect the architectural form with the energetic side of the design.

The introductory section of the paper describes the process of the research, which has led to the development of two alternative methods of calculation suitable for conditions in Slovakia that include the missing potential gains by the surface of the building. To cover both sides of the problem (potential solar gains and thermal loses), the paper defines a new indicator, the solar potential of the object’s form, calculated as a proportion of solar effective surface (potential gains) and entire surface area of the object (potential losses). The first method of calculation is similar to EGZ and it is based on projections, the second one directly uses simulations of solar radiation in Grasshopper Ladybug software. As this new calculation is defined as the proportion of the surface area of an object, unlike the shape factor, it is not dependent on its volume. The comparison of the projection and simulation methods has shown that the simulation technique seems to be more precise.

The next part of the research has focused on the development of an algorithm with a quicker, more effective calculation of the solar potential, based on a more precise method of simulations. Such a tool could be used for solar potential calculations without computer technology or for making the otherwise time-consuming evolutionary optimization of the form faster. The algorithm was developed in defined model conditions on the model building form – a model block representing the mass of a building with variable proportions and horizontal rotation (orientation with respect to the cardinal directions). Since the solar potential is not dependent on volume, the model block had defined exemplary volume of 1000 m3. The acceleration and simplification of the calculation were achieved by means of the function of the potential and the object’s surface orientation. This function was created based on numerous simulations. This way the time-consuming simulation was avoided, while the precision of the calculation was preserved.

The output of the research is an algorithm that uses this function to determine the object’s solar potential in defined, model conditions, expressed as a percentage. The algorithm was created from these steps: break-down of the object to its surfaces and calculation of the individual potentials of these surfaces in the percentual values of their areas with the mentioned function of the solar potential and rotation. The sum of these partial potential areas is the resulting total solar potential surface area of the object. The final indicator is defined as the proportion of this solar potential area to the entire area of the object. The outcome of the calculation is thus a non-dimensional percentage value. This algorithm was used to calculate and record all the possible solar potentials of the model block via graphs and tables. Subsequently, the maximum of solar potential was determined – an object with ideal proportions and orientation which also optimizes the potential solar gains and thermal loses. The optimum found was compared with some of the significant states of the object (e.g. an ideal shape for surface area to volume ratio).

The paper also describes the usage of the algorithm without computer technology, which further widens its possible utilization. The next section clarifies the algorithm’s usability in the evolutional optimization of the object’s form, which changes the static, normative value of the indicator into a dynamic tool, offering automatic improvements of the form.

The conclusion of the paper analyses the paradigmatic shift, based on the beliefs that in relation to the carbon-dioxide imprint, we have reached the limits of the thermal insulation properties of the building structures (the thermal insulation width and glazing). The question of active building input in the energetic balance has gained in importance. There are also well-known cases of objects producing more energy than they are able to consume. They represent the models of independence (island systems) and decentralized energy production at the place of its consumption, which minimizes loses caused by transport. Improvements in solar energy management and distribution lead to dynamic cooperation between objects without the need for energy storage. Internet of things thereby creates a system with automatized sharing of the gained energy between the objects. The objects that are local without energy are supplied by the objects with a local energy surplus. It is even possible to predict the process with respect to meteorology, where the aim is to integrate solar energy more effectively into the distribution network – and to optimize the distribution network management during fluctuations of energy sources. It is the growing phenomenon of virtual power plants. The quality of the environment during the summer season, in contrast to the heating season, is now another frequently discussed topic. Air-conditioning and cooling devices consume more energy than heating. Therefore, searching for new energetic sources and design principles could help to optimize the annual cycle of buildings. One of these principles could be the application of the integrated PV systems in the building envelope.

The coming paradigmatic shift thus also brings gradual limitation of the thermal-insulation properties of structures and increasing effectivity of the transfer and usability of “green” energy with a lower carbon-dioxide imprint and ecological impact. The consideration of the energy effectiveness of the buildings can be expected to free the way for calculations of the carbon-dioxide imprint.

We are pleased to announce the deadlines for contributions to the journal Architecture Papers of the Faculty of Architecture of the Slovak University of Technology (ALFA) for the year 2020. The journal is a valuable source for those interested in the areas of architecture, urbanism and product design as well graphic design. It focuses on topics concerning the history, philosophy and psychology of architecture and urbanism, dealing with the relationships between architecture and urbanism, architecture and landscape, architecture and design, architecture and art, as well as architecture and society. ALFA is a channel to learn about the most recent outcomes helping the branch of architecture to further develop and gain ground in the society, while there is also an overlap with other disciplines. Furthermore, the journal features theoretical and research based articles, papers on the methodology of education, as well as reviews and conclusions of research projects.

