Magdalena Jagiełło-Kowalczyk

A housing environment that is attractive to users must be functional, beautiful, and induce a sense of safety. The housing environment of the twenty-first century must also meet challenges specified in the idea of social inclusion. The objective of the study presented in this paper was to determine the impact of natural and cultural heritage on the design of interiors used for social integration within the housing environment. The study was conducted as a part of the FRSE Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway Grants. The study investigated the heritage aspects considered during interior design in Norway, where the idea of social inclusion plays a leading role in the country’s development. The findings were compared to the situation in Poland. Conclusions were used as a starting point for defining directions for architectural interior designs based on natural and cultural heritage, illustrated with interior arrangements designed by first-year students of the Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology. The designs, inspired by nature and art, were prepared with consideration for social inclusion.

MAGDALENA JAGIEŁŁO-KOWALCZYK shares her memories from the celebrations 

This paper presents the outcomes of a study on the potential of contemporary Rio de Janeiro to act as a site for a twenty-first century project. An analysis of the city’s architecture in the context of social, spatial and wildlife-related determinants and an analysis of extant major culture-forming places became the starting point for determining conceptual guidelines for the competition design of the Architecture Athenaeum in Rio de Janeiro, which has been presented in the paper. The research was based on critical analysis of the literature and on-site studies.

A safe and comfortable place to live is a basic need of every human. However, modern tendencies in housing construction appear not to answer this deeply rooted human need: the need to live in a sustainable environment and to create neighbourly ties. One of the forms of neighboirhood units is Cohousing. The name has been coined as a combination of the words „community” and „housing”, and describes a situation in which a group of people initiates the construction of a settlement in which social ties and integration go hand in hand with respecting the autonomy and privacy of an individual.

It is common knowledge that architecture and urban planning are largely shaped by political ideologies and doctrines. This paper is an attempt at answering a question how contemporary space recipients perceive architectural and urban composition of cities whose foundation was based on ideologies. The research focused on Nowa Huta in Cracow and Neustadt in Strasbourg, and the study group consisted of adult users of these spaces, staying there only temporarily.

The findings presented in this study, which focused on how Venice’s residents perceive the problems their city suffers from, served as a starting point for a discussion on the potential to address them by using the potential of the twenty-first century. Thesis design projects by architecture students can serve as an excellent testing ground for studies and presenting proposals of visions of a better future. The functio-spatial solutions presented in this paper can provide an original perspective on some of Venice’s much-discussed problems, such as enormous cruise ships entering the lagoon’s waters, tourist crowds and the search for new spaces for residents, employment market development or proposing new forms of sightseeing in the city.

The idea of sustainable development is being intensively extended with issues related to social participation. The society’s share in the formation of its own places of residence assumes various forms – from the immaterial dimension of interpersonal relations to entirely measurable participation in the process of designing, realizing and maintaining houses and estates. The future brings many more forms of such participation developed on the basis of communications, technical and technological potential that is less and less limited. However, we should ask ourselves the following question: which of these forms can be used to an extent under defined conditions in certain countries, regions and districts?

The 21st century brought about a greater evolution in the field of designing than the one when the drawing board was replaced with the CAD software. We are dealing now with extremely dynamic development of technology and with the need to comply with requirements relating to sustainable design. Sustainable design requires strict coordination at all stages and within the scope of all specialties it concerns. Therefore, supporting tools have emerged – software in the BIM standard (Building Information Modelling). It enables to introduce a number of essential parameters and to perform preliminary analyses relating to sustainable design already at very early stages of the process of developing the concept of a building. The results of such analyses allow to correct the design assumptions adopted and to optimise them. Teaching sustainable design with the support of these technologies is extremely helpful for architects and engineers today, and it can become indispensable in the future. Hence education in this scope and integration of the urban / architectural design with the construction design seems to be necessary starting from the first years of study at faculties of architecture.

This paper presents the results of a survey that explored how the residents of Masuria perceived the contemporary form of singlefamily and tourist housing in their region. The conclusions of this study were used as a starting point for preparing design proposals of contemporary landscape and housing layouts based on homes for rent or agricultural tourism facilities. Bachelor of Engineering in Architecture thesis projects became an answer to the formal preferences of the residents. The temporal scope of the section presenting the survey study concerns the twenty-first century, while the archetype analysis section reaches back to the seventeenth century.

