Bioarchitecture

Nosotros los latinoamericanos podemos mejor que nadie decir que el proceso de globalización, con todo y sus secuelas, comenzó el mero día del descubrimiento inesperado de América. Se desarrollaron los medios de transporte y se modificaron las economías cerradas hacia un mercado mundial. La gran desventaja de los pobladores originales fue no haber conocido la pólvora, la brújula, ni el papel y la imprenta. Lo que se ha tratado de maquillar como "Encuentro de Dos Mundos", más bien fue un "Encontronazo".

Biourbanism introduces new conceptual and planning models for a new kind of city, valuing social and economical regeneration of the built environment through developing and healthy communities. Thus, it combines technical aspects, such as zero-emission, energy efficiency, information technology, etc. and the promotion of social sustainability and human well being. In effect, this new paradigm endorses principles of geometrical coherence, Biophilic design, BioArchitecture, Biomimesis, etc. in practices of design and also new urban policies and, especially Biopolitics to promote urban revitalization by ensuring that man-made changes do not have harmful effects to humans. Green city standards start inside the designs of each building and continue either in unbuilt spaces surrounding buildings or inside complex infrastructural networks, connecting buildings and people. The proposed presentation should illustrate how new exciting developments, such as fractals, complexity theory, evolutionary biology and artificial intelligence are interrelated and constantly stimulate interaction between human beings and the surrounding environment. New Biophilic solutions in designs of buildings have been proved as attractive opportunities for new markets of housing. Thus, some new infrastructural projects start embracing Biophilic advanced solutions which finally aim at energy efficiency and optimal performance. As parallel activity we can now see emerging new innovative monitoring systems of building health not only in small scale, but also in large scale buildings, such as rail stations, for example, and commercial centres or even sometimes entire educational complexes integrated to new infrastructural projects. Some important case studies are going to be presented; they have been analyzed and evaluated by Biourbanism and Biophilia principles and applied methods of design.

La progettazione biofilica può ridurre lo stress, accrescere la creatività e la lucidità del pensiero, migliorare il nostro benessere e accelerare la guarigione. Così, mentre si assiste  all’espansione del processo di urbanizzazione da parte della popolazione mondiale, queste qualità assumono importanza crescente.
Teorici, ricercatori e progettisti hanno lavorato decenni per definire quali aspetti della natura hanno un maggiore impatto sulla nostra soddisfazione per gli ambienti antropizzati, ed è in questa prospettiva che i “14 modelli per la progettazione biofilica” – che si articolano attorno alla relazione tra la natura, l’uomo in quanto essere biologico e la progettazione dell’ambiente antropico – si propongono di vagliare i benefici della biofilia e della progettazione applicata.

Le nostre città e le nostre campagne non possono più essere viste come una macchina da governare con criteri prescrittivi volti solo alla cristallizzazione, più che alla tutela, di un immagine che in realtà  è il risultato di una continua trasformazione.
Quello che serve è un vero e proprio cambio di paradigma mentale adeguato ad un cambiamento epocale.
La città, e ricomprendo verde e spazio antropico, è in realtà un ecosistema che sta in equilibrio dinamico con altri ecosistemi.
Tutto il territorio urbano è il teatro di questa trasformazione della vita che deve essere rivisto in un’ ottica circolare di tutela della trasformazione dei processi più che di sua qualsiasi parziale  espressione.
Il concetto di "uso" del suolo è ancora ancorato ad una visione meccanica lineare prescrittiva  legata ad una impostazione di metodo che ormai appartiene al secolo, anzi al millennio, passato.
La città vista come un contenitore/fondale è un concetto ormai obsoleto e superato.
Le equazioni della fisica quantistica non descrivono la reale esistenza delle particelle ma solo il potenziale di esistenza delle stesse, cioè dove potrebbero essere come potrebbero comportarsi e quali proprietà potrebbero avere.
L’Urbanistica dovrebbe fare altrettanto, con l’assunto , che deriva dalla Permacultura, che le trasformazioni continue devono dare stabilità al processo e quelle migliori sono quelle che richiedono minori energia dall’esterno perché più stabili e sostenibili e quindi più prevedibili e gestibili.
Tutto il suolo urbano ed extra urbano, ed in particolar modo i territori di margine, dovrebbe essere visti come un processo  di continua autorigenerazione a tutela della biodiversità con l'unica regola sacra del maggior vantaggio della parte comune.
Questa è la regola sistemica della vita e questa dovrebbe essere la traccia di riferimento.
Occorre sostituire alla cultura della norma  un approccio sistemico con azioni  e strategie coerenti con il proprio sviluppo circolare interno per lasciare libero il sistema di ritrovare le ragioni della propria crescita sostenibile  nello “scorrimento" dell’energia, e nella giusta “sedimentazione" sul territorio, in modo organico e coerente con la sua struttura e con la valorizzazione e l’equa distribuzione delle sue risorse.