Humans are characterised by curiosity about the world. They gain knowledge especially from studies and experience. Since there is a postmodern era characterised as post-factual, the world needs to be seen in an interdisciplinary way. The authors of this article share an ambition to show the intersections between architecture and other fields of study at Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU), Bratislava, Slovakia. They are convinced that if the University cultivates understanding among the fields of study, it can establish and strengthen the principles and integrity of the institution. The objective in this article is to report on the connection of architecture and architectural education to other fields of research and education, such as mathematics,  chemistry, biology, art, informatics and engineering. There is an assumption that such crossovers in education can offer students a more
comprehensive view of the world.

The emergence of democracy and of the first public space - Agora dates back to the ancient Greece. Urban environment is an essential attribute of development of cultures and civilizations. It concentrates the nature of environment, history, people’s mentality and affects the way and quality of life of inhabitants. Public spaces have played and will always play an important role in the life of every society by providing the place for revolutions, executions, control of the masses (by barricades, cameras, through their layouts) and for the demonstration of political and economic power. In general, democracy in relation to public spaces implies the equality of access and approach on grounds of age, physical predisposition, sex, wealth and faith. It represents the freedom of movement (with minimum of prohibitions), safety, environmental friendliness and an opportunity to explore new “secrets” of public spaces. The city with its public spaces has to be open and amiable for everybody. Foucault said that the 20th century was the century of space. We would be pleased if we could entitle the 21st century THE CENTURY OF PUBLIC SPACES. The contribution tries to answer the two basic questions - what represents the public spaces and who constitutes them? In this respect, the authors introduce the spatial interpretation of Wilhelm Landzettel. The authors clarify these aspects by many examples of historical periods (antiquity, middle age, period of the monarchy until the recent past) and examples from different countries. Public spaces are changing and are closely linked to political regimes. The relation between totality and democracy is the best example. Monumentality characterizes both of them. Mainly, it is the attribute of the “Cult of Faith” (Parthenon), the “Cult of Man” (Hitler´s Zeppelinfeld), the “ostentatious architecture” (Koolhaas´s Bigness (or the problem of Large) or of the “military force” (Pentagon). An architect, as the creator, plays a key role in the issue of public spaces. One can mention the Haussmann´s renovation of Paris, projects of Albert Speer for German Führer or the Gottwald  Square in Bratislava. Public spaces are primarily intended for people and inhabitants need to be involved. In this context, the Greek term politeia can be used. It represents the “conditions and rights of citizens or citizenship” in analogy with the Latin civitas. As actors in the public spaces we need to acquire “civic virtues”.

Cities originate from more simple settlements. Before the city, there was a hamlet and a shrine and a village; before the village, a camp, a cache, a cave. As the food producer, the village is closely linked with the city. However, the city concentrates more complex energy-exploitative human activities such as industry, transport, but also education, innovation or culture. Each creation is energy. In terms of supply, the city lives at the expense of its surrounding - energy for consumption (converted into higher value), be it electricity, heat sources, but also food or fuel; and construction materials are transported to the intensively growing urban areas. The increasing rate of growth of human population is also highly obvious in cities. In regard to all these aspects, the image of the city has been formed as a large energy consumer. There are plenty of shining examples of foreign cities responding to their increasing energy demand for renewable sources. The energy conservation measures, except for thermal insulation of buildings, are being implemented in our environment – cities very slowly and still remain mainly at the level of theory and research. The change of current urban paradigm is adopted by detecting the potential of the city to use renewable energy sources. One can speak of two strategies – energy cooperativeness of urban structures and a production of energy eff ective urban structures based on solar access principle. Ideally, cities will become energy-independent from non-renewable energy resources. Such situation can be at least reasonably expected in urban fragments. The energy dependence rate will decrease within the progressive development of a city as a whole. Town planning will acquire a new quality - there appears a new aesthetic of building shapes and urban structures generated under criterion of optimally inclined solar surfaces. The solar potential of urban structures is characterized by two proposed urban indicators – a solar index and a cooperative indicator. Intensifying of the solar energy use within the urban structures can transform the "traditional" city into the green, intelligent and sustainable settlement. Solar roadways, solar parking lots and piezoelectric floor systems generating electricity are new achievements of the high technology. The solar town planning including the solar cadastre of the city can provide a new principle in urban regulation represented by a new aesthetic paradigm. Shall we codify it or modify it?

