THE CONCEPT OF DYNAMISM AND MOVEMENT IN ARCHITECTURE

A.B. MOHAMMED

Category: Architectural Engineering, Volume 66, Issue 1, February 2019, Pages 47–69


The research addresses the concept of dynamism and movement in architecture; also the role of time, the human's eye, and perception to classify it “latent or movement”. In addition, analyzing international projects about the thought of dynamism, and employing the vocabulary of the formation. Because of the thought of some architects in the static of the building, which gives the feeling of boredom. In addition, fixed forms are no longer able to meet the needs of users, especially with the increasing of climatic changes and advanced activities. Besides, the misconception that dynamism is only to move the building without looking for the architectural thought behind it, which depend on definite rules and the designer's experience and practice. Therefore, the aim of the research is to guide and employ the concept of dynamism in design, what governs it from the architectural thought to be interactive dynamic buildings by concluding and formulating a methodology to link and reconcile among opportunities of movement, technology “systems – materials”, the required performance, and the factors affecting. Moreover, determining any types of movement more properly and suitable for the nature of the project to root the concept of dynamism, and to give the building an architectural character.



ANALYSIS OF THERMAL COMFORT ENHANCEMENT USING VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE IN SIWA OASIS, EGYPT

H. SAMEH, A. El ZAFRANY and D. N. ATTIYA

Category: Architectural Engineering, Volume 66, Issue 6, December 2019, Pages 679–701


Siwa Oasis has a unique vernacular architecture, built with walls of an earth martial called (Kerchief), and roofs of palm tree trunks. The uniqueness of Siwa’s cultural heritage is accentuated by its natural heritage. However, modernization reached this exotic place. Concrete and multi-story buildings started to appear changing the original vernacular atmosphere, and local residents started to adopt new building technologies to suit a modern lifestyle, threatening the integrity of the cultural heritage. Vernacular Kerchief buildings are known to be cooler than conventional modern concrete; specially in hot daytime, but Kerchief walls are extremely vulnerable to water (scarce rain destroys the buildings and sanitary water used inside threatens the safety of the bearing walls). But, locals often prefer the modern (hot) buildings to the traditional cool yet vulnerable buildings. This paper aims at analyzing the thermal behavior of vernacular Kerchief buildings, compared to modern buildings, to define what exactly makes them perform better thermally (the material, the mass or the design). Simulation of ten parameters and combinations of a model building in Siwa was conducted, using EnergyPlus and Design Builder software to determine the parameters that affect thermal comfort.



ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATIONS ON HUMAN BEINGS IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

N. S. ELRAFIE, G. F. HASSAN, A. S. ABD ELRAHMAN and M. A. ELFAYOUMI

Category: Architectural Engineering, Volume 66, Issue 4, August 2019, Pages 403–427


Our earth is a living body that has energy veins flowing all over, just like the human body where blood flows from and to the heart. These natural earth energies are as old as the earth existence and interact with everything on its surface. They were believed to have either a healing effect in “Power Spots” or a stressful effect in “Geopathic Stress Zones” that can change the normal functioning of human beings and damage their health. Thousands of years ago, these energies’ effects were considered during designing the built environment. This no longer takes place although recent research discovered that the urban ambiance is badly affected by electromagnetic radiation from different sources. Moreover, one of the main objectives of urban design is bringing to the user a sense of wellbeing and emotional satisfaction. The paper argues that respecting the natural earth energies during the design process will affect the wellbeing of the users. Consequently, the paper undergoes an exploratory process through a survey in Al-Sultan Hassan mosque using observations and a structured questionnaire to investigate this relationship. The survey confirmed that following the earth energy grids in the design affects the visitors positively and enhances their abilities and wellbeing.