W 1970 roku w stanie Nowy Meksyk (USA) został wcielony w życie pierwszy projekt architektoniczny budynku mieszkalnego Earthship. Twórcą idei oraz głównym architektem pomysłu jest Michael Reynolds, który chciał stworzyć dom w pełni przyjazny środowisku naturalnemu.

Pierwszym założeniem koncepcji jest wykorzystanie rodzimych surowców potrzebnych do budowy domu bez ich zbędnego importowania z dalekich zakątków świata. Architekt, chcąc zmienić podejście do projektowania, zaproponował wykorzystanie materiałów z recyklingu — np. zużytych opon, puszek czy butelek po napojach. Drugim warunkiem, jaki mają spełniać Eartship’y, jest samowystarczalność budynków, realizowana przez wykorzystanie w nich w pełni odnawialnych źródeł energii oraz odłączenie budynku od zewnętrznych sieci zasilających. Ostatnim, najważniejszym założeniem wizji Reynolds’a, było umożliwienie samodzielnego wybudowania domu osobom bez specjalistycznych umiejętności budowlanych, chcąc w ten sposób rozpowszechnić tę technologię jak największej liczbie odbiorców na całym świecie.

Budynek zaprojektowany w myśl zrównoważonego rozwoju zaspokaja podstawowe ludzkie potrzeby, stosując przy tym różne funkcjonalne rozwiązania, m. in.:
- zorientowanie na osi północ-południe oraz projektowanie przeszkleń (szklarni) od nasłonecznionej strony domu, dzięki czemu promienie docierają do wszystkich jego pomieszczeń;
- pozyskiwanie energii z promieni słonecznych oraz siły wiatru;
- gromadzenie wody deszczowej oraz oczyszczanie i ponowne jej wykorzystywanie;
- hodowanie roślin uprawnych we wnętrzu budynku.

Eartship’y to nie tylko zrównoważona architektura, ale również styl życia. Ich miłośnicy łączą się w społeczności, w których wzajemnie spędzają czas.

Wybudowanie podstawowego modelu Eartship’u w Stanach Zjednoczonych to w przybliżeniu 7 000 dolarów. Do tej ceny należy również doliczyć koszty działki oraz zakup projektu. Amerykańscy eksperci podają za przykład parę z Toronto, która własnoręcznie wybudowała dom w 3 miesiące, opierając swoją wiedzę wyłącznie na planach. Idea Eartship’u, coraz bardziej popularna na całym świecie, w głównej mierze zachęca swych odbiorców poczuciem wolności od comiesięcznego opłacania rachunków oraz perspektywą harmonijnego życia w zgodzie z naturą.

This essay proposes a foundational theory weaving ideas from autopoiesis, secular Buddhism, and ecoMarxism into ontological and design procedures. Those precepts integrate theoretical components to articulate ways-of-being and ways-of- seeing (programmable ontologies) that aid designers reason and contemplate microbe/plant intelligences for inclusion in metabolic buildings and cities. For such cases, metabolic architectures are defined as structures and infrastructures enhanced with microbial, plant, and AI intelligences — for example, metabolically-driven bioremedial/biochemical environmental monitoring, cleanup, and restoration.

Non-adult sex estimation is an active field of forensic inquiry as morphological variations between males and females are subtle,
but observable, even from intrauterine development. The objectives of this study are threefold: to test the validity of the auricular
surface method for sex estimation (Int J Osteoarchaeol 27:898–911, 2017) in fetuses and children under the age of 5 years old; to
evaluate if health conditions, reported as the cause of death, influence its accuracy; and to detect possible secular trends in sexual
dimorphism. One-hundred and ninety-seven skeletal individuals from the Lisbon and Granada Identified Collections were
studied. Individuals were divided according to the hormonal peaks (< 0, 0–2, < 2, and 2.1–5 years old), cause, and year of death
(before and after 1960). As in previous studies, two ratios (FI/CF and DE/AD) and two qualitative variables (OM and MRS)
showed the highest frequencies of correct estimation (0.81–0.86). The correct sex allocations increased when the discriminant
function (0.85) and logistic regression (0.86) were applied.Males of the age groups < 0 and 2.1–5 years were all correctly sexed
by both formulae, and the same was observed for the female probabilities of adequate allocation. The cause and year of death
were identified as variables without statistical significance. It is proposed that this method can be incorporated with confidence
into the multifactorial laboratory protocols for non-adult sex estimation from skeletal remains.