ABSTRACT: When one speaks about crisis today, one means a phenomenon that has hit many sectors of the economy. When one speaks about a global financial crisis, paradoxically, people in most countries of the world have not noticed any crisis at all. Crisis has become a fashionable word to excuse our helplessness. Apparently, the problem is being dealt with by analysts rather than by people who have first-hand experience of it. Architecture is no longer bound by any borders. In the globalised world, staff turnover is increasing. It has been 30 years since Christian Norberg-Schulz pointed out the problem in the education of young architects, who are not able to solve the problems of their time. His statement could easily be used in the contemporary situation. How should schools react to the present challenges? Should the education system be changed? Does one have to change the architect’s view of creating new architecture? Is it possible to solve the current problem of crisis by an ecological approach to the world and by sustainable architecture? This article endeavours to clarify the present situation concerning the architecture profession in the European Union, discussing the needs and requirements of students, teachers and people in practice.

ABSTRACT: The authors of this article champion critical thinking on conventional teaching of sustainable design to architecture students at Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia. Teaching is closely related to building practice, responding to ever-tightening standards on the thermal protection and energy efficiency of buildings. Requirements for the building envelope are progressing towards a nearly zero energy standard and do not take into account the wider context of sustainability. Contrary to this trend, a number of studies prove the economic, ecological and social aspects of the conventional solution. Holistic concepts based on the principle of dynamic building envelopes respond to changes in the surrounding environment, as well as the user’s changing demands, with renewable energies, decentralised energy generation or collective infrastructure management in a neighbourhood. The main challenge in educating future architects is to outline the wider view concerning sustainable design, to give students critical insight into evolving trends and direct them towards a deeper understanding of the subject.

Humour as a specific way of communication is closely linked to human life, architecture and education. One of the most important benefits of using humour is that it can engage students in learning. Other positive benefits include physiological, psychological, pedagogical and cognitive effects. It can contribute to establishing a tranquil and socially inclusive classroom milieu. Therefore, there has arisen a genre of lecturing, widely referred to as edutainment. It means a hybrid mix of education and entertainment, which relies on more informal, less didactic forms of presentation. The authors assume that it is highly important to teach without burdening students with yet another obligatory subject that is taught solely through a serious, strict and grave approach. Argumentation with paradox or hyperbole is often incomparably more effective than traditional lecturing. The authors advocate the use of humour as a teaching tool in architectural education and allowing students to include humour or caricature in their work. Included in the study here is student work and also works of well-known cartoonists closely linked to architecture.

Architectural education emerged a long time after humans began to construct their dwellings. The process of its formation began by passing down skills from generation to generation. Later, it was systematised in workshops. Even during antiquity, but especially in the Renaissance period, the education was further enriched with theoretical and practical rules of architecture. The current way of life implies specific changes in methodology of teaching the new generation of architects. The construction process is also changing with the use of new technologies and practices, such as 3D printing of entire building elements or the use of drones. Capitalising virtual reality, increasing emphasis on the introduction of practical skills, and the presence of practicing teachers are now part of the academic scene. Is institutional educational still necessary? Would it be possible to gain the requisite knowledge and skills solely through experience in the architectural office, as it was the case in the past? Will the architect’s position remain justifiable and tenable in the future? Can this role be taken over by the technologically advanced and ever more reliable automation, which could efficiently satisfy the most specific requirements and design details demanded by the investor? Compared to the automated process, what added value does the architect offer?

The paradigm of the city is now undergoing much change against a background of economic, technological and social transformations caused by globalization. The traditional post-industrial city is to be replaced by the city characterized by such attributes as green, sustainable, open, rational, ecological, ideal, creative, global, and generic... – and the notion of Smart City is the overarching summation of all of these characteristics. Bearing in mind that the English adjective smart is replaced in Slovak by the equivalent intelligent, the question remains whether an inanimate entity (like the city in the traditional thinking) can be intelligent. That is, if we define intelligent as possessing or displaying the ability to learn or understand things, or to deal with new or difficult situations.
No precise definition of the Smart City concept can be said yet to exist. Perhaps the most useful statement might define it as a district, urban fragment, and ultimately an entire city which is energy efficient, which saves resources, produces minimum emissions, and provides the highest quality of life for its residents. The basis is a well-functioning infrastructure at all network levels.
According to the authors of this article, the concept of the Smart City can be divided into several distinct layers (strata). This layering / stratification is evaluated by a series of vertical sections, aiming to analyse the interplay, overlaps and influences, mostly on urban society. Does thinking about the Smart City concept really start at the edge of the town, or instead within its environmental and economic substructures? Is it possible to speak of the “smart region” or even “smart country”? The authors present the selected layers and their essential characteristics,
the impact on the lives of people or on the environment.