THE CONCEPT OF APPLICATION OF NANOMATERIALS ON THE ENVELOPE FACADE OF BUILDINGS IN EGYPT

M. R. ABDALLAH, T. I. NASR and A. A. HASBALLAH

Category: Architectural Engineering, Volume 67, Issue 8, December 2020, Pages 2205–2224


Egypt has suffered several problems for applying the traditional building materials on building envelopes, which results in degradation of building quality and failure to stimulate environmental factors. Accordingly, this paper presents innovative nanomaterials and their effect on envelopes in order to improve the performance, efficiency of building envelopes, and reduce the total energy consumption of new or existing buildings. Furthermore, nanomaterials are considered one of the most promising high-performance materials in construction applications as they possess great features against environmental factors compared to traditional paints. This research also demonstrates high performance in the adaptation and the response of buildings to external factors. The paper also discusses the concept of nanomaterial application on building envelopes in Egypt in order to enhance the knowledge about adaptive envelopes area and innovative technologies. Nanomaterials are capable of saving energy, reducing costs, extending the life span of buildings and reducing maintenance if new technologies are considered to be a crucial factor in the innovative architecture. The innovation in materials will be affected by nanotechnology, which will have an impact on architecture and its concept.



IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIALS AND BARRIERS OF PUBLICPRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS IN EGYPT

L. M. KHODEIR

Category: Architectural Engineering, Volume 66, Issue 4, August 2019, Pages 379–402


Egypt is facing a huge financial problem reflected on the difficulty of funding public projects either in construction and infrastructure sectors. One of the approaches for such problem is to work cooperatively with private sectors in the form of PublicPrivate Partnership Projects (PPP). This approach, however, is facing a number of challenges. This paper, thus, aims at providing a factor analysis for the establishment of PPP in Egypt through extracting lessons learned in other countries. A literature review has been done to analyze existing factors, followed by a qualitative study of case studies. Finally, a survey questionnaire was conducted on a purposeful sample of 55 stakeholders, either from private or public sectors in order to prioritize and verify factors affecting the success or failure of PPP projects in terms of their severity and impact in Egypt. Results of this paper indicated that bureaucracy, corruption, poor enabling policies and inefficient feasibility studies are among the major barriers that face PPP in Egypt, whereas achieving a reliable contractual structure and political support are the main potentials. Findings of this paper are valuable to stakeholders, decision makers and policy makers in Egypt, as it could guide their thinking towards achieving successful PPP Projects.



REBRANDING CAIRO’S DOWNTOWN CINEMAS: CAN PERFORMANCES RESURRECT ABUNDANT HERITAGE?

S. S. ASHOUR

Category: Architectural Engineering, Volume 66, Issue 3, June 2019, Pages 329–353


Cairo’s Downtown cinemas were once masterpieces of architecture, screening golden age movies plus witnessing important events. Nowadays, few are still working, while many are ready to be demolished. The best conservation for historic buildings is managing change caused by time. One way to make this happen is smart engaging reuse, thus continue to retain value to current and future generations. Local government and private companies have tried to resuscitate Cairo’s silver screens. This revitalization started with simple face lifting, then developed to rebranding with creative re-use introducing new functions. A key to this creative re-use is across disciplines; new forms of art, music, and media performances. This paper aims to explore four re-use performances bringing the insight of art and media into the field of heritage management. First, “Nassim El Raqs” organized “When dance meets heritage” in Theatre Cinema Eldorado. Second, Radio Theatre re-used to host liveshows; “Al-Bernameg” and “AblaFahita”. Third, Zawya - located in cinema Odeon - launched as the first art-house cinema in Egypt. Last, Teatro Independent Theatre opened their interactive performance “The Metamorphosis” at cinema Elkahira. This paper ends with a framework for rebranding cinemas; comprises both the challenges facing the re-use and proposing community-oriented marketing strategy.



MONITORING URBANIZATION GROWTH IN CAIRO CITY

S. M. ROBAA and Y. Y. HAFEZ

Category: Engineering Math & Physics, Volume 49, Issue 4, August 2002, Pages 667–679


In the present study, high resolution remotely sensed data (<60-m resolution) has been used to locate and track changes in urban land cover in Cairo, Egypt. Landsat (TM) images for July months of the years 1985, 1990, 1995, and 2000 have been analyzed to identify the growth of urban region at Cairo. The population growth in Cairo City during the period 1985 to 2000 and its expected rates up to 2035 have been taken into consideration. The results of the study revealed that, a real extent of urban lands of Cairo City could be monitored accurately by using a high resolution Landsat satellite images. Among the main findings is the increase of urban area of Cairo from 267.38 Km2 to 548.13 Km2 through the period from 1985 to 2000 with percentage annual ratio estimates 7%. A significant correlation between the rate of increase of Cairo urbanized area, ΔUA, and the rate of population growth, ΔPA, has been found in the simple form, ΔUA = 40.85 – 100.6 ΔPA. Therefore, if the rates of population growth and human activities in Cairo City continued, the urban area will reach to be 1193.85 km2 by the year 2035. In addition to serious local climate changes will prevail.