The Routledge Handbook to Biology in Art and Architecture is co-edited by Charissa Terranova and Meredith Tromble. This anthology brings together essays from a transdisciplinary array of experts on biology in art, architecture, and design. They consider why, how, and under what circumstances artists, architects, and designers have integrated biology into their practices. The authors – artists, architects, designers, scientists, historians, and theoreticians – connect biological thought past and present, on topics such as complex systems, epigenesis, ecology, evolution, and expanded mind, to the use of living materials in art, architecture, and design. This anthology surveys the emergent field of biocreativity and outlines its theoretical foundations. The hybrid art-and-science thinking it reviews newly articulates the relationship between science and culture to meet the burgeoning needs of programs of academic study and research integrating biology into art, architecture, and design.

Presentation of the nine exhibitions of the Polytechnic of Turin on "Mountain and Architecture" and "Art and Mountain" with the participation of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Grenoble: "From tradition to Bio-architecture", "Alpine Landscape Workshop", ALPS, Mountain huts and villages, The Apuan Alps and surroundings, From the shape to the place, Landscapes designed, ENSAG and the mountain. Scientific Coordination Daniele Regis and Corrado Colombo (Architecture and Mountains) Daniele Regis (Art and Mountains), with Nuto Revelli Foundation, Rete del Ritorno, and the Simbidea collaboration, Network of small towns, Kosmoki, Forte di Vinadio in the context of New Worlds Festival, and the patronage of Unione Montana Valle Stura and municipality of Rittana

fascinating essay by urbanist Paul Murrain which discusses in great detail the excesses of 'height' and elaborates on  height regulations and the various essential aspects of urban comfort considered in successful cities, and also shows how exceptionally a mid-rise can be acceptable if it contributes to the beauty and comfort of the city and its citizens, etc. Extraordinary essay!

Prospective urban planning for the Greater Geneva

According to the United Nations, global warming and resource depletion is a worldwide central concern. It is therefore high time we reconsidered the human societies’ relationship to their environment.
How could we drastically reduce CO2 production and preserve the biodiversity of the urban territories? How should the cities become sustainable ecosystems? What role might the built environment play in the ecological transition?
In order to address these issues, a consortium of partners launches the consultation "Prospective Visions for Greater Geneva. Inhabiting the City-Landscape of the 21st Century". Of international and interdisciplinary character, this initiative invites specialists in architecture, urbanism and landscape architecture to develop scenarios for the evolution of the Greater Geneva by 2050.
The deadline for applications is set on September 26th 2018.
For more information : www.consultationgrandgeneve.ch

In this paper I return to an old idea in art, art history, and aesthetic theory – the gestalt – in order to catalyze its resuscitation. In breathing new life into the gestalt, I tease out what goes overlooked in the realm of art and design: namely, its wet, biological origins.