Mesto ako globálny fenomén je produkt jednej univerzálnej idey. Koncentrácia ľudských aktivít sledovala zvýšenie ich efektivity, či už išlo o obchod, výrobu, bezpečnosť, vzdelávanie... Ako jednotiaci princíp (využijúc Mumfordov termín „urban implosion“ z jeho knižky The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects) sa mesto prirodzene kultúrne diverzifikovalo, jeho efektívnosť prekračovala vlastné hranice a opakovane hľadala nové východiská. Globálna vlastnosť mesta je koncentrovaná produkcia a súčasne spotreba. Čoraz zložitejšia logistika produktov a zdrojov vedie k stavu, že súčasné mesto naráža na bariéru vlastnej udržateľnosti. Za prežitie vlastného produktu – mesta je človek čoraz viac zodpovedný.

Súčasná polemika má dve zrejmé platformy. Diskutujeme udržateľnosť mesta z hľadiska jeho materiálneho fungovania a udržateľnosť mesta z hľadiska dichotómie kultúrna identita – globálne generikum. Tieto dve platformy je potrebné zjednocovať, alebo minimálne skúmať rad vertikálnych rezov. Polemika nemôže stáť na nevyhnutnosti voľby energetická + ekonomická ALEBO kultúrna udržateľnosť, pretože pri víťazstve ktoréhokoľvek hľadiska bude mesto atrofovať. Východisko je princíp win-win.

Na jednej strane máme literárne vyjadrenia, pre niekoho melodramatické, na druhej strane seriózny vedecký výskum. Kde leží pravda, ktorú chápeme?, alebo cítime? Aby sme si neskôr nemuseli povzdychnúť spolu s Kurtom Vonnegutom v jeho knižke A Man without a Country: „Dobrotivá Zem – mohli sme si ju zachrániť, ale boli sme príliš nečinní a leniví.“

Autori publikácie vychádzajú z premisy samozrejmosti zachovania kultúrnej identity, skúmajú možnosti udržania fundamentálnych funkcií urbánnych fragmentov, mestských štvrtí, prípadne mesta ako celku. Udržateľnosť je hľadaná v znižovaní ich energetickej spotreby, v rovine stavebných objektov ako hlavných prispievateľov emisií do ovzdušia. Výroba a distribúcia obnoviteľnej energie je skúmaná ako samostatná vrstva a ako proces kultivovania kultúrno-sociálneho súvrstvia mesta. Skúmajú v prvom rade alternatívy, ktoré sú relevantné pre architektúru mesta, pre vznik prípadnej novej estetickej paradigmy architektúry mesta. Skryté technológie nechávajú v druhom pláne. Za premisu považujú pôsobenie slnečnej energie na povrch mesta.

Vynálezy a inovácie nám dnes umožňujú návrat k čistej, bezpečnej energii, ktorá môže čiastočne konkurovať aj jadrovej energetike – jeden z možných scenárov je „solárna revolúcia“. Ovplyvní výraz budúceho mesta podobne ako to urobili priemyselné revolúcie?

Monografia nastoľuje dve primárne situácie – posúdenie potenciálu existujúcej objektovej štruktúry a generovanie optimalizovaných systémov architektúry mesta v prehľadnom veľkostnom systéme. Druhá stratégia je výskum kooperatívneho potenciálu prebytkových a deficitných objektov a ich zoskupení. Teória smartgridov má už solídnu výskumnú základňu, autori sa ňou zaoberajú práve v kontexte našej kultúrnej identity.

Vzťažný systém na posúdenie energetickej efektívnosti prestáva byť jednotlivý objekt, stáva sa ním urbánny fragment v rozmere smart gridu, pri budúcej optimalizácii mesto. Pri argumentačnej fixácii komplexnej udržateľnosti ide o mieru kultúrnej identity objektu, mestského fragmentu, mesta. Pokiaľ sa neudrží energetický, všeobecne logistický systém mesta, bude ohrozená jeho kultúrna identita, pokiaľ nedokážeme udržať jeho kultúrny a sociálny status, pomôže nám akokoľvek dobre alternatívne fungujúca infraštruktúra?

Samostatný problém predstavuje otázka, či prvoplánová aplikácia univerzálnych, povedzme solárnych PV technológií nevedie k riziku generického výrazu mesta naprieč kultúrami. Autori hľadajú účinnú argumentáciu, že kultúrna substancia mesta má odolať budúcim technologickým nánosom. Pri dôslednom postupe tu máme možno nový princíp komplexnej regulácie. Budeme ho kodifikovať alebo používať ako opatrný modifikátor?