SUSTAINABILITY BETWEEN URBAN HERITAGE AND TOURISM DEVELOPMENT BY PARTICIPATION IN AL-QASR

A. Y. ESMAIL

Category: Architectural Engineering, Volume 66, Issue 4, August 2019, Pages 429–450


One of the most important problems that concern those interested in heritage is the deterioration of urban and architectural heritage in many Egyptian villages and cities. This problem is due to the rapid urbanization in Egypt which causes local and regional changes that have bad impact on the urban heritage. It is necessary to preserve the historical heritage because of its national wealth and its historical, cultural, economic and social values. Dealing with these heritage areas should achieve the balance between preserving the urban and architectural heritage and the developing sustainable tourism in these areas. One of the most important methods of sustainable development of these heritage areas is the community participation in the development projects. Therefore, the study aims to define urban and architectural heritage and conservation. It also aims to identify the role of the community participation in the different stages of conservation. It also aims to define the sustainable tourism development, its strategies and its relation with the heritage areas. The study analysis local and international examples of heritage areas to identify the most important problems and their solutions. The study ends up with conclusions and recommendations and a suggestion on sustainable tourism development of heritage areas.



ASSESSING THE CAPABILITY OF SPATIAL ABILITY IN PREDICTING SUCCESS IN THE BEGINNING DESIGN STUDIO

E. M. ELGAZZAR, S. A. HELMY and R. M. IBRAHIM

Category: Architectural Engineering, Volume 66, Issue 1, February 2019, Pages 1–23


The beginning studio sometimes described as the most traumatic period for the architecture students. Many challenges in visualizing, imagining and comprehending spatial relations over the stages of the design process have been observed. Educators confirmed that spatial ability is central to design studio demands. The main goal of this research is reducing beginners’ obstacles and enhancing design education. A total of 353 first-year architecture students were selected via random sample from three universities in Cairo. The students’ spatial ability skill-level were measured using two spatial ability test instruments. Three scores of the first design course were used in determining the students’ design performance. Inferential statistics, as well as correlation analysis and crosstab chi-square test with SPSS were employed to analyze the research data. The outcomes presented strong significant correlation at (< 0.01) points between students’ spatial ability and students’ design course performance. It has proved that spatial ability is a valid predictor of success in the beginning studio. Also, measuring spatial ability helps to identify students who are not ready for studio requirement. Findings suggest enhancing students’ spatial ability among the all preuniversity education levels and during the preparatory year course subjects. This will increase the probability of success.



INVESTIGATING LIGHT PROPAGATION IN FULL AND SKIMMED MILK BASED ON SPECTROSCOPY AND MONTE CARLO ANALYSIS

N. A. I. MUHAMAD KAMIL, I. H. ZAKARIA, W.Z. WAN ISMAIL, I. ISMAIL, J. JAMALUDIN, S. R. BALAKRISHNAN and M. SAHRIM

Category: Interdisciplinary, Volume 67, Issue 8, December 2020, Pages 2265–2278


Milk quality can be determined through its fat composition. It is important to know the fat composition in milk to ensure consumption of the right product for health reasons. Spectroscopy can be used to study the fat composition in milk. In this paper, light propagation in milk based on visible and near infrared (NIR) spectra is investigated. Samples comprise skimmed and full milk. Full milk shows higher absorbance at visible (VIS) spectra compared to skimmed milk. The analysis on NIR spectra also shows that full milk has higher absorbance peak than skimmed milk due to higher amount of fat globule. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis is done to study the chemical compounds such as C=C and O-H in milk samples. Through FTIR, the unsaturated fatty acid and water element in the samples were analyzed. Both milk samples show higher water element than carbon. Numerical modeling based on Monte Carlo method is also done to support experimental results. The modeling results show that full milk has a larger photon count compared to skimmed milk. This is attributed to the large fat globule in full milk that has higher absorbance over skimmed milk. Thus, characterization of milk fat based on spectroscopy techniques can monitor milk adulteration issues, which indirectly gives us guidance on healthy dairy intakes.



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