Dipandang ruangan untuk merokok tidak efektif karena ruangan tersebut tidak memberikan perlindungan terhadap perokok pasif. Berbagai rancangan bangun ruang khusus merokok (smooking area) umumnya hanya berfungsi untuk ruang isolasi tanpa dilengkapi dengan penyedot debu yang mampu menyedot atau mengatasi permasalahan asap rokok. Asap rokok merupakan polutan bagi manusia dan lingkungan sekitarnya. Asap rokok mainstream mengandung 4000 jenis bahan kimia berbahaya dalam rokok dengan berbagai mekanisme kerja terhadap tubuh. Dibedakan atas fase partikel dan fase gas. Fase partikel terdiri daripada nikotin, nitrosamine, N nitrosonorktokin, poliskiklik hidrokarbon, logam berat dan karsinogenik amin (Sitepoe, 2000). Sedangkan fase yang dapat menguap atau seperti gas adalah karbonmonoksid, karbondioksid, benzene, amonia, formaldehid,hidrosianida dan lain-lain (Sitepoe, 2000). Kebiasaan merokok di Indonesia sudah membudaya dikalangan masyarakat dan sulit untuk dihilangkan. Maka dari itu diperlukan adanya suatu solusi berupa ruang khusus merokok (smooking area). Untuk itu kami membuat karya tulis ilmiah yang berisi metode yang efektif dan efisien dalam permasalahan asap rokok yang ada pada ruang khusus merokok (smooking area).
Salah satu metode yang bisa digunakan adalah metode akuaponik. Akuaponik adalah sistem pertanian berkelanjutan yang mengkombinasikan akuakultur dan hidroponik dalam lingkungan yang bersifat simbiotik (Rakocy et al., 2006a). Biasanya sistem akuaponik digunakan dalam ruang lingkup pertanian dengan tanaman pertanian. Namun, aquaponik yang kami gunakan adalah tanaman hias antipolutan yang memiliki kemampuan untuk mengurangi kandungan asap rokok. Penggunaan tanaman yang berfungsi sebagai antipolutan untuk mengurangi polutan asap rokok di ruang khusus merokok (smooking area) belum pernah dimanfaatkan untuk ruangan tersebut. Apabila ruang khusus merokok (smooking area) dilengkapi penggunaan akuaponik tanaman antipolutan dalam ruangan tersebut maka pemanfaatan akuaponik dengan tanaman antipolutan merupakan salah satu solusi terbaik untuk mengurangi dampak polutan asap rokok.
Kata Kunci : Asap Rokok, Smoking Area, Akuaponik, Antipolutan

t he filamentous cytoskeletal systems fulfil seemingly incompatible functions by maintaining a stable scaffolding to ensure tissue integrity and simultaneously facilitating rapid adaptation to intracellular processes and environmental stimuli. this paradox is particularly obvious for the abundant keratin intermediate filaments in epithelial tissues. the epidermal keratin cytoskeleton, for example, supports the protective and selective barrier function of the skin while enabling rapid growth and remodelling in response to physical, chemical and microbial challenges. We propose that these dynamic properties are linked to the perpetual recycling of keratin intermediate filaments that we observe in cultured cells. this cycle of assembly and disassembly is independent of protein biosynthesis and consists of distinct, temporally and spatially defined steps. in this way, the keratin cytoskeleton remains in constant motion but stays intact and is also able to restructure rapidly in response to specific regulatory cues as is needed, e.g., during division, differentiation and wound healing.

Directional cellular movement is required for various organismal processes, including immune defense and cancer metastasis. Proper navigation of migrating cells involves responding to a complex set of extracellular cues, including diffusible chemical signals and physical structural information. In tissues, conflicting gradients and signals may require cells to not only respond to the environment but also modulate it for efficient adhesion formation and directional cell motility. Recently, we found that cells endocytose fibronectin (FN) and resecrete it from a late endosomal/lysosomal (LE/Lys) compartment to provide an autocrine extracellular matrix (ECM) substrate for cell motility. Branched actin assembly regulated by cortactin was required for trafficking of FN-containing vesicles from LE/Lys to the cell surface. These findings suggest a model in which migrating cells use lysosomal secretion as a versatile mechanism to modulate the ECM environment, promote adhesion assembly and en...

The Rab family of small GTPases play fundamental roles in the regulation of trafficking pathways between intracellular membranes in eukaryotic cells. In this short commentary we highlight a recent high-content screening study that investigates the roles of Rab proteins in retrograde trafficking from the Golgi complex to the endoplasmic reticulum, and we discuss how the findings of this work and other literature might influence our thoughts on how the architecture of the Golgi complex is regulated.

While the general understanding of muscle regenerative capacity is that it declines with increasing age due to impairments in the number of muscle progenitor cells and interaction with their niche, studies vary in their model of choice, indices of myogenic repair, muscle of interest and duration of studies. We focused on the net outcome of regeneration, functional architecture, compared across three models of acute muscle injury to test the hypothesis that satellite cells maintain their capacity for effective myogenic regeneration with age. Muscle regeneration in extensor digitorum longus muscle (eDL) of young (3 mo-old), old (22 mo-old) and senescent female mice (28 mo-old) was evaluated for architectural features, fiber number and central nucleation, weight, collagen and fat deposition. The 3 injury paradigms were: a myotoxin (notexin) which leaves the blood vessels and nerves intact, freezing (FI) that damages local muscle, nerve and blood vessels and denervation-devascularization (DD) which dissociates the nerves and blood vessels from the whole muscle. histological analyses revealed successful architectural regeneration following notexin injury with negligible fibrosis and fully restored function, regardless of age. In comparison, the regenerative response to injuries that damaged the neurovascular supply (FI and DD) was less effective, but similar across the ages. The focus on net regenerative outcome demonstrated that old and senescent muscle has a robust capacity to regenerate functional architecture.

What is Green Architecture? A Hermeneutical-Phenomenological approach to issues of sustainable, ecological and 'green' architecture. The paper reflects through images, examples and counter-examples and refers broadly to  Wikipedia definitions and a wide range of architectural projects and precedents.

Mitosis entails the bona fide segregation of duplicated chromosomes. This process is accomplished by the attachment of kinetochores on chromosomes to microtubules (MTs) of the mitotic spindle. Once the appropriate attachment is achieved, the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) that delays the premature onset of anaphase needs to be silenced for the cell to proceed to anaphase and cytokinesis. Therefore, while it is imperative to preserve the SAC when kinetochores are unattached, it is of paramount importance that SAC components are removed post kinetochore microtubule (kMT) attachment. Precise knowledge of how kMT attachments trigger the removal of SAC components from kinetochores or how the checkpoint proteins feedback in to the attachment machinery remains elusive. This review aims to describe the recent advances that provide an insight into the interplay of molecular events that coordinate and regulate the SAC activity in response to kMT attachment during cell division.

Early morphogenic movements are an important feature of embryonic development in vertebrates. During zebrafish gastrulation, epiboly progression is driven by the coordinated remodeling of the YSL microtubule network and F-actin cables. We recently described the implication of Nrz, an anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 homolog, in the control of the YSL cytoskeleton dynamics. Nrz knock-down induces premature actin-myosin ring formation leading to margin constriction, epiboly arrest and embryo lethality. At the molecular level, the Nrz protein controls the actin-myosin dynamics through IP3R-dependent calcium levels variation. Here, we discuss these novel findings and propose a model in which reversible phosphorylation of the Nrz/IP3R complex modulates the permeability of the IP3R calcium channel and thus may explain the Nrz-dependent control of IP3R opening required for proper epiboly completion.

The essay unfolds around art installations and speculative projects that embody processes of material transformation exploring a theory of the metabolic. The idea of metabolic architecture is analogous to life itself in its unfolding according to four fundamental states of development: birth and growth; digestion and nutrition; motion and action; and finally, decay and recycling. There are two primary goals in this essay, each of which is dependent on the other. First, the essay argues that the art of installation as a medium is a working tool of twenty-first-century metabolic architecture, with its capacity to focus on specific materialities such as form-in-process and kinesis. Second, and reciprocally, it argues that installation shapes metabolic architecture, setting in relief the following central themes: the feedback loop between objectification, the temporal, and ephemeral; the role of modular and infrastructural elements; the merging of experiment and experience, including the user’s participation; and the integration of the vernacular, which consists of historical artifacts, cultural habits, and rituals. From within these forces, objects and modular systems manifest metabolism, producing hybrid buildings/gardens, evolving edible structures, choreographic machines, and decaying artifacts. Metabolic architecture challenges human perception in order to reveal immaterial properties and flows, while mapping spatio-temporal changes.

In 1969, Kisho Kurokawa stated that the ‘capsule is cyborg architecture’. The capsule is the ultimate form of the prefabricated building. As such it has emancipated itself from the land to become the immediate extension of the moving self, similar to cars or the Japanese kago. In Japanese Metabolism, an architecture movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the capsule is a small, repeatable building unit rooted in historical elements, such as the teahouse. The capsule is also a tool – a machine for living – that is modular and part of a system offering simplicity and complexity. The capsule signifies individuality within a diverse society, including standardization, functionality, technology and smallness in scale. This article re-examines the potential of the capsule in contemporary bioarchitecture, in living systems and in evolving environments. Through Philip Galanter’s theory of ‘complexism’, the article connects the capsule to modular(ity), embodiment, protective vulnerability, voyeurism, unpredictability, complexity, immateriality and ephemerality. I propose that the capsule instantiates a cyborg bioarchitecture.