New York is famous for its numerous parks, squares and green areas. They are an answer to the needs of modern man in terms of public urban spaces. They contain within them numerous different functions: from basic recreation to being a circulation space, providing sports facilities, services, education, as well as culture. They fulfil an important social role. They are located in various parts of the city. The paper illustrates the manner of operation of urban designers, architects, administrators, as well as users, thanks to whom the selected parks of New York City have achieved the rank of outstandingly attractive public spaces within the city today.

The publication presents contemporary methods of the development of cities located near water on the basis of the construction of artificial islands. Such projects are becoming more and more common around the world. They take into consideration the precepts of sustainable development and constitute proposals concerning the use of alternative energy sources. The problems of the city of Melbourne, which are a result of its existing port’s insufficient capacity, can be addressed through the construction of an artificial island on Port Philip Bay. Such a solution has been proposed by the city authorities, however it has not been built thus far. The publication presents a diploma project developed at the Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology in which the need to construct an artificial island on Port Philip Bay was justified, in addition to the presentation of an original vision of such an island.

This article presents the results of a student’s workshop organised under the title “Regeneration of housing and urban space within the historic tissue of the city”, which took place during an academic trip of the GROW Students’ Academic Club—which is affiliated with the Institute of Urban Design of the Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology—to Valencia, Spain. Six Engineer’s diploma projects were prepared as a part of the workshop. The event was organised by the Cracow University of Technology in cooperation with the CEU—the Cardenal Herrera University in Valencia. The workshop was used to perform analyses aimed at familiarising students with the characteristics of the city, particularly its historic section, as well as performing on-site visits to plots presented by the Spanish university, which were later used as sites for the student projects.

This paper constitutes a compilation of the results of a research topic focusing on the integrated energy design. It discusses the process of design preparation at the stage of the architectural concept, initial power-related assumptions, getting familiar with basic construction materials and technologies, forms of education in the field, and project completion. The research was conducted on the basis of periodical international students’ workshops, the first stage of which takes place in Cracow, AT the Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology. The workshops are then continued in Strasbourg. At this stage they comprise theoretical classes at the campus of Lycée le Corbusier, as well as visits to construction sites of housing estates, and design works. The publication demonstrates benefits stemming from combining theory with practice in teaching students within the scope of the Smart Project assumptions, as well as students’ designs as the effects of the cooperation.

The publication presents the social, economic, spatial and construction-related problems that are being faced by the commune of Zwierzyniec. It discusses the effects of the cooperation of the commune with the Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology. These effects, expressed in the form of diploma engineer's design theses of the students of the Faculty of Architecture, are to promote Zwierzyniec and its activation during all of the seasons of the year. One of the important, identified problems of the area of Roztocze in question is that all activity “freezes” there during the autumn and winter seasons.

The article familiarises readers with straw-bale technology and justifies the necessity of conducting broad education efforts in this field. The example of a student’s diploma design project shows the possibilities offered by natural construction and points to benefits to health and well­-being, as well as the environment. Apart from discussing the aspect of environmental protection, it also focuses on the economic and social aspect. It is thus in line with sustainable development.

The paper presents the results of the cooperation of the administration of the borough of Zwierzyniec with the shool – the Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology. The effects of this cooperation are engineer-level diploma design theses developed by students of the Faculty of Architecture. Social, economic, spatial and construction-related problems that the borough of Zwierzyniec is facing have been discussed within the publication. One of the fundamental problems that the area in question is dealing with is the “freezing” of activity in it during the autumn-winter period. The students’ analyses, observations and final designs are to serve as a means of promoting Zwierzyniec and its activation throughout all the seasons of the year.

The article is meant to familiarise readers with the subject of the development of riverfronts, which is currently one of the greatest urban planning challenges for contemporary cities. The problem is within the scope of sustainable development. The research focused on demonstrating both the economic and social benefits that are the direct result of appropriately development riverfront areas as they inspire interest in them in developers, tourists and, primarily, city residents themselves.

This article’s aim is to demonstrate that social spaces play an immensely important role within cities regardless of the climate zones in which those cities are located. Even areas with an extremely cold climate see the emergence of places where their residents meet and coexist. The publication is based on examples from Spitsbergen. Research was conducted in the town of Longyearbyen. The factors that determine the quality of common spaces, their utility, the degree of their acceptance and satisfaction derived from spending time in them are the outcomes of widely known determinants concerning the design of social and public spaces, but are affected by their specific climate conditions to a much greater degree.

This paper describes the natural, environmental and cultural conditions in Switzerland and the Netherlands. It shows how the principle of Green Architecture, which concerns respect for the surroundings with reference to housing, is applied in these two dissimilar